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UPDATE Jan 16:
https://wcs.starcraft2.com/en-us/news/22865613/
"Cyan, JieShi, Route, and Nice have been disqualified from WCS Winter 2019 and banned from Blizzard Esports competition until May 31, 2019.* During the ladder race of WCS Winter—Americas, Route played several suspicious matches with cyan, JieShi, and Nice. Upon review of these matches and accounts in question, it was found that several of the matches were intentionally lost by Route to the other three players involved. Nice, cyan, and JieShi were found to be colluding to intentionally trade wins with the Route account. Finally, it was discovered that both cyan and JieShi were logging into the Route account during the competition as part of this effort. This behavior is prohibited in our tournament rules under section 6.2.a. Specifically, players are prohibited from “collusion, match fixing or any other action to intentionally alter, or attempt to alter [any game], including losing a game or match with another player in order to advance one or the other’s rank,” as well as “allowing an individual who is not the registered owner of a Battle.net account to play on that Battle.net account in StarCraft II or any other Blizzard game.” Based on this disqualification, Max "Astrea" Angel, Maru "MaSa" Kim, and Erik “Erik” Braga Bermelho will qualify for WCS Winter from their ladder rankings at the conclusion of the ladder race."
https://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/540780-wcs-disciplinary-rulings-jan-15-2019-cyan-jieshi-route-nice-penalized
Update: Jan 14
I feel like this situation merits a thread of its own.
As many of you know, WCS winter has been announced and it started with a ladder qualifier that concluded recently. TL thread:
https://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/540094-introducing-wcs-winter-2019
Now EU looks fairly normal, however the NA server was notable because it was extremely extremely close, as seen below:
On January 14 2019 15:09 ZigguratOfUr wrote:
Reddit user Jjangbi made a topic about suspicious activity, namely a relatively unknown player named Route has very quick and strange losses, I will just copy paste what he wrote:
https://old.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/afsntj/wcs_ladder_race_suspicious_throws/
"I'd like to draw some attention to some suspicious games during the closing hours of the NA WCS ladder race. Route has several suspicious losses specifically to Chinese/Taiwanese players at the final hours of the race.
vs cyan, 0 second game literally at the last second to put cyan into top 8.
vs Nice, 1:50 cannon rush
vs JieShi, 2:21 cannon rush
vs Nice, 0:29
vs Has, looks like a legit game
vs JieShi, 2:00 cannon rush
vs Nice, 0:17
I'd like to see some more investigation from Blizzard before going forward with finalizing the results. It seems like lag isn't an issue either, where he seems to be beating others just fine, just losing these suspicious games vs specific players. Can Route explain himself on these games?
Another suspicious point is that cyan was in top 8 during the day. He was eventually bumped out of top 8 later on. He only played 1 game between 3pm EST and midnight. That game was at 11:58 PM EST and a 0 second game vs Route to put himself into top 8."
Reddit user Hjax provided further details, which (for me at least) proves it beyond a reasonable doubt that it is indeed match-fixing at the very least, and very likely account-sharing was used to achieve it.
"Route lost 12 games today:
3 to PartinG (an excellent player)
5 Games to Nice (including several cannon rushes and instant leaves)
2 games to JieShi
1 Game to Cyan (an Instant leave)
1 Game to Has (looks like a normal game)
Route is normally a 5.6kish player on NA, who has played in online cups and ladder, and he is not historically a 6.2k player, but right now is at 6127 MMR, which is unusually high for him. Yet today he 2-0d future, beat DemiLove many times, and Raze as well, yet lost every single game he played against a Chinese/Taiwanese player. You can see his MMR spiked recently as well: https://www.rankedftw.com/team/4911666/#td=world&ty=c&ra=best&tyz=1&tx=60&tl=1
"
The whole comment:
https://old.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/afsntj/wcs_ladder_race_suspicious_throws/ee168ey/
From the reddit thread we know that both of them submitted these findings to Blizzard, alleging match-fixing.
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Route's team "Infinity Gaming" has spoken privately with him, and it seems the suspicions are true since they have released him from the team (further explanations in the tweet's responses):
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Czech Republic12129 Posts
Why the Route guy was involved? I mean - why didn't they use some random account instead of account sharing? It appears I am missing something.
Edit> if the incident happened this way
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If it is true, I will not be surprised (at one of these players).
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It seems a bit funny that in spite of so many people crying out for justice for Astrea (9th in the ladder), he himself is also doing the same thing (Pictures from Cyan's weibo)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/I3FmqZ7.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/rGQm1ai.jpg)
From the picture we can see that the other protoss player (seems to be puck) is cannon rushing and leaving very early.
His original weibo:
卧槽太刺激了。。astrea最后10分钟和puck疯狂刷分，puck没机会出线了，连着三盘假装修地堡送分给astrea，在最后时刻把解释挤到了第9。。但是幸好，不管是他们时间最后超过了还是因为连续刷分被暴雪发觉了 总之最近天天熬夜顶着200ping苦战美服没有白费 我和解释晋级到WCS美洲区32强啦！！！
Rough translation:
Oh, so thrilling... Puck is intentionally throwing game in the last 10 minutes, for he has no chance to qualify, and cannon-rushed Astrea for 3 games and make Jieshi become 9th in the last. But thank goodness, they past the deadline and Blz discovered this. Anyway, battling on NA server with 200 ping does not end up in vain, Jieshi and I qualified for WCS America!!!
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The stuff I read on reddit is quite dirty.
I think it is best to remain silent until they sort it out clean and tidy.
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Damn, looks like people still think this is worth the risk. I am not sure if match-fixing is the right word though. I get that matches were being fixed, so it still makes sense and I'm not trying to say it's wrong or anything like that. However, this infraction is not quite the same as match-fixing involving third parties and illegal gambling (which I believe is how it has historically been understood). Then again since it's a ladder qualifier, it's still a terrible thing to do and should be punished rather severely if proven true .
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But overall I have to say that tying professional competitions to ladder results is just a really stupid decision. I have already seen numerous occasions of these drama in SC2 and Warcraft III.
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On January 14 2019 21:10 Icarus2 wrote:It seems a bit funny that in spite of so many people crying out for justice for Astrea (9th in the ladder), he himself is also doing the same thing (Quoted from Cyan's weibo) + Show Spoiler +From the picture we can see that the other protoss player (seems to be puck) is cannon rushing and leaving very early.
That is how he defends himself, by trying to find other people doing something similar? He's not denying anything?
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Can never hide from reddit!
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On January 14 2019 21:20 11cc wrote:Show nested quote +On January 14 2019 21:10 Icarus2 wrote:It seems a bit funny that in spite of so many people crying out for justice for Astrea (9th in the ladder), he himself is also doing the same thing (Quoted from Cyan's weibo) + Show Spoiler +From the picture we can see that the other protoss player (seems to be puck) is cannon rushing and leaving very early. That is how he defends himself, by trying to find other people doing something similar? He's not denying anything?
Nah I read his post. He only mentioned how their attempt failed due to the time limit, nothing of himself. Guess Icarus unintentionally made the assumption.
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On January 14 2019 21:16 busyghost wrote:
But overall I have to say that tying professional competitions to ladder results is just a really stupid decision. I have already seen numerous occasions of these drama in SC2 and Warcraft III.
These things definitely tarnish it for sure, but boy was the EU ladder qualifier super exciting, especially because many of the players were streaming. That last hour was so unbelievable intense if you were following it through the player streams.
I think it's exciting and they should keep going with it, and if anything, they should hype it up way more than they do. Match-fixing in the ladder qualifier is quite obvious IMO, so as long as they punish accordingly, I think it's a system that can work.
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On January 14 2019 21:20 11cc wrote:Show nested quote +On January 14 2019 21:10 Icarus2 wrote:It seems a bit funny that in spite of so many people crying out for justice for Astrea (9th in the ladder), he himself is also doing the same thing (Quoted from Cyan's weibo) + Show Spoiler +From the picture we can see that the other protoss player (seems to be puck) is cannon rushing and leaving very early. That is how he defends himself, by trying to find other people doing something similar? He's not denying anything?
So far, he just said that he has already been in top 8 before Route lost to him. And that game did not count for the ladder race for it ended after the race.
I quoted his words just want to remind everybody that not only the top 8 is suspicious of match-fixing, there are many other players might do the same thing. Why just put your eyes onto the one who qualified instead of the remaining ones. Failed to qualify through match-fixing does not mean a clear conscience. If confirmed, they should receive severe punishment as well.
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On January 14 2019 21:31 Icarus2 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 14 2019 21:20 11cc wrote:On January 14 2019 21:10 Icarus2 wrote:It seems a bit funny that in spite of so many people crying out for justice for Astrea (9th in the ladder), he himself is also doing the same thing (Quoted from Cyan's weibo) + Show Spoiler +From the picture we can see that the other protoss player (seems to be puck) is cannon rushing and leaving very early. That is how he defends himself, by trying to find other people doing something similar? He's not denying anything? So far, he just said that he has already been in top 8 before Route lost to him. And that game did not count for the ladder race for it ended after the race. I quoted his words just want to remind everybody that not only the top 8 is suspicious of match-fixing, there are many other players might do the same thing. Why just put your eyes onto the one who qualified instead of the remaining ones. Failed to qualify through match-fixing does not mean a clear conscience. If confirmed, they should receive severe punishment as well.
I just checked all puCK losses from the last 24 hours. Only other time he left very early was one game against <TryA> Erik, but he played a 24 minute game against him right after so it's weird but not suspicious, maybe he screwed up his build order or lost connection.
puCK lost to Astrea some other games as well, but those were standard lenght games. There's nothing suspicious about one failed cannon rush alone.
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On January 14 2019 21:40 11cc wrote:Show nested quote +On January 14 2019 21:31 Icarus2 wrote:On January 14 2019 21:20 11cc wrote:On January 14 2019 21:10 Icarus2 wrote:It seems a bit funny that in spite of so many people crying out for justice for Astrea (9th in the ladder), he himself is also doing the same thing (Quoted from Cyan's weibo) + Show Spoiler +From the picture we can see that the other protoss player (seems to be puck) is cannon rushing and leaving very early. That is how he defends himself, by trying to find other people doing something similar? He's not denying anything? So far, he just said that he has already been in top 8 before Route lost to him. And that game did not count for the ladder race for it ended after the race. I quoted his words just want to remind everybody that not only the top 8 is suspicious of match-fixing, there are many other players might do the same thing. Why just put your eyes onto the one who qualified instead of the remaining ones. Failed to qualify through match-fixing does not mean a clear conscience. If confirmed, they should receive severe punishment as well. I just checked all puCK losses from the last 24 hours. Only other time he left very early was one game against <TryA> Erik, but he played a 24 minute game against him right after so it's weird but not suspicious, maybe he screwed up his build order or lost connection. puCK lost to Astrea some other games as well, but those were standard lenght games. There's nothing suspicious about one failed cannon rush alone.
Yes, I used "seems to be" because I cannot tell who the other protoss player is through barcode. I apologize for making false accusation on him.
P.S. I have edited my original post, quoted all Cyan's words with a rough translation. He posted it a few minutes after the ladder competition, which is earlier than the post on Reddit, so it seems impossible that he would say anything on that.
P.S.S I have checked the match history, seems I am totally wrong. I should apologize to both players. 
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On January 14 2019 21:16 busyghost wrote:
But overall I have to say that tying professional competitions to ladder results is just a really stupid decision. I have already seen numerous occasions of these drama in SC2 and Warcraft III.
I agree.
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Ladder race is never a good idea.
I can still remember ia and XY getting called-out for matching-fixing on ladder-race all the way back in 2013(?). The same shitty drama hits again.
Hope BLZ can handle it better this time.
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On January 14 2019 21:16 busyghost wrote:
But overall I have to say that tying professional competitions to ladder results is just a really stupid decision. I have already seen numerous occasions of these drama in SC2 and Warcraft III.
I think it is really stupid trying to cheat. It's very much a transparent process, everyone can check the match history, and the very least your opponents have access to your replays to compare hotkey setup and other stuff. Like the only way this would not have been caught was if literally nobody, nor the competitors nor the organizers checked the match-histories.
I wolud say ladder competition isnt inherently more susceptible to cheating than online qualifiers, people are just stupid, and maybe have more time to come up with their idea to try to cheat.
I was personally a big fan of TSL's ladder competition, it generates some good talking points for the community, like who's dodging opponents, who dared to play more games even though they place was already secured etc. And there's the player's streams etc.
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Maybe should require players also stream with a camera and mic on twitch to qualify by ladder, to make it harder to cheat
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Never understand why instead of an open qualifier WCS would rather have this whole ladder-racing thing, GSL is just way superior in this aspect with no risk of this kind of bullshit happening.
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EPT
