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The first and second place winners of last weekend’s League of Legends MLG Summer Championship have been disqualified over “unsportsmanlike” conduct, the event organiser has said.
Speaking in a public statement, the MLG said it has “determined that there was collusion between the two final teams, Curse NA and Team Dignitas. This is in clear violation of both the letter and spirit of MLG’s Official Pro Circuit Conduct Rules: ‘competitors may not intentionally Forfeit a Game or conspire to manipulate Rankings or Brackets.'”
“As such, both teams have been disqualified, and no placements or prize money will be awarded,” added the American eSports organiser. The prize money would have totalled $40,000, and MLG has said it will be redistributing the money between the 3rd-6th placed teams.
Neither MLG or the two teams have made the precise circumstances of the “collusion” explicit, but many have speculated that the decision is at least partially based on both teams playing the first round of the final match in the ARAM variant, which has players taking on random champions and only fighting in the middle lane. The two teams were also apparently discussing splitting their prize money over their lunch that day. Speaking on Twitter, MLG SVP Lee Chen said “To be clear here folks, the Collusion had nothing to do with the ARAM. CRS/DIG conspired to split prize money.”
League of Legends publisher Riot Games has agreed to MLG’s decision, and will not be awarding Circuit points (which allow pro teams to enter the game’s global championships) to either team. The teams who finished 3rd and 4th will not be bumped up, either; there will be no 1st or 2nd place awarded.
“Both teams have agreed that the disqualification was warranted. While there is some contention over the exact nature of the actions taken by Curse NA and Dignitas which led to the disqualification, both teams, as well as MLG and Riot, agree that any collusion, or anything involving not playing a tournament match to win, warrants disqualification.”
Speaking for Team Dignitas, manager Michael O’Dell said “it has come to our attention that during yesterday’s Major League Gaming Summer Championship League of Legends Event, our League of Legends team have engaged in misconduct. We have found at least some of the accusations to be valid. As a consequence, we have decided to investigate the situation fully to ascertain [sic] all the facts. We will release a statement describing our responsive actions within two days.”
Curse NA, on the other hand, has issued a public video apology.
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