Cheating scandal leads to 3 CS: GO coaches getting banned

A major cheating scandal involving prominent names has rocked the CS: GO community.

Three CS: GO coaches, Hard Legion's MechanoGun, Heroic's Hunden and MIBR Dead, are all currently facing bans from six months up to two years.

ESL Counter-Strike, the league where said offenses took place, has suspended the trio after they were found guilty on the grounds of exploiting a spectating bug, which allowed them to peek into the enemy team's spawn area and other hidden parts of the map.

ESL issued an official post on their website, where they took cognizance of the cheating scandal and consequently decided to hand out stringent suspensions to the three CS: GO coaches involved.

The CS: GO cheating scandal

After conducting a meticulous investigation into the matter, MechanoGun, Hunden and Dead were found guilty of cheating in CS: GO.

As stated on ESL's official website, the bug present in the game allowed the coach of a team to spectate anywhere on the map, without the enemy team being aware.

This glitch enabled the coach to get a 'free camera/observer position', which allowed his team to look into the enemy team's spawn area and other hidden spots in the map.

Stating that it was a violation of section "6.10.5 Use of Bugs and Glitches", ESL found the thee coaches guilty of exploitation as described below:

• Hard Legion, MechanoGun at ESL One Road to Rio on six maps in three matches
• Heroic, HUNDEN at DreamHack Masters Spring in ten rounds on one map
• MIBR, dead at ESL One Road to Rio in one round on one map

They also revealed the severity of the bans to be imposed on each coach:

• dead will receive a six-month ban from playing or coaching in-competition
• HUNDEN will receive a 12-month ban from playing or coaching in-competition
• MechanoGun will receive a 24-month ban from playing or coaching in-competition
• The teams will retroactively be disqualified from the tournament in question
• The teams will forfeit their ESL Pro Tour points from the tournament in question
• The teams will forfeit their prize money from the tournament in question

ESL also thanked CS: GO referee, Michal Slowinski, for his contributions, as his findings were instrumental in exposing the culprits:

Post the announcement of the bans, Hard Legion, Heroic and MIBR all issued apology statements, saying that they have suspended MechanoGun, Hunden and Dead, respectively:

Hard Legion's statement (Image Credits: Twitlonger)

Hund's apology (Image Credits: heroic.gg)

MIBR's statement (Image Credits: MIBR / Twitter)

ESL also issued the following statement on their website, as a final assurance to fans:

Competitive integrity of tournaments is our highest priority, and we will continue to work towards creating a clean and reliable competitive environment.

In a shocking fall from grace, the three coaches now find themselves at the receiving end of a lengthy ben, following their expose in one of the biggest CS: GO cheating scandals in recent memory.