Riot’s Competitive Ruling on G2 Esports and Movistar Riders

The VCT Stage 1 qualifiers have been going smoothly so far across all the regions. The majority of the closed qualifiers have already concluded and we’re simply waiting for the main action in VCT Challengers to begin.

However, there were some incidents that took place during these events. We first reported on T1’s elimination due to their unauthorized communications during the first VCT NA open qualifier.

We now have a similar situation on our hands where G2 Esports and Movistar Riders were caught breaking the same Riot Games rule during the VCT qualifiers. As a result, there were penalties in both cases.

G2 Esports Pulled Through

The Spanish esports organization, G2 Esports, has finally managed to qualify for the VCT Stage 1: EMEA Challengers 1. They had a rocky start and were forced to make some drastic changes in order to survive the qualifiers. This involved benching Mixwell and bringing back Keloqz as the second duelist.

This clearly worked out well and the team managed to pull through. However, their troubles still weren’t over as Riot Games was investigating their communication during the match against Team Vitality in VCT EMEA closed qualifier 1.

After gathering all the evidence, Riot Games determined that there was “evidence of the G2 coach talking outside the designated Tactical and Technical pauses”. However, it was also determined this was an “isolated instance for celebratory purposes”. As such, G2 Esports only received a warning and still retained their spot in VCT Challengers 1.

While they did get away with a simple warning, this should, hopefully, dissuade G2 Esports from attempting any such communications in the future.

Three-point Deduction for Movistar Riders

While G2 Esports got away with a warning, Movistar Riders received a slightly harsher penalty. Riot Games found out they also engaged in unauthorized communication during their match with Rix.GG Thunder in the VCT EMEA open qualifier.

Apparently, Movistar Riders’ coach Lucas “LRojo” Rojo was providing “written tactical instructions” to his team while the match with Rix.GG Thunder was in progress.

Since they already lost the match and had no stake in VCT Challengers anymore, they received a three-point deduction in the upcoming VRL Spain Rising tournament. Essentially, this will be equivalent to a one-match loss right from the start.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct in VCT

The fact this type of behaviour has happened not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions within the same tournament is a bit worrying. Valorant Champions Tour qualifiers are played exclusively online and Riot Games are doing their best to create an even playing field and prevent any sort of cheating.

However, it seems clear that a lot of Valorant teams are more than willing to disregard these rules and attempt to gain a cheap advantage. Makes one wonder whether there’s more cases of such behaviour that haven’t been detected yet, and perhaps won’t ever be.

In any case, Riot’s recent sanctions against these teams will serve as a clear warning for others who entertained the idea of cheating in the official Valorant Champions Tour. If anything, Riot was rather lenient this time. If this sort of behaviour continues, they might be forced to implement more drastic measures.

But all in all, the VCT Stage 1 qualifiers have been quite interesting. We’re only days away from VCT Challengers, and that’s where the real hype is. We’ll continue to follow the tournament and keep you up-to-date with all Valorant news, reviews, and Valorant betting opportunities.