ESIC issue bans to three Major-bound coaches

Following yesterday's announcement from ESIC of the methods that will be used to determine the bans of 50 coaches, they have now released a statement dealing with charges against three coaches. The three individuals in question are Luis "peacemaker" Tadeu (Free Roam Spectator Bug), Sergey 'hally' Shavayev (Static Spectator Bug), and Rafael 'zakk' Fernandes (Static Spectator Bug).

On top of naming the three coaches that will be banned in this first wave, ESIC has reinstated their policy on the coaching bug exploits to clear any confusion. They have stated "that ESIC does not view the outcome of an unfair advantage being achieved as a necessary factor of the threat created by the Spectator Bug Variants. Rather, the mere potential for exploitation and its utilization by the affected participants created an opportunity for an unfair advantage that should have been immediately rectified." Meaning that regardless of the outcome of the game or the perceived advantage gained, using any form of the coaching bug is a bannable offense.

Each coach's ban has been broken down by ESIC:

Spirits Coach, Hally, has been provisionally banned due to not acting appropriately when encountering the bug in the 2019 CIS Rising League Season 3 whilst coaching Espada against Dracarys on the 27th of November. He will be suspended from all ESIC member events in line with the already established ESIC Matrix, which states due to the one occurrence that he has obtained one demerit thus gets the lowest tier of the ban which is five months.

In the case of Zakk there are two instances whereby he encountered the bug, however in the second, when coaching 9z in the 2020 Aorus League 2020 #3 Southern Cone he did not act inappropriately so will not be punished. However at the first occurrence, whilst coaching Luminosity against eUnited at the ESL One Cologne 2018 North America Closed Qualifier there was and just like Hally will be provisionally banned from all ESIC member events for the same reason.

With peacemaker a different decision was made because of the use of the freeroam bug, therefore the punishment will be far more significant based on the ESIC's assessment of the bug used. Therefore no exact amount of time has been announced for his ban.

The approximate time of the ban for each coach has not been announced and will not be formally announced by the ESIC until the coaches have replied to the notices of their bans.

It is important to note that the amount of time that each coach will be banned has not been stated and will not be formally announced by ESIC until the coaches have appealed their bans. In addition, Valve and PGL are not members of ESIC, any decision to ban the coaches from the PGL Antwerp Major comes at the recommendation of ESIC, but it is not mandated. As stated: "it should be noted that PGL, the organizers of the Antwerp Major (Major), and Valve the publisher of CS:GO are not members of ESIC. Consequently, ESIC has no jurisdiction to make decisions relating to the Major." Any ban to the three coaches for the Major would be at the determination of PGL and/ or Valve.