ESEA ban two players for cheating in Fast Track Qualifier amidst heavy community backlash

ESEA have announced that two players from IIRILIIARILA have been banned for cheating following an investigation that confirmed Valeriy "lockstock" Pekhterev (also known as awpg0d on FACEIT) and LemooreOFF cheated in the ESEA Advanced Season 53 Fast Track qualifier on March 28th. The decision sees the team's win in the Fast Track Qualifier overturned while their opponents in the final, HS, have been moved up to ESEA Advanced Season 53.

As a result, the two players have been banned for two years on the FACEIT platform.

The conclusion of ESEA's investigation follows much controversy and outrage in the NA Counter-Strike community following the qualifier, with many questioning how FACEIT's anti-cheat failed to catch the players in action while also criticizing ESEA's slow reaction to mounting evidence against the duo.

Additional criticism has also been raised in the community for ESEA failing to punish lockstock and LemooreOFF's teammates in any manner, with multiple players arguing that the duo could just buy new accounts, rebuild the team, and continue to terrorize the platform in future qualifiers and events.

Another area of concern brought up by the community comes from the number of teams who were eliminated by IIRILIIARILA that feel they have received no redress from ESEA/FACEIT. As pointed out by Anhduy "nguyen" Nguyen, multiple teams were cheated against in FACEIT's qualifier, however only HS have had their finals match overturned, leaving the other teams feeling aggrieved by the process.

It remains to be seen if ESL will follow up to address these concerns, with the timing being of high importance as the overall integrity of the FACEIT platform has been under heavy criticism in 2025.