UPDATE: Sources close to Team SoloMid have come forward to state, "The players were not aware of this situation, but when they found out, they were under the assumption that the stream wasn't leaked but actively seeked out by Fusion staff, from being told by t3azer and others privvy to the information at the time. But of course after recent information was released they found out that what t3azer had said, was false and shortly after t3azer quit/was kicked from the team."

The North American Challenger Series has been quite the spectacle for under the table, unethical doings. More recently, bigger organizations have entered into the Challenger Series, specifically the likes of Counter Logic Gaming & Team SoloMid.

Later in the pre-season, Counter Logic Gaming announced that they had formed a brand new team, Counter Logic Gaming Black, of which would be based around main roster substitute, Thomas “Thinkcard” Slotkin. The team was hyped to be one of the best teams in the series as the player roster had quite the amount of raw talent, of which had now been stacked into one team; however, as of late, their success has yet to come, with them currently sitting in the current fifth place spot with only one week of the season left to go.

Likewise, their counterparts, Team SoloMid’s Darkness challenger team, is also struggling in the series. The team was purchased officially only one day prior to the Challenger Series start date, and was originally known as Team Confound. With the purchase, TSM brought on four relatively unknown players, as well as high solo-queue renowned jungler, Andrew "Azingy" Zamarripa. Zamarripa left the team to join Team Dignitas midway through the split, but even with the recent acquisition of Rami "Inori" Charagh, the team has yet to win more than one game within the series.

Photo Credit: ESL/Carlton Beener

Due to the teams’ close relationship with one another and one of the better rival histories in North American League of Legends, the two this past week were scrimmage partners, but things did not go as planned. Specifically, CLG Black had tough opposition upcoming in the forms of Team Fusion and preparation for the matches were in overdrive. Unfortunately for CLG Black, sources tell Esports Heaven that TSM Darkness AD Carry David “t3azer” Berube decided to record film of their scrimmages with one another, streaming to Hitbox.tv; film that he would later release to Team Fusion coach, Keaton “Bee Sin” Cryer.

This leak of confidential, in-game information isn’t the first of its kind, but it put Counter Logic Gaming Black at a significant disadvantage going into their matches. CLG Black would end up losing to Fusion in a 0-2 fashion on the week. The Riot Challenger Series rulebook has nothing to say against this, as scrim matches are a team-based and team scheduled occurrence, with no Riot regulation over them, period. The CLG organization had this to say regarding this situation:

Unfortunately, this occurrence happened without us [CLG] knowing initially. When we found out about the situation, it was disheartening to know that our scrimmages were compromised and that vital information to maintain the competitive integrity of the matches was released to another team. Integrity and trust between the teams involved in the competitive splits is important to maintain in terms of keeping the spirit of competition alive. No matter what is on the line, there are boundaries that should never be crossed.

Team Fusion ownership was not initially aware of the situation, however, after being reached out to, they clarified that they have properly reprimanded their staff and everyone involved in the matter. Team owner, Alden “Veyloris” Haight tells Esports Heaven, “This obviously represents the very lowest of sportsmanship quality, which is very opposite of what we try to encourage. [Since the incident], we now have a very clear zero tolerance policy for this sort of thing.”

After attempting to reach out, Team SoloMid has yet to respond; however, sources claim that the upper-management of the organization is fully aware of this matter and are “handling it accordingly.” Esports Heaven will keep you up to date with more information as the story progresses.

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