Riot Games ruled against T1 today due to “unauthorized communication” during yesterday’s match against TSM for the VCT Open Qualifier One. The ruling resulted in T1’s elimination from the VALORANT competition, but they can climb back during the next Open Qualifier.
The ruling states T1 “will forfeit their match” after the competitive operations team received “evidence of a T1 coach providing instruction to T1 players while their match against TSM was in place,” violating the rules that forbid players and non-players from communicating outside of pauses. The decision also results in T1’s elimination, as per the statement.
T1 won yesterday’s series with a 2-0 scoreline after securing a 13-7 victory on Split and leading 8-4 after the first half during the second match in Icebox. During the match, TSM players claimed through social media that they were playing at a disadvantage. Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik said they were facing “a team that has their coach typing and probably talking to them mid game.”
After deliberation, Riot Games finally issued an official competitive ruling against T1, costing them the victory, which will go to TSM instead. As a result, T1 were eliminated from the tournament, but they will have another opportunity to climb back via the next Open Qualifier.
As per Riot’s regulations, coaches and staff can only communicate with the players during Tactical and Technical pauses. Any communication between players and non-players is strictly prohibited.
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