Legacy of the North American match fixing scandal, 4 years later
Today marks the fourth anniversary of one of the most important days in the history of North American Counter-Strike, a day will which will be remembered with infamy but also sadness as four of the then-most respected and prominent North American CS:GO players were banned for their involvement in a match fixing scandal that forever changed the North American scene.
For many who follow Counter-Strike today, the events that lead to the "indefinite" bans of Sam "DaZeD" Marine, Braxton "swag" Pierce, Kevin "AZK" Larivière, and Joshua "steel" Nissan from ever competing in a Valve sanctioned Major, essentially ending their careers at the time, have taken on almost a mythical quality. As the scene has grown so much since 2015, a large number of fans have never seen the game iBUYPOWER threw, the team they faced, nor the league where they did the deed.
But one thing is certain: following those events there have been no shortage of opinions on the event, whether you think it was justified by sending a message to all players that match fixing is unacceptable in esports, or that although what the players did was heinous, a lifetime ban is unfair in accordance with the stakes of an online CEVO Pro League match, no singular event has played into the CS:GO's fan consciousness to the extent the players' ban and subsequent attempts at redemption have.
Therefore, on the fourth anniversary of the event, Dust2.us sees it fitting to reflect on the event and where the players involved in it are today.
On August 20th, 2014, iBUYPOWER, a team which had just recently returned from their performance at the ESL One Cologne: 2014 Major, faced off in an online best-of-one against a team called NetcodeGuides.com. Although this team featured many players which are considered prominent by today's standards, including ELEAGUE Boston Major winner Tarik "tarik" Celik, this matchup was by no means supposed to be close and iBUYPOWER were expected to have an easy win. However, in a strange display of poor play, poor decision making, and seemingly a reluctance to take easy shots, NetcodeGuides.com were able to trounce iBUYPOWER in a 16-4 victory on de_season.
In the days following the match, rumors began to swirl that iBUYPOWER had intentionally thrown the match, as the players had strangely placed large bets predicting NetcodeGuides to win. However, these rumors were largely dismissed until January 16th, 2015 when prominent CS:GO investigative journalist Richard Lewis published a follow-up story to an earlier report that showed definitive proof that four players on iBUYPOWER had colluded with figures within NetcodeGuides to throw the match in exchange for expensive skins.
The evidence was damning, and Valve subsequently released an article stating that all individuals involved with the throw would be banned from Valve events permanently. Their objective was clear; to send a clear message that Valve would not tolerate any match fixing within any of their games after previously appearing leniant to Dota 2 players for the match-fixing. As such, on January 26th, 2015 the following individuals were banned:
Duc “cud” Pham- Derek “dboorn” Boorn
- Casey Foster
- Sam “DaZeD” Marine
- Braxton “swag” Pierce
Keven “AZK” Larivière- Joshua “steel” Nissan
Following the Valve ban, the players were subsequently banned from CEVO, ESEA, ESL, and DreamHack, effectively ending their professional careers as without being able to attend any of CS:GO's most prominent events, and with their reputations ruined, no organization was going to be willing to take a chance on these players. At the time, many thought these players would fade in obscurity forever, all four of the iBP players, some more successfully than others have attempted to stay in the scene and these are their stories since the fateful day of their ban.
For DaZeD, around a year after his match fixing ban, he began working as a freelance commentator and analyst, most notably appearing during two seasons of the ESL Pro League, and almost ironically appearing at iBUYPOWER Masters 2016 as a commentator. swag on the other hand became a streamer for Cloud9, during which his fame as a skilled player grew, leading many to lament his ban. While acting as a streamer he also appeared during cs_summit 1 as a stand-in for Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham, helping the team to a fourth-place finish. steel continued to remain active as a player, however due to being banned from most events he only appeared occasionally at Fragadelphia and other smaller events. AZK on the other hand decided to leave CS:GO all-together having a semi successful career with Liquid during the early days of competitive Overwatch.
However, even though the majority of the players still were active on the periphery of the CS:GO scene, they all expressed a desire to return to competitive scene.
They would get their opportunity on July 24th, 2017 when tournament organizer and league operator ESL decided to unban all permanently banned players from before February 2015, this most notably included the ex-iBUYPOWER quartet. Following this, in early September, DreamHack also unbanned the ex-iBP players which gave them a route to redemption as they were now able to play in the majority of North American leagues and tournaments.
Following their ubanning from ESEA, DaZeD reassembled GX, a squad consisting of himself, AZK, and swag, and although steel was not invited to join, it was seen as an iBUYPOWER revival which elicited a large amount of excitement and support, especially for the return of "swag", who had gained a popular following through his talent on ESEA's Rank S service. The team would impress in their opening season, qualifying for the ESEA Season 26 Global Challenge, although DaZeD had notably "retired" from competitive CS:GO due to his faltering performance along with "motivation and drive" issues.
This is where DaZeD's involvement in CS:GO largely ends, however in 2018, he was briefly placed back in the spotlight due to his involvement with a suspect gambling website, where the odds were allegedly inflated in his favor. He would later apologize for this scandal, however besides a brief appearance on subtLe, DaZeD has largely disappeared from the public eye.
GX would eventually rename to Torqued and bring on steel, reuniting the player with AZK and swag. This would be ex-IBP's most successful time as a collective, during which they made appearances at cs_summit 2, the ESEA Season 27 Global Challenge, and DreamHack Open Tours 2018. However, after DreamHack Open Tours, the Torqued squad would break up, with AZK and swag moving ont the aptly named ex-Torqued. During this period AZK and swag would play together during Season 28 of the MDL before AZK entered a period of inactivity and swag left to join Swole Patrol.
During this ex-Torqued period, steel and the remaining players from the original Torqued lineup were signed by Ghost. This move would be a success for steel as with a new squad of young talents, steel's ability as an IGL flourished and he would help to lead Ghost to be the fourth best team in North America. During his tenure with Ghost, steel has notably lead Ghost to a fourth place finish at DreamHack Open Atlanta 2018. He has also been pivotal in victories over Na'Vi, OpTic, and Kinguin helping to recement him as a venerable North American IGL.
After joining Swole Patrol, swag would help the squad to qualify for the ESL Pro League, proving his worth as a star player and finally having the opportunity to assume a permanent slot on a top-level team, rather than just occasionally standing in on teams like Cloud9 and MIBR.
Although swag and steel have fully returned to competitive CS:GO and are integral parts of well respected teams, they are unlikely to ever be unbanned by Valve, and their ban will continue to serve as a reminder of the consequences of match fixing. On the other hand, their resilience and commitment to CS:GO can be also be seen an example to never give up, and how against adversity players can still rise from the ashes.
