Rocket coach Psycho: "I apologize to all the teams we’ve been playing against"

Over the past few days, Rocket has faced immense scrutiny following Damian "EMIYA" Boulware's second FACEIT ban. That ban disqualified the team from ESL Challenger League Season 47 and the ESL Challenger Melbourne Closed Qualifier, with breaths bated for PGL or Valve to speak up on Rocket's upcoming participation in the PGL Copenhagen Major Americas RMR.

However, soon after, Dust2.us became aware of Rocket's coach, Alexandr "Psycho" Zlobin, communicating with the team during the online Closed Qualifier. This is something expressly forbidden by Valve, with two Rocket players admitting that they had broken the rules.

Rocket has since communicated with PGL, voluntarily withdrawing from the Americas RMR.

Psycho, the coach at the center of this controversy, has now spoken about his participation in this breach of integrity in a post on X. Psycho corroborates what Ahmed "ayy" Mahmoud and Matthew "nero" Seymour told Dust2.us, that he had been in communication with Rocket during the first three matches of the RMR Closed Qualifier, apologizing for the breach and stating he did not immediately know it was against the rules. However, he also admitted he was ready to be punished for the breach of the rules nonetheless.

Furthermore, Psycho claims zero knowledge of EMIYA cheating, writing, "I oppose cheating in any form and condemn his act. I could never have thought that he cheated. It was unexpected for me as well as for everyone else in the team." Later on, he echoes the sentiments of ayy, feeling that the team do not deserve the Americas RMR spot.

PGL has not confirmed Rocket's replacement for the Americas RMR, which is set to begin on March 1st.