West Point Esports' (WPE) academy team was disqualified in a Philippines League of Legends (LoL) community tournament due to the use of emote.
The community tournament named SAURNAMENT was hosted by famous Filipino streamer Suzzysaur. It is part of Liga Republika's Community Serye for June 2024, which serves as an off-season tournament prior to the main event, Liga Republika (formerly Empyrean Cup), which is scheduled to start on July 2024. These LoL streamers-organized community tournaments feature a combined PHP 250K prize pool.
The West Point Academy team was promptly disqualified from the SAURNAMENT after their jungler, Joshua "Devoured" Escucharo / FE Kaichou (on Camille), used an emote after securing first blood against VA Defile (on K'Sante), who is a player of Daedalus team. The VA acronym in the in-game name of Defile means Viridis Arcus, the esports organization of De La Salle University (DLSU). However, note that Defile is not playing for Viridis Arcus in this competition.
For those unaware, emote is an in-game feature of League of Legends, which shows a pop-up of an expressive image above a champion's Health Bar for 3 seconds.
The emote usage by FE Kaichou was unintentional, as the champion would automatically pop up an emote after getting the first blood, provided the emote was assigned in the settings. The use of emotes, including the automated ones, was prohibited by the tournament's rules, resulting in an instant ban.
Under the tournament rule's section, "the following actions may result in disqualification," it states that "it is required by the Tournament Marshals to have all badges and emotes disabled, including those that pop up automatically in certain situations (First Bloods, Aces, Victory, etc)."
The video clip of the match has gone viral, showing that the game was immediately paused after the emote appeared on West Point Academy's FE Kaichou and that team Daedalus immediately requested disqualification.
The Filipino League of Legends community reacted negatively to the competition and its organizers.
Although West Point Esports acknowledged the disqualification as an official sanction by the organizers, they went on to disclose that their opponents had utilized emote mid-game as well, opting not to counter-report.
West Point Esports (WPE) stated in a Facebook post:
While we are disappointed with the decision to disqualify our academy team due to an unintentional emote by one of our players, Devoured, we respect that rules are rules. Whatever those rules might be.
In the comments, WPE added:
Our opponents also used emotes in the middle of the game, but we chose not to file a counter-report on this. We may have different [opinions] on how we win, [but] we will respect yours. As for WPE, we have always, and will always, choose the honorable path [of] winning, and that is by playing the game itself.
Meanwhile, the issue has been taken up by Suzzysaur, who claims that the teams were repeatedly reminded of the rules and regulations before the tournament. According to her, three teams were disqualified, and it had everything to do with emote usage and other reasons.
Suzzysaur commented in a video she posted on Facebook.
It was never my intention to spread in a bad way the [LoL community]. I'm sorry again for making all of you guys worry about the community, and will improve our rules and implementation next time. A lot needs to be addressed and improved. Thank you for what you see that I don't see.
The LaSallian, the official student publication of De La Salle University, released a statement regarding the issue:
VA clarifies that Defile and the rest of Daedalus did not immediately disconnect after a Fantasy Esports player used an emote, which was against the rules. Instead, they discussed the case with the marshals and declined when offered to return to the match.
In a separate statement, Viridis Arcus Esports said:
The organization would like to clarify that Viridis Arcus Esports did not participate in SuzzySaur's Saurnament held last Saturday, June 1, 2024. Two of our League of Legends players (Defile and Eternal) competed under another team, Daedalus.
This is the statement of Viridis Arcus Esports in response to the backlash of their two LoL players:
We stand by Defile and his choice [to reinforce] the rules stipulated in the rulebook. Our teams continuously strive to uphold the [principles] of fair competition, integrity, respect, and positive sportsmanship throughout all their tournaments. We believe that all esports teams must adhere to the rules given by the tournament organizers. Any negative remarks aimed at undermining their hard-earned accomplishments will not be tolerated.
Featured image credits: League of Legends Philippines/Facebook
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