Shernfire returns to Australia as Riot competitive ruling looms

One of Oceania’s best up-and-coming players is having his American sojourn cut short after getting banned for elo boosting.

The jungler for North American Challenger side Vortex, Shern “Shernfire” Tai, has left the Team Coast gaming house and returned to his home in Australia, sources close to the organizations tell the Daily Dot. Tai has reportedly been banned by Riot Games from competitive play until 2016. Riot North America intends to release a ruling regarding his ban shortly.

In early May, Riot Games Oceania denied Tai entry to play with the team Dire Wolves in the Oceania Pro League, allegedly for elo boosting via account sharing.

Tai has been scrimmaging with Vortex over the past month, and the team intended to field him on a starting roster until Riot notified them that he would be ineligible to play.

Elo boosting is when a player shares his or her login information with someone else, often of higher skill, with the hope of jumping up the rankings. Riot bans it for obvious reasons: It compromises the integrity of the competitive ladder.

Tai is hardly the first pro to get banned for for the practice. Fellow Oceania player Sam “Paws” Poursinal was suspended for elo boosting on Jan. 31. And two years ago in North America, a number of well-known professional players—including William “Meteos” Hartman, Jake “Xmithie” Puchero, Zacqueri “Aphromoo” Black, Brandon “Dontmashme” Phan—faced account suspensions for elo boosting, as well.

Update July 7,12pm CT: Riot Games Oceania has released its ruling on Tai. The company alleges that the player participated in elo boosting over the past 18 months, and confirms that he was barred from playing with an ‘Oceania pro teams’—the Dire Wolves. He is banned for the remainder of the 2015 season.