G2 Esports will start their next VALORANT Champions Tour game against Acend with one less map ban during the map veto process due to violating the VCT competitive rules “regarding use of in-game exploits,” Riot announced today.
G2 had an existing warning on their record from when their coach was issued an infraction for unauthorized communication in a match during the EMEA VCT Closed Qualifier One. Because of the prior infraction, this violation carries a harsher punishment.
The violation occurred during G2’s match against SuperMassive Blaze in the VCT EMEA Challengers week two. VCT hasn’t made it clear what exploit the team used, but using a bug in-game to intentionally create an advantage for their team is prohibited, according to rule 7.2.6.
As a result of the exploit, G2 will now start with a slight disadvantage in the next game since they’ll have one less map ban during the map selection portion of their match vs. Acend.
The reaction to the punishment on social media is a mixture of folks pointing to other times in which a ruling was issued on exploits and many people telling Riot to fix its game so that these exploits don’t exist.
This isn’t the first time the VCT has issued a competitive ruling on the exploitation of an in-game bug. During VALORANT Champions, a ruling was issued and then altered after Vivo Keyd used a well-known exploit during one of their matches against Acend.
