Hi everyone, Merlin here from Wave OCE.
As most of you know me from casting, you may be surprised that I am delivering this message today. However, behind the scenes alongside the Wave Team, I am a key advisor for when tricky situations arise.
As with recent events, we have taken extensive time to investigate and remedy the competitive situation involving Whaler Gaming NX and affected teams. Based on the information at hand, it is impossible for us to identify the methodology causing the "Red Screen" without Riot's investigation and input. However, it's apparent that something has happened for the "Red Screen" to be caused.
Taking into account all the advice received, information gathered, the Riot Games Esports Global Code of Conduct and the procedures outlined in the Tournament Rulebook, Player: Xun will be formally disqualified from Wave OCE Breakwater Open, pending further suspension and bans for future events. The match most recently played between Whaler Gaming NX and Balkan Tuah will be counted as a 2:0 forfeit in favour of Balkan Tuah.
In order to restore and maintain the highest level of competitive integrity. We will be re-running the games that Whaler Gaming NX won. For the games they lost, they did not affect the respective team's trajectory within the tournament, which is why we will forego re-running those games.
Team NORTHBOUND and CELESTIAL will be re-playing their BO3 against Whaler Gaming NX between now and the 19th of September. The bracket is as follows.
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Match 1 : NORTHBOUND vs Whaler Gaming NX
Match 2 : CELESTIAL vs Winner of M1
M2 Winner is allotted respective slot in LCQ.
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It is understandable that the sentiment is that Whaler Gaming NX should be completely DQ'd. We have considered this an option during our investigation, but we simply do not have enough evidence to back a complete team disqualification at this time. With this being said, we will be monitoring all teams matches with a greater focus moving forward and will look to implement stricter regulations in the future.
The final thing I'd like to raise is quite personal to me. TJ and I have been a part of the community, working tirelessly in hopes to bring to light the passion and talent within OCE. To see abuse being thrown so easily towards our staff members & other players, breaks our hearts and demotivates us.
We're ALL volunteers, we don't get a single cent for this, nor do we receive any consolation when things don't work out perfectly. We aren't snowflakes, we can take banter, but in stressful situations where the whole team is frantically trying to figure out what is happening, berating us does not help us do our jobs faster. Moving forward, we will endeavour to be more transparent and better in communication with players. We missed the mark on this during the live handling of the situation and will look to be better.
All I ask moving forward, is your cooperation as a player, coach, manager or friend, to be patient with us, while we also try to figure out what is happening. We will continue to put all our efforts into bringing you the best tournaments we can, along with the best broadcasts possible for our region.
We aren't perfect, and we're still learning new things as we go about this journey alongside you all. I appreciate your time reading this, and I hope this resolution to the situation brings about new competitive spirit and better sportsmanship.
Merlin Out.
