Estral Esports Banned From R6 For Throwing Matches
Estral Esports was on the way to qualifying for the R6 Invitational but sadly were banned for match-fixing/throwing. An investigation by Ubisoft has determined it was a cover-up that goes all the way to the top. One of the players, Oscar “Toski” Sepulveda was banned for nine months, for player poaching. However, the real threat is from Estral Esports, where they tried to cover up an incident of match-fixing during the Mexican Championship. What do we know, and who is being punished?
The Cover Up
While dealing with Toski’s player poaching, Ubisoft was already looking into a case with Estral Esports. Their player “Fungi” was accused of throwing a match against Infinity Esports, during the final split of the Mexican Championship 2020. Estral Esports was so close to making it to the big stage, but this cheating has put an absolute halt to that. What’s worse, there is evidence showing Estral Esports coordinated the conduct in the first place, and tried to hide the match-fixing from Ubisoft.
This was done to avoid a sanction, but it ultimately led to punishment anyway. In this case, Ubisoft had this to say in their ruling:
Estral Esports, the Mexican org that almost qualified for Six Invitational 2021, has been permanently banned from participating in Rainbow 6 esports. An investigation by Ubisoft found that Estral was guilty of match fixing during the last split of the Mexican Championship.
— Parker Mackay (@INTERRO) March 9, 2021
“With this information now confirmed, the previous league sanction against Estral Esports player “Fungi” for not competing to the maximum extent of a team’s abilities during said game withstands, but through this reevaluation period has now been extended to the organization and increased in light of these aggravating circumstances.”
This all began because of Toski, who is a former player for Estral Esports, and it all culminated in the org being banned from R6 indefinitely. Since this infraction was at an institutional level, the entire organization has been permanently banned from R6 – no Estral Esports ever again. It’s unfortunate, because they were on the right track, making second place in the SI 2021 LAT Qualifiers.
Toski will be able to compete again in 2022, at least. However, Estral’s board of directors, main managers from and the whole of the org will be unable to take part in R6 esports. While the players did participate in this farce, Estral Esports used their power over them to coordinate all of this. It sounds like they were forced into the position they were in.
For this reason, Competitive staff and players – Xigmaz, Pixie, SKmzy, Goku, and Max1mus will get a warning. However, a severe sanction and/or financial fine will come from future infractions. At least the players can still make a comeback from this. It’s good news for them, but this whole incident really puts the scene in a bad light. While Estral Esports is banned from R6, the players can try and make good, and prove that they’re above this kind of match-fixing. The people in charge are the real villains of the piece, using their money and sway to put players in a bad spot.
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