Maelstorm Accuses Organizers of Double Standards: Azure Ray Punishment Causes Scandal
At the Clavision Snow Ruyi Invitational tournament held in China, the Azure Ray team found itself at the center of a scandal due to a rule violation. One of the team’s players made a gross mistake: during the draft stage of the first map, he turned on a PUBG game stream. The tournament organizers punished the team, but limited themselves to minimal measures: during the draft of the next map, the opponents received an advantage in the form of 70 additional seconds. This episode caused a heated discussion in the community, and the famous analyst and commentator Vladimir Kuzminov, better known under the nickname Maelstorm, shared his opinion. On his Telegram platform, Kuzminov expressed bewilderment at such a lenient punishment. According to him, the approach to punishment for the same or similar violations at different tournaments shows a serious discrepancy in the rules and their application. This was especially evident in comparison with another incident – the case with the BetBoom Team at The Bali Major.
Parallels with the situation at The Bali Major
At the tournament in Indonesia, BetBoom Team player Ivan “Pure~” Moskalenko turned on the broadcast of his own game during a break between maps of the match against the same Azure Ray. The reaction of the organizers was extremely harsh: the team received a technical defeat, and Moskalenko himself was disqualified for the next match. According to Maelstorm, such a harsh punishment in the situation with BetBoom Team looked excessive, especially in the context of the recent incident with Azure Ray.
“Back then, in Indonesia, it was Azure Ray who raised a fuss about what happened. The organizers, succumbing to their pressure, punished BetBoom. Now, when Azure Ray themselves became the violators, the punishment looks formal and even mocking,” Kuzminov notes.
He also recalled that in the case of Moskalenko, the broadcast could not give him or his team an advantage, since a completely different game was shown during the stream, unrelated to the current match. Moreover, the violation was committed during an official pause, when players have the right to leave their playing areas. In fact, this action could not have had any impact on the course of the meeting. However, the organizers met the demands of Azure Ray and issued a harsh verdict regarding BetBoom Team.
Maelstorm called the situation around Azure Ray a clear example of double standards. He is convinced that such incidents are unacceptable at tournaments of this level. “The organizers of The Bali Major screwed up then and should not only have fined BetBoom Team so heavily, but also generally followed the lead of the interested party,” he said. Kuzminov added that such a soft attitude towards Azure Ray may be related to their current status and influence in the Asian region. However, in his opinion, the reputation of the organizers and the trust of viewers in the honesty of the tournament are more important than the short-term interests of individual teams.
