Title image courtesy of Alliance
Alliance's use of their strategic coach in-game has come under scrutiny, but is it fair to hold their advantage and success against them?
With Alliance's 2-1 win over Tundra Esports last night, the Swedish-based team has secured themselves a top 3 finish for the DPC 2021 Season 2 league and a spot at the second Major.
A time that should have been spent celebrating, was instead spent taking flak from some of their peers and the community.
Just ahead of their first series in week 5, Alliance released their latest vlog from week 4, when the team took a 2:1 loss against the Greek-led team Brame.
Within the content, it was clear that newly added strategic coach Peter ‘PPD’ Dager was in the team's communication channels, helping guide the team during the official matches.
The realization of such set off a firestorm across the community as the team was accused of either blatant cheating or abusing a loophole.
*gasp* How DARE you Alliance *gasp*
Easy. At the start of the DPC 2021 Season 2 league, the tournament organizers for the EU/CIS region had sent out an email to all participating teams that specifically stated
'Some updates compared to the previous season: We no longer have a rule that limits anyone, coach or otherwise, from interacting with the team during the live matches.'
Alliance did nothing wrong. In fact, they read their emails, confirmed it with the admins running the league, and then acted accordingly, bringing on board a strategic coach that would help them gain a competitive edge which is all not only fair play but well within competitive integrity.
So the focus shouldn't be heaped on Alliance for their season approach, but on other issues:
- Is it fair to have a coach in communication with the team during the official matches?
- Can ESL supersede or change rules made for a Valve-sponsored event, and especially if all of the other regions are not following the same ruleset?
- How should the information have been communicated to the teams?
The information regarding the rule change was part of a generally large email that not all of the teams took the time to read. It was not communicated separately in a tweet or official announcement and it was not updated in the rulebook 'as permitted' considering a rule as such should be more explicit.
As of now, PGL has confirmed to GosuGamers that they did not change the rules for SEA region and have no intention to do so at this point in time. That information has been also provided to the participating teams.
Going forward for the next season, the above questions need to be addressed with a heavier discussion involving all teams from across the regions on the use of the coaches in-game and then communicated and applied across the board.
There is 1.5 weeks left of the DPC 2021 Season 2 leagues and then on to the second (and last) Major of the year before TI10 kicks off in Stockholm, Sweden in August.
