Competitive Ruling: NerdRage
On Saturday 19th June, NerdRage competed against NOX Esports while fielding a substitute player “LEZ GEDDIT”, henceforth “Aboody”, in place of Gaaloul, who was unavailable due to illness. The substitute player was submitted prior to the required deadlines and all details that were necessary were also submitted. We believed at the time that everything had been done above board and in good faith, however we have found evidence to suggest this is not the case.
After several community members raised concerns regarding the identity of the player, it was found that the player had a main account which was both significantly higher in rank and with vastly different champions played, under the name Wahid. Additionally, upon further investigation of the player’s op.gg the account “LEZ GEDDIT” had showed signs of account sharing due to a sudden change in which slots certain summoner spells were placed, the change also aligns with when the player was asked to play for NerdRage. Similarly, it was noted that the champion pool changed drastically with the changing of summoner spells which adds further weight to the account sharing idea.
For this, the player will be suspended until further notice, pending further investigation as to whether account sharing has taken place. As a reminder, this goes against Riot Games’ Terms of Service and therefore we must uphold their rules.
Messages from the NerdRage Discord server confirm that staff and players were aware of Aboody’s main LoL account, with players even asking if this had been submitted to the UKEL to which they were told that an alternate account had been submitted. Additionally, Aboody used an alternate Discord account to join the UKEL server for the match. We have confirmed these accounts are different due to having found the player’s Twitter (something which should have also been submitted to UKEL staff upon request for the substitute to be approved), where his Discord username and link to his main LoL account were listed in his bio. It is our belief that the player’s Twitter and main Discord account were intentionally withheld to gain an advantage in the match against NOX Esports, as had we had this information, we would clearly have noticed the player was not on his main account. Not only has this affected the competitive integrity of the match and given NOX an unfair chance at scouting, but NerdRage have intentionally mislead UKEL staff, which under our sanctions is punishable by a tournament ban for the organisation.
The organisation has also not conducted itself in the professional manner via social media that we would expect of a team participating in the UKEL.
On top of all this, NerdRage are currently on probation for events which happened during the off-season between Spring and Summer, for which they were warned that if further incidents occur then their place in the league would be in serious jeopardy.
Given all the evidence seen by the UKEL and its staff, we have no choice but to announce the immediate removal of NerdRage from the UKEL 2021 Summer Split. The player’s will be allowed to continue for the rest of the split without an organisation until they find a suitable replacement organisation, for which the UKEL will provide full support for. A rematch will also be offered to NOX Esports, should they wish to take it.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out to us in the last few days, we hope you understand the decision and why we have come to it.
-Alex (Ops Director)
