100 Thieves fined $5,000 after delaying tournament

100 Thieves has been fined $5,000 after delaying the Upper Bracket match against Immortals at the Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 1 Masters.

A dispute over player connection ping delayed the start of the Upper Bracket Quarterfinal match between Immortals and 100 Thieves by one hour. With offline tournaments, player connection ping is extremely important for competitive integrity. Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, currently on loan with Sentinels, attributed his initial departure from the scene to ping issues. The lack of offline tournaments has forced some players to compete professionally from outside locations.

To deal with this,100 Thieves have flown their roster to Los Angeles California to ensure that all players are playing on the same ping during tournaments. They did the same thing in December for the First Strike event where they claimed victory over Sentinels. For the Stage 1 Masters event, all members of 100 Thieves re-gathered to Los Angeles to ensure the best connection. Despite them all being on the same server, the argument continued.

100 Thieves coach put on probation after comments to Riot Games officials

The dispute saw 100 Thieves players enter the in-game practice range to prevent the tournament officials from initiating the game. Custom lobbies can only be started if all players are waiting in the queue. This initiated an argument between the tournament officials, players, and the 100 Thieves coach Hector “FrosT” Rosario.

According to Riot Games, FrosT refused to accept the decision from the tournament official and treated them in an unprofessional manner. Additionally, FrosT threatened the tournament organizer after being reminded that failing to start the game could result in possible disqualification. FrosT allegedly used the players’ and organizations’ social media presence to threaten both Riot Games and the tournament officials. Due to the unprofessionalism of FrosT, Riot Games is placing him on competitive probation. This will last for the duration of the 2021 Valorant Champions Tour. While Riot Games did not specify, FrosT could be banned from coaching completely if he makes another mistake.