- Two EG teams will participate in the same CS:GO event
- This caused a controversy in the community
- This is not the first time a similar situation has happened
A bizarre turn of events will see two Evil Geniuses CS:GO rosters attend Fragadelphia 17 in the United States, sparking concerns about conflict of interests.
The Situation Causes Controversy
Evil Geniuses is famous for having a stable presence in the CS:GO competitive scene. The organization has recently revealed that it will be sending multiple Counter-Strike rosters to attend Fragadelphia 17. The announcement was made by EG’s team manager on Twitter on August 5. He explained that the former Party Astronauts and Carpe Diem teams will attend the $100 000 event, with both representing EG.
Two teams representing the same organization at a single event is unusual, to say the least. In fact, the announcement stirred the CS:GO community, with many pointing at a potential conflict of interest at play. ATK’s coach Daniel “sprayxdCS” Kogan pointed out the fact that if both teams were to succeed throughout the tournament, the organization stands to win $60 000. He also said that if both teams end up facing each other, this is a conflict of interests.
Evil Geniuses’ head coach Muenster responded to Kogan, defending the tournament organizers’ decision to allow them to have two teams participate. He said that the case was discussed extensively with the organizers and that there is “absolutely zero chance of any foul play” between the teams.
This explanation was not enough for Kogan, who responded to muenster that the conflict of interest was still present and that the tournament organizers should not allow this. His words were echoed by other members of the CS:GO competitive community, like ATK’s Michael “Swisher” Schmid.
This Situation Has Happened Before
Although rare, this type of incident where two teams from the same organization participate in a single tournament is not unheard of in professional CS:GO. Most of the time, the casus has been in regards to allowing academy teams to participate in tournaments involving non-academy teams of the same organization. The ESL resolved this problem by banning academy Counter-Strike teams from participating in tournaments alongside their non-academy counterparts.
A similar controversy happened in 2018 when a former Brazilian SK squad when participated in a tournament with another Brazilian team, NTC. The problem was that both teams were in the middle of a player switch. This caused a stir in the community but the teams were eventually allowed to participate, however, the “academy team rule” was used in their decision-making process.
So far, Fragadelphia hasn’t changed its stance on the matter.
