A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coach who was banned by the Esports Integrity Commision (ESIC) just days before the recent Antwerp Major took place has had sanctions lifted following the conclusion of the event. The coach’s name is Luis”Peacemaker” Tadeu, coach of Imperial, and his treatment has led to outrage and anger within the CSGO community. 

Prior to the CSGO Major in Belgium, three coaches were banned on the basis they have been allegedly caught using a slightly altered form of the ‘spectator bug’, with Peacemaker joined on the naughty list by Team Spirit’s Sergey "hally" Shavayev and 9z’s Rafael "zakk" Fernandes. The ‘spectator bug’ was a glitch in CSGO that allowed coaches, or anyone with access to a game, to log in as what was essentially an invisible camera and fly around the map, gaining information that could be passed to your team for an advantage.

Prior to the event and his ESIC ban, Peacemaker had publically been accused by Jaxon.gg of being one of the coaches that had cheated using the bug, with the news outlet’s Josse van Dessel writing that his sources had identified Peacemaker as a guilty party. The article even went as far as to link a video which they claim shows him abusing the bug, from his time at Heroic, and ironically against his current org Imperial.

Peacemaker clears his name

The situation became more complicated when Peacemaker posted on Twitter this week, saying his ban had been lifted due to arguments made on his behalf by his lawyer, one Luis Felipe Maia of Maia Yoshiyasu Advogados. In the statement he said ESIC commissioner Ian Smith had accepted his arguments, and went on to stress that he holds no grudges against the body for their work trying to clean up CSGO.

Peacemaker also shared a video, linked above, which analyses the round that had brought suspicion onto his name and was apparently crucial in getting him unbanned. All in all, his statement is one of thanks for ESIC dealing with his case so quickly, and understanding that the group is working to clean up a scene that has a significant problem with cheating and desperately needs help.

However, this didn’t stop the pitchforks from coming out, with members of the CS scene attempting to whip up outrage on Peacemaker’s behalf, and analyst Janko ‘Ynk’ Paunovic even suggesting he should look to sue ESIC. Some fans also claimed the ban was targeted at Peacemaker, and malicious in intent, which is not in any way supported by Peacemaker’s own words on the topic or his conduct since the story broke. 

ESIC’s investigative methods have been divisive before, and the group recently revealed they have plans to add massive extra capacity which should allow them to work more quickly and efficiently. With any luck that will assuage fears in the scene that ESIC are unable to fulfill their mission statement, and lead to more trust in the group going forward.