BetBoom Team captain Vladislav "nafany" Gorshkov shared his thoughts on Joel "joel" Holmlund's ban and the broader issue of cheating in the professional Counter-Strike 2 scene. The Russian esports player expressed his views on his personal Telegram channel.
"I wanted to share a few thoughts about joel's ban and the topic of cheating in general. Those who have played with me, both in the past and now, know that I rarely suspect anyone of cheating. However, over the last year, playing on the tier-2/tier-3 scene has become nearly impossible without encountering 'suspicious' teams or players in open and closed qualifiers.
I can't speak for everyone, but at least in my circle of pro players, the same names and team tags frequently appear. These teams often play on HLTV, advance through open, and sometimes even closed qualifiers, and end up ruining people's careers. I can't draw any conclusion from this other than to say it's just unfair, and those who engage in such behaviour are complete scumbags. Don’t be scumbags."
Joel was banned by the Akros anti-cheat during an official match against B8 in the online tournament CCT Season 2 Europe Series 7. The organisers disqualified the team from the championship. Shortly after, the BC.Game roster was suspended from participating in two more competitions, and the club moved the Swedish player to the bench.