5 most infamous cheaters in Esports history

Cheating to get ahead of others is a very common thing in life, and it is the same for online games. Cheaters are a regular in online PvP games and are the reason for anti-cheats to exist. However, many do slip through the cracks.

While these activities are rare in professional esports, they do pop up from time to time and have caused huge controversies. Cheating is done in various forms, straight hacking, using exploits or match-fixing. Today we will look at the top five cheaters in esports titles who shook the entire esports community.

5. Forsaken

Arguably the most notorious cheater that single-handedly suppressed India’s chances of expanding into international esports. Nikhil “forsaken” Kumawat was caught red-handed at the eXTREMESLAND 2018 Finals using aim hacks.

The team was sponsored by Optic which was the first esports organization to expand into India. After the incident, the team was disbanded and forsaken was banned from competing in any Valve tournament. He also gave birth to one of the infamous memes of word.exe which is now used to describe any cheater in Counter-Strike.

4. Azubu Frost

In an official League of Legends world championship match, Korean team Azubu Frost tried to be sneaky against their opponents. In a match against Team SoloMid, Azubu Frost players were spotted glancing at their opponents' screens indirectly.

The screens that displayed the match for viewers were quite open, giving Azubu Frost a good view of their opponent’s strategy. Knowing what the opponent is going to do gives people a great advantage in MOBAs. The team was eventually found guilty and fined $30,000. The roster was ultimately disbanded.

This incident also came as a warning call for event organizers. After that, they started putting measures to prevent this type of incident from occurring again.

3. Emilio’s live VAC ban

Cheaters getting banned is satisfying, however, getting banned during a live match is even more hilarious. In a Fragbite Masters tournament against Hellraisers in 2014, Joel “Emilio” Mako was banned during the broadcast.

His player was suddenly kicked out after what people were calling a ban wave from Valve Anti-Cheat. While Emilio claimed that he was not cheating, it is well-known that bans usually come in waves that could be months after detection. A VAC ban also means he can’t play in any Valve event.

In his recent attempt in a Major Qualifier, his entire team was disqualified during the match. Many players supported the move by Valve, saying that the company should not make an exception for any cheater, even after years.

2. Life’s match-fixing

Retired StarCraft II pro, Lee “Life” Seung-Hyun was a popular name in the StarCraft community. Considering he got into the esports scene at the age of 14, he was very talented for his age. He had several titles to his name before he was accused of match-fixing in 2016.

During an investigation, Life was accused of being involved in match-fixing, which amounts to cheating in esports. His accusations were later confirmed, and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison with a fine of KRW 70 million. Many believe that StarCraft esports wasn’t that profitable, resulting in the pro taking this step.

1. FaZe Jarvis

Jarvis Khattri was a popular Fortnite player who was foolish enough to test out cheats on an alternate account, calling it an experiment. Epic Games on the other hand did not appreciate his experiment and he was permanently banned from the game.

We’re talking about a complete ban and not just his account. Every time he tried to make a new account, he was banned in a matter of hours. Despite constantly apologizing to Epic Games, the player is still banned from playing the game.