G2 Esports Coach Apologizes For Unauthorized Communication, Let Off With a Warning

G2 Esports’ Valorant team has received a formal warning after their coach Daniil “pipsoN” Mesheryakov was caught communicating with the players outside of the designated tactical and timeout pauses, Riot Games announced.

During a match against Team Vitality in the EMEA VALORANT Champions Tour Closed Qualifier, G2’s coach Daniil “pipsoN” communicated with his team. The communication was made with the intention of “celebratory purposes,” this was later confirmed by pipsoN on Twitter.

https://t.co/PwdZJZsisz pic.twitter.com/K31RvDefOk

— pipsoN (@pipsoNgg) February 3, 2022

The coach apologized on Twitter following the ruling. “I’d like to clarify that this was unintentional and won’t happen again in the future,” he said. In a tweet, pipsoN apologized for his actions. He allegedly got “overexcited” at the time and “unmuted to react to a sick clutch.”

The team has received a warning because it did not result in a competitive advantage for G2, Riot said in a statement. While unintentional and said in the heat of the moment, pipsoN’s outburst violated Riot’s regulations on communication, leading to the warning from Riot Games. Tournament rules. 7.2.11 states that “communication by a player shall be limited to the other players on the team.”

North America’s T1 Coach was given a harsher punishment for similiar behavior. Head coach David “dd8” Denis was temporarily suspended after the team’s forced forfeit against TSM in the NA VCT Challengers Open Qualifier, which concluded on Jan. 31.

Coach “dd8” had provided “encouraging and supportive statements” as well as “general reminders” to his players. He had additionally called out “Help Sewers”, which was seen as informative, meaning it could give his team an unfair advantage and therefore resulted in a harsher punishment as compared to G2’s team.

The punishments meted out to both T1 and G2 eSports teams did little to deter other teams from also violating Riot’s communication rules.

While participating in VRL Spain RisingTeam Tournament on January 17, Team Movistar Riders were hit with a 3-Point deduction after their coach was caught sending “unauthorized communication during a match.” The team’s coach had provided “written tactical instructions” to players while a match was in progress. This type of communication is prohibited.

Competitive Ruling – Movistar Riders pic.twitter.com/jXn3k6lrJm

— VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA (@valesports_emea) February 3, 2022