Riot Games Forces T1 to Forfeit Valorant Champions Tour Match Against TSM

A T1 vs TSM match in the Valorant Champions Tour Open Qualifier 1 event was dragged into controversy after a T1 coach was caught providing instructions to his team during the middle of a match. All communication between teams and their coaches is prohibited during matches. If any communication needs to happen, a Tactical or Technical Pause needs to be called.

Riot Games’ ruling against T1

Riot Games ruled that T1 has violated section 7.2.11 of the Valorant Global Competition Policy and it will forfeit the January 29th match against TSM. The Valorant Champions Tour Open Qualifier 1 match has now been forfeited with TSM being awarded the win. This results in T1 being eliminated from the event.

Section 7.2.11 of the Valorant Global Competition Policy covers “Unauthorized Communications” and it states “During the match, communication by a player shall be limited to the players of the team.” All players and staff members are expected to abide by the rules od fair play that they agreed to uphold prior to participating in the tournament and T1’s coach broke the rule according to the ruling by Riot Games.

After the match, multiple TSM players pointed out that a T1 coach was typing and probably communicating with his players. TSM’s Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik called it a “6v5” matchup. The qualifiers are being hosted by NSG, who reported the incident to Riot Games immediately. The publisher conducted an investigation and found T1 guilty.

Even though T1 won the map during which communication was made between the players and the coach, TSM will be receiving a win after the forfeit. With T1 out of the competition, the team will now need to qualify for the NA Challengers event via the next Open Qualifier.

The North American wing of the Valorant Champions Tour commenced this month with teams currently participating in open qualifiers that will lead to the NA Challengers and international Masters events. With one opportunity down the drain for T1, the team will need to ensure such incidents do not happen if it wants to make it to the international stage later this year.