Senior Global Franchise Lead for Hearthstone esports, Sam Braithwaite, has published a post on reddit regarding the recent controversy around Roger, Taiwanese Hearthstone player, currently playing for ahq e-Sports Club. If you have missed it, the player was part of two separate incidents that involved cheating. First – he was found win-trading on the ladder (it was nothing major, but still), and later his team was caught watching the delayed stream while playing during Hearthstone Global Games. Despite breaking the rules twice, he was never punished, and Blizzard has let him play in the HCT Winter Championship, where he earned a spot in Hearthstone World Championship.
You can read the entire PR statement below, but to summarize it, Blizzard will look to enforce the rules better in the upcoming competitive season, and will hold players to even higher standards, but Roger will still be able to participate in HCT World Championship, because he earned his spot there fairly despite the previous incidents. To punish him for them, however, he will not be invited to Hearthstone Grandmasters in the upcoming competitive year, which is the highest level tournament with the best of pro players.
Hi all – Sam Braithwaite, Senior Global Franchise Lead for Hearthstone esports here. As we prepare for the 2019 HCT World Championship, I wanted to take the opportunity to address the community’s feedback about one of our professional players, Luo “Roger” Shengyuan, who recently won the HCT Winter Championship.
In Oct. 2018, during the Hearthstone Global Games, we discovered that team Chinese Taipei, which included Roger, tom60229, Shaxy, and Reall had violated the rules to gain a competitive advantage. In response, we administered the penalty outlined in the rules at the time, and disqualified team Chinese Taipei from the competition.
But previously, in April 2018, allegations of Roger and Reall participating in win-trading had surfaced. After an investigation, we discovered their involvement in the incident but did not issue any official warning in response to their rule violation due to an internal miscommunication.
We now realize that our previous rules around these scenarios and our enforcement of them did not meet the standards of our community. We take full responsibility for this. Moving forward, we will be reevaluating our rules for the 2019 season and are committed not only to improving, but also to being more transparent about the way we administer warnings, penalties, and rulings.
Our failure should not diminish Roger’s accomplishments. He earned his championship at HCT Winter and his spot at the upcoming HCT 2019 World Championship on his own merit and in compliance with the official HCT competition ruleset.
While Roger and Reall may still compete in Hearthstone Masters Qualifiers and Masters Tour events, due to having two rule violations last year, they will not be invited to the inaugural year of Hearthstone Grandmasters. Grandmasters will be the highest level of competitive Hearthstone, and its competitors will be held to higher standards, not just in performance, but also in conduct.
Thank you for all your feedback, your support, your patience, and understanding. Hearthstone esports wouldn’t be what it is without you, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts as we prepare to embark on a new chapter of Hearthstone esports in just a few short months.
