Some months ago, SK Gaming's Editor in Chief, Michal 'Carmac' Blicharz, rhetorically asked "Why do we have rules?" as the MYM.cs-team was rejected the chance to defend their ESWC champions title. In the weekend the management and players of Virtus.Pro could have been entitled to ask that very question, as they were denied the chance to participate in their local ESWC-qualification.

The problem rose as Virtus.Pro, tried to enter the Ukrainian ESWC-qualification. After recently adding Mykhailo 'kane' Blagin, the former all-Russian team now had an overweight of Ukrainian players in the lineup, thus allowing them to participate in the Ukrainian ESWC-qualification.

According to GoodGame.ru (via SK-Gaming), the team was denied participation in the qualifier though, as the organizers wanted a local team to win the slot. Claiming that 'Virtus.Pro was a Russian project' and thus not eligible of participating in another country's qualifier, the Ukrainian organizers put themselves over the very rules that the ESWC-organization had issued for the preliminaries.

Facing the risk of missing the Grand Finals in San Jose later this summer, VP agreed to change the team-name to pro100 and were allowed to participate. Eventually the team won the tournament, thus qualifying as the Ukrainian representative at the ESWC Grand Finals in August.

With the qualifier finally resolved, one major question remains: Why did the ESWC comittee not interfere?

Virtus was eligible to compete

Rule 19 in the ESWC GENERAL REGULATIONS clearly says that:

There is no doubt that Virtus.Pro was eligible of participating in the Ukrainian qualification. Fielding a lineup consisting of three Ukrainian players; kane, Zeus and Edward, should have been enough for the local organizers to accept their participation.

ESWC is laying low

If you compare this case to the one where MYM.cs was rejected a title-defense this summer, the ESWC comittee has been very quiet. Even though the controversy surrounded the official rules, there has been no official interaction from the ESWC comittee. There has been no official help to a Virtus.Pro-team which had the rules on its side, and there has been no official reprimand to the Ukranian organizers.

To me, it seems a little odd. While one of the main arguments for denying MYM.cs their title-defense was that the ESWC wanted to protect the organizations that paid the expenses for the champions, this fact was totally ignored here. The sponsors of Virtus.Pro relies on that the team they support, is getting attention when the players are participating in tournaments. In this case, Intel got nothing out of their sponsorship of Virtus.Pro, as it was actually pro100 that won the qualification.

The case is NOT closed

And while the ESWC comittee might have hoped for the controversy to die out, it is bound to flare up when we get closer to the Grand Finals. As the Ukranian organizers managed to get Virtus.Pro to change their name for the preliminary qualification, they will most likely also demand that the team plays as pro100 and under a Ukranian flag in San Jose. On the other hand, Virtus will have the rules on their side when they claim that they were unrightfully forced to change the name.

While I see no reason why Virtus shouldn't play under a Ukranian flag; by ESWC's definitions they are in fact a Ukranian team, I would at no point expect them to play as pro100 in the Grand Finals. VP was taken hostage by headstrong organizers that decided to overrule the official rules. Why should they - or their sponsors - be punished for that?

ESWC is the biggest loser

The biggest loser in this game is the ESWC, who failed to interfere and avoid what has become an embarrassing showcase of the lack control they have. Whether the ESWC manages to avoid a name-farce at the Grand Finals is not known, but no matter how they work their way around it, this incident has shown the National Partners of ESWC that they can manipulate the rules to their own benefit.

If the ESWC wants to avoid falling in the same trap as CPL, losing its integrity and thereby its sponsors and community-support, they need to stay in control of things. Even if they are lost in translation.