New Cheating accusations in Hearthstone Battlegrounds. Sniping and win-trading before the second $50K Lobby Legends event?

Hours before the end of the Hearthstone Battleground season, players are once again worried about a new cheating scandal. With monthly invites to the $50,000 Lobby Legends event on the line, suspicions arise of collusion and stream sniping. What are the accusations, and what are the facts?

Ixxdeee, top-level Hearthstone Battlegrounds player and streamer open the door of a new cheating scandal. In a tweet, he exposes three different accounts that he says are continuously sniping him. Furthermore, Ixxdeee claims that these same accounts are conceding to other Hearthstone Battlegrounds leaderboard players engaging in win-trade cheating.

Furthermore, the accounts seem to have edited some game files to skip the emote cooldown. Despite this not giving an actual advantage in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, tampering with game files is considered cheating by Blizzard TOS.

Within 24hrs, Abar, Hearthstone Esports Product Manager confirmed that the three accounts supposedly engaging in stream sniping and win-trading were banned. This is a fast response to calm down players who feel that they can’t compete if they are exposing themselves by streaming and creating content.

Advo, one of the players competing this weekend in the first Hearthstone Battlegrounds Lobby Legends event, was also accused of cheating. The suspicions began when Advo’s smurf account, named Advocate, was allegedly playing in the same lobby as his main account.

This was reported by a player showing screenshots. However, the accusations are still under debate. First of all, this happened while Advo was on stream, which will make no sense if his intention was cheating. Furthermore, there are rumors that someone wants to frame Advo in this Hearthstone Battlegrounds cheating scandal.

RDU, former Hearthstone Grandmasters, and Top-10 EU Battlegrounds player explained on stream this delicate situation:

Blizzard will check the situation and investigate whether it was cheating or just someone trying to maliciously frame Advo. While this might sound wierd, other streamers and top players have said that they frequently run into opponents with the same or similar Battletags that them.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that those accounts are either sniping them or conceding to the streamers. However, they create an uncomfortable situation in which the streamer can’t do much about.

While Blizzard doesn’t discuss ongoing investigations, and most of the time doesn’t comment on bans or suspensions, we have seen them acting swiftly in prior cheating cases. With Hearthstone Battlegrounds having competitive events and prizes on the line, we may see more cheating attempts.

It is hard to control every variable and cheating option in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, as it is in any game. During Lobby Legends qualifiers, Hearthstone Esports issued a strict guideline covering most of the aspects to prevent any cheating. Moreover, the team is willing to investigate any suspicious activity reported.

Battlegrounds is taking its first steps in Hearthstone’s competitive scene, and while we all would prefer that cheating wasn’t an option, we must understand that the team is still figuring out the best way to approach each case.

If you want to catch the action this weekend, check our article with all the details about the Lobby Legends: Raid Leaders event. Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news and updates. See you next time, in Bob's tavern.