The RLCS X was in uproar after a controversial admin decision led to Spacestation Gaming being punished unfairly. Psyonix was forced to step in and overrule the decision but still punished the player for his retaliation to the initial decision.
After Spacestation Gaming's Caden "Sypical" Pellegrin DC'd during OT, RLCS admins made an extremely controversial ruling that we break down.
RLCS Season X Spring Event 3 Results / Controversy
After a rather divided response to Psyonix announcing the end to Season X, the third Spring Event flew under the radar. The event was an upset fest where Oxygen Esports and Alpine impressed while G2 and FaZe disappointed. Sponsored by Lamborghini, this weekend awarded crucial points needed to qualify for the North American championship.
So when Spacestation Gaming player Sypical drove past the ball in a crucial game 3 OT, fans were quick to call foul on the RLCS admins for a lack of action. Admins have the ability to pause or rollback matches, but they decided that it was not necessary. Admins stated that Sypical was not able to make a play on the ball, and allowed the quick Envy score to stand. In a show of protest, Slater "retals" Thomas left game seven with two seconds on the clock.
Upon further investigation, RLCS concluded that Sypical's controller disconnected, but because he had started moving before his controller disconnected it seemed as if he was only experiencing high ping.
RLCS announces official response
Despite the communities initial reactions (more on that later), Psyonix announced a rather levelheaded response to the controversy. They disqualified retals from the first day of the North American Spring Major group stage for harassing RLCS admins and leaving early, and awarded Spacestation Gaming 70 additional RLCS Circuit points due to the incorrect call.
The additional points boosted SSG in the standings guaranteeing them a spot at the NA Championship. Psyonix acknowledged that they had handled the situation poorly and will be changing protocols for the future.
How the community reacted
The community has had an interesting reaction to the controversy. There was an outpouring of support for SSG and retals with numerous content creators offering to pay a potential fine (there was not one). Some fans highlighted retals behavior toward admins, but the majority felt the admins made the wrong call.
Overall, the community agreed that RLCS admins should do a better job in the future on making important calls that can affect livelihoods.
There were also some memes created at the expense of RLCS admins who initially stated that Sypical was unable to make a play on the ball.
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