Riot Games bans Shitouren from competitive TFT: We made a mistake

Riot Games is temporarily banning Cao "Shitouren" Liang from competitive Teamfight Tactics after a follow-up investigation was conducted, which found him guilty of win trading in the Into The Arcane Tactician's Crown.

Michael "Riot Sherman" Sherman, Director of Esports Product Management for Teamfight Tactics, explained to the playerbase the circumstances of their initial ruling and how Shitouren was eventually penalized for his intentional poor performance in the recently concluded Into The Arcane Tactician's Crown.

Sherman says, "We rushed a call, and we made a mistake. We want to make sure we own up to that." Riot's initial ruling on Shitouren was that his losses were not intentional, absolved him of any suspicion, and did not penalize him.

Shitouren's questionable decisions "wasn't enough to indicate intentional underperformance at the time," says Sherman. However, according to him, new data, footage, and information have come in since then, which led to this updated ruling.

The video included clips from Shitouren's gameplay during the Into The Arcane Tactician's Crown, and a specific moment where he was intentionally making his board weaker was called out. This was in Stage 5-2 of game 13, where he chose not to complete the two-star Gangplank that was available in his shop. Upon questioning, Shitouren said that he was scouting during this time, but Riot pointed out that this scouting did not result in any changes to his board. Simply put, he had the time and economy to buy Gangplank and made a conscious decision not to do it.

"The ruling has now been updated to reflect a finding of intentional underperformance," Sherman says. But they found no evidence of any direct coordination or collusion between Shitouren and any other player. Again, in simpler terms, Shitouren was found guilty of inting himself, but not win-trading. His punishment? Shitouren is suspended from any Riot-sanctioned Teamfight Tactics competitions during Set 14, until July 14, 2025. Additionally, his prize from the Tactician's Crown will be revoked.

The video also included an update on what measures are being put in place to prevent similarly rushed rulings in the future. Sherman says that they intend to protect competitive integrity in the future. The focus will be on education, prevention, and enforcement.

This comes in the form of materials provided to players regarding general guidelines, changes to the Tactician's Crown format, and high-level experts watching players in-game.

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