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Deploying cheats in games has been a thing for longer than anyone cares to remember. And it seems that some can't let go of cheating because even in competitive gaming, also known as e-sports, some competitors have been caught circumventing the rules and doing so mid-tournament.

Forsaken

It doesn’t matter how skilled you are at something; even the best can often be tempted to cheat because the thought of failure doesn’t sit right. We’ve seen it for years, with techniques such as blackjack card counting as a prime example. Forsaken was undoubtedly one of the top Counter-Strike players around when he was caught out. During a 2018 tournament where he was competing for OpTic India, admins were suspicious of Forsaken's PC and, on further investigation, found he had a program installed under the guise of word.exe that was allowing him to cheat. OpTic India were kicked out of the tournament, and Forsaken was banned from competing for five years.

Cameron Jeffers

It may not be the first game that comes to mind when you think of e-sports, but e-cycling is a thing, and Cameron Jeffers was a guy who was tipped for greatness in the e-cycling arena. And it’s fair to say that he could more than hold his own without cheating. E-cycling works by players riding a stationary bike which then conveys what’s happening onto the screen. By 2019, Jeffers had racked up a few accolades in e-cycling, but it was in this year that he was stripped of them all, too, as he was using software that allowed him to gain a competitive edge over his rivals unfairly.

Azubu Frost

Azubu Frost was renowned for being one of the most prominent teams in the world of League of Legends. And, as a team, Azubu Frost, who hailed from South Korea, competed in global tournaments. It was at the beginning of the League of Legends Season Two World Championship Quarter Finals when things began to unravel for Azubu Frost, as they were caught using the big screen, rather than sticking to their monitors, to hone in on where rival team TSM, from North America, were positioned. The pings in the Fog of War by Azubu Frost proved their guilt, and they were handed a fine of $30,000 for viewing TSM's map unfairly.

KQLY

When you're talking about the best Counter-Strike players, there was a time when KQLY was very much in that conversation. You'll notice we're using past tense because even though KQLY was at the top of his game and competing as part of Titan, one of the leading e-sports organisations at the time, he decided that he needed to cheat to gain an edge. There were rumours that KQLY was a cheater and received his first ban in 2014. Anti-cheat software caught him out, and as a big name, it sent shockwaves through the scene, with more players being accused of cheating as a result.