MIBR, Hard Legion replaced in IEM New York following RMR points reset

The two teams will not be able to compete in the next RMR tournament after their now-former coaches exploited the spectator bug.

ESL has announced that MIBR and Hard Legion are no longer eligible to compete in the upcoming IEM New York tournament in North America and in the CIS, respectively. This comes after both teams had their Regional Major Ranking (RMR) points reset due to their now-former coaches using the spectator bug for competitive advantage in Valve-sanctioned tournaments.

MIBR will be replaced by Chaos, the next team in line in the North American RMR standings, while Hard Legion will be replaced by the winner of a tiebreaker match between Invictus International and HellRaisers, the teams that finished 5th-6th in the CIS closed qualifier.

MIBR's spot in the RMR tournament goes to Chaos

Ricardo "⁠dead⁠" Sinigaglia was caught using the spectator bug while coaching MIBR in both ESL One: Road to Rio - North America and cs_summit 6. The Brazilan coach, who was released earlier this month along with players Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga and Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo, is currently serving a six-month ban by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) and will not be allowed to play or coach at the next two events hosted by Beyond the Summit.

Aleksandr "⁠zoneR⁠" Bogatiryev is banned from all ESIC member events until September 2022 after using the bug on six maps across three different matches in ESL One: Road to Rio - CIS, but it is alleged that he also used it on five more maps in Home Sweet Home Cups. He was released by Hard Legion the day after the scandal broke.

Meanwhile, ESL has announced that Swole Patrol, Yeah and Gen.G have all decided against participating in IEM New York due to roster issues that arose only after the roster submission deadline. RBG and Rebirth have been invited to the tournament as the next two eligible teams from the closed qualifier, with the name of the team taking the third and final spot expected to be revealed soon.

Swole Patrol and Yeah had already announced that they would not be taking part in the tournament due to being unable to field their recent additions, Maxim "⁠wippie⁠" Shepelev and Michael "⁠Swisher⁠" Schmid, respectively. This was the final blow for the North American team, whose players decided to go their separate ways last week. Gen.G are still in the market for a new fifth player after releasing Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele, who had been the team's in-game leader since the organisation entered CS:GO, in December 2019.

IEM New York will run from October 6-18 in North America and from October 13-25 in the CIS, with $110,000 up for grabs across the two tournaments. The winner of the North American division will earn a spot at the IEM Global Challenge, the $500,000 LAN event that ESL plans to host in Cologne from December 15-20.

The team list for the two tournaments is the following:

North America:

Evil Geniuses
Liquid
Cloud9
Triumph
RBG
New England Whalers

100 Thieves
FURIA
Chaos
TeamOne
Rebirth
TBD

CIS

Spirit
Natus Vincere
Virtus.pro
Nemiga
K23
ETHEREAL

Winstrike
Gambit Youngsters
Espada
FORZE
Cyber Legacy
Unknown flag cis Tiebreaker winner