CS:GO PGL Antwerp Major: Valve patches smoke grenade bug after two months
Valve has patched a highly controversial smoke grenade bug that allowed players to see through the fog. The bug was discovered two months ahead of the PGL Major Antwerp but PGL strangely allowed players to use the game-breaking bug on May 15. What followed was professional players bonded in an unwritten rule to not exploit such a feature.
Shortly after PGL allowed players to use the bug in the Major, Valve came in to announce brief release notes which fixed the smoke grenade bug.
In a report by Dot Esports, on the second day of Legends Stage, G2 Esports’ Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov used the smoke grenade bug as the team played Imperial Esports on Mirage. The Russian professional managed to get three kills in the third round with his sniper by creating a standard smoke window with the bug from the terrorist side, limiting the opposite players’ view while he was able to see them.
PGL officially announces players may use the bug
CS:GO esports enthusiasts and professional players had more questions than they ever before after hearing that PGL allowed the use of a bug in the middle of an S-tier international esports tournament.
The decision stirred up the community. The Counter-Strike Professional Players Association stepped up to intervene and gather the Major’s participants to reach the agreement of not using the bug, as per multiple reports.
Shortly after m0NESY’s clip surfaced online, multiple CS’s online personalities discussed the issue. Later in a tweet, the Russian professional shared that G2 had asked the organizers whether they could use the bug. PGL’s response was “they allowed it to use”.
Valve’s patch fix was confirmed via CS:GO’s Twitter and the game’s website patch update. The update simply listed a single bug they had fixed. The blog update reads: “Fixed a recently reported smoke bug”.
Members of the CS:GO esports community voiced a shared concern following the controversial decision. Both former players and fans agreed that such an exploit was not right.
“Makes no sense. This can potentially harm the tournament,” former Virtus Pro and a Major champion Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas wrote. “Imagine pro teams searching for smoke bugs. From time to time, there will be a team, or a player who will not think twice tournaments responsibility is to bring them back in line.”
PGL Major Antwerp wraps Round 4 in Legends Stage
The Major is getting closer to Champions Stage after recently finishing the fourth round of Legends Stage. G2, the professional team that m0NESY is representing in the Major is sitting in the 2-2 mid standings bracket after claiming victory over Outsiders 2-1.
However, mid standings teams such as G2, Copenhagen Flames, Heroic, FURIA Esports, Team Vitality, and Imperial are at great risk of getting eliminated ahead of the Champions Stage. Meanwhile, high standings teams such as Natus Vincere and Team Spirit have been seeded to Champions Stage after hitting a 3-0 win-loss record. NAVI and Spirit only played until the third day of Legends Stage.
On the other hand, other crowd favorites such as Cloud9 and Team Liquid have been eliminated after recording their all-time worst win-loss rates of 1-3 and 0-3, respectively.
