On Sunday, the Counter-Strike scene was rocked by the news that Swedish BC.Game player, Joel "joel" Holmlund, was banned by the Akros anti-chit just minutes before the start of his team's match against B8 in the CCT Europe Series 7 tournament. This event brought attention to a player who has previously been accused of foul play and match-fixing.
Joel Holmlund has been under suspicion for quite some time. In 2023, he was suspended for seven months by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) for betting on his own matches, although no evidence of rigging was found at the time. Akros' recent ban has increased scrutiny on the player, especially in light of his past issues with integrity in the game.
Details of the incident
Akros said the ban was imposed after several chit features including ESP, Aimbot and Triggerbot were discovered less than 30 minutes before the start of the match against B8. A spokesperson for the company said that the discovered cheat is designed for competitive play and may have gone undetected in the past, as it runs in front of the operating system and can be hidden from standard checks.
Joel's reaction and next steps
Joel Holmlund has strongly denied the allegations of foul play. In a comment to HLTV, he stated, "I know I didn't cheat and I didn't plan to do it. I love playing this game. If I'm not playing CS2, I'm watching it to get better. The worst thing is when people question my legitimacy." Joel expressed frustration that his actions on the server are often questioned and noted that any movement he makes in the game can be explained, especially since he actively communicates in Teamspeak with the team.
Joel also emphasized that he has no reason to use cheats at this point, especially when his career has started to recover from previous problems: "It makes no sense why I would cheat now that I finally have a chance to redeem myself. My goal was to reach the top level of the scene, and with all the resources I've been given in this team, it makes no sense for me to throw it all away by cheating." Despite his assurances, Akros has confirmed that the ban is permanent and joel will no longer be able to participate in any event or platform protected by their anti-chit.
The BC.Game team, for its part, is also in a difficult situation. The organization stated that it does not yet know all the details of the incident and has launched its own investigation. Nevertheless, it has already been announced that joel has been temporarily excluded from the team, and the organization is actively looking for his replacement in order to maintain its competitive position.
What's next?
The incident was another blow to joel's reputation and also raised important questions about the reliability of anti-chit systems and transparency in eSports. The BC.Game organization continues to investigate, but Holmlund's future in professional Counter-Strike remains in serious doubt.
Source: HLTV
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