During EPIC League CIS 2021, Akuma started off as a relatively unknown factor in the tournament, no one really expected anything amazing from them. It was assumed they'd arrive, perhaps win a single match against one of the lower-tier teams in the tournament, and quietly go back home awaiting the next Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament to try again on their hoped path to the Major in November.

What actually happened was Akuma became yet another powerhouse of the CIS region at the event, taking down GROND, 1WIN, K23 and most shockingly of all, Natus Vincere & Virtus.pro, all without losing a map, after an initial loss against Gambit on their first match of the tournament. It was within expectations that Akuma may take down teams such as GROND, but convincingly taking down Natus & Virtus.pro 2-0 too? The accusations came flying in from all directions, including fans and other teams in the same tournament.

All of the teams in EPIC League CIS region, except ex-Marlian & Akuma themselves have penned an open letter to Valve about the situation, which you can read in full here, where they note a 'mutual concern' relating to a potential dishonest play by the Akuma team, they also note that based upon information available to the signatory teams, they suspect Akuma were receiving live data from third parties on external devices, to help them know where opponents were located on the map. They call upon Valve to launch their own investigations, not just into Akuma but the handling of all the RMR events going forward. They also state that EPIC League had at best, a poor attitude towards the accusations and perhaps were not handling this important event on the road to the largest tournament in Counter Strike, the Major, with the seriousness it deserved. The teams had reportedly repeatedly enquired about having TeamSpeak communications recorded so reviews can be made on not just Akuma, but all teams should any questions be raised later on. The tournament repeatedly declined to record this data. Furthermore, it is generally accepted that large events have their own anti cheat in play, rather than just ones standard in CSGO, this was not the case at EPIC League. They also point to varied delays in the GOTV plays, sometimes the delay was a straight 0 seconds, and almost immediate which would have given anyone watching, whether acting dishonestly or not, live position data for all team members.

The open letter closes with suggestions for future events, including that all data should have at least a 20-30 second delay, and GOTV should also have a delay of as high as 2 minutes, along with ensuring TeamSpeak communications are recorded, additional anti-cheating code than that of just VAC, and also a camera that not just gives a view in front of the player, but also a camera that captures the whole setup of the player, undoubtedly to verify the player isn't looking at another device that may be relaying data.

Here at GamerGalaxy, we'll follow the Akuma situation and report anything that comes to light in the future where newsworthy.