One of Team Liquid’s players recently revealed that the crowd’s shouts helped him know his opponents’ location. This happened at the Accor Arena while a battle between Team Liquid vs. Apeks occurred during the Champions Stage.
YEKINDAR took advantage of the crowd’s shouts to know the location of the rivals
Mareks “YEKINDAR” Alinskys, Liquid’s rifleman, recently revealed that in the showdown against Apeks, the crowd was a great help. YEKINDAR used the shouts of the crowd and, in this way, could determine the opponent’s position. He also says that the tournament organizers warned him of what would happen after the first map.
YEKINDAR claims that the tournament organizers also warned all the audience members who helped him; this is against the rules. On the other hand, liquid Rifle claims that he doesn’t understand why everyone else does it.
On the other hand, YEKINDAR also comments that he only received one warning when they changed sides in Ancient; he states that he is unsure if they can fine him.
The tournament organizers said you couldn’t use crowd shouting to exploit your opponents. Everyone has always used crowd cheers for the benefit of their team; YEKINDAR comments that he doesn’t know why in the last Major, it is not allowed.
The crowd joins in to help YEKINDAR
The crowd successfully guided YEKINDAR to overcome the smokescreen and get a spectacular 1v1 on Ancient. Likewise, the public continued to help YEKINDAR in Overpass, trying to prevent the player from being surprised by his rivals. Thanks to the crowd’s help, he managed to survive the attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW5GQb_JzWc&t=11s&ab_channel=REALCS%3AGO
Despite all the crowd’s attempts to give Team Liquid a chance against Apeks, Liquid didn’t know how to take advantage of it. Since the Norwegian team beat Team Liquid on both maps, the losing team is out of the Paris Major.
After the defeat, YEKINDAR commented in an interview that the tournament organizers had given a warning about his inappropriate behavior of breaking the rules.
The audience at LAN tournaments
Teams enjoying the crowd’s excitement in LAN tournaments is nothing new. In countless events, many teams have taken advantage of the shouting and gained an advantage over their opponents.
For example, Astralis fans have been known to help their team by shouting instructions in live tournaments. One of the most famous cases where fans helped Astralis was in 2019 when the team faced MOUZ. Viewers constantly revealed MOUZ’s position for Astalis to perform better in each round.
Something similar could be seen at the IEM Rio Major 2022 when FURIA fans were giving signals to the players to help them against their opponents.
The fact that fans want to help a team has always existed, so if tournament organizers want to prevent that, they should take some measures. One of the best options is for each team to play in soundproof booths; this way, no team can get help from the public.