Former Counter-Strike Pro: Don’t Fix Matches, Timmy

Match fixing has been the end for several professional Counter-Strike players’ careers. At this weekend’s cs_summit tournament, Josh “Steel” Nissan appeared in a comedy PSA with a simple message for young Counter-Strike hopeful Timmy: don’t fix matches.

The Summit series of tournaments, hosted by esports production hub Beyond The Summit, often creates skits and sketches to intersperse between each day’s matches. In this one, young Timmy is contacted by an enigmatic party with a match-fixing proposition, before Nissan comes in through the window to intervene.

A PSA from @JoshNissan #cssummithttps://t.co/VnH8teoZEr pic.twitter.com/c5pAzk0Qn9

— Beyond the Summit (@BeyondTheSummit) April 23, 2017

Nissan was a member of iBUYPOWER’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, which was found guilty of throwing a match in 2015 in exchange for high-value in-game items which could be sold for cash. He has since moved on to playing Overwatch for Splyce, but Nissan, along with several other players, were permanently banned from Valve events.

Though most players involved have since moved on (as Nissan jokes, to “working shitty tier-three events as a caster”), there’s been a movement to appeal the case of Braxton “swag” Pierce, a streamer for Cloud9 who is competing at the cs_summit on C9’s roster.

Pierce was a member of iBUYPOWER as well, and a minor when Valve issued the permanent ban. In the time since, he’s garnered a solid following on Twitch, and showed this weekend that his time away from the competitive scene hasn’t depreciated his skills. With Pierce as a sub, Cloud9 finished 4th overall at cs_summit, and the hashtag “#freebrax” which supports Pierce’s potential for an appeal has already gained traction on Twitter.

Considering the recent leniency offered by organisations like ESL, Pierce’s return to competitive play could be entirely possible.

Whatever your thoughts may be on the issue, the PSA is worth heeding if you want to play competitive Counter-Strike. If you want to see more excellent skits and quality Counter-Strike, you can catch the tail end of the cs_summit as it wraps up today on Beyond The Summit’s Twitch page.