JUICY LEGENDS, one of the most recognized amateur MLBB tournaments in the Philippines, issued a public statement about Mobile Legends organization AP Esports 2.0.
Via a post from content creator Moymoy Palaboy, the league said: "We do not tolerate any form of misconduct in our tournament at all costs."
They began their statement by saying, "We regret to inform you that after an extensive investigation by several qualified expert professionals, one of the teams that participated in the group stage for Juicy Legends Q3 committed a serious violation of the Tournament Rules and Regulations."
They revealed that it was AP Esports 2.0 that committed the violation.
"ULVL Productions, in coordination with the Games and Amusement Board and Juicy Lemon, after gathering substantial evidence have concluded that AP ESPORTS 2.0 committed a serious violation and therefore disqualified to compete in the playoffs."
Due the gravity of the incident, the organization, coach, manager, and players are banned from competing in any tournament organized and sponsored by ULVL and Juicy Lemon.
"AP ESPORTS 2.0 as an organization, registered and recognized coach, manager, and its players shall be banned from competing in any tournament organized by ULVL Productions as well as any Juicy Lemon Sponsored tournaments, until the Games and Amusement Board's decision on the case reported if finalized."
Their statement didn't reveal the specific violation that AP Esports committed.
AP Esports reponds
The amateur esports organization clarified the allegation violation of rules when they decided to release their response to the post.
"It came to our knowledge that we have been accused of a Piloting violation, posted in the Juicy Legends Facebook page," said the statement as it denied all accusations.
In esports, piloting means to allow someone else to use your character.
While they accepted the penalties imposed on them, the organization said that the "violation never happened."
"We are grateful for the exposure opportunity given by Juicy Legends to [a]mateur players and we respect their decision of disqualifying our team from the tournaments. However, we still stand firm in our belief that the decision was biased and unsupported.
"We are disheartened to hear of the posted accusation as there is no clear evidence to prove that it is true. The violation was not clearly specified, causing quite a stir and different reactions from the followers. We believe that the said post is malicious, creating an issue that affected AP Esports' good name in the industry."
In the end, they weren't afraid to seek legal assistance if needed.
"We thus demand that this claim of violation from our team be supported. If not, we will take the necessary legal steps to restore the reputation of our team."
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