SEASON 7 of RealMe's Mobile Legends Cup saw one of the most controversial finales as only Team Z4 Pegaxy was the only team that appeared in the grand finals, held in SM Megamall.
Meanwhile their rivals, Elite Esports, didn't show up in the RMC event, which led to the organizers making a drastic shift to a showmatch between the MLBB shoutcasters and a performance from Filipino rapper Aristotle Condenuevo "Gloc-9" Pollisco.
It was a puzzling outcome as the winner of the RMC Season 7 Grand Finals will earn Php1,000,000 and a slot for the national team selection for SIBOL.
As to why Elite Esports failed to show up in the finale despite the prestige of winning the event? RMC posted an official statement revealing their investigations.
Elite Esports competed in another tournament
In their statement, the league said: "Upon investigation, it was found that they were playing at another tournament on the same date and time, in direct violation of the agreed upon rules and timelines for RMC."
While the league didn't mention which tournament they joined, videos were shown that Elite Esports was competing in another Mobile Legends tournament "Annihilation 4: Test for Might," a tournament hosted by the Philippine National Esports League (PNEL).
Elite Esports was against LFSTYL Esports in the PNEL event and the match went to distance as both teams reached the 7th game. It was LFSTYL who prevailed and proceeded to the next round.
As Elite Esports was competing in the PNEL event, RMC tried to reach out to them but their replies were already past their call time.
"Several attempts were made to reach out to the team and their management before their event call time, but there were only able to respond until after their Grand Finals segment had already started," said the statement.
Given their actions, RealMe Philippines decided to disqualify Elite Esports and hand Team Z4 Pegaxy the overall championship. The organizers deemed their actions as 'disrespectful' to the parties involved.
"The non-appearance of Team Elite Esports - along with their lack of cooperation and communication with the event organizers - was a grave disrespect not only to their co-finalists, but also to the entire RMC pool of talents, casters, and personnel working tirelessly behind the scenes to give all esports fans a good show. RealMe Philippines holds zero tolerance for this behavior," said the statement.
But that wasn't the only punishment imposed as it was also revealed that Team Elite Esports is banned from participating in all RealMe-led gaming and esports projects. Their runner-up prizes were also waived.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
