A Mighty Storm Ruling

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On September 12th, players from A Mighty Storm reached out to the League Administration team about a situation regarding their captain of the team. They felt the environment of scrims and SPL games was not a welcoming one and wanted to explore the options of a captain removal.

We take the types of situations very seriously as this late in the season it can affect the potential future of these players. Our job is to take the ruleset and apply it to create the most fair and competitive league it can be.

The first step was for the team to resolve the situation themselves. They spent roughly a week trying to do so until this Monday. I was not present for those conversations within the team and the league administration team was not involved in that process. It was still very much a team issue at that point.

Per our rules that have been in place since Season 2, the organization (a valid business entity as defined by Hi-Rez Studios) owns the spot within the league and may make roster changes as they see fit (or appoint someone within the organization to do so). This situation has happened before in our league and was completely within the guidelines of the ruleset.

Before the split began, the team was fully aware that the current captain of A Mighty Storm was the captain. Nothing was brought up to the league administration team at that point despite fully knowing the rules ahead of time.

We took a hard look into the evidence that was sent to us surrounding the captainship of the team. From a rules perspective, the captain did nothing wrong or against the rules. The judgement on whether he was a good captain or a bad captain is not something the league administration team can comment on.

Regarding the announcement of the roster, again, this is not breaking any league rules at this time.

The captain of A Mighty Storm has fulfilled his duties set forth by the league in a timely manner and has respected the league since he took over being captain. In the league and league rules eyes, he is doing the job of a Team Captain in the SPL in regards to his duties.

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That being said.....

1. The captain of A Mighty Storm has also been warned about his behavior within the league and within the game. League Administrators will continue to monitor not only this player but all players within the league to ensure they are acting with the up-most professionalism.

2. Heading into Season 5, we have already taken steps to ensure roster announcements and changes are well documented and follow a strict process before it is approved by the league. Teams, players and the public will be made aware of these changes with the Season 5 ruleset update early in 2018.

3. We have always maintained that we are always looking at the ruleset and ways to improve upon the competitiveness and fairness within the league. Something our current ruleset doesn't take into account is the sweeping changes we announced for Season 5. With players futures in their own hands this split, our current ruleset has some limitations that we feel are too harsh at this stage of the Fall Split.

To fix this, we will be removing Section 6.2 (b) (ii) from the league ruleset for the Fall Split.

This rule states:
ii. If a Player plays four (4) or more League Games, that Player may no longer participate in the Game’s Challenger Circuit or Combine for the applicable Split Term. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this subsection restricts the Player’s ability to leave a Team and not participate in the League, or an Administrator’s ability to waive this restriction in limited circumstances.

Keep in mind, Roster Locks for the SMITE Pro League occur in Week 5. Once you have either qualified with a team for a Fall LAN event (this includes a challenger team) or play in (1) one game with a team in Week 5, you are roster locked to that team through the end of the Fall Split (conclusion of the SMITE World Championship 2018).

We look forward to the rest of Season 4 and the exciting changes happening in 2018 for SMITE Esports.

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