*UPDATE: On 4th December 2023 ESIC announced that Oleksander Shyshko was banned for life from ESIC member events.
*UPDATE: At 1.30pm GMT on 29th November Team 7AM have confirmed that they have terminated SENSEi‘s contract with immediate effect.
Within the last month, 7AM created a team orchestrated by James “bevve” Slinn which was looking to cause havoc internationally. There was a minor setback as Kalle “Ro1f” Johansson departed, however, these shoes were quickly filled by Viktor “Duplicate” Mitev and they also added Kaloyan “POP0V” Popov in the coach role.
Unfortunately for 7AM this is not going to be their only setback. ESIC have announced that their AWPer Dmytro “SENSEi” Shvorak will be banned until 24th October 2025, along with three other players. The ban comes because of “SENSEi‘s attempted engagement in match-fixing activities during several LAN events with Team Project X.”
SENSEi initially courted controversy during his time on Akuma. The Ukrainian team were the subject of an open letter to Valve in June 2021 signed by 14 teams, including Spirit and Virtus.Pro, after they were accused of cheating at the EPICLEAGUE CIS RMR. They defeated Natus Vincere and Gambit, the then-world #1 and #2, during that event, but struggled in the later RMR events organised by Starladder and ESL, and failed to qualify for the PGL Stockholm Major that year. ESIC did not investigate the allegations of cheating as the tournament was not under their jurisdiction, but they did announce an investigation into SENSEi and team-mates during their time on Project X, forwarding evidence to Valve that they bet on their own matches.
The ban for match-fixing comes from ESIC investigating Akuma, Project X and Majesty corroborating allegations of multiple breaches of the ESIC Anti-Corruption Code and significant evidence of suspicious and unusual betting on matches involving these players. The alleged cheating at the RMR has never been punished, and it remains unclear if Valve ever investigated it. ESIC’s list of sanctions does not mention SENSEi’s other team-mates at Project X who were previously under investigation, nor does it mention Project X CEO Oleksandr Shyshko who was also accused of betting on his team’s matches.
Alongside SENSEi, three of his country-men were banned: Maksym “THRONE” Semenov, Artur “DarkS1DE” Kravchenko and Danylo “nat1ve” Bakin, relating to their participation in match-fixing at a Bulgarian LAN in 2020 with team Majesty.
This leaves 7AM once again looking for one more player, having also just suffered relegation from ESEA Advanced. bevve‘s only comment was a tweet saying “No words”. 7AM are looking to continue playing for now, with a fixture in United21 Season 8 against the newly-announced GamerLegion Academy this evening.
The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has taken decisive action to suspend Mr. Dmytro "SENSEi" Shvorak, Mr. Maksym "THRONE" Semenov, Mr. Artur "DarkS1DE" Kravchenko, and Mr. Danylo "nat1ve" Bakin, professional esports players, from all ESIC Member events for two years following… pic.twitter.com/ks6aEh1O5f
— ESIC (@ESIC_Official) November 29, 2023
Our response to this morning's public statement from @ESIC_Official pic.twitter.com/8uNqDjrBon
— #ESLOL SUMMER CHAMPIONS 🏆 (@Team7AM) November 29, 2023
