StarCraft II player Xue “Firefly” Tao will miss Esports World Cup 2025 following suspension by ESIC regarding match-fixing allegations.
Xue "Firefly" Tao has been suspended by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) amidst match-fixing allegations. This will also cause him to miss the StarCraft II event at the Esports World Cup 2025.
Firefly to miss EWC 2025
ESIC has opened an investigation into Firefly and integrity concerns.
The June 14 entry reads: "Due to the volume and quality of evidence ESIC has received, ESIC has issued Xue 'Firefly' Tao with a provisional suspension pending conclusion of its investigation into breaches of the ESIC Integrity Program. The suspension was notified via a Notice of Charge communicated to the Participant providing a window of reply."
The EWC has put out a statement, saying that ESIC has advised all tournament operators that Firefly has been suspended. They explicitly stated that Firefly has been removed from the StarCraft II event. Huang "Lancer" Min will occupy the vacated spot as the runner-up in the EWC SC2 Asia Qualifier. Lancer's slot in the EWC Global Qualifier will be taken up by Lemon.
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Firefly's alleged match-fixing
The exposé was posted by Firefly's former teammate in SSLT, Cao "Jim" Jinhui. On a now-deleted post, Jim said he would no longer participate in StarCraft II tournaments before confessing to fixing matches himself.
He detailed how he and Firefly worked together to rig games early last year. Jim also revealed that he was the one who anonymously exposed Firefly in October 2024 for match-fixing. This caused Firefly's team, OFFSYDE, to drop him.
The post also came with screenshots of the transaction history. Jim said that he was the only one sending Firefly money, and it was never the other way around.
StarCraft II at the Esports World Cup 2025 takes place in week three of the festival, from July 22 to 25. Stick around esports.gg for more on EWC 2025.
