This is a developing story and the article will be updated with more information.
An illegal exploit was used in the match between T1 esports and FURIA. As a result of the VALORANT exploit used by FURIA, Riot Games decided to give an extra round to T1 esports.
The final match of the Round of 16 between T1 esports and FURIA saw an illegal exploit being used. The local Brazilian team used an illegal Killjoy Nanoswarm exploit which caused the game to be paused. Riot has decided to reward T1 esports with an additional round taking the score to 7-2 after the pause.
This is a developing story. Esports.gg will update this article as we get more information.
Update: FURIA GM disagrees with the penalty imposed on them (indirectly by granting T1 an extra round). He also said on Twitter, the exploit posted on social media was not the one that was used.
FURIA coach refused to comment on the matter saying:
"I don't want to talk too much about and like going deeper because in the end of the game is a decision by Riot and like we can go back we can go back regarding it. We do like use the exploit like we got finished about yet but like I think the biggest point regarding this that like we kept our mentality and we ended up like being able to close the map in a very good way," said FURIA's coach Carlos "Carlão" Mohn.
What was the VCT LOCK//IN VALORANT exploit?
According to the casters, FURIA used a Killjoy Molly exploit on the A site on Icebox. FURIA were in a 5-1 lead and the illegal Killjoy Nanoswarm exploit on the A bombsite was used. Placing the nanoswarm at a particular location means opponents cannot break the Nanoswarm. Thankfully, the admins caught it in time and they paused the game immediately after.
Fireflux esports analyst, vladk0r, posted on Twitter highlighting the exploit on the A bombsite. He says Riot will remove this round from the scoreboard, but there has been no official statement yet.
Edit: Riot has given a round to T1 esports as a means of penalizing T1 esports for their exploit abuse.
The exploit allows users to place the Nanoswarm as shown below. It is a known exploit and the FURIA players should not have used it on Icebox A bombsite.
FURIA took Map 1 in the series and the second map had just started when it was paused due to this epxloit. T1 esports secured a series of rounds after resumption of the game, but FURIA ultimately took Icebox (13-5) and with it the series 2-0.
The VCT LOCK//IN Sao Paulo features single-elimination matches and every round matters. Using an exploit can have unwanted consequences that affect beyond just the outcome of that particular match. There have been delayed punsihemnts for bug exploits in previous Riot games tournaments which have caused problems for teams. Thankfully, in this match, the bug abuse was caught very early on and Riot came up with a solution as per the rule book.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest VALORANT news and updates.