Luminosity: "Liquid had the choice"

The large controversy from day three of the RGN Pro Series involved Liquid and Luminosity and a decision to not restart a round after an accident saw one of Luminosity's players' computers get turned off.

The rule specified that as soon as action in the round took place, whether damage, shooting, or kills, the round is live and cannot be restarted, however there was an expectation Liquid might restart out of mercy.

HLTV.org is looking to piece together opinions of all involved to give the best possible picture of what transpired. The next person with whom we were able to speak is the owner of Luminosity Gaming, Steve 'Buyaka' Maida.

How did the situation unfold for you guys following the disconnect?

The photographer went to take a picture and hit the power button, which is obviously an accident and we're not blaming him for it.

We were told the round won't be replayed by one of the admins because kills had been exchanged. The admin then told us to ask Sasquatch, the head admin, he said the round was live and after kills have been exchanged, that rule applies.

He said "it's up to Liquid if they want to replay" so we went to ask Liquid. We went up to them and Hiko said they would not replay the round because kills had been exchanged and one of our players had 10 HP so they would have the advantage.

So they did not want to restart the round?

Liquid did not want to replay it, if Liquid had said yes to replaying it, it would have been restarted which is in the CEVO rules. They had that choice.

So the statement that 'we had no choice' [from RGN] was incorrect and misinformed and he [Matt David, RGN's CEO] apologised to me afterwards.

What do you think about RGN's handling of the situation?

I didn't like that a decision was made before we were even spoken to. I think in the future there should be a group discussion between admins and each team captain.

I think that RGN should reserve the right to rule in scenarios that are not covered by the current rules. In my opinion a human being turning off a computer is not a "computer malfunction" as quoted by the admin as justification for the ruling since a computer malfunction relates to a hardware failure.

Do you have anything to say about your players' reactions on Twitter or the decision not to shake hands?

I haven't personally read any of their comments but I can totally understand if they were upset. No Liquid players came near our area where the players were. Our players were in the bathroom or near the computer area where we played.

What do you think was the optimal solution to the situation?

An admin should have realised the situation was a rare occurrence that there is no rule for and they shouldn't have rushed to a decision.

Regardless of the moment of controversy which transpired at the venue, the RGN Pro Series continues to play out in its final matches as only four more teams remain: Cloud9, Liquid, Luminosity, and Renegades.

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter