m0NESY's controversial Mirage smoke approved by PGL

The 17-year-old's smoke play caught the public's eye in the aftermath of the match against Imperial.

G2's teenage AWPer found himself in the center of attention as a POV video from the Imperial game surfaced on Twitter on Sunday morning.

In the clip, it is seen that Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov lines up a smoke that, when combined with the standard Window smoke, creates an unusual one-way that allows the Russian player to find two kills on Imperial members. Since, m0NESY has responded on Twitter, saying the smoke was approved for usage by admins at the RMR Europe event in April, which was confirmed by tournament organizer PGL. PGL added on Sunday that the they will "allow the smoke going forward."

It seems that, in this case, the interaction between the two smokes causes a non-standard behavior, resulting in the Window smoke not appearing as it usually would, and creating a very powerful one-way angle.

m0NESY used the smoke on multiple occasions in the Imperial game, but also in the first match against Natus Vincere, without the same degree of success as in the situation that made rounds on Twitter. The Russian dropped the same smoke in the RMR tournament as well, when G2 faced Anonymo, but without the Polish side throwing the Window smoke, it didn't have the same effect (can be seen here).

The 17-year-old clarified on Twitter that the team asked if the smoke was allowed to be used when G2 attended the PGL Antwerp Major RMR Europe B event in April, and got the green light from the admin team. He also compared the smoke to the "infinity molotov" popularly used on Ancient, where T-side players throw the utility from T spawn into mid, which flies through the air for a longer amount of time than a molotov usually can.

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Video: m0NESY's flashy 1v3 against Imperial

After the POV video of m0NESY against Imperial video surfaced on Twitter, so did a clip on VK.com dating back to December 1 2021, which shows a player using similar mechanics to find gaps in a smoke on Dust2. Another usage of the mechanic was found on Overpass.

The historical precedent of similar situations dates back to the "olofboost" incident at DreamHack Winter 2014 and the "jump bug" used by BIG at PGL Krakow 2017. In the former case, the admin team ruled a replay of the map, not because of the boost itself, but because both fnatic and LDLC players were in positions where they couldn't be shot at from multiple angles. In the latter case, there were no repercussions and the bug was allowed by the admin team, but a gentlemen's agreement was made between the teams to not use it.

Reactions from players at the Major have come out on Twitter since. Even before PGL's announcement, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen pleaded for "an ASAP fix", saying it "can’t be legal to purposely use another smoke to create a bug." Another Danish IGL, Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer, claims "it’s obvious nobody should be punished going back in time," referring to m0NESY, and added that "lineup smokes for this bug for the remainder of the tournament" should be banned.

A number of other players have voiced their disproval with PGL's decisions, prompting that a gentlemen's agreement should be struck if an official rule isn't added for the Major. CSPPA board member Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk confirmed that the Player's Association will attempt to find a solution for the situation.