Major teams reach agreement not to use smoke cancel bug

All 16 teams competing in the PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage have joined the gentlemen's agreement.

Early on Sunday morning in-game video footage of Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov in G2's matches against Imperial and Natus Vincere surfaced, in which the Russian AWPer used a special smoke that negated a part of the opposing team's smoke in Window on Mirage and allowed him to see through it from his side, but not from the other side.

The situation immediately sparked outrage among pro players, with many representatives from teams competing at the Major calling for this type of use of smokes — which is widely seen as an unintended mechanic and a bug — to be banned.

PGL had been approached by G2 during the RMR tournaments and allowed the smoke, and the organizers went on to put out a statement saying it is allowed during the Major, which resulted in teams coming together in Antwerp to discuss a gentlemen's agreement not to exploit the mechanic for the rest of the tournament.

HLTV.org, Dust2.us, and Dust2.com.br have reached out to all the Major teams and learned that all 16 of them have now come into the fold and agreed not to exploit the bug.

The Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association (CSPPA), who had Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk take it upon himself as one of the board members to gather votes, has confirmed that "all teams at the Major have agreed to not use the smoke exploit."