Swedish CS2 pro talent Joel “joel” Holmlund has been banned mid-tournament by Akros Anti-Cheat. Alongside his new BC.Game roster, joel was competing in the CCT Season 2 Europe Series 7, before the anti-cheat program detected and banned him mid-series against B8.
Unfortunately, joel is no stranger to controversy in the CS scene. Just under a year ago, joel was suspended for match-fixing by ESIC, with that suspension concluding earlier this year. He then spent some time on TSM and 5w, seemingly returning to form on the server. This recent allegation certainly puts a stain on that solid form.
joel removed from BC.Game
Credit: Radosław Makuch | @theMAKKU
As the news flooded in that joel had actually been banned, several CS2 tournaments were quick to ban the entire BC.Game team from competition, including CCT, United TwentyOne, and European Pro League. BC.Game has since removed joel from its active roster, confirming that it wants “to support joel during these suspicions until evidence is presented to us in black and white.”
BC.Game are coached by CS:GO legend GuardiaN, so it would be a massive surprise to learn that joel’s team knew anything of his alleged antics. While BC.Game is conducting its own investigation into what has occurred, Akros Anti-Cheat has since confirmed that it isn’t a false positive in this instance. Despite this, it still isn’t clear what exact cheats joel is accused of using.
Community reacts to joel’s CS2 ban
As a controversial figure in the CS2 community, many pros responded to joel’s ban after it happened. Few seemed surprised, with some claiming to have raised their suspicions about the player in the past. NAVI’s jL gave a sarcastic “Super surprised,” while BetBoom’s KaiR0N- had a similar response, claiming “who would’ve thought so.”
With joel’s previous teams (BC.Game, TSM, and 5w) mostly competing in online events against Tier 2 opposition, many of the responses came from players he had recently beaten. However, the most interesting of all was from RuStY, who sounded the alarm about joel’s alleged cheating during their time together on GODSENT.
The next steps remain to be seen for joel and BC.Game. Hopefully, some transparency from Akros Anti-Cheat should help gather more clarity on the ongoing situation.