Request #14918443

This was our first ESEA Intermediate match, and we got forfeited without playing a single competitive round.

For anyone who doesn’t know how ESEA works: teams get a 10-minute warmup/join period to get everyone connected to the server.

Our warmup started around 20:03.

One of our players could not connect to the assigned server at all. I could connect, but I was getting severe ping spikes, net jitter and network instability.

At 20:06, roughly 3 minutes into that 10-minute period, our player called !admin.

Nobody came.

We kept trying to connect him.

At 20:09, we called !admin again. This time the admin joined.

We explained the situation and asked for a server reboot.

She told us server issues had to be reported within the first 5 minutes, so nothing could be done.

But we had reported it within the first 5 minutes.

The match chat literally shows our first !admin at 20:06.

The admin only appeared after our second call and treated that second call as if it were our first.

And here is the part that makes this even harder to understand:

Even after the admin arrived, we explained everything, discussed the problem, and she told us we could not play — THE WARMUP WAS STILL RUNNING.

The 10-minute join period had not even ended.

The match had not started.

Not one competitive round had been played.

Our player was still trying to connect.

So even if you completely ignore our first !admin and pretend we only contacted them around minute 6, we were still inside the official 10-minute period ESEA gives players to join.

That creates a bizarre rule:

You have 10 minutes to connect, but only 5 minutes to report that you can’t connect.

What exactly are minutes 6–10 for then?

It got worse.

Initially we were simply told nothing could be done. The admin didn’t ask the opposing team whether they would agree to a reboot/restart.

Only after we kept insisting were we told that both teams would have to agree.

Of course the other team said no.

And I don’t really blame them. The system is asking them to choose between actually playing the match or accepting a guaranteed forfeit win.

Why would a competitive team voluntarily give away a free win?

That is why I think the system itself is the bigger problem.

If the match is still in warmup, the official join time hasn’t expired, a player is actively trying to connect and the team is asking for technical help, why should the solution depend on whether the opponent is willing to sacrifice their free win?

We have now opened an official FACEIT/ESEA support request asking them to review the timestamps, server logs and connection attempts:

Request #14918443

We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking them to look at what actually happened.

20:06 — first !admin, roughly minute 3
20:09 — second !admin, admin finally joins
Admin says we contacted too late
Warmup is STILL running when we’re told we cannot play
Match ends in a forfeit without a single competitive round

I’ll attach the screenshots of the timestamps, the admin conversation, the support response and the network instability.

The simple question is:

How can we be “too late” to ask for help connecting when we called admin around minute 3 of a 10-minute join period — and the warmup still hadn’t even ended when they decided we couldn’t play?

Horizon Esports is looking for a strong team coach for our current ESEA Intermediate roster, which will become Horizon Academy as we expand to two competitive rosters for next season.

Following an extensive tryout process, we are currently finalizing the Horizon First Team. The roster is being built with a clear competitive standard, with players having ESEA Advanced experience at minimum.

The First Team is already practicing together and our current coach has transitioned his focus to the roster, with preparations currently underway for the upcoming season and the IEM Rio Open Qualifier.

As a result, our Intermediate roster is currently without a dedicated coach. We're looking for someone who can join us immediately, finish the current season with us and begin preparing the team for next season.

HORIZON ACADEMY

We are currently 5–7 in ESEA Intermediate, with two matches remaining and playoffs still within reach. Our Intermediate spot for next season is already secured.

The roster follows a six-day weekly practice schedule from 17:00 to 22:00 CET, with one scheduled day off. In practice, the players frequently choose to use the seventh day for additional work as well.

The players are highly committed, available and willing to listen and learn. We've improved significantly throughout the season and want to continue building on that.

We currently work with theory sessions, dry runs, regular scrims, demo reviews, team protocols and a stratbook covering three maps. Our next step is to expand the map pool, develop the stratbook further and continue improving our overall teamplay.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Ideally, we're looking for an experienced and knowledgeable team coach with a strong understanding of structured CS.

Someone who can work with the IGL and players, analyze our games, identify problems, prepare opponents, develop our tactical game and help us get more out of our practice.

However, coaching experience alone isn't what will decide it for us.

If you don't have a big coaching background but believe you have a strong understanding of team CS, we're still interested in hearing from you.

If we see that you understand the game, communicate well, are willing to learn and — most importantly — are ready to put in the work, we're willing to give you the opportunity to grow into the role with us.

You will also have support within Horizon. Our First Team coach can share his system, methodology and experience, and you'll be working with players who are receptive to coaching and willing to contribute.

We're specifically looking for a team coach. We want someone who understands tactics, protocols, preparation, communication and how five players function together — not someone focused primarily on individual mechanics.

COMMITMENT

This part is important to us.

Our official schedule is six days per week, 17:00–22:00 CET, and we expect the coach to be consistently available and involved.

We don't expect you to know everything from day one. We do expect you to be the type of person who, when something needs to be analyzed, prepared or learned, will go and do the work.

Experience can be gained. Game understanding, commitment and the willingness to work are the standard we won't compromise on.

POSITION

Coach — Horizon Academy
ESEA Intermediate — Europe
Unpaid
Start: Immediately
Practice: 6 days/week, 17:00–22:00 CET

CONTACT

Discord: adelvadox
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199804707420

If you're interested, contact me on Discord or Steam with your previous team/coaching experience, availability and a short introduction about yourself.

Qualified for ESEA Intermediate.

Current roster:

• 4 starters
• 3 active stand-ins
• Full-time professional coach
• Looking for 1 final starter (IGL or Anchor)

Daily availability is mandatory.

This is not a casual project.

Discord: adelvadox

Steam:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199804707420/

Team:
https://www.faceit.com/fr/teams/18daafbe-e28f-4a9c-8de5-acf35325c24e/leagues

Team Horizon is looking for 1 final player for ESEA Season 58.

Last season we secured promotion to ESEA Intermediate from Open and have already completed most of our roster for the upcoming season.

Roster Status

• 5 players from last season remain part of the project
• 2 have moved to stand-in positions but still attend practice and are available whenever needed
• We have already signed 1 new player for next season
• Only 1 starting spot remains

Role Available

We are looking for either:

• An experienced IGL

OR

• A dedicated Anchor

About Us

• ESEA Intermediate
• Established core
• Active and experienced coach
• Structured environment
• Long-term project
• Highly available and committed players

Team Page:

https://www.faceit.com/fr/teams/18daafbe-e28f-4a9c-8de5-acf35325c24e/leagues

How We Work

We are looking for players who want to play real team CS.

Our practice is structured and built around improvement, not simply grinding scrims.

A typical day looks something like this:

• Individual training before team practice
• Daily aim routine
• Theory session with the coach
• Utility work and protocol development
• Dry runs and server repetitions
• Scrims
• Demo review of the scrim
• Server work to immediately correct mistakes that were identified

After that, the day depends on what happened during practice.

If we still have work to do and time available, we continue practicing.

If we've accomplished what we wanted for the day, players will usually spend the remaining time either playing FACEIT, reviewing demos, studying their role, or discussing ideas together.

Outside of team practice, players are expected to continue improving individually through demo review, offline work and studying their role.

One thing that separates our coaching from most teams is how specific the feedback is.

When a mistake is identified during demo review, our coach will often immediately pull up examples from professional matches showing the exact same situation and how top teams handled it.

Instead of simply saying "this is wrong", he explains what the correct reaction looks like, why it works, and how it fits into the bigger picture of team play.

A lot of teams claim to have a coach.

What makes ours valuable is that he genuinely understands team Counter-Strike. He understands the difference between an individually good play and a play that is actually good for the team. His focus is on structure, positioning, protocols, decision making and team development.

At the same time, he doesn't ignore individual development.

When recurring mistakes, bad habits, poor reactions or mechanical issues are identified, he will often work with players individually to address them.

These sessions are not generic "you need better aim" conversations. The goal is to identify the root cause of a problem, understand why it happens, and build better habits over time.

His primary focus is team Counter-Strike, but he is also heavily involved in helping players improve individually whenever it benefits the team.

The coach is a permanent part of the project and is professionally compensated for his work.

This is not a situation where someone occasionally reviews a demo or gives advice once in a while. Coaching is integrated into our day-to-day practice, preparation and development process.

When we have officials, preparation is taken seriously. Opponents are analyzed, anti-strats are prepared, and everyone is expected to come into matches ready.

If you're looking for a project where the structure already exists, where people are willing to put in the work, and where the goal is to play Counter-Strike the right way, you'll fit in well here.

Availability

Availability is our #1 requirement.

We practice almost every day and spend a significant amount of time working on the team outside of official matches.

Last season we only scheduled one day off per week, and even then most players were still online reviewing demos, discussing ideas, or doing individual work.

Everyone in this project has made CS their primary focus outside of work, university and personal obligations.

We are not looking to convince someone to become more dedicated.

We are looking for players who already have that mentality.

If you're looking for a team where you can show up a few times per week, play officials, queue FACEIT afterwards and call it a day, this project is probably not for you.

Our Philosophy

We believe improvement happens outside official matches.

Everyone on the team is expected to contribute beyond simply showing up for practice.

That means:

• Watching demos regularly
• Doing individual review work
• Spending time on offline servers
• Practicing utility and protocols
• Working on mistakes between sessions

If your idea of improvement is playing FACEIT all day, this probably isn't the right team.

We're looking for players who are willing to do the boring work that most people avoid.

The players who fit best here are the ones who genuinely enjoy the process of improving and helping the team improve.

Professionalism & Team Culture

We follow a weekly schedule and expect everyone to respect the commitments they make.

Counter-Strike is a stressful game. It's easy to become frustrated, assign blame or let emotions affect the team environment. We expect players to be able to handle adversity without creating problems for the group.

We joke around and have a good atmosphere, but when it's time to work, everyone is expected to be focused and professional.

Team chemistry matters a lot to us.

One of the biggest reasons we achieved promotion last season was our ability to remain composed during difficult matches and come back from losing positions. We care a lot about preserving that mentality and building a roster of players who make the team stronger both inside and outside the server.

We ask for a lot from our players because our ambitions are high.

At the same time, we believe we offer a lot in return: structure, coaching, stability, dedicated teammates and a clear long-term direction.

Requirements

• High availability
• Fluent English
• Strong mentality
• Team-first attitude
• No ego
• Willingness to learn and adapt
• Serious commitment to improvement

Our coach has a clear vision for how the game should be played and everyone who joins will be expected to buy into that system.

We're not interested in players who constantly argue every detail or refuse to adapt.

IGL Requirements

The IGL role is focused on in-game leadership.

You will not be expected to handle every responsibility outside the server or act as the team's captain.

What we need is someone with:

• Previous IGL experience
• Strong understanding of team CS
• Good mid-round decision making
• Strong communication
• Stable mentality under pressure
• Strong ability to read opponents and adapt during games

Adaptability is one of the qualities I value most in an IGL.

One of the biggest strengths of our team last season was our ability to identify what opponents were doing, make adjustments, and find solutions even when we were less prepared on paper.

Many of our wins came from adapting better than the opponent throughout the series rather than simply following a pre-prepared game plan.

We're looking for someone capable of continuing that approach.

I have been the team's AWP/IGL for the last 3 seasons.

As we move into a higher level of competition, I want to focus fully on my AWPing and transfer the leadership responsibilities to someone with proven experience.

For that reason, we are not looking for first-time IGLs.

Anchor Requirements

We're looking for someone who genuinely understands the anchor role.

Not a player who was moved there recently because nobody else wanted it.

We value anchors who:

• Understand how to survive and delay
• Know when to fight and when to stay alive
• Communicate well under pressure
• Are comfortable being isolated
• Take pride in the role

Anchoring is a role that can be developed, but the best anchors usually have a natural affinity for it and enjoy the responsibilities that come with it.

Vision

The next ESEA season starts in 13 of July, giving us roughly one month to prepare.

A month sounds like a long time, but in reality there is only so much a team can build in that timeframe. There are protocols to learn, habits to fix, maps to develop, chemistry to build and countless details that need to become automatic.

We don't want to waste that time.

To be completely honest, at our current level we still have a lot of work to do.

Promotion to Intermediate was an important milestone, but none of us are interested in simply showing up in Intermediate and making up the numbers.

Our objective is to use this period to improve as quickly as possible, establish ourselves in Intermediate, and build a team capable of earning promotion to ESEA Main next season.

More importantly, we want to become a team that plays Counter-Strike correctly.

We want to build strong fundamentals, good habits, proper structure and a system that can hold up against increasingly stronger opposition.

In the future we would also like to participate in LAN events, but we know we are not ready for that today.

The purpose of this project is not to pretend we are already there.

The purpose is to put in the work necessary to eventually get there.

We are ambitious, but we are realistic.

We know how much we still need to improve, and we are looking for players who share that mindset.

Contact

Discord: adelvadox

Steam:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199804707420

FACEIT:
https://www.faceit.com/fr/players/-VADOX-

Please leave a comment on my Steam profile before adding.

I just got a 24-hour FACEIT ban for Unsportsmanlike Conduct and honestly I'm struggling to understand how this is fair.

Today I went on a 9-game losing streak. As you can imagine, the atmosphere in many of those games was terrible. Teammates arguing, blaming each other, insulting each other, people giving up mentally after a few rounds, etc.

The thing is: I wasn't one of those people.

If anything, I was trying to calm people down, telling them to focus on the game, and muting players when they became too toxic. I didn't ghost, grief, intentionally team damage, or harass anyone.

After contacting support, I was told the ban came from the FBI system based on player reports and that 1-day FBI bans are not removed.

My problem is this:

How is it fair if frustrated players can mass-report teammates after losses and the result is an automatic ban?

If the system believes I actually did something wrong, then show me what it was. Give me the match, the timestamp, the chat message, the voice comms, anything. I'm completely willing to accept responsibility if I actually violated the rules.

But being told "you got reported a lot" doesn't explain what I supposedly did.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Has anyone ever managed to get a detailed explanation of what specifically triggered an FBI ban?

I'm genuinely curious whether the system looks at actual behavior or whether a very unlucky day with enough angry teammates can be enough to trigger a punishment.

Faceit Profile:
https://www.faceit.com/fr/players/-VADOX-