In the final match of the Extreme Masters qualifying stage, Four Kings was to play fnatic on Inferno. Due to roster issues 4K planned to use a stand in for the match. However, fnatic would not approve any late additions to 4K's ESL roster and would prefer a default victory. Keir “aKuJii” Mccann explained in a GotFrag forum post that 4K was unable to add either QuarK or KF3 to the team.

“We were going to use QuarK as a stand in, but fnatic decided they would prefer the 16-0,” said Mccann. “So they told ESL they would not accept any late additions to the team on ESL, namely QuarK and KF3.”

With both teams on the cusp of qualification, fnatic needed to win and win big. Missing Patrik “cArn” Sättermon, fnatic would be without their in game leader, explained Roy “tuxie” Van den Hove fnatic's CS manager.

“We needed a 16-7 win over 4K to secure a first place in the group and thus autoberth (to the finals,” said Van den Hove. “However, if we lost with 12-16 or worse we were out of the (Extreme Masters) with a 4th place. So this was quite an important match for us and with our in game leader not here so it was going to be pretty hard to achieve these numbers. Also, the team decided to not allow the late stand ins.”

The match was still up in the air as Four Kings decided they might play anyway. However as both Louis “RED” Nyberg and Adam “AdY” Brown could not be reached, their would be ringer QuarK decided to get some friends and play fnatic anyways, according to the statement on 4K's webpage.

This came as a bit of a shock as we'd agreed to allow Speedi to play for fnatic in carn's absense. As time went on one of the guys we had lined up as a stand in took it upon himself to join a server with some other guys(basically a mix team) to take on fnatic. This was after we’d been told we weren’t allowed last minute additions, thus rendering us paralysed as far as the game went, unable to play.

Approximately fifteen minutes into the match one of the 4K players informed an ESL admin that no one from 4K was playing in the match. Regardless the game continued. In 4K's statement, they believe that a default victory should be given to fnatic as they were unable to play the match. The team that played fnatic was: rav0r, 101, ward0, dh, and QuarK.

This match has some really strange issues such as Michel “speedi” Gewargis' eligibility (players had to be added 72 hours before a match to be eligible), 4K's high penalty point count (nine penalty points), and how close the Extreme Masters standings are.

ESL admin's were unavaliable for comment at the time of writing, the story will be updated with more information.

UPDATE:

Four Kings has been disqualified from Extreme Masters. They received the following penalties: Late for the server search and not showing up for the match. This pushed them over the 10 penalty point mark and resulted in an automatic disqualification. As a result the match was overturned and all of 4K's results are null and void. fnatic now advances directly to the LAN finals due to their rounds won/rounds lost differential.

UPDATE #2:

According to fnatic, Michel “speedi” Gewargis' was added 72 hours prior to the match.

UPDATE #3:

ESL has officially announced their disqualification of Four Kings.

Unfortunately, we have to announce the disqualification of 4Kings in the Extreme Masters by ESL. Due to maxed out penalties, it is our sad duty to disqualify the Counter-Strike team 4Kings from the Extreme Masters.

The final minor penalty for 4Kings was given for being late for their final match against fnatic. Thus, we have no choice but to take the team out of this Extreme Masters season. All 4Kings' matches will be deleted and all penalties removed.

You can see the new rankings for group C here.

Issues concerning the Four Kings' lineup that were brought up during and after the game will be investigated by us.