On December 16th, ClanBase officially announced the beginning of NationsCup's eleventh season. It is one of ClanBase's most famous and important competitions.
Fans all over the world were overwhelmed with joy as they now had the chance to see their favorite players compete side-by-side in a tournament where only one thing was important: leading your nation to victory.

NationsCup XI started off with a qualifier round which had its peak in the match between Portugal and the Czech Republic.

At the time however, no one knew of the controversial situation in the making. The Czech side - which had lost the match 2-1 - delivered a protest to ClanBase about Luan "luna" Martins from Portugal having used what is known as "crouch running" or "silent running" during the game.

This article is not about whether or not Portugal used silent running in the match against Czech Republic. Martins did use it and for that he was rightfully punished according to the rules. Rather, the problem lies in how lightly this matter has been handled by ClanBase.

Despite the efforts from the Czech Republic to have the match repeated, ClanBase decided to give Portugal a forfeit loss because the possibility of a rematch was not part of the tournament's rules.

The Clanbase's Counter-Strike rulebook for NationsCup XI states the following regarding silent running, included in the rule is a defined punishment for engaging in its practice:

Tapping duck in order to quiet your footsteps' sound significantly (silent run aka Russian Jumps) is considered to be bug abuse and results in a forfeit loss.

The main point of the discussion following the match - a discussion that is currently still being debated - is what does ClanBase define as silent running? Also, how often does it have to be used to result in one being punished?

Understand that if no one had filed a report on the Portugal - Czech Republic match, the former would have proceeded to the main tournament. This, despite the fact that they clearly broke the rules.

This truly affects ClanBase's credibility and causes one to doubt how the organization adheres to its own rules. If there is an admin for each match, how is it that he can't judge on his own whether or not a player has used silent run for his advantage?

Is a crime only a crime if someone notices it?

The atmosphere of this league is that this tournament should be played for fun because there is no actual prize money at stake. After this though, is there really any fun left in the tournament?

In addition, this situation has resulted in several players justifying their own infractions with the argument, "Player X used silent run more than I did, why was my team penalized when his was not?"

ClanBase has already changed its view on silent running on multiple occasions. This means that all matches are now to be subject to analysis - whether or not silent running had been used - if anyone files a complaint.

Three red cards have already been handed out, and three other matches are currently being analyzed by the time this article was published.

With the ESL ENC on its way bearing a 55,000€ prize purse, more-experienced admins, and better organization, the writing is on the wall. It is easy to see that ClanBase NationsCup's importance will definitely diminish until the tournament eventually reaches its end.

A shame, considering NationsCup was one of the most prestigious European events in eSports' history.

We deserved better.