The formerly-banned player will make his return to the professional scene at the ESL event.
News broke today that Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian will join Vexed Gaming for a trial period which encompasses the forthcoming ESL Championnat National. With the recent clarification that match fixing bans, which KQLY has fallen foul of in the past, are set to have a two year time limit on them the Frenchman is eligible to compete once again in ESL events, although he is still banned from Valve-endorsed competitions.
The competition KQLY will play in was won in 2016 by Vexed, who defeated the Queen Conso team led by Timothée "DEVIL" Démolon, and they will want to see similar results this time around. With KQLY returning to the ESL circuit and the pressure on Valve to revisit the iBUYPOWER bans growing it seems like 2017 will be an interesting one for banned players. Match fixing is a real problem and cannot be ignored, but blanket lifetime bans don’t seem to be a popular answer in the eyes of the fans, and ESL taking the first step toward relaxing that rule has been met with largely positive response.
As for KQLY, when he was banned in 2014 it seemed as though his career was over, a fact even the player accepted at the time, so this new chance will seem like mana from heaven. At the time of his ban, KQLY was playing alongside Kenny "KennyS" Schrub and Dan "apEX" Madesclaire on Titan, who today represent G2 while KQLY is just happy to play for Vexed. Such a contrast should set a good example for those considering cheating down the line, with G2 an elite organisation these days.
Vexed Gaming's roster for ESL Championnat National:
Victor "roombang" Henkinet
Pierre "NpK" Henkinet
Steve "JArOd" Cohen
Léonard "SmyLi" Michelino
Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian
Images courtesy of Vexed Gaming and ESL