Famous Danish coach Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen, was banned for two years as a result of the ESIC investigation.
It was over his anti-strategy book that got HUNDEN to this two-year ban. Allegedly, HUNDEN shared the anti-strategy book of the Heroic team, where he served as a coach, with people outside the team. And that was the very crime we are talking about today.
What happened?
Heroic, who played to the top and made good use of the online CS:GO era with the pandemic, had a great break. However, this success of Heroic was viewed with suspicion. It was thought that the throne of Heroic would be shaken with LAN tournaments. At just such a period, Heroic announced that they would embark on the IEM Cologne journey without their coach, HUNDEN. This, of course, came as a shock. Initial allegations were that he was a candidate for coaching to replace zonic, who was expected to leave Astralis.
However, it soon became clear that this was not the real problem. In fact, Heroic players didn’t even want to mention HUNDEN’s name during the tournament. They were doing their best not to mention him as if he had a cursed name. They even tried to hire a masseur instead of HUNDEN and send the message that he motivated them much better.
Later, HUNDEN made the first statement about the situation. In fact, HUNDEN avoided talking about the process that had led him to get banned. He just talked about how he loved Heroic and charted a different path for his career. This gave the impression that he was leaving for Astralis.
Sued by Heroic
However, after a while, an explanation came from Heroic. According to this statement, HUNDEN shared his team’s anti-strategy book with his rivals. Heroic then shared the situation with both ESL and the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC). There was even a lawsuit filed on the subject in Danish courts at the same time. Also, of course, the termination of HUNDEN’s contract was among the announcements.
HUNDEN then went on the defensive. He claimed that the information in the anti-strategy book did not contain any information that would expose Heroic’s privacy. He claimed that this was a commonplace thing that coaches did to improve themselves. All the coaches allegedly did this as a brainstorming activity. After all these developments, Heroic stated that the case is very sensitive and will not make an external statement until the ESIC investigation is completed. ESIC also stated that they would announce their decision on the HUNDEN case after the investigation ends.
HUNDEN: “ESIC never listened to me!”
Touching on many issues in his interview with TV2.dk, the coach also included the case against him. Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen said ESIC never listened to his side of the story before they completed their investigation.
He said the commission did not question him to hear his side of the dispute before completing the investigation. The interview took place one day before ESIC’s official announcement. However, TV2 knew before the announcement that HUNDEN would be banned for two years.
HUNDEN has also made much more serious allegations on the subject. His allegations in this regard are as follows:
“I believe this is a very big case. But I am very sorry that ESIC chose not to listen to me in this case. I’ve never heard about this case. All ESIC did was to threaten me saying that if I chose to appeal the decision, I would instead be given a five-year ban.”
HUNDEN has made many serious allegations before. However, these claims contained a lot of distortion or lies. Despite this, HUNDEN did not refrain from making sensational claims even during this process that led to his ban. It is possible to say that even in this case, which can be called a disgrace from the beginning, there are many doubts, considering HUNDEN’s previous attitudes.
We already know that HUNDEN was previously suspended from ESIC for 8 months by exploiting the coaching gap. Returning to the field after a long period of reflection, the coach said that he was very sorry. In his statements, he stated that he would behave as expected from the moral point of view. However, recent events show that sharing his team’s information with an opponent did not seem to be a problem for him.
ESIC banned HUNDEN For 2 Years from All Events
After all these developments, ESIC finally announced its decision on HUNDEN. Accordingly, HUNDEN received a two-year ban from all organizations within ESIC, for violating the Code of Conduct.
This was based on HUNDEN’s public admission, along with their own evidence, that he shared “anti-strategic material from competitors.” Thus, ESIC announced the result of an investigation of about two months by the investigative team, who found it sufficient to punish the coach under article 2.4.5.
He might have done it for Astralis!
ESIC noted that the team with whom the confidential material was shared while outlining their investigation stated that HUNDEN was in the process of negotiating for the future and was simultaneously competing with Heroic at IEM Cologne. While his name is never mentioned in the ESIC report, it is believed that this team is Astralis, which is reported to be HUNDEN’s main contender to replace Danny “zonic” Sørensen as head of the team next year.
The Integrity Commission found that there were threats to the integrity of an ESIC member activity and to the reputation of an ESIC member, even though it found that the information in question was not accessed by the recipient after an independent firm made a forensic report. Moreover, the damage done to esports reputation and competitive integrity by the sharing of documents was sufficient to warrant a violation of the Code of Conduct.
The monitoring group also stated that their sanctions made no attempt to build upon or resolve the ongoing legal proceedings brought against HUNDEN by Heroic. So this decision has nothing to do with the outcome or process of pending cases in Danish courts. This reveals that there may be a much more painful process waiting for the former Heroic coach.
ESIC: “The allegations that we did not listen to him are lies!”
ESIC clarified allegations that HUNDEN was not heard and threatened. The Integrity Commission stated that they have offered HUNDEN the opportunity to respond to its decisions on several occasions. However, HUNDEN stated that he could not give any answer regarding the accusation against him. They also stated that his public statement regarding the sharing of the anti-strategy means acceptance of his behavior. Moreover, they said that this situation made the accusation against him more obvious.
The sanction represents the second ban given to the Danish coach by ESIC to HUNDEN. Earlier, ESIC found that he exploited the notorious audience error twice against Astralis and Spirit.
This banned HUNDEN from all organizations for 12 months. However, it was later implemented for eight months due to HUNDEN’s cooperation and lack of knowledge of his teammates at the time.
This ban will take effect from August 25, 2021. Thus, the ban will last until August 24, 2023. With this ban, HUNDEN will not be eligible to compete in any ESIC member events, including ESL, DreamHack, WePlay, BLAST, Relog.
Hunden said His Teammates Knew About The Cheat
A couple of days later, Heroic coach claimed that his teammates were also guilty. This statement was met with a very harsh reaction, especially on the part of the community. Many people rightly ask, “Why now?” asked the question.
In fact, it’s pretty clear that HUNDEN was acting out of hatred. This is also reflected in the way he expresses his claims. HUNDEN claimed that from the moment he coached Heroic in early 2020, some of his teammates were aware that the 30-year-old was abusing his notorious coaching mistake.
Heroic CEO Joachim Haraldsen denied the accusations and stated:
HUNDEN is trying to blame players for his own mistakes. I believe ESIC and the rest of the world will understand this as it stands: Nicolai Petersen cheated and failed his teammates. He failed them by sharing confidential and sensitive information with a major competitor. Now he fails them a third time by trying to blame them for what they did.”
Pimp Spoke On The Situation
TV2.dk reached out to Jacob “Pimp” Winneche, who had the chance to review the documents in question. According to him, he has documentation to support HUNDEN’s claim that some players knew about the loophole being abused. Pimp made the following statements in a tweet:
The article includes a timeline detailing HUNDEN’s claims. Accordingly, the team openly discussed whether it would take advantage of the coaching error.
But not all of the players representing Heroic knew that HUNDEN was abusing the loophole in the May 2020 games where the coach was banned. So blaming the whole team cannot be the right approach. However, it is not possible to predict who is aware or not.
In fact, the coach changed his story from the moment he was banned for using the loophole in September 2020. He said he acted on his own at the time, without the knowledge of his teammates.
HUNDEN’s Future
When asked why it has now come to light with new information, HUNDEN referred to the current situation where Denmark is involved in legal proceedings. “I am in such a deep pit that there is nothing to escape from now,” he said.
Hunden also told TV.2dk in an interview that “There is no Counter-Strike for me from now on,” Thus, he added that he would quit esports. The resulting suspension therefore means a complete departure from Counter-Strike.
Time will tell if HUNDEN, whose career and name disappeared, will come before us again with some new developments. We will continue to keep you informed of relevant developments. Stay tuned!
