Esports
King Jae and C-Krizzle disqualified from UK Tekken 7 Championship for collusion
Two players disqualified from the UK Tekken 7 Championship.
Bandai Namco Entertainment UK announced earlier today in an official statement that District G players Justin ‘King Jae’ Nelson and Charmel ‘C-Krizzle’ Koloko have been disqualified from the ESL UK Tekken 7 Championship Series due to suspected collusion during their match at the Birmingham qualifier on May 6, 2017. As a result, neither player may participate in the last remaining qualifier that is in London on May 14th, which consequently eliminates them from any chance of competing in the UK Tekken 7 Finals in London during the MCM London Comic Con on May 26th.
Here is Bandai Namco’s (UK) official statement.
Following the Tekken 7 UK Championship Birmingham Qualifier, we would like to extend our thanks to Electronic Dojo for…
Posted by Bandai Namco Entertainment on Tuesday, May 9, 2017
The Backstory
C-Krizzle had already qualified for the UK Tekken 7 Finals, placing 2nd at the Manchester qualifier on April 29, 2017. King Jae made Top 8 at two qualifiers, HypeSpotting 6 (7th place) and Manchester (5th place), but failed to qualify each time (he did not make top 3). The Birmingham qualifier would be King Jae’s third attempt to qualify.
At the Birmingham qualifier this past weekend King Jae and C-Krizzle were in different pools at the start of the tournament. They would eventually face one another in the top 8 loser’s bracket.
See the bracket below (Click to enlarge).
C-Krizzle vs King Jae
King Jae and C-Krizzle would face one another in a best of 3 set, and in the beginning, everything appeared to be normal gameplay. King Jae took the first match, C-Krizzle took the second, and King Jae would take the final match, eliminating his teammate from the tournament.
Watch their full set below.
Potential Evidence
While Bandai Namco has not stated specifically which portions of the match appear to be collusion, it is the two clips below that most point toward as possible evidence.
According to the comments on the Bandai Namco official statement some believe they made their decision solely based on the outcry of the Tekken community and the gameplay, but that is not the case. We don’t know what all details were taken into account, but that certainly would not be it. There were other potential factors that transpired before the matches took place that hinted at a possible plan to collude, as well.
King Jae’s Response
Even before the ruling was made to disqualify King Jae and C-Krizzle, King Jae has maintained his innocence in the matter, sharing video and tweets on the matter.
Collusion 1/2 pic.twitter.com/RjJ2yXVFMm
— KingJae (@ItsJustinNelson) May 8, 2017
Collusion 2/2 pic.twitter.com/hKEZSCNHOT
— KingJae (@ItsJustinNelson) May 8, 2017
I think it was the worst mistake coming back into the UK Tekken offline community.
— KingJae (@ItsJustinNelson) May 9, 2017
I made it onto @gamespot @eventhubs @kotaku and @tekkengamercom And invited on TV. Thanks for all the publicity 🙂
— KingJae (@ItsJustinNelson) May 9, 2017
A Few Words
So how could all of this have been prevented?
The easiest fix to this situation would be either to prohibit qualified players from participating in qualifiers, or if they can enter they must forfeit their qualified spot. The later is what took place within the North American Tekken Tour, where Anakin forfeited his qualified spot quite a few times. Hopefully this will be the course of action for all future Tekken events.
Honestly, I’m saddened to see all of this, and I feel bad for King Jae and C-Krizzle. But there can be no place for these kinds of acts in esports. We have to be able to separate our emotions from facts at times, because if not they can cloud your judgment.
I trust that Bandai Namco UK made the right decision, and took into account all facts. Again, it wasn’t just the community saying “collusion” that this was done.
Yes, this is a horrible blemish, but all we can do from here on is move forward.
