TSM’s star Overwatch roster has been transferred this week to compLexity after “additional allegations” surfaced about two of their players history cheating in previous games.

When TSM picked up Code7 just two weeks ago, they found themselves the owners of a top North American Overwatch team making waves in the scene. In the past month the Code7 roster have built a solid case for them to be considered the second best team in North America but despite this TSM have decided they no longer want the team representing their brand. Due to the sordid history of two of the players, tork and Nicolas, the team has been transferred from TSM to compLexity.

The “TJO bros” of tork and Nicolas have bans for cheating in previous games, including CEVO bans in CS:GO and allegations of cheating in Call of Duty and Battlefield. This history was well-known throughout the team’s existence, admitted by the players, and was made clear to TSM upon signing. Naturally their past led many to speculate that they may be cheating in Overwatch, though there has been no serious evidence of this.

There has been much discussion in the community as to whether players with this kind of past should be given second chances. TSM were initially willing to grant them a second chance and asked fans to “give them the benefit of the doubt that this will not happen again”. The organisation changed their mind after less than two weeks however, deciding for unclear reasons to transfer the team to another organisation.

The official statement TSM gave this week reads:

Initially when we discovered the Overwatch squad, Code 7, we thought we had found the right fit for our brand. We had wanted to get into Overwatch early on and thought this was a great opportunity. When negotiating with the players, Nicolas “NicolasTJO” Aubin and Jake “torkTJO” Lepoff brought up their history in CS:GO to our attention. While we were disappointed in hearing this news we thought that we could still make it work. However, we did not foresee the additional allegations regarding their competitive integrity in other games. Due to these circumstances, we have decided that Code 7 is not the right fit for TSM and we will continue our search for the right Overwatch squad.

With that being said, we have initiated a transfer of the Code 7 squad to the gaming brand, CompLexity Gaming. We wish them the best and hope that they can make a positive name for themselves in the Overwatch community.

With owner Andy “Reginald” Dinh saying:

As a brand, TSM has always been about hard work and performance. I did not want our legacy to be associated with allegations of dubious behavior and I will always hold my brand to the highest standard. I still believe that the guys can prove their skill and clear their names through time and hope that the Overwatch scene can give them another chance regardless of this decision.

It is not clear what these “additional allegations” were, as Dinh stated previously on Reddit that “they did bring up their history with cheating in other games to me and I still chose to give them the opportunity to play under our brand and act as professionals”. Clearly the organisation was aware of their cheating in multiple games, and not just the CEVO ban in CS:GO, which raises questions over the nature of these “additional allegations”.

TSM were prompted to transfer the roster only two weeks after signing the team. In the fourteen days between TSM announcing the signing and compLexity announcing the transfer, TSM claims that new allegations had surfaced which prompted this move. Given the time taken to organise the transfer and announce the changes, it appears that TSM took significantly less than two weeks before wanting rid of the two players they had initially pushed to be given a second chance. It remains unknown what additional allegations would be serious enough to trigger the immediate transfer of such a high-calibre team.

The recent Daily Dot article by Samuel Lingle unveiled that TSM had offered to keep the other four members of the team. They originally attempted to replace only Nicolas and tork while keeping the core of the team, but the roster wanted to stay together.

Harbleu told Lingle:

We think we could have found good replacements. TSM was willing to buy out players from other teams. But with ELEAGUE and ESL coming up, we really wanted to attend those."

The team has qualified for the $100,000 LAN of the ESL Atlantic Showdown, as well as qualifying with placement pending for the $300,000 Overwatch Open run by ELEAGUE and FACEIT. Contrary to the team’s belief, changing two of their players would not jeopardise their spot in ELEAGUE according to the stated rules, while ESL has no related rules available on their website. Harbleu did also indicate to Lingle that the team didn’t want to throw away the success they’d recently been having, as they’d built the roster from a middling tier 2 team into a strong contender for tournament victories.

It’s reasonable for the team to want to stay together with both of these huge LANs on the horizon. A predictable slip after swapping both of their dps players could lead to the team losing massively in the short term, and the team decided they would rather move to compLexity with the full squad than stay with TSM without their two dps players.

This move raises questions for the TSM organisation too. Their fans were desperate for the organisation to move into Overwatch, though many disliked the decision to pick up players with a history of cheating. As their former roster has now been transferred to compLexity, there are no tier one teams remaining without an organisation. Unless TSM are willing to buy out a top team or wait until contracts expire, they will have to try and find upcoming talent within the scene. Rosters such as ohno, Sodipop, Sea Algae, or even European team WEUNITED could be options but would be a huge step down for TSM.

It remains to be seen whether this was a good decision for the TSM organisation. If the roster fails to maintain its performance under compLexity, or in the worst possible scenario gets discovered cheating, TSM will consider it a bullet dodged. On the other hand if the team is able to perform at a high level in both upcoming six-figure LANs, TSM may have regrets as they are forced to sign a tier two or three team in Overwatch.

The statement released also appears to paint the compLexity organisation in an apathetic light. The implication from TSM’s announcement is that compLexity do not care about the “additional allegations” or the wider case of taking on players with a history cheating. It remains to be seen how compLexity will deal with any bad publicity, and after announcing their new team this week, compLexity immediately began to receive flak for their decision through public comments.

compLexity did not address the cheating situation in their announcement, though they are aware of the allegations. They also mention that the team is after a gaming house, which should alleviate some of the concerns that the public have with Nicolas and tork.

CEO Jason Lake said:

We're very honored to join the Overwatch community and excited to work with this talented squad. We've already begun the hunt for a coL.OW gaming house and look forward to a collaboration we feel will bring our loyal fans great success.

compLexity have managed to secure themselves a top tier team in North American Overwatch. That roster is still:

  • Anthony "harbleu" Ballo (Flex)
  • Jake "torkTJO" Lepoff (DPS)
  • Nicolas "NicolasTJO" Aubin (DPS)
  • Joey "jkw" Wavering (Tank)
  • Joe "Joemeister" Gramano (Support)
  • Jack "Shake" Kaplan (Support)