ESL has addressed a controversial boost used by GamerLegion against Cloud9 at the IEM CS:GO Rio Major.
“The boost used by GamerLegion on Overpass against Cloud9 during their 2-2 match in the Challengers Stage of the IEM Rio Major is legal,” ESL told Dot Esports.
The boost was used by GamerLegion in the 14th round on the map. One of GamerLegion’s players, Ivan “iM” Mihai, was boosted toward the Connector Lamp on the map, and as a result, caught C9’s player Timofey “interz” Yakushin off guard.
Interz’s molotov thrown before he approached the area didn’t impact iM at all, but he most likely wasn’t expecting anyone to be in there.
This was probably the first time the boost was used since even the casters commenting on the game admitted they “didn’t know you can do that.”
The boost almost immediately sparked a discussion in CS:GO community, with many people wondering if it’s legal. Overpass has a history of illegal boosts, which were considered pixel walking. The most iconic one is Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson’s boost versus Team LDLC during Dreamhack Winter 2014. Fnatic opted to forfeit the match to LDLC after facing backlash from the community.
“The intentional use of any bugs, glitches, or errors in the game is forbidden,” IEM Rio Major’s rulebook reads.