ESIC Bans Five NOMERCY Players Over Roman Imperium Cup Matches

The Esports Integrity Commission, known as ESIC, published final disciplinary decisions on October 15 against five players of the Counter-Strike 2 team NOMERCY. The decisions concern match manipulation at Roman Imperium Cup VII, an event in which NOMERCY played four best-of-one matches on March 28, 2026. One player, kzy, received a lifetime ban. Two received five years and two received three years, according to ESIC's published decision.

A day later, on October 16, ESIC went further against one of the five. It replaced the three-year ban of 2xplayN with a lifetime ban after a series of public posts that, in ESIC's finding, breached its rules while he was suspended.

ESIC decisions published October 15 and October 16, 2026.

What ESIC decided

ESIC said its decisions are dated September 17, 2026 and replace provisional suspensions that it imposed on April 23, 2026. A provisional suspension is a temporary measure that bars a player while an investigation continues. When ESIC reaches a final decision, it credits the time already served, which is why the fixed bans end on dates counted from April 23 rather than from the day of the ruling.

Under the sanction, each player is barred from playing, coaching, managing, officiating, analyzing, assisting or providing strategy or practice for any match or event that ESIC authorizes, organizes, sanctions, recognizes or supports. They also cannot hold media or other accreditation at official venues. The only exception is anti-corruption education or rehabilitation that ESIC authorizes. ESIC members must take reasonable enforcement steps within their own powers. In the October 16 decision, ESIC added that its members will be notified so that they can enforce the ban within their powers and jurisdictions. For a player barred in this way, a return to team training before the term ends needs ESIC's permission, which is a separate step from re-eligibility once the fixed term has run.

The four matches

According to ESIC, NOMERCY played four best-of-one matches at Roman Imperium Cup VII on March 28, 2026, against BetBoom Team, Sangal Esports, BESTIA and Wildcard. A best-of-one is a single map, so a team has one chance to win a match rather than a series.

ESIC said its betting intelligence identified a structured, high-value pre-match combination wager that targeted a handicap of minus 9.5 rounds across all four matches. ESIC wrote that each result aligned with the targeted outcome. The decision does not give the scores, and it does not say who placed the wager or where.

ESIC said it examined a Runestone Data Partner Report, a full gameplay review of the matches, supplementary analysis of individual players, roster information, communications and financial material where it was produced, and the players' responses. It said the gameplay review showed repeated failures in trading, use of utility, positioning and decision-making. Trading means a player's teammate killing the opponent who has just killed him, and utility means grenades and similar equipment.

ESIC stated that no single gameplay error, transaction or message was treated as decisive. It weighed the evidence in combination and noted its limitations. That matters for how the decision should be read: the finding rests on the pattern across all four matches and across several kinds of material, not on one play.

The roles of the five players

The decision treats the players differently. ESIC found that kzy held a central leadership and calling role, took part in veto decisions and was repeatedly involved in the gameplay it reviewed. It also recorded complete non-cooperation by kzy and said that this was material to the sanction. He received lifetime ineligibility.

James8k and perakokanje each received five years. ESIC did not find that either had leadership culpability like kzy's, and it recorded complete non-cooperation by both. Betting-related charges against them were treated as admitted.

Charges are treated as admitted under ESIC's rules when a player does not ask for a written hearing, ESIC explained. It said this is not a voluntary confession, and that some players did submit responses or written defenses.

2xplayN and srtn1 each received three years. For 2xplayN, ESIC considered a written response dated June 15, 2026, his financial and communications production, his continued engagement, his youth and his relative lack of experience, to which it gave substantial mitigating weight. For srtn1, ESIC credited his initial answers to written questions as mitigation, although it described them as incomplete and inconsistent. It also noted that he had no leadership role.

The rules ESIC applied

ESIC set out the provisions of its Anti-Corruption Code that it relied on. Articles 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 cover match manipulation and corrupt in-game incidents, and Article 2.1.4 covers facilitating corrupt conduct. ESIC found breaches of all three for kzy, James8k, perakokanje and srtn1, and of the first two for 2xplayN.

Betting-related offenses sit in Article 2.2, and Article 2.3 covers inside information. For 2xplayN, ESIC treated charges of betting facilitation, use of inside information and facilitation of corrupt conduct as admitted, and for srtn1 it treated the betting facilitation and inside information charges as admitted.

Articles 4.2 and 4.3 are the duties to cooperate and to produce material. ESIC recorded complete non-cooperation for kzy, James8k and perakokanje, and incomplete compliance by srtn1 in producing financial and account information.

The consequences come from Article 6. Article 6.4 credits time already served under a provisional suspension, Article 6.5 sets the scope of the ban, and Article 6.7 governs re-eligibility once a fixed term ends. Article 6.8 says that an early return to team training needs ESIC's permission.

The October 16 decision on 2xplayN

On October 16, ESIC published a second decision concerning 2xplayN, titled as a lifetime ban issued for further integrity breaches. ESIC said the breaches came after his earlier sanction was published. In ESIC's description, a series of public posts displayed apparent cash and other apparent proceeds of financial crime, and they commented on the match-manipulation findings, betting payouts and a return to competition.

ESIC called the conduct an egregious breach that created the appearance of improper conduct, and it cited provisions of its Code of Conduct and its Anti-Corruption Code. It replaced the future effect of the three-year ban with lifetime ineligibility, so the April 2029 return date no longer applies. No reduction for cooperation was applied. ESIC said it considered his earlier assistance but concluded that it did not excuse the later conduct.

ESIC was explicit about a limit. From the photographs alone, it said, it does not find that the money or proceeds shown were the proceeds of match-fixing. The earlier findings were recorded but not charged a second time. ESIC also said that it will facilitate referrals of the conduct to Valve, government agencies and law enforcement, and that a fixed-term ban does not shield a participant from further enforcement for breaches during the suspension. It added that it will seek permanent exclusion where proven conduct and the protection of fair competition justify it.

What the decisions do not say

Several points are absent from both decisions. They do not name the tournament organizer, and they give no match scores. Valve appears in the October 16 decision only as one of the parties to which ESIC said it will facilitate referrals. The October 15 decision does not describe an appeals process, and the October 16 decision does not say how 2xplayN responded to the revised outcome. Neither decision gives an amount for the wager, beyond calling it high-value.

Why the case matters for the scene

The decisions show what material ESIC weighed: betting intelligence, a data partner's report, a full gameplay review, communications and financial records, and the players' own responses. ESIC then judged each player on his own role and conduct, and the outcomes range from three years to a lifetime.

With 2xplayN's ban now permanent, srtn1's April 23, 2029 date is the earliest fixed end date among the five, and the dates of James8k and perakokanje run to April 23, 2031. The case also shows how long the process can run. The matches took place on March 28, provisional suspensions followed on April 23, 26 days later, the decisions are dated September 17 and they were made public on October 15, more than six months after the matches.

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