Hello Lumia Island Survivors,

We wrapped up the S11 Lumia Rivals Cup: Asia Grand Finals this past Sunday, July 26th. During the tournament, we penalized Team hana and Team Crimson Bunflies with a forfeiture of all points earned in Round 6 due to unsportsmanlike play. Since we were unable to fully explain the situation during the live broadcast, we would like to provide a detailed breakdown of our decision.

The Penalty in Round 6 of the S11 Lumia Rivals Cup: Asia Finals

Under the Checkpoint rule format, we consider "utilizing another team for one's own advantage" to be allowed, but "cooperating with another team" is strictly prohibited. Given the nature of the battle royale genre, every other team is an enemy that must eventually be eliminated. While using another team's positioning or presence to benefit your own team is a valid strategy, showing deliberate restraint so an opponent can gain a one-sided benefit, or transferring your own resources to assist an enemy team, cannot be recognized as normal gameplay.

During Round 6, Team hana and Team Crimson Bunflies’s gameplay exceeded the bounds of acceptable, normal play, leading us to enforce this penalty. Because both teams earned a significant number of points in that round through what effectively amounted to cooperative play, we deemed it appropriate to void the points earned by both teams in Round 6. We want to clarify that this decision was not made simply because they shared a rotations path to pressure a specific team; rather, specific instances matching the forbidden behaviors mentioned above were confirmed through spectating.

First, during Day 4 in Round 6, both teams pursued Team YJ Wheres across the map, chasing them from Warehouse to Harbor until they were eliminated. While many viewers found this sequence uncomfortable to watch, this specific action was not the deciding factor for the penalty.

Situations like this are difficult to penalize under the current rulebook, so we plan to refine and detail the rules starting in Season 12 to address them. Instead, the decision to penalize both teams was driven by the following two critical moments:

Team hana intentionally refraining from engaging Team Crimson Bunflies, granting them time and safety to reequip after losing a teammate while eliminating Team YJ Wheres.

Team Crimson Bunflies spending their own Gadget Points to deploy a VLS specifically to allow Team hana to safely exit the Chapel.

We concluded that these actions constitute clear grounds for penalty even in standard matches, and as a result, issued a point forfeiture for both teams for that round.

Strengthening Penalties for "Teaming" Under Checkpoint Rules

While we plan to update our official rulebook for Season 12, we want to ensure fair play for everyone under our current standards as well. We know that gray areas, like two teams taking similar routes without fighting, can be tricky to navigate. However, actions such as holding back attacks to give another team room to profit, or using your own resources to help an opponent, cross the line into unfair advantages that our current rules need to address.

We recently shared a Dev Journal outlining upcoming Season 12 Esports rule changes, but this update wasn't published globally in every language. Because of this, our international players and fans didn't have the full context regarding recent tournament discussions and where our rules are heading. We are truly sorry for this oversight. Going forward, we are committed to translating and sharing all major Esports announcements simultaneously so our entire global community stays informed together.

Similar Cases in Other Regional Events

We used the Checkpoint format for the Grand Finals across all our new Season 11 regional tournaments (ESC, EJC, and APAC GP). During the ESC season, we caught instances of abnormal play (such as item sharing), which gave us a chance to talk with the players directly and explain why those tactics fall outside fair play. On the other hand, because the EJC and APAC GP matches ran smoothly without major issues, we unfortunately missed the opportunity to proactively share those same guidelines with those players beforehand.

As we work on updating our rulebook for the future, we will focus on communicating every rule clearly and collaborating closely with all our teams so everyone feels supported and aligned on our competitive standards.

We are still in the process of defining where the exact line for "teaming" lies, and despite receiving a penalty, neither team deserves blame. We want to express our deepest gratitude to Team hana and Team Crimson Bunflies for competing and giving their absolute best in every match, even within a global Esports environment that has not yet fully matured.

Even so, we ultimately decided to issue the penalty because we felt a strong need to address these controversial instances directly rather than ignoring them. It is true that the line between "teaming" and "strategic play" was not sufficiently clear. However, rather than delaying action simply because perfect standards do not yet exist, we believed it was necessary to start taking action where we could make clear judgments.

We have been deeply moved by the spirit shown by Team hana and Team Crimson Bunflies throughout the Masters and regional tournaments, and we are profoundly grateful for everything they have brought to our competitive scene. While we cannot reverse the decision regarding the penalty already applied, we genuinely care about the disappointment and frustration this measure has caused the players. As such, we will speak with them openly and directly, and do everything we can to support them moving forward.

We take it very seriously that recent tournaments included moments that created frustration for both our viewers and participating players. We deeply apologize for the concern this has caused.

To prevent these issues from happening again, our team is thoroughly evaluating several areas for improvement. Our primary goal for Season 12 is to establish more detailed and concrete guidelines. While we may not be able to resolve every gray area overnight, setting clear baseline boundaries for what constitutes abnormal play will help create a healthier, better tournament environment moving forward.

We are also reviewing and updating our internal processes to communicate more smoothly with our global players and fans. Going forward, we will ensure that all official rules and key announcements are translated into all our offered languages so everyone across every region can easily stay informed.

Once again, we sincerely apologize to all players and viewers who felt let down by these recent events. We will work to show you real improvements in the future.

Sincerely,

The Eternal Return Esports Team