Falcon Esports of Myanmar emerged victorious after a long duel against Cambodia's Burn x Flash, which is led by Filipino coach John Michael "Zico" Dizon, in the group stages of the M4 World Championship but the latter claims a bug issue jeopardized his team's chance of winning, putting the game results in question.
Moonton Games disclosed that an investigation has been launched after Burn X Flash appealed for a restart match because of an alleged bug that heavily influenced the game's conclusion. The bug reportedly occurred in the 19th minute of the match.
"The call at that time was that Grock had no Flicker battle spell, that's why we overstayed in that position," Dizon told Esquire Philippines. "But when he came back, he cast his Ultimate and then Flickered."
That was enough to allow the Falcons to pick off three of Burn's players.
Dizon claims that moment was game-changing in favor of Falcon Esports.
Flicker is a battle spell that allows a player to teleport a short distance to evade attacks or launch a surprise attack. It has a cooldown of 120 seconds.
The Bug Issue
Four members of the Cambodian squad engaged the Burmese in a top lane invasion during the 19th minute with all lanes in their favor.
In that sequence, Burn's Kosal "ATM" Piseth (Fredrinn) unleashed his Energy Eruption skill that should've disabled Falcon's Min "Naomi" Ko (Grock).
The Burmese roamer was able to walk a few moments before getting teleported back, which looked like a flicker execution from Burn's perspective.
Seeing the resource burn, a source from Burn said that the team made a call to put pressure in the top lane but was caught off-guard when Naomi executed a Flicker + Wild Charge combo that resulted in a 3-0 wipe. That clash shattered Burn's hopes with Falcon taking the win in one fell swoop moments later.
A source from within Burn says they are looking to book a rematch after they put the game result under protest.
According to Section 6.9.3 of the M4 World Championship rule book, "If a game experiences a critical bug at a point during the match that significantly alters game stats or gameplay mechanics, or the external environment condition becomes untenable then a restart may occur."
Moonton's Response
In a series of screenshots translated through Google, Moonton refused to allow a match restart but admitted to the existence of the bug.
Section 6.9.3.2 of the M4 Rulebook states that a player who encounters a bug should call for a pause of the game and alert a referee "in a timely fashion."
Burn X Flash did not initiate a pause when the bug occurred, claiming they did not notice it because it happened in the middle of a clash.
The result of the match is crucial for both teams as they hope to finish in the top two of Group A to reach the upper bracket.
Filipino squad Blacklist International currently leads Group A with an undefeated record.
With additional reporting from Mario Alvaro Limos.
