Warzone drama erupts as pro accused of hacking in $100K tourney
Activision / PexelsThe Call of Duty: Warzone community devolved into chaos as a pro was accused of hacking during a $100,000 tournament qualifier. With one particularly suspicious clip circulating, players and fans alike are debating Shifty’s legitimacy.
Over the past several weeks, a Warzone competitor named ‘Shifty’ has been accused multiple times of hacking. Most prominently, former Call of Duty League pro and current ROKKR streamer Rasim ‘Blazt’ Ogresevic has led the accusatory charge.
On March 8, those allegations came to a very public peak – as a number of pros joined Blazt in claiming that Shifty was cheating during the $100,000 Caldera Challenge Qualifiers.
With about $15,000 up for grabs during this leg of the qualifiers and $100,000 overall, the stakes were obviously high. As such, Blazt’s latest evidence – a clip of a suspicious kill – was widely discussed.
Warzone pro accused of cheating in $100K tournament
Former CDL pro @Blazt accused a competitor of cheating in yesterday's Warzone $100K Qualifiers due to this clip.
It's been hotly debated, so we're asking the community: Sus or not? 🤔pic.twitter.com/G0RLj5ZiL4
— Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) March 9, 2022
In Blazt’s clip, you can see Shifty’s crosshair abruptly latch onto an enemy from long range, at which point he beamed the enemy with pinpoint accuracy. Blazt’s reaction to this seven-second example was simple: “HOW ON EARTH IS THIS HUMAN ON A CONTROLLER??????”
Shifty didn’t end up winning the event, but he did place third (in the prize pool) and put up the highest K/D in the tournament: 13.32 (per InTheZone). With those results, Blazt wasn’t the only one accusing the streamer of cheating – as top-10 Warzone earner, Edy ‘Newbz’ Juan, also agreed that there was a ‘cheater in the tourney.’
Others weren’t so convinced, though. Warzone’s top all-time earner and a fellow former CDL pro himself, Thomas ‘Tommey’ Trewren was one of several who argued that the clip wasn’t definitive proof.
Warzone ‘hacker clip’ caused by skipped frames?
I’m not saying he is or isn’t doing anything but in this clip the frames skip, meaning he dropped a few in OBS – watch the minimap and look at the cluster, it fully jumps to a different point without showing the movement. The man definitely has ‘sus’ clips, just not this one.
— 100T Tommey (@Tommey) March 9, 2022
As Tommey explained, this clip wasn’t “sus” because of a “frames skip, meaning he dropped a few in OBS.” Elaborating, he pointed out that the Cluster Strike on Shifty’s minimap essentially teleported – proving that the lock-on moment could have looked weirder due to a streaming issue.
While others have countered that frame skips can be caused by hacks, Blazt actually has a different way to resolve the debate.
In a series of leaked DMs, the former pro suggested that the only way for Shifty to prove himself innocent is to “play on my $6,000 computer and buy him a brand-new controller.” Thus far, although Shifty has begun using monitor cams akin to MuTeX’s setup, he has not acknowledged Blazt’s offer publicly.