Taiwan’s team at a Hearthstone e-sports event in Singapore was yesterday disqualified for watching a broadcast of the competition in which their opponents’ cards were visible, losing their chance to play in the world finals next month at BlizzCon in the US.
Taiwan had advanced to the final 16 at the Hearthstone Global Games, securing their place in the world finals in Anaheim, California.
They finished in second place in Group C after bouncing back from a 0-3 loss to New Zealand to defeat the US 3-1 and Singapore 3-2.
Photo courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment Inc
Taiwan’s team, which consists of last year’s world champion, “tom60229,” as well as “Roger,” “reall.hs” and “Shaxy,” were heavily favored to reach the world finals.
“Tom60229” is Chen Wei-lin (陳威霖), “Roger” is Lo Cheng-yuan (羅晟原), “reall.hs” is Kuo Shao-an (郭紹安) and “Shaxy” is Liu Wei-chieh (劉瑋劼), who was caught watching the broadcast.
Singapore is to take Taiwan’s place in the Hearthstone Global Games playoffs at BlizzCon.
“The Chinese Taipei Hearthstone Global Games team has been disqualified from the Hearthstone Global Games competition,” Blizzard Entertainment said in a statement on its Web site.
“Following the Chinese Taipei vs Singapore match, the Chinese Taipei team uploaded a video of their game play. Upon review of the video, and after reviewing in-person statements from the players, the Hearthstone e-sports team has determined that members of the Chinese Taipei team used the delayed tournament broadcast to aid them in a decision during the game,” it added.
The decision sparked criticism from Taiwan’s e-sport community and calls for an explanation.
Chen said they are still in Singapore and cannot comment, but promised to explain what happened when they return to Taiwan next week.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form