S8UL Esports disqualified from MSC 2025 after Hoon, MobaZane violate rules
Photo from S8UL Esports
S8UL Esports disqualified from MSC 2025 after Hoon, MobaZane violate rules
MANILA — North America’s best’s MSC 2025 campaign ends before it even begins.
The MLBB Mid Season Cup (MSC) 2025 committee has officially disqualified S8UL Esports from the tournament following a rule violation committed by two of its players — Jang “Hoon” Seong-hun and Michael “MobaZane” Cosgun — linked to their participation in a promotional event for a competing MOBA title.
In a statement released via MLBB Esports’ official social media pages, the organizers cited a breach of Section 2, Penalty Index B of the MSC Official Rulebook. The section states that a penalty shall be imposed if a “team member engages in any competitor games’ event/activity/livestream or other way to give the competitor games’ exposure.”
Hoon, MobaZane played in rival game’s event
Hoon and MobaZane took part in an event for a Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s direct competitor — just days after arriving in the Philippines for S8UL’s supposed bootcamp. Their actions directly violated the rules barring active participants from engaging in promotional events for rival mobile MOBA titles.
Despite multiple discussions, S8UL opted to retain the two players in their submitted roster, prompting the tournament committee to act.
“In the interest of maintaining the integrity of the tournament and enforcing consistency with the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup Official Rules, Hoon and MobaZane have been disqualified, effective immediately,” the committee said.
S8UL fails to meet minimum roster requirement
Following the disqualification of the two players, S8UL’s active roster fell below the tournament’s minimum requirement of six players — five main players and at least one substitute — as outlined in the MSC 2025 rulebook. This made the team ineligible to participate in the tournament.
While substitutions are allowed in cases of unavoidable or unforeseen circumstances, such as age restrictions or legal issues. This happened in the case of Virtus.pro’s Zaur “zauregoist” Magomadov, who was unable to compete after not meeting the minimum age requirement. The team then tapped Smart Omega’s Andrew “Andoryuuu” Flora as a stand-in for the tournament, while zauregoist will travel as VP’s analyst for the meantime.
The committee however deemed S8UL’s case as avoidable and thus not eligible for emergency substitution.
Area77 steps in as replacement
With S8UL’s disqualification, Area77, the NACT Spring 2025 runners-up, has been officially awarded their spot in the MSC main stage.
This is the second time in recent MSC history that a North American squad was unable to compete due to roster-related issues. In MSC 2023, BloodThirstyKings — also led by MobaZane — was disqualified due to incomplete documentation and legal consent issues, leading to Outplay, then featuring Hoon, stepping in as a replacement.
S8UL Esports has yet to issue an official statement regarding the disqualification at the time of publication.
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