HEROIC’s CS2 team had a map victory overturned in an ESL Pro League Season 20 match against NIP after the SnapTap feature was detected on one of their player’s keyboards.
SnapTap is an input automation mode in certain newer keyboards that allows players to counter-strafe much more easily. Valve banned SnapTap along with other automation macros in CS2 and its competitive circuit just last month.
Counter-Strike tournament organizers quickly followed suit, with ESL banning the hardware assistant mode on August 29. However, due to how ubiquitous tools like this were among players, there are many who are still transitioning away from using it and changing their settings to disable it.
ESL announced during the tournament’s live broadcast as the series was being played and on social media that the result would be changed from a map win for HEROIC to a win for NIP after SnapTap was detected.
NIP went on to win the match 2-1.
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Before #ESLProLeague we announced that the use of Snap Tap, Rappy Snappy, SOCD or similar assistants is prohibited at our events going forward.During the map of Ancient between @heroicgg & @NIPCS it was found that one of Heroic's players were using Snap Tap and thus the map has… pic.twitter.com/PwExnpzefS
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 3, 2024
After the match, it was revealed that the player who was using SnapTap was René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen. The player said on social media that he turned off the feature on his keyboard back when Valve announced it was illegal.
“F***ing embarrassing and amateur from me… I turned it off ages ago when it was banned from Valve. I didn’t notice it during the game or anything and obviously didn’t do it on purpose. I let the boys down and I’m devastated about it,” TeSeS said.
TeSeS’s teammate, Guy ‘NertZ’ Iluz, explained on X that the feature switches on when players change PCs, which led to its use during the match and map forfeit.
This is the first instance of a team being punished for using SnapTap. CS2 players using keyboards with hardware assistance will now have to be extra careful when getting their gear set up for LAN events or risk a potential series-losing punishment.