UK Hearthstone player BoarControl defends fellow pro caught playing Auto Chess during Grandmasters match

George ‘BoarControl’ Webb, a British Hearthstone player for T1, has defended Linh ‘Seiko’ Nguyen (pictured) who came under fire for his actions at a recent Hearthstone match.

Seiko was caught playing in a qualifier for the $1m Auto Chess tournament, while at the same time taking part in a Hearthstone Grandmasters match.

The German pro could be seen looking down regularly during the game against Elias ‘Bozzzton’ Sebelius, leading him to making mistakes and throwing the match:

Seiko received criticism from the community following the incident, but one UK pro stood up for him.

BoarControl said on Twitter:

While BoarControl says Seiko didn’t technically break the rules, section 6 of the Grandmasters ruleset states: “Grandmasters players will be held to the highest standards of personal integrity and good sportsmanship.”

Arguably this could be construed as unsportsmanlike behaviour.

However, it’s reported that Seiko asked Blizzard for a schedule change ahead of the game, but that was declined.

He said: “I asked them to switch the time [I would be playing at] and if I can try play both if the schedule is not changeable. Of course I asked them. I felt like it would be rude if I didn’t.”

Seiko came out and issued an apology in a Twitlonger message.

He said: ” ‪I didn’t mean to be disrespectful at all – it didn’t seem like an issue [at the time] ‬if I play both Auto Chess and Hearthstone at the same time.

“I really thought I had enough practice, that I could handle playing both games without paying too much attention to Auto Chess. Unfortunately it took too much attention though, which didn’t end up well in Hearthstone.

“I got really punished for this and regret that I couldn’t evaluate the situation correctly. I apologize for disappointing everyone.”

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.