Thomas ‘ZooMaa’ Paparatto is stepping away from Call of Duty Challengers by pulling support for his Stallions team in light of recent cheating accusations.
As someone who holds the scene in high regard, ZooMaa was taken aback when evidence started to circulate of people among his own ranks floating tournament rules during competition.
Once news broke of the alleged cheating, the former CoD pro outright condemned the actions his team was accused of and said he would pull the Stallions from the amateur circuit for the time being.
“I would love to have a Challengers team but as of right now I think I’m going to reevaluate things and pull it back,” he said on an April 27 stream. “I’m not going to be funding these guys moving forward as of right now, including my cousin [Vincent ‘VinnY’ Gage].”
“This is a lesson they need to understand. They broke a rule, they have to know the rules. It’s a lesson they need to learn.”
ZooMaa has stated that he will be stepping away from Challengers with the Stallions brand and will no longer be funding the team. #CDL2022 pic.twitter.com/MSjPm79sVO
— Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) April 27, 2022
ZooMaa himself has been leading the charge against cheating amateurs, including pulling the #2 ranked player onto his Twitch show, The Flank, after they exposed their hacks during a Vanguard stream.
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It wasn’t long after his own brand, players, and family were found skirting CDL Challenger rules after a clip showed coach VinnY communicating with his team during a match.
“Stallions coaches have been actively cheating in Challengers calling out for the team on rotating and taking routes via ‘live feed of discord,’” Abas said. “Listen at like 19 seconds, Vinny tells Pat to rotate. This got them into Elite S2 and 30k [pro points].”
For several years now, communication between players and their coaches has been banned during any kind of competitive match, only allowed between maps or before and after matches.
Stallions coaches have been actively cheating in Challengers calling out for team on rotating and taking routes via "live feed of discord" listen at like 19s Vinny tells Pat to rotate. This got them into Elite S2 and 30k pps pic.twitter.com/pQoKRMxKoG
— Abas (@AbasTBE) April 27, 2022
As this occurred in a very important match for Stallions and their opponents, other competitors questioned what would be done if the team was found to be cheating.
- Read More: CDL 2022 standings and schedule
ZooMaa quickly responded to the clip after it started to circulate, and responded to the original poster, saying: “Obviously I don’t condone rule breaks like this and it’s disappointing. Coaches shouldn’t be talking to players during matches.”
