S8UL Esports has been disqualified from MSC 2025 after players Hoon and MobaZane were found to have violated tournament rules, with Area 77 taking over North America’s slot.
North America’s Team S8UL has been disqualified from the upcoming Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup (MSC) 2025 after two of its players—Jang "Hoon" Seong-hun and Michael "MobaZane" Cosgun—were found in violation of tournament rules.
In a statement released by the MSC 2025 Committee, both players were cited for participating in a promotional event associated with another mobile Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, which was deemed a breach of the MSC rulebook under Section 2, Penalty Index B.
“As outlined in the MSC penalty index (Section 2, penalty index B), a penalty will be imposed if a team member engages in any competitor games’ event/activity/livestream or other way to give the competitor games’ exposure. The competitor games are defined as mobile MOBA game.”
As a result, both Hoon and MobaZane were disqualified, and S8UL—no longer meeting the tournament’s roster minimum—was forced to forfeit their spot in the prestigious Esports World Cup.
"The MSC 2025 Committee had extended multiple opportunities for Team S8UL to reconsider Hoon and MobaZane's participation in the competitor event—to preserve the team's eligibility to compete in the tournament. Despite these efforts, Team S8UL elected to proceed,” the post wrote.
“Therefore, 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,” it added.
Team S8UL has since challenged the ruling’s validity, pointing out that the campaign in question occurred on June 27–28, prior to the July 10 to August 2 date range stated in the MSC 2025 rulebook.
The MSC Committee, however, clarified that the rulebook's date range specifies only which teams the rules apply to, not when the rules take effect. Moonton, the tournament organizer, maintained that participation in the external campaign constituted grounds for disqualification and cited its right to final interpretation of the rules.
In a video posted online, Team S8UL’s EXP laner Ian "FwydChickn" Hohl defended his teammates and criticized the decision.
"First of all, I do not blame Hoon and Zane—and neither should anyone,” he said. “This campaign was planned a while back, and when they planned it, they made sure it aligned with the MSC rulebook."
He reiterated that the team sought legal advice before committing to the campaign and felt blindsided by the sudden change in interpretation.
With S8UL removed from the competition, North American runner-up Area 77 has been tapped to take their place at the MSC 2025.