Natus Vincere, one of the best teams in European Valorant lost to Korea’s DRX with an overall 1-2 scoreline. During the match, NAVI was penalized with the loss of a timeout as one of their players was seen using Snus, the popular smokeless tobacco product.
During their match in Bind, Ange1 was seen using the product on the face cam. Later, NAVI’s head coach Erik “d00mbr0s” Sandgren, confirmed the incident. In recent years, snus has become quite a popular form of tobacco in the European region.
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Natus Vincere Penalised Due To Snus Consumption During Match
Apart from esports, Premier League has seen its players resorting to snus consumption. Players use it even during training and practice. This is not the first instance of snus usage in esports. Several reports claim that players from the League Of Legends European Championship were seen consuming it to combat burnout and other mental health-related issues while competing. While Riot Games did not release an official notice about the incident, the VCT rules clearly state that tobacco and nicotine are strictly prohibited from match areas. NAVI might have bought a big issue over themselves.
While multiple fans have reacted and opposed the notion as a whole, some pros seemed to be rather ambivalent towards it. Regardless, NaVi will continue their decider matchup against the winner of the LOUD Esports and Team Liquid matchup. Valorant Champions has been to a great start so far and teams are putting up a great fight for the World Champions contention spot. Chinese team, Bilibili Gaming, has produced the biggest upset by defeating NRG, who placed in the Top 4 during Masters Tokyo. It will be interesting to see how China fares against the rest of the world, with Valorant officially releasing there just a few months ago.