This post shares the results of FACEIT’s integrity review into nocries, who recently reached Rank #1 on the FACEIT North American Elo ranking. The review was initiated following inquiries from the community and high-tier esports organizations regarding his relatively new profile and sudden rise to the top of the ranking. To ensure FACEIT’s competitive integrity policies are upheld, our review was conducted across three phases:
Across August–September 2025, our Integrity staff assessed the account for multi-accounting, smurfing, or win-trading. No issues were found, and there are no historical FACEIT bans or integrity sanctions on the account. The Anti-Cheat client did not detect suspicious activity.
On 16th September 2025, a formal video interview was conducted with nocries to address and resolve specific inquiries regarding his account profile and history. This process was used to verify aspects of his background that had become subjects of public speculation, including his use of a new Steam account and IP variances we detected by our team. He cooperated throughout this process.
On 17th September, we invited him to FACEIT New York HQ for supervised play to address questions that data alone could not resolve. From 23rd–25th September 2025, he played nine matches on hardware provided and secured by FACEIT Anti-Cheat Team. Under these controlled conditions, his impact and core mechanics fell within the same performance band as his recent online matches against comparable opposition. Normal session-to-session statistical variance was present as expected in a small sample. During the visit, he re-attained Rank #1 in North America and top-fragged in his first-ever FPL match.
The review found no breach of FACEIT’s competitive integrity policies. During the supervised sessions at our New York office, he received his first‑ever FPL invite on a trial basis, which we have now converted into an indefinite invite so he can continue competing in a higher‑skilled environment. In the interview he said his dream is to join a professional team and compete at LAN events, and we look forward to seeing where his journey leads and wish him the best.
To ensure transparency and consistency for similar cases in the future, we plan to introduce a new validation protocol for high-ranked players participating in matchmaking, leagues and official tournaments on FACEIT. This protocol will be communicated soon, along with our upcoming Anti‑Cheat update.
