'Messed up day': Mindfreak crowned CCT Season 4 OCE champs as scheduling conflicts wreak havoc

Mindfreak has taken out CCT Season 4 OCE on Saturday to claim their first regional title of 2026, but players and fans alike have been left seething over circumstances that saw opponents THUNDER dOWNUNDER forfeit the first two maps of the best-of-five grand final.

Mindfreak's 3-0 (W-FF, W-FF, 13-6) victory included just a single map on Anubis, which was all but dominated by the boys in blue.

Kalan "sliimey" Lorenzo (23-8, 2.02) put TDU to the sword via an impressive 9-3 T-side half, while Joshua "dpr" Henderson-Smith (11-10, 1.13) and Jye "zune" Pollock (15-9, 1.33) wrapped up the match before TDU could strike back.

Their win has been soured, however, as THUNDER dOWNUNDER entered the series down two maps. Due to a scheduling conflict with the PGL Bucharest Asia Closed Qualifier, and then a camera fault, TDU was only permitted to play the third map.

The loss hurts even more considering the ramifications for Valve's Regional Standings (VRS), with HLTV predicting TDU will lose 20 points due to the grand final defeat.

"[It was the] most messed up day," THUNDER dOWNUNDER's Chris "dexter" Nong said on X/Twitter following the grand final.

"CCT did an awful job in a grand final in OCE where we have not enough tournaments... forfeiting us when we joined at 2 mins and ready to go and then claiming because the angle of camera wasn't right to forfeit us.

"From a professional stance in my career as [a] gaming ambassador, sponsoring a competition that has no grand final is a terrible, terrible look," dexter concluded.

THUNDER dOWNUNDER was midway through their PGL Bucharest qualifier against Legion when the CCT final was scheduled to begin. TDU was up 1-0 but down 12-6 in map two; the Aussie squad ultimately agreed to forfeit the second map and managed to negotiate a delay for map three in order to prioritise the CCT grand final.

Despite this, CCT admins weren't having it. TDU In-game leader Alistair "aliStair" Johnston said the team had done their best to communicate the scheduling issues to CCT admins, who proceeded to disqualify TDU anyway.

"CCT allowed nothing and ignored when we requested well inadvanced [sic]," aliStair said, adding that Mindfreak had also agreed to delay the final to ensure TDU was ready.

DFRAG has reached out to CCT for comment but a response has not been received at the time of publishing.

It comes as several scheduling conflicts affect other CS2 events in Oceania — a region already starved for competition both LAN and online.

And yet, the likes of ESL, CCT, and qualifiers for events like PGL Bucharest manage to book matches within the same week or fortnight period, months into the season where there was nothing but a clear calendar and a dozen OCE squads ready to play.

"A BO5 grand final being pretty much forfeit is very sad," Abyssal's Jayden "foggers" Graham said. "[We're] grateful for the opportunities we have in OCE, but we get 3 main events a season. Why the f**k do they have to clash and happen within the same week?

"We are constantly forfeiting vital VRS points to other teams because of this. This, and the scheduling conflicts, only hurts our region more."