The Downfall of an Esports Giant, How Crond6 Have Joined the Path to Irrelevance.

It was the morning of November the 21^st when an eagle eyed Crond6 fan spotted that the banner of the lucrative team’s YouTube page had been updated to include a new face. Instead of the hype and expectation which should be expected upon a roster change of this calibre however, public focus immediately shifted away from the newly announced team-member, and onto the organization’s treatment of an old favourite, a brand icon quietly benched from the starting roster without even an official PR statement from team leader Hexix. Crond6’s treatment of Jarrod “Lazruis01” Jayhighway after his years of service to the team marks the latest in a long run of questionable decisions made by management, and team captain Hexix himself which are slowly driving both the in-game performance, and the reputation and popularity of Crond6 into the ground.

The removal of a player from a team’s starting roster is always a tough decision, made even more difficult when the player has contributed as much to the brand as Lazruis01 has to Crond6. However in most cases these sorts of changes are met with both a sadness to be witnessing the end of an era, and an excitement to see what the new player will bring to the table. However in this case the focus among Crond6 fans, and the esports community at large has been on the loss of an enormous asset to the team, with almost no analysis having been carried out on new acquisition Jake “Beanzinjeanz” Gloon. Despite years of competitive experience Hexix believes that Lazruis has to be the one to go if Crond6 are to improve as a team, aiming to recruit some young blood due to Lazruis’s age beginning to impact his performance. Unfortunately for Crond6 this seems to be with good reason. Beanzinjeanz is not a new face to the esports scene, having been a founding member of rival organization Anti-Fun Mechanic’s Log of Logons division along with current Crond6 members Aergo and Ltv. Beanzinjeanz is well noted as a queue dodger in high level games, frequently allowing the in game timer to reach zero in match lobbies if he doesn’t get the role he wants. He has also become famous for his rage-fuelled afk’s from matches, which have been nicknamed “Fire Calls” among team-mates due to the flaming that often takes place before he leaves the match and becomes uncontactable for the next few hours.

The recruitment of Beanzinjeanz in favour of Lazruis01 does seem like a bizarre choice, however it is merely a single entry in a long list of questionable business decisions made by Hexix in the last year. Examples include electing not to field superstar player “Ltv” in a crucial 3v3 tournament, instead opting for P00nHound’s questionable at best Kukulkan play, Publically condoning drug use in his Reddit AMA mere days after team-mate Aergo’s Pinga Addiction revelations had come to light, or entering into a short lived sponsorship deal with a now defunct fast food chain which specialised in burrito/pizza crossover meals. It may be his most recent deal which proves his most costly however, with a contract with famous stream and YouTube network DeltaTech posing a serious threat to Crond6’s continued success.

A trusted source from within Crond6, who will not be named has made some of the details of DeltaTech’s effect on the day to day operations of the team. Under the current contract Crond6 content must be uploaded to the DeltaTech channels, meaning that monetization from Crond6 streams and videos has been greatly reduced, with the profits going directly into DeltaTech pockets. There have even been reports of DeltaTech forcibly muting team leader Hexix during scrims, in order to film an invasive reality series on his life.

Whether it be poor roster swaps, inexplicable public statements, or poor financial decisions, such as the fast food, and DeltaTech deals it is clear that Hexix’s leadership is driving his brand in only one direction, down.   

Pritchard Blewis

The Dark Side of Hexix Whiza

If you've ever played Smote, Log of Logons, or Duta Tew you will have heard of HexixWhiza, the charismatic, controversial and often polarizing figure who captains E-sports outfit Crond6. On his stream the obviously fake "nice guy" persona and often labored meme spinning is quickly broken down by the discerning viewer, however this act is tricking millions of viewers, new to the games that Crond6 field teams in, into putting him onto a metaphorical pedestal as a great role model. This can be seen on his own subreddit "/r/HexixWhiza" where outlandish numbers of fans, sometimes only 10 years old blindly follow his every move and refuse to even entertain the possibility that he has a darker side. 

All is not as it seems in Hexix Whiza's world as evidenced firstly by his in game behavior when not streaming. In season 1, he's played over 97% of his games as Ares or Thor.  That's not possible unless Hexix bullies people out of picks, dodges game when he doesn't get what he wants, or engages in some other behavior against the game rules. Talk to any members of the High ELO community and the stories are similar. Former Crond 6 Member, Christopher "Stormin" Norman sat down with me to discuss the circumstances surrounding his surprise benching from the roster. "It was completely out of the blue" he says, "when he learned that I had been playing Diablo 3 instead of his preferred title Torchlight 2 in our break periods he kicked me out of the team house and forced me to live on the streets." When questioned about Hexix's in game persona Norman Added "His persistent tendency to engage in verbal abuse and insults, his lack of cordial demeanor, and his treatment of less-skilled players is unacceptable for any player, especially a high-profile professional player who has a regular opportunity to lead the community by example."

It's not only Former team members who are having problems with Hexix's leadership however, with current Crond 6 Club Penguin representative Aergo Emailing in this statement:"Hexixs just one of those players man. He always points out every single mistake you make and really digs in, sometimes it can be hard being his teammate and even harder trying to be his friend. It really just breaks my heart every time he goes off the rails and sometimes I think its tearing the team apart. After the Stormin Norman catastrophe and the recent allegation about his charity work we really tried talking to Hexix but he is stubborn and I quote “Stormin was a feeder why should I cut him any slack.“ Hexix is a happy player as long as he's ahead in his lane but god forbid he gets ganked one time and dies, or 'blames his ult for not going off' and he just starts raging so hard at everyone on both teams for the rest of the game."

Unfortunately the in game exploits of Hexix is not all that clouds his reputation with recent revelations coming to light that his high profile involvement with charity organizations is little more than a publicity stunt, a gimmick to bring more views to his already popular streams. When Hexix recently featured a Donate button on his stream viewers were led to believe that 100% of their donation would be heading to the "No Noobs Foundation", a charity dedicated to improving the lives of under-performing video gamers. However upon carefully reading the fine print in Hexix's long and unwieldy Terms and Conditions document revelations came to light that he skims up to 99 percent of these donations into his own bank accounts. 

I'd like to make it clear I'm not attacking Hexix personally in this article, simply reminding the community to be careful when choosing an all conquering role model to lead E-sports forward, and floating the idea that maybe Hexix Whiza isn't that man.     

Pritchard Blewis.