Fines Given to Azubu Frost

Riot has come out with a statement about their investigation into cheating allegations against several of the teams playing in the Season 2 World Playoffs.
Continue on to find out what they've decided and what punishments are coming out of it.

Redbeard hit the forums earlier and told the community what they found. Here's his tl:dr:
"We evaluated these cases based on intent, severity and tangible impact to the course of the game. Based on our investigation, the Azubu Frost incident is the only one where we determined there to be tangible impact – we believe other members of AzF modified their gameplay (level 1 ping and Jayce brush check) based upon the information gained. We don’t believe, however, that these actions decided the winner of the game."
They have decided to fine Azubu Frost $30,000 for their unsportamanlike conduct during the game with Team SoloMid. This comes out to 20% of their current winnings from the World Playoffs. This is considered a major infraction against sportsmanlike conduct under Riot's tournament rules.
Azubu Frost from left to right: Shy, RapidStar, MadLife, Woong, CloudTemplar
They determined punishments for other teams as follows:
  • Quarterfinal #4, Game 3 (CLG.EU v. Team WE) at 19:24 on the game clock – WE WeiXiao looked up at the venue screen. Practical benefits to Team WE were limited - Corki’s moves after WeiXiao’s look would have been logical, whether he saw Sona’s position on the venue screens or not. We have determined this to be unsportsmanlike and have issued a warning.
  • Group Stage A (IG v. SK) at 13:00 on the game clock – iG Zz1tai looked over his right shoulder at the screens. From our analysis, there was no material impact to the game. We have determined this to be unsportsmanlike and have issued a warning.
  • Quarterfinal #3, (restarted) Game 1 (AZF v. TSM) during game pause – TSM Dyrus turned his head to determine whether it was feasible to see the minimap screens from the stage. TSM obtained no direct meaningful benefits from Dyrus’ action as the game was restarted, but we have issued a warning.
  • Quarterfinal #2, Game 1 (TPA v. NaJin Sword) at 4:11 on the game clock - TPA Stanley briefly looked to his left, then looked forward and adjusted his monitor. We’ve determined he was responding to glare issues. The position of all five players of NaJin Sword was already visible to TPA at this time. While Stanley violated the referee’s instructions to look forward at all times, there was no unsportsmanlike conduct.

79 comments

  1. Wow, good to see that riot have responded to this.

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    1. To clarify, I mean the cheating allegations. I really think that the early advantage by Azubu affected the whole match.

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    2. I don't think so. At their second match against TSM, they got a huge disadvantage, Skarner simpy got ruined for his early levels. Still, they managed to pull themselves together and won the game. Even though the cheating occured, they were the better team, TSM had no chance. End of story.

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    3. Guess what, TSM had a fair chance against Azubu.
      They just screwed up, every team does.
      It's why one team wins and the other doesn't.
      And Reginald is amazing. His skill... Beyond comprehension.

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    4. Anyway if that peek at the map didn't happen, I bet only Jayce would've gone top and checked the brush with a Q anyways, you'd be stupid not to with any ability that briefly grants vision, especially at that skill level.

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    5. my question to you is did he do that in the other games?

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    6. I don't think it effected the whole match , Most if not All AZF game turned the gamed for AZF side in mid game , they don't do that good early game , and we saw how they give some kills to the enemy in early game in many matches.

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    7. Cheating is cheating. Doesn't matter if you don't think they won because of it, it's unsportsmanlike, and should be punished.

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    8. Dyrus did cheat as well, so your arguement is invalid.

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    9. He was warned as well. It's been proven that Azubu gained a significant advantage by cheating. I'm not arguing that azubu should solely be punished, I'm saying I support riot in their actions; the warnings and the fines given to ALL players.
      So my argument isnt invalid.

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    10. "It's been proven that Azubu gained a significant advantage by cheating." lolwut? they saw a minimap before the game started and the result was a single jayce ball being fired into the bush. neither team confronted eachother and everyone went "b" home. first blood didnt happen until 8 minutes in. they outplayed TSM in every teamfight and did it again and again. you're retarded.

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    11. TSM was making a play, the simple glance that Azubu made resulted in TSM wasting their time and having to discard a strategic play. Multiple things could have occurred in the beginning 5 mins of the match if Azubu didn't glance; via First Blood on TSM or Azubu. If TSM did manage a First Blood, then the game COULD have been different. Dyrus' glance had no impact on the game, since the game was being restarted regardless, thus a warning was given. Riot saw Azubu's glance more beneficial to Azubu in the early game, thus a 30Grand fine was given. What's done is done. TSM was a man and let it go, you all should too.

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    12. Firstly, the guy above me has it right.


      Once again, you're getting it completely wrong. I am in no way disputing the fact that Frost had the better plays throughout the game, I am simply stating that by looking at the minimap at the START of the game (yes the game had started, and TSM were making a play, so you saying 'lolwut? they saw a minimap before the game started' is wrong) and pausing the game to discuss a tactic, then going on to do what would generally be an unheard of risky invade, gained Frost an advantage.

      I am stating that I support Riot's decision to fine them, due to the obvious advantage they gained by breaking the rules. If anyone else had broken them to the same extent, my response would be the same. So, no, I am not retarded. If anything, you're the one who can't read a simple argument correctly. Taking one sentence out of context and ignoring the overall argument doesn't mean you 'win'.

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    13. It was Riots fault in the first place.
      Their unbelievable incompetence led to cheating in a tournament they're trying to make into a legit thing.

      This is just them trying to pin the blame on the teams instead of themselves.
      Some times Riot are such fucking amateurs

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    14. @Mostaza

      Sorry, holmes. Just because you have the ability to cheat, doesn't mean you're blameless when you do. Riot may have done wrong, but the blame belongs to both Riot and the cheaters.

      Someone leaves money for tip on an unattended table and you take it. Is it the person who left the tip's fault because you decided you wanted to take it? Maybe, but it's still your fault for stealing.

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    15. You are taking your final exam in, say Chemistry, and the teacher says that looking over at the answers of the person beside you is prohibited, and thus cheating. But since its so easy to do, you do it, and then blame the teacher for being so incompetent as to making it possible to cheat.
      Great logic Mostaza.

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    16. Azubu gaylord! XD

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  2. So for cheating you get a fine but when you play ARAM you get kicked?
    Okay, different tournament, but I think there should be standardised rules.

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    1. There is a difference in ARAM and splitting the prize.

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    2. The infraction was collusion or did you forget to read?

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    3. They never offered any proof of collusion at all, and the whole thing reeked of them disliking the ARAM. The teams denied it (as expected) and without any sort of provided proof, what are fans supposed to think? :\

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    4. "AZF didnt cheat and win the game by team fight, they saw a level 1 gank scenario, responded, and denied a POSSIBLE lvl 1 FB." Only reason they avoided such a scenario was cause they saw it coming, literally.

      Not saying TSM or Azubu is better then one another, but things could have been done differently. If TSM did manage to get FB from that strategy, and on top of that, Azubu screwing up midgame; the game could have been completely different.

      Riot did an excellent job fining Azubu 30Grand and warning the other teams.

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    5. Are you kidding? AZF *IS* better than TSM. Flat out.

      Why do you think they stomped em twice? Did they CHEAT twice? Did they look at the minimap EVERY time they won a team fight?

      Jesus, the TSM fanboys make me sick thinking that they could EVER beat a team as coordinated, talented, and dedicated as AZF. Sorry TSM fanboys, but your team is a bunch of blowhards who like to think they are pro and just got 0-2'd by asians who dont taunt other teams and take this shit seriously.

      Even if they HADNT had seen the minimap, do you HONESTLY think AZF top Jayce wouldve just facechecked the bushes? I mean, really, in the tournaments, how many times did someone just FACECHECK without teammates? Not many, and most of them that did, did NOT lead to kills. most of it was early game warding that turned into level1 team fights. On top of that, FB wasnt an issue to AZF, because the extra gold that TSM wouldve gotten wouldve done NOTHING for their mid-late game, where they fell apart faster than a jenga tower at a frat party.

      Honestly, as much of this is AZF's fault for looking, Riot REALLY shouldve had something in place to PREVENT this from even happening. Proactive defense, not REACTIVE. You dont HAVE to lock them in a soundproofed room, just a booth with no vision outside of the computers and POSSIBLY the crowd. Its just dumb that the majority of this fucking community is calling for AZF's heads when regardless of FB, AZF proved the be the better team in almost ALL aspects of game 1, and MOST of game 2.

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  3. Doesn't matter for AZF. They are either going to end up second or first.

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  4. im happy with it, FU azubu XD

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    1. Another butthurt TSM fanboy?

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    2. Happy to see AF brethren here :)

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    3. yea im going to stick with azubu still because they got their punishment so were all good now

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  5. i hope they will learn from it

    no one cant blame them if you can win 2 million
    as you can see many teams violated the rules !

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  6. Do you guys not get it? Everyone knows they cheated, its on their HISTORY. Even if they win the finals, They're still going to be shamed at every turn. They're losing 30k, AND it ruins their reputation, which is about as big as the money prize itself. No tourny wants to have a team that are confirmed cheaters.

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    1. Then Riot should never invite the half of the teams participated in this play-offs.

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    2. Keeping in mind that this barely 1 year old team shutout TSM in 2 matches; didn't get a chance to have a bye; and won every match but one is damn impressive; they have my respect. As far as cheating; TSM wasn't exactly looking at their own screens either to catch the ping in bush.........

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  7. Azubu Frost good team or great cheaters?

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  8. Seriously TSM never had a chance against AF, so far it is not sportmanslike and the money will somehow hurt. Fine for me, but put the teams in boxes like always next time -.-

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    1. I don't full agree with them not having a chance but the fact of the matter is they got spanked. Dyrus for the most part got outplayed badly on top and overall the better team came out on top. Anyone who watched the matches objectively can see that. I like TSM and I was rooting for them but the chips fell where they did in a sense.

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    2. TSM would've had a chance if their all-in level 1 strat worked.

      They said it in their blogs already; if they had gotten the early lead, they would've won the game.

      Aside from Karthus, their champions were earlygame champs.

      What AF by peeking at the minimap did won them the game, hands down.

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    3. ^Team Solol Mad

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  9. I think there would be less temptation for this kind of stuff if they put them inside boots that is sound proofed and has a one way window. Where they won't be able to hear anything or see anyone from the outside.

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  10. You're all acting like $30,000 were nothing.

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    1. 30,000 dollars is nothing when it comes to a million dollar prize pool. Chaox said it on his stream yesterday "I'd give give 30k or even 50k to have a peek at the screen at level 1.

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  11. I fail to see how this is even fair considering in the post from Redbeard due to the game restart the impact gained from the look at the screen was not game changing. And then they fine them 30k$ for unsportsmanlike conduct? Every other team had similar infractions none that impacted the status of the game and were issued warnings.. The hype and fan base around TSM, publicity caused by it, i feel created an biased treatment for the infractions handled out..

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    1. very smart analysis of the situation sir

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    2. I agree... well, at least they didn't disqualified them... a fine vs. warnings? Bunch of bs if you ask me.

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    3. Two separate events. The game where they (Azubu Frost) cheated was the first game that they won, but it was found that didn't effect the outcome of the game. The game that got restarted was game two following the win, Dyrus got a warning for looking at the screens during the pause as noted.

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    4. Apologies, misread your post, ignore my previous post. Anyways, Azubu Frost got fined because when they looked at the screen, it ruined a level one gank from TSM that could have had them giving up first blood. However, from the evaluation of play of the game, it was decided that even with first blood it wouldn't have mattered, TSM would have lost the game (which I agree with). None of the other teams got fined because while they looked there was no game knowledge gained to give them an advantage. Dyrus got away with it because the game was restarted, I'm sure he would have gotten fined if the game hadn't been restarted. TPA v. Naijin had no effect because all five enemy players were visible when he looked. At best he would have gotten sight of a ward (maybe), no game impact there. WE v. CLG.eu is a little bit trickier, as useable knowledge was gained, but it may have slightly deviated Weixiao's movement, but nothing changed from it. He didn't spot an early gank or anything, just Sona's location.

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  12. Biased. What a bs decision.

    So basically almost HALF of the team did try to cheat. They all LOOKED at the screen. But getting no useful info is acceptable? Wow.

    Imagine this in exam, you look over my friend's paper. Got caught. Can you argue that you didn't get anything from it?

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    1. It's more that they are using AF as an example when giving that fine. If riot just gave everyone a slap on the wrist then closer to the finals people will still sneak peaks at the screen. But be assured that if they catch anyone else for the rest of the tournament, there might be disqualifications instead of fines.

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  13. I have a question, just something have been thinking about since the " cheating" happened.

    Question:
    How is it possible to cheat when the big screen is 3 min behind?
    and if its true the bifscreen is 3 mind behind, doesnt that mean the ping that every body is talking about, happened 3 min before he looked at the screen?

    Kind Regards,
    WreckingMD

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  14. This whole thing really bothers me. I think *every* team that cheated should have been disqualified and not just Azubu Frost. To me, it really doesn't matter if it impacted the outcome of the game or not. If you are caught intentionally cheating, you shouldn't benefit from it, if the game is supposed to be taken seriously.

    People have already mentioned it, but this comes on the heels of Crs.na and Dignitas being disqualified and losing their prize pool for "colluding" to split prize money, an event that had no visible proof.

    Meanwhile, we have proof of several teams cheating in the World Championships, the biggest League tournament ever and one of the most groundbreaking e-sports events out there and cheating teams get what amounts to a slap on the wrist.

    This is especially problematic for teams that got further into the matches because that puts them in the running for the salaried team positions in Season 3. It shows that Riot, when hosting their own tournaments, doesn't consider blatant cheating (an obvious disregard for the tournament rules and not something accidentally done) to be a problem in serious e-sports. At the very least, if they did not disqualify the team, they should have disqualified the cheating players. If they weren't playing again in the tournament, then they should have been disqualified from the next big event.

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  15. Only asian teams cheating! gtfo of the finals.

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    1. TSM is not asian.they would have been considered cheating if game 2 was not restarted.

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    2. Doesnt matter, since the game was restarted.

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    3. Lol most of TSM is of strong asian decent.

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  16. Well I hope Riot invests those $30,000 in soundproof booths for the next tournament.

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    1. the 30k wen to a Korean charity

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  17. Riot: "We have determined that cheating did indeed take place, but we're just going to give them SOME of the money. That'll learn them good!"

    Nice job Riot. That's an awesome way to discourage cheating.

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  18. man their sponsor must be pissed, their A team blaze didnt qualify, and their B team frost is getting fined for cheating. considering people were expecting a 1st and 2nd place finish for the teams this is a huge step down.

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  19. We chinese shall soon rule this world...
    beware

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  20. warnings...really?

    azubu frost should of been disqualified. actually everyone who cheated should of been disqualified

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    1. Then both TSM and Azubu would be out.

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  21. honestly this entire tournament was a joke i'm not singling out any team but more then 1 cheated and looked at the screen and riot's "punishment" is just a 30'000 cut off the 1'000'000 that is possible, the thing that really gets me is the fact that not all were punished with a DQ cause to be fair cheating is cheating

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    1. But this was riots fault because of their poor stage setting, they made it so easy for other teams to look at the screen. So DQing teams when clearly it was their fault is stupid.

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  22. Lol, Everyone was already hating on Azubu after they kicked out TSM and now with this cheating incident, this just reinforces more hate on azubu. Looks like fanboys found a way to prove why they hate azubu... poor Azubu

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    1. Why hate them because of defeating TSM? TSM weren't even at the top from the start. Sure, best in America. Period.

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    2. Hate them because TSM gots lots of stupid fanboys that think TSM is everything and all other teams are nothing.

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    3. Actually, no. I was pretty happy to see AF win their games, I thought they truly deserved to win because they played well. When they went against TSM I was pretty disappointed because of the fact that TSM lost. I admire and respect their team. However, this doesn't mean "everyone" is hating on AF for kicking TSM out. AF outplayed TSM. In fact, all North American teams were just outplayed by Asian teams.

      I can only make assumptions based off of what happened because obviously I'm not part of AF or TSM but that level one ping is just suspicious. Even when I'm top I don't go through top lane, I go through mid and then go wherever I need to go. Because they "looked" at the map and pinged their location, top was more aware because he saw that four were heading top and in this case "awareness" is cheating. It doesn't only happen in this scenario. In my classes if a student says that that an exam was hard to another student, the other student knows they have to study, whether or not they do depends on the individual. My teachers have constantly told me that this is cheating. Riot honestly did what they could, you can't make everyone in the world happy. Someone is going to bitch about with what happened. If everyone that looked at the mini-map was disqualified I bet there would still be bitching. So kudos to Riot for doing what they could.

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  23. All of them should have been fined. It does not matter if most of the cheating did not result in an advantage. Cheating is cheating and Riot should have cracked down on all of them. Even if Riot made it easy for the teams to cheat they should not have done it in the first place. As professionals it is childish and very poor sportsmanship.

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  24. "TPA Stanley briefly looked to his left, then looked forward and adjusted his monitor. While Stanley violated the referee’s instructions to look forward at all times, there was no unsportsmanlike conduct."

    Violating the instructions and not getting punished like a boss, Stan the Man.

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  25. When you get caught trying to cheat in a university exam your paper gets taken away and they give you a zero, regardless of whether you managed to obtain info or not.

    If you want to be taken seriously, gotta do that kind of stuff. Right now LoL Championships and Riot is coming off as a joke.

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  26. Okay so Dont worry we'll fine you $30,000 but you can keep the other $970,000
    Good logic there Riot....good logic

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  27. I HATE AZF....... I DONT LIKE EM.......
    SPECIALLY THE FAT ONE WITH EYEGLASSES

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  28. riot:go cheating and you'll have the rest 80% money imao

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  29. I see a lot of bashing TSM fanboys here, but It looks like a whole lot of butthurt AZF fanboys are here as well. Mad because people are blaming their team of cheating. And they call the TSM fanboys the immature ones.

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  30. Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh

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