Ryazo, one of the best Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising players in the world, got banned for hitting max rank on Anila, someone widely regarded to be one of the worst characters in the game.
With 10k crystals and the Grand Master rank to his name, Ryazo got the highest rank possible on the character in record time. It was meant to be a fun little challenge to try and prove that, despite Anila being one of the worst characters, a good player could hit max rank with her.
And, while Ryazo pulled it off, he noticed something strange upon trying to log in a short time after he completed the challenge: He was banned.
Considering he streamed the entire run and has a history of travelling to events and placing extremely well at some of the most prestigious GBVSR tournaments, being banned for things like match fixing and cheating is off the table. The only real explanation is that he ranked up so quickly that he got automatically flagged for matchfixing, leading the community to do everything they can to free him.
GBVSR player banned for hitting max rank with Anila
While Anila isn’t unplayable, she’s not exactly great. Her projectiles are lackluster, her aerial tools are predictable and easily punished by someone who knows how to anti air, and the vast majority of her moves either make her lose her turn or are punishable on block. Everything she does is risky, and the payoff for taking those risks is fairly small. She’s more than due for a few buffs.
Regardless, Ryazo managed to hit 10k crystals with her, which essentially means he maxed out the amount of ranked points he could earn. A short time after hitting this goal, he was banned.
He’s done everything he can to try and get his account back at this point, but, despite getting third at the ARC World Tour Finals in 2024 and placing top 8 at several majors including Evo, he hasn’t been able to get unbanned.
Paragon, one of the biggest online weekly fighting game circuits, put on a memorial tournament in his honor to try and bring more attention to the issue and free him.
Even Leona Renee, Anila’s voice actress, voiced her sympathies with a simple “sorry” when she saw the news. It seems like this has gotten the attention of pretty much everyone other than the developers at this point.
And, considering Ryazo competes across multiple Arc System Works games and made a pretty sizeable chunk of money with a $10k prize for getting third at the AWT Finals, having a ban against his account could genuinely affect his competitive career.
“A different vibe”: Woman gives update after “brainwashing” herself with Baroque music—others chime in with their own classical music experiences