Chogal Leaver Penalty - Ranked

Hello, so during draft of a ranked match - two team mates got hit with a leaver penalty without an option for recourse. Four of us pre-picked characters after the initial ban phase.
I picked first - a mei,
The enemy picked their two heroes,
The second player on our team locked a single hero,
The 3rd player was AFK and did not pick.
Now a cho gal was highlighted

At this point the timer has ticked down and kicked us out as the 3rd player hadn’t locked in. The problem is - the cho gal got hit with the leaver penalty too.

This seems incredibly dumb to get hit with as the characters were selected - but not available until the next phase.

The second player on our team locked a single hero,

Cho’gall is 2 separate heroes, Cho and Gall. You cannot pick Cho’gall on your turn if the second player on your team already locked a single hero.

You are not allowed to pick 3 heroes on a single turn. If you continue to hover Cho+Gall after your teammate already picked a hero on your turn, both players will promptly get the leaver penalty.

How is punishing 2 active players with a leaver status “working as intended”?
Here is our case:
Me and my friend prepick chogall. Our team is first pick.
Our other premade picks alex.
Other 2 teammembers haven’t selected anything yet.
We are about to default lock chogall.
One teammember suddenly locks something and the other doesn’t.
Since one person already locked we can’t lock anymore as chogall and we get a leaver status. Why on earth did we get a leaver status as active players? There was absolutely nothing that we could have done at that moment to prevent it.

This is where you made a mistake, never trust in the goodwill of random players.

Don’t let the clock run down while you have Cho+Gall selected. Lock them in as soon as the round starts.

Note that this could have happened with any prepick. A prepick doesn’t guarantee you get that hero. Only locking does. If someone takes your prepick at the last second, that would get you penalized and booted out too.

I am not looking for advice. I know how to draft so keep your patronization to yourself.
I am pointing out an issue that should be addressed. Punishment of innocent players is wrong.

You weren’t innocent, and I didn’t patronize anyone. You broke the draft rules by having an invalid hero selection when your timer reached 0.

Preselecting a hero does not guarantee you get that hero. Only locking a hero does.
Cho’Gall is not a valid draft selection once someone on your round picks anything else than Cho and Gall.
Even if it’s at the very last second.

There is no “issue” or bug. See the Blizzard response on this topic below (a topic that gets repeated almost weekly):