The shadow side of the professional Dota 2 scene
The New Year holidays are over, just like the qualifying stages of most regions of the upcoming DPC season. There we saw a lot of matches, dramatic outcomes, and unexpected strategies. In a word, esports! But rumors appeared about the other side of the professional Dota 2 scene: about fake matches and even the won slots' sale.
Just today, HOYO's carry Galvin "Meracle" Kang Jian Wen posted a strange tweet where he drew public attention to the teams that participated in the qualifiers.
Shortly before Meracle's announcement, information appeared in some Discord communities that particular professional players from already invited teams played in open qualifiers from fake accounts. And all of this to sell the won slot.
Even before the New Year, V1lat and BafiK invited Sports.ru author Yana Medveda to their podcast, where they discussed the American Dota 2 scene. Yana talked about how banned professional players perform for money in various qualifications from fake accounts during the discussion.
Both of these situations are very similar, and there is only one motive — getting the coveted slot and subsequent machinations with 322.