From 8K to 10 MMR, Inflame now unintentionally smurfs in the Herald bracket due to this Dota 2 bug.
In-game bugs are common occurrences, especially after a patch drop, but this one is particularly interesting. After the highly-anticipated Patch 7.32e arrived, Inflame, an ex-pro player from China recalibrated his account. After 10 games, he found himself at the bottom of the rating pool with only 10 MMR. This is likely caused by a Dota 2 bug.
Inflame forced to smurf on stream after recalibration bug
He "Inflame" Yongzheng is a retired pro player from China who has played in notable organizations like Newbee and LFY (LGD.ForeverYoung). He actively streams on the Chinese site, Douyu, and yesterday broadcasted his recalibration process on stream.
The player had an initial rating of 8K+ MMR (according to Reddit user u/Livid_Ad_7244). After four games, in which he scored three wins and a loss, he started noticing that he went lower down the matchmaking bracket, at that time playing among Legend medals. This is already a sign of a Dota 2 bug as winning more games should equal a higher rating and medal.
He completed his recalibration with 7 wins and 3 losses. This should typically give him an extra 200 MMR (estimate) and Inflame should've ended with a higher rank than his starting one. However, he ended with 10 MMR and his medal became Herald instead of Immortal. Inflame is now forced to smurf on his stream using his 10 MMR account. The 30-year-old player has now played more than 17 games with a 100% win rate. You can check Inflame's Dotabuff here.
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What caused the recalibration bug?
MMR calibrations and recalibrations can be slightly mysterious at times but dropping from #500 rank to Herald in 10 games is impossible. This incident is no doubt a massive Dota 2 bug and we have yet to see if Inflame will gain back his precious MMR or if he'll need to grind his way back up.
Apparently, the bug was caused by picking the new hero during his calibration process. Inflame had picked Muerta in both games and it seemed to have crashed the calibration process. On Dota Pro Tracker, it shows that after the two games with Muerta, Inflame's medal dropped drastically. The first from Immortal to Divine, and the next from Divine to Legend.
A number of people on Reddit also complained about similar cases regarding recalibration. Hopefully, the janitors can help players gain their valuable ratings back.
Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Dota 2 news and updates!
