Stinger’s account banned mid-tournament match as Valve continues its rampant ban wave

Valve has been on a merciless run lately as it continues its ban campaign which also affects professional players. Captain of Mad Kings, Steven "StingeR" Vargas, was competing in the DreamLeague Season 22 qualifier when he was caught in the ban wave, causing his team to earn a default loss. It is revealed that his ban was due to account sharing.

The DreamLeague Season 22 of ESL Pro Tour is currently ongoing with Closed Qualifiers taking place across the world. But South America saw a bizarre case in the Mad Kings vs Thunder Awaken Lower Bracket series. At minute seven of game two, Mad King's captain, Stinger, was suddenly "kicked" from a match and wasn't able to reconnect.

Alone typed in the all-chat, stating that Stinger was apparently banned due to account sharing. This caused Mad Kings to earn a default loss and ultimately suffer elimination from the South American qualifier.

While there was no direct confirmation from Valve or Stinger himself, it seems like the ban was caused by him sharing his account with teammate, David "Parker" Nicho Flores. This was revealed in a heated Twitter/X exchange between Parker and former Infamous player, Pedro "mini" Paula.

Mini had posted a screenshot of his Dota 2 notification that confirmed Valve taking action against a player that he reported. The player didn't mention who this person was, but Parker left a passive-aggressive comment: "I hope to see you at a (The International)."

This led to an argument that revealed Parker may be the one who has played on Stinger's account. According to Parker, he has been practicing on Stinger's account as he couldn't play on his own "for reasons".

Mini defended his actions and said: "Account sharing is banned, hence why he's banned. You should take it up to Valve, not me. All I did was file the complaint as you asked me to."

Stinger's ban, despite the odd ciscumstances, is no surprise to the Dota 2 community. In late December 2023, Valve celebrated Frostivus with tons of updates and changes. One of the biggest updates was its now strict punishments against smurfs, and it also affects professional and high ranked players.

Gradually, we saw players receiving bans not only for smurfing but also for "boosting behavior scores". This was seen when notorious Dota 2 streamer, Mason, unwrapped an account ban for his Christmas present.

Many pro players that have smurf accounts have also been affected including Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov, Dzmitry "Fishman" Palishchuk, and Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko.

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