Valve bans 46 Dota 2 pros including Alacrity, Flyby, and FelixCiaoBa from Knights

Perfect World just announced a huge ban wave that listed 46 players from the Chinese and Southeast Asia region. Half of the players on the list receive lifetime bans, and the other half are temporary bans that prohibit these players from participating in Valve and Perfect World events. The reason for the ban is breaching the fair play principle.

The banned players include a number of notable pros and Division II players. In this list, players from Knights especially stood out after the multitude of allegations hit the team. Knights has been under fire for multiple suspicious activities throughout the CN DPC and the Lima Major. EHOME was also tied to Knights as people suspected them to conspire match-fixing together.

Flyby is amongst the lifetime banned players. He is one of the most decorated players on the list, having played at TI9 with Royal Never Give Up. Lin (aka mmm) is also a TI player. He played with LGD during TI4 and placed top 6.

Among the list are also popular Malaysian players, AlaCrity and FelixCiaoBa. AlaCrity started his career as a popular pub star and played among notable organizations such as Geek Fam and Galaxy Racer SEA. FelixCiaoBa, on the other hand, is a renowned support player who has played alongside CN stars in Royal Never Give Up.

The youngest player on this list, mks had just turned 21 years old. He is a Malaysian carry that last played for EHOME. Prior to this, he already had a case of match-fixing entangled with his name when he was playing in CDEC in 2021.

Here is a full list of players that received a lifetime ban from Valve and Perfect World.

Another 25 players on the list receive only two years and one year of the ban. This likely stems from each individual's involvement in match-fixing or cheating. They might not be directly or heavily involved in these cases but likely had some sort of knowledge regarding the incident. There also might not be enough evidence to give these players a lifetime ban penalty.

Check the full list of banned players here.

This massive wipe from the Chinese pro scene sees a giant hole in Division II. Due to the large sum of banned players, five teams are affected and removed from the league. These teams are ex-Knights (Antarctic Penguins), EHOME, ex-Dawn Gaming (Solitude), ex-LBZS (Kylin Esports Club), and Mystique. This removal leaves empty slots just days before Tour 2 begins.

Liquipedia shows that Div I Tour 2 participants are PSG.LGD, Team Aster, Xtreme Gaming, Invictus Gaming, Aster.Aries, Ybb Gaming, Vici Gaming, and Outsiders From CN.

Aster.Aries was relegated last season but they are given back a slot in Div I after the ban wave. The third-place in Division II last season, Outsiders From CN, also advances to Div I to fill in the vacant slot. Due to teams from Div II advancing to Div I, there are six slots for CN Div II in the next season. Six teams will qualify from the Open Qualifiers.

As a result, Antarctic Penguins (ex-Knights) and EHOME are replaced by Aster.Aries and Outsiders From CN. Six teams will qualify for CN Division II in Tour 2.

Here are the teams in CN Div I for Tour 2 DPC:

Only a few months ago, Valve released a ban wave against many Eastern European (EEU) players. This includes the young carry player, Koma, who was supposed to play alongside Virtus.pro in the first DPC season. Cases of match-fixing, cheating, and account sharing continue to roam the pro space and it's up to Valve to weed out these actions as soon as they can.

On May 16 2023, ten players from Southeast Asia were caught account sharing during the Tour 3 Open Qualifiers. This led to five permanent bans and five more indefinite bans from all EPULZE tournaments.

Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Dota 2 news and updates.