After over a year of silence, Kolento posted he was back playing Hearthstone. However, he found that his account was banned, what happened?
Alexander “Kolento” Malsh disappeared from the Hearthstone scene in 2020, leaving no clues of his future. After over a year of the radar, with little social media presence, Kolento tweeted his Battle.net account got banned. Is he back? What happened with the Ukrainian player?
Why was Kolento Banned in his comeback?
Kolento’s present is a total mystery. His last post on Twitter, before the ban, was on February 24th when he posted that Russia actually attacked his home country, Ukraine. Despite his little presence in social media, the community as a whole showed their support regarding this situation.
But why did Blizzard ban him? Well, it was a double surprise since no one knew Kolento was back at Hearthstone. We don’t have much information about the reasons behind the problem, but we can make a pretty accurate guess why his account was banned.
According to Alkali’s response in the post, if you are logging from a different country to the one you registered your account, it might result in an account suspension. Given the situation in Ukraine, Kolento might have moved, hence triggering this. Fortunately, the issue was resolved according to the Ukrainian player.
Kolento’s History in Hearthstone
Kolento is one of Hearthstone’s OG players, present in the game since its beginnings in 2014. As soon as he started playing, he realized he had a lot of potentials, not only competing but also creating content.
Despite not being a traditional streamer, Kolento had its own way of entertaining. With a sharp sense of humor, and some similarities to Sheldon, the Big Bang Theory character, he became a successful content creator. He wasn’t too expressive, but now and then, the community could enjoy his funny reactions.
Why did he leave?
Kolento was the first-ever Hearthstone Dreamhack champion defeating Thijs in the finals. He kept competing and even participated in Hearthstone GrandMasters until his relegation in 2020.
After his relegation, he explained that Grandmasters’ format wasn’t the best for him. Competing became a routine, and that lead to burnout. He hoped that without the pressure to compete in Grandmasters, he could fall in love again with the game.
“Let's see if a newly acquired freedom will bring back the immense joy I was having while playing Hearthstone, or is it time for me to find something else to do.”
Kolento kept streaming and uploading content to YouTube during 2020. However, one day, out of the blue, he just vanished. Similar to what happened with Firebat’s retirement, the community has more questions than answers.
For now, we hope Kolento is safe and sound, and maybe we will be lucky enough to witness his comeback. Stay tunned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news and updates. See you next time in the tavern.