Region-lock ruling conundrum forces Fart Studios to forfeit DPC games

Since the introduction of the Dota Pro Circuit’s Tour system in Jan. 2021 there have been plenty of questions about how certain rules could impact team composition with the increased focus on regional play throughout each season. Now, one specific rule has forced one of Dota 2’s silliest rosters to forfeit a game and will potentially endanger their run—partially because some of the players work in event commentary. 

The commentary portion of the conversation isn’t really the reason North America’s Fart Studios, the actual name of a team playing for a spot in the region’s Division One, had to forfeit their second series of the Spring Tour against Sand King Gómez. That ruling was made by organizer PGL since FS’s players did meet Valve’s regional eligibility rule.

As stated in the DPC 2023 Winter Tour rulebook, or at least the one provided by PGL, teams are only eligible to compete in a region if three or more players are physically located within the region while competing.

Whether they stay there between or after the season ends are not taken into account, meaning even players who only temporarily relocate to a region to compete in a Tour will count toward that metric. 

For Fart Studios, this normally isn’t a problem because all five players are from or live in NA—the issue comes with some of the players traveling for work.

Both Brian “BSJ” Canavan and Andrew “Jenkins” Jenkins, the team’s most prominent members, also work as content creators and event talent throughout the year. And, as of April 9, the two have been working as an analyst and co-host respectively for DreamLeague Season 19, which is broadcasting out of a studio in Stockholm.

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It is unclear who the third player from outside of NA is, but it was enough for PGL to pull the plug and give SKG the automatic win even with FS showing up to play.

Not even Jenkins was willing to fight this publicly, confirming the reasoning was accurate.

Despite what some comments are saying, this is not a disqualification. This was simply one series forfeited on the side of FS for not meeting regional eligibility.

According to PGL, and the TO’s rules for the DPC, FS can still continue to play matches in the NA DPC this Dota 2 Tour if they get enough players back into NA for their upcoming matches or if they use a stand-in—though that is only valid for four matches before the original players will need to take back over.

As it stands, that four-game period might not be enough to keep FS afloat since DLS19 doesn’t end until April 29, so BSJ and Jenkins might not be able to get back in time. It could come down to the mysterious third player coming back to NA, and quickly.