Without Valve directly overseeing the Major tournaments going on in the current online landscape for the Dota 2 competitive scene, there are several aspects of roster management that aren’t currently being enforced.
Specifically in regards to substitutions, teams have been free to rotate stand-in players in and out as needed due to the issues regional play brings for some rosters. And because of temporary roster changes made frequently over the last two months, some rosters have abused that freedom.
The most glaring example of misuse in regards to stand-in and substitute players is happening during WePlay! Pushka League Division 2, where Yolo Knight has competed with 10 different players throughout the event. This means that five new players have stepped in at various points to play for a team that ended up qualifying for the playoffs.
And while Division 2 doesn’t offer large cash prizes like the Division 1 bracket does, the two top finishers will automatically be moved into Division 1 for the second season.
Here are all of the players that have played for Yolo during the event, excluding Evil Geniuses’ Cr1t, who, according to statistician Ben “Noxville” Steenhuisen, is supposed to play with the team through their final matches.
- Smiling Knight
- mio
- Roy “Rajjix” al Rajji
- Niclas “Niqua” Westergård
- MasterRisk
- Kirill “Sunlight” Kachinsky
- 5up
- Kur0patbi4
- 108129439
- MISERY
The original Yolo roster qualified for Division 2 on its own, but bringing in stand-ins over and over when players aren’t performing or because they can’t organize their roster properly shouldn’t be allowed. Especially when some of those later subs end up being names like MISERY and Cr1t, who could potentially swing the entire tournament.
Right now, Yolo is set to play Vikin.gg in the semifinals, with the winner making it into the top two and claiming a spot in Division 1 next season. If Cr1t is allowed to stand-in for Yolo, this could push them over the edge in a very illegitimate way.
The team was already allowed to play using a player, Sunlight, who previously subbed in for Aggressive Mode in Division 2 prior to that roster pulling out of the competition early. Noxville notes that this was allowed due to special circumstances, but what could constitute allowing even more substitutions?
Vikin.gg was already essentially robbed of a spot in Division 2 after the former-Chicken Fighters roster, who Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp and his team beat in the open qualifiers, were signed by Ninjas in Pyjamas, and thus allowed into Division 1 in place of the previous roster. It wouldn’t be fair to see them dominate Division 2 up to this point, just to fall to a cobbled together team of stand-ins that was brought together under questionable means.
This is not the first instance of WePlay! being under fire for multiple reasons, including one team in Division 2 removed due to match-fixing allegations and, most recently, filing DMCA claims that took down independent broadcasts of the tournament’s matches.
Depending on how WePlay! handles the remainder of Pushka League, there could be some repercussions from the community regarding how season two is perceived.
Vikin.gg is set to play against Yolo at 3pm CT on May 11 to see which team will make the finals and get the call up for season two.
