Team Kobolds suspended for suspected match-fixing

It comes to light of another case of match-fixing in the competitive scene of Dota 2, specifically in Southeast Asia. This time it involves a Mongolian lineup, Team Kobolds.

The Beyond The Summit (BTS) Pro Series S14 kicked off with a bang for the Southeast Asian region. In esports, there are thrills of all kinds; that’s why we love them and will never stop loving them.

Team Kobolds suspended for match-fixing

The tournament organizers suspended the Mongolian team, Team Kobold, due to suspicions of match-fixing. The case is still under investigation, as Team Kobold has been withdrawn from the tournament. On the other hand, the BTS Pro Series S14 is still going on with the rest of the teams.

Team Kobold is a team of players unknown to the esports community. The roster is formed by:

• Skadi
• ML-
• Invencible
• Tefam
• boybo

This team often participates in Level 3 tournaments spread across the SEA and CN regions, such as Moon Studio tournaments.

However, Team Kobolds was invited to participate in the BTS Pro Series S14 among 12 other teams from the SEA region. In this tournament, tier 1 teams, such as Talon Esports and BOOM Esports, and tier 2 teams, such as XERXIA and SPAWN Team. On the other hand, EHOME is also participating in this tournament, despite being a team from China.

On the same day that the tournament kicked off, i.e., last January 28, the BTS announced the suspension of Team Kobold due to suspicions of match-fixing.

This case is pending further investigation, and the tournament continues with the remaining 12 teams.

The release states:

“Pending further investigation, Team Kobolds has been suspended from BTS Pro Series 14 for suspected match-fixing. Therefore, for the time being, the event will go ahead with 8 teams in the group stage.”

It is not known which party was involved

BTS has not yet revealed the match in which Team Kobolds is suspected of pulling this stunt. However, this likely happened in a tournament before the BTS Pro Series S14, as this team did not get to play a single match in this tournament.

Team Kobolds joins the list of cheating teams

This case is the fourth in just two months to involve some form of match-fixing or instances of players sharing their accounts in the professional Dota 2 scene.

In December 2022, a player from Myanmar, Kaung “KSH” Sett Hein, was permanently banned by Valve. The player used scripts within a game in the SEA Tour 1 Closed Qualifier.

On the other hand, a wave of Eastern European players, including Kamil “Koma” Biktimirov, a former Virtus.pro players were permanently banned for account sharing on December 18.

Finally, an up-and-coming Chinese team, Knights, was accused of cheating, although this case is still up in the air due to the lack of progress.

Header: KOBOLDS