Team Orca is permanently banned from DPC Circuit and Valve events for match fixing

Another match-fixing activity in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region. Team Orca and team Apex are permanently banned from DPC Circuit and Valve events for match-fixing. The Dota 2 Esports scene was let down by well-known players in the region including vtFaded, AhJit, and Yif.

Two teams were involved in the match-fixing: the SEA Dota 2 Division II squad Orca and the SEA Open Qualifier team Apex. In the investigation, both teams were found guilty and disqualified from the DPC SEA. Valve has also banned the squad indefinitely, along with Team Apex.

The conflicts started when Team Apex won against ChubbyBoiz in the Round of 16 but the organisers allowed ChubbyBoiz to proceed to the next round and disqualified team Apex.

After the disqualification of team Apex, SEA DPC League posted,

 “During the recent DPC SEA Qualifiers, evidence shows that Team Orca players used Team Apex accounts to compete on their behalf. This is an unacceptable breach of competitive integrity from both teams.”

An investigation by the SEA DPC organisers has found that Team Orca players have piloted Team Apex accounts during one of their official matches.

According to the announcement, Team Orca and team Apex have been disqualified from the next season of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC).

Team Orca also cheated in the BTS Pro series 

Team Orca is a rising Division II team that recently won the BTS Pro Series SEA Season 10. During the previous DPC season, a second ongoing investigation linked Team Orca members to match-fixing in the BTS Pro Series and other third-party competitions.

Team Orca was allegedly implicated in several match-fixing actions throughout the BTS Pro Series SEA S10 and other third-party competitions, according to Beyond The Summit.

This means that Cheng “vtFαded” Jia Hao, Wang Liang, Zhou “Yif” Yifu, Lai “AhJit” Jay Son, Wong “Gy” Kok Guan, and the five players from Team Apex have been permanently banned from joining future DPC events and events organized by Valve.

The prize pool will be redacted and redistributed because they were the tournament winners. After the ban was sanctioned, vtFaded posted on Twitter, claiming that he had no idea about the account-sharing incident and he will gather evidence to prove his innocence in the case.

“I will try to gather some information that I can and hopefully appeal to Valve that I have no involvement and innocence from match-fixing, as well as accusations of sharing accounts,” said vtFaded.

The SEA League’s disqualification of Team Orca isn’t the first time a team has been kicked out of the league. Team Assault was disqualified for account sharing by DPC SEA’s previous operator, PGL, in 2021. Incident like this makes the competition unfair for other competitors and brings nothing but shame.

However, we’ll have to wait for further details and updates on the matter, but the shocking revelation of their match-fixing conduct has already thrown their Dota 2 careers into the trash.

Another chance for teams from the Open Qualifier

As a result of the team’s removal from the DPC, another team from the Open Qualifier will fill in the slot. The organizers will hold a Closed Qualifier, featuring KOBOLDS, MY, Team M11, and The Apes E-Sport.