Match-fixing allegations rise again in Dota 2 scene

Cheating and competing are two terms that have been together since the dawn of time. Cheating in Esports itself isn’t something new, as many teams and players have done some suspicious acts to win a sum of money.

Filipino roster S1Lykos, a team with little to no success aside from the occasional single-game upset against teams from around South East Asia, allegedly threw a match today against Arcanys Gaming. Prior to a match earlier in the MSI Dragon Battle, odds on the match shifted heavily in the favor of S1Lyko’s opponents, despite the squad riding a 11-series loss-streak.

In both games of the series, S1Lykos’ Karl “Goodboy” Jayme made several suspicious mistakes, the types of errors few would expect to see at the professional level. Shortly after the series’ conclusion, reddit user Krampus626 made a thread on the Dota 2 subreddit showcasing the suspicious antics and showing that several massive bets were placed just before the series was set to start.

In the thread’s current top comment, the series’ English-speaking commentator PocelainLilly outlines the many strange moments in the game. She also made a YouTube video showing each moment:

If proven guilty, team members are going to face a permanent ban from all Valve organized events. However, the team manager insist that it was just the team is not being in its best shape. So let’s wait and see.