Dota 2 has always been one of the leading Esports titles, and it has been around for many years now. Naturally, there have been a lot of controversies over the years, some of which people will remember forever. Even though there are tons of situations we could talk about, some are more memorable, so let’s dive in.
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The Infamous Fountain Hook
Some of you may not think this should be on the Dota 2 controversies list, but it is definitely very memorable. Old-school fans may remember The International 3, the tournament that took place 11 years ago. A lot of them will remember it for Alliance’s dominant victory, but what made the tournament stand out is Danil “Dendi” Ishutin’s Pudge.
During the game between Na’Vi and TongFu, Dendi played his infamous Pudge. Together with Clement “Puppey” Ivanov’s Chen, the two players used the Test of Faith and Meat Hook Combo. When executed correctly, it allowed Pudge (Dendi) to hook a target, and that target would get dragged to his team’s fountain.
Even though this mechanic was well-known, Na’Vi was the only team that used it. Needless to say, this quickly became among the biggest Dota 2 controversies on Reddit, and Na’Vi was criticized for using it.
The 322 meme
If you are a Dota 2 player, you have seen the number 322 show up from time to time. This is among the first match-fixing Dota 2 scandals that will forever go down in history and will always be a meme.
The situation involved a very famous support player called Alexey “Solo” Berezin. According to the information, the player basically “threw away” a match for his team after betting $322 on losing. The events took place during StarLadder StarSeries Season 6, and during that time, Solo was a part of RoX.KIS.
After this became one of the big controversies, Solo received a lifetime ban from StarLadder. Later on, the organization decided to change its decision and banned him for only 1 year. This was not an official tournament from Valve, so StarLadder was free to determine the ban’s length.
Although this situation took place many years ago, people will always use 322 in the chat when appropriate. This usually happens when one of the teams loses a big fight after it has been ahead before. Additionally, you can also find 644, another “in-house” joke that players will use when the other team that just made a comeback suddenly loses a team fight.
TobiWan’s Sexual Harassment and Abuse Allegations
One of the must-haves in this Dota 2 controversies list is TobiWan’s saga from a few years ago. If you did not know, Toby “TobiWan” Dawson was one of the most popular commentators and analysts in Dota 2. In fact, he is responsible for some of the most memorable voice lines, such as “It’s a disastah” and many others.
The bad news about TobiWan is that his fame was short-lived. The Dota 2 talent was involved in a very serious controversy. He was among the popular figures who were accused of sexual harassment and abuse. This happened after a long series of tweets where the victims came out and explained everything.
Needless to say, all of the companies TobiWan was working for were quick to react. Beyond The Summit and Code Red Esports quickly said that they will no longer work alongside TobiWan. Valve also took action because the company removed all of his voice lines.
TobiWan was definitely one of the most iconic faces in Dota 2, but he disappointed the community.
S4 and Fly’s Departure from OG
When it comes down to Dota 2 problems and controversies, one of the situations that will go down in history is related to OG. Prior to winning two The International trophies in a row, OG was a top-tier team that had two main pillars – Johan “N0tail” Sundsteinl and Tal “Fly” Aizik. The two were like brothers because they had been playing together since Dota 2’s release. In fact, they even created OG together.
Sadly, thighs eventually came to an end when Fly decided to leave OG and join Evil Geniuses. To make the Dota 2 controversy even more interesting, Gustav “s4” Magnusson did the same. All of this took place a few days prior to the beginning of The International 8.
The changes shocked the Dota 2 community and put OG and n0tail in a really bad spot. Fortunately, the team added Topisan “Topson” Taatvisainen, as well as Anathan “ana” Pham, two of the best Dota 2 players in history. No one expected the two to be that dominant but they allowed OG to win two consecutive TI trophies.
ATF and Sonneiko’s Alteration
One of the most recent Dota 2 controversies took place during the PGL Wallachia 2024. The story is very interesting because it involves Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev. The two played a pub game prior to the event, and ATF apparently insulted Sonneiko by calling him braindead.
The Uzberk player did not take this lightly and apparently threatened to punch Ammar when he met him. Well, this happened not long after because the two players and their team took part in the PGL Wallachia 2024.
According to a tweet from ATF, Sonneiko approached him at the hotel and put his arm around his shoulder. After that, he started threatening to punch him on the ground. ATF also stated that all of this took place in front of his coach and manager, both of which tried to stop him.
Fortunately, no one was hurt because the two players eventually calmed down. Nevertheless, this situation was not left unnoticed because the officials at PGL Wallachie decided to issue a level 3 penalty to Avulus, Sonneiko’s team.
Conclusion
Like any other Esprot, Dota 2 also has its fair share of controversies. Some are more interesting than others, so we wanted to put them all in one article. Make sure to follow Blix.gg for more information about Dota 2 and all other popular titles.
