With the conclusion of the Dota 2 Bali Major 2023 group stage, 10 teams have qualified for the playoffs, while the remaining six were eliminated. The five days provided fans worldwide with high-octane gameplay, nerve-wracking moves, resolute strategies, unbelievable comebacks, and individual brilliance. Sadly, it also involved a controversy surrounding Azure Ray.
Azure Ray finished sixth in Group B of the Dota 2 Bali Major 2023, making it to the lower bracket of the playoffs. They defeated Bleed Esports 2-1 in the tiebreaker on the last day of the group stage to seal their group’s last qualification berth.
The controversy arose in their earlier pivotal series on the same day against nouns.
What is the controversy surrounding Azure Ray and the Watcher bug in Dota 2 Bali Major 2023?
In the aforementioned series, Azure Ray clean-swept nouns 2-0 to tie their score with Bleed Esports at 2-3-3 in the group stage to set up a tiebreaker match for qualification. Soon after, IO Esports posted on their official Twitter channel covering the Major that the match was being reversed to a 1-1 scoreline.
In the now-deleted tweet, the officials stated that Azure Ray had enjoyed “an unfair advantaged gained through bug abuse in the second match.”The post was then deleted and followed up by another statement that the evidence was inconclusive to levy any stringent punishment.
The latest statement did not mention Azure Ray by name. It further stated that the “reported bug was not able to be recreated consistently, adding complexity to the investigation.”The 2-0 scoreline stood, and Azure Ray defeated Bleed Esports to secure their spot at the Dota 2 Bali Major 2023 playoffs.
The bug was discovered by nouns’ coach Filipe Astini who narrated the entire incident on Twitter. It involved pinging a Watcher that is shrouded in the fog. If the ping returns an attack symbol, it has been captured. This allowed teams utilizing this bug to realize where their enemies were and predict their movements.
The tournament organizers were notified of the situation. They allowed it to be used in the first Dota 2 game between nouns and Azure Ray before stating that it was banned thereafter. They said they had conferred with Valve, and the latter ruled:
“Any team using the bug will incur penalties that could result in disqualification at the discretion of the League Operations Team.”
Another way to replicate the bug is by right-clicking on a Watcher in the fog. If there is a red circle around it, enemies have captured it. If there is a white circle, it is a neutral Watcher. Astini also mentioned that Azure Ray had used the bug once after the ruling, but that did not affect the outcome of their match.
Leave a Reply