Dota2Replays Brawl: Behind the controversy

After the Dota2Replays Brawl admin's verdict, GosuGamers decided to interview the teams involved to clarify the situation from their perspectives. We highly recommend everyone who wants to voice their opinion to watch the VOD (click) of the first qualifier's final and read this article to have an informed opinion.

The first qualifier of the Dota2Replays Brawl will stick in our memories for some time. A team that no one knew about (Fire) defeated four top teams in a row using unorthodox strategies to reach the final. This alone would have convinced us at GosuGamers to interview them, but this article is, sadly, not about their rise in the scene, but about their (ab)use of a bug in the final. Puck seemed to be able to cast Phase Shift even when he was disabled by Chronosphere.

Their opponents, Natural 9 realized this in the first thirty minutes and called it out. However, the referees didn't do anything about it whatsoever at the time, and the game went on. As it progressed, we were able to see Puck continuing to use Phase Shift in situations that were not possible in the original DotA. Towards the end of the match, a game-changing team fight took place in The Radiant's forest, from which Fire emerged victorious with thanks to the Phase Shift bug. They went on to take down three barracks and gain a undeniable advantage.

Under these circumstances, N9 decided to pause the game and talk to the match referees of about the Phase Shift bug. After a few moments, the call on all chat was that Puck was no longer to use autocast (which was causing the bug to occur, allowing the hero to Phase Shift while disabled) on the skill, or the team would be disqualified. N9 decided to leave the game a few seconds after.

Yesterday, GameReplays released a statement to announce that they had modified their tournament rules, and that N9 were awarded the win and progressed from the qualifier, whilst Fire would receive top seeding in the second qualifiers. You can find the complete statement here.


That's where the facts end. The forums were filled with people rooting for one or the other. The IRC channels were flooded. NADota was more active yesterday than it has been all week. So it's safe to say that this drama is widely spread across the DotA scene and everyone has his own opinion.

What makes the situation difficult is that any administrators decision is bound to a lot of personal interpretation. How big was the bug's impact? Did it matter if they knew about it? Why aren't they disqualified if they abused a bug? Can the judges contradict our previous decision to let them play on?

These are just a few of the infinite questions that everyone must ask themselves to have a proper perspective of how to handle this situation. The answers will involve a lot personal opinions. That's why I decided to interview all three of the parties involved to clarify their thinking, but since GameReplays didn't want to give an interview, we will have to satisfy ourselves with the team's perspectives.

I sat down with ixmike88 from Fire and xMusiCa from N9. Find out what they have to say below. First up is ixmike88.

There is a lot of suspicion surrounding your team's intention or knowledge by using this bug. Did any of your team-mates (specifically TC, who controlled Puck) know about it beforehand?

ixmike88: TC assumed that the functionality of Phase Shift with Chronosphere was working as intended due to a post by IceFrog confirming that this issue was addressed. He did not know about the other bugs such as dodging spells while shackled, but he also has no control over autocast.

How much did Puck's bug affect the game in your opinion?

ixmike88: It saved Puck from ganks on at least two occasions but I don't think that, had Phase Shift been working properly, the game would have resulted differently.

GDT.Taku gave joinDOTA a statement in which he claims that your team cheated in a previous SECS match by pooling tangos. Is that true? What can you say about that?

ixmike88: I was pooling tangos to another support hero because he bought two support items to my one, however I misclicked and gave the tangos to our Doom. He already had tangos on him causing his tangos and my own to stack, he then sold them for the full price of 180 gold, putting him at 693 gold. He then bought one tango and gave it to the support hero that I intended on giving it to, putting him back at 603 gold. There was no cheating or exploitation here.

What was team Fire's objective during their discussions with DRB's admins?

ixmike88: We assumed that the ruling that they made in game (that it must be played on) was the final one. Later on we were called in to discuss the situation with both the DRB admins and N9; the possibility of a remake was never officially proposed. We were/are willing to play any form of rematch.

You guys defeated Mousesports, WesternWolves and eSahara by using the same strategy (featuring Chen, Omniknight, Shadow Shaman and Skeleton King). Was the surprise a big factor of Fire's success?

ixmike88: It's a strategy that we have practised for a very long time and is very hard to deal with, especially when the opposing team is unfamiliar with our style or picks.

And now everyone knows about it. However, you guys used a different strategy when you faced N9, picking Puck and Broodmother. They were heroes that you hadn't previously used in the entire tournament. Why was that?

ixmike88: Broodmother is a very strong hero in general and one of our go-to heroes when it is available. We only chose to use it when N9 banned Chen and first picked Rhasta. Puck was a hero that we rarely used, however we felt it was better than the alternatives for that situation.

DRB's official verdict is to award N9 the qualifier and give you a first seed in the next qualifier. What are your feelings about it? Will you guys keep playing the tournament?

ixmike88: I don't agree with the decision but I understand how it can be made in a vacuum. I feel that it is an unfair ruling because at no point during the game did we receive any official warning, and while this may be considered bug abuse to the DotaReplay staff, it's not as clear cut as that; this is not comparable to something like blocking a creep wave with fissure or sprout. No other tournament (including The International) has ever ruled the usage of autocast on Phase Shift as abusive, therefore we did not either. If we received any ruling from the referee at any point in the game then we absolutely would have stopped using it. We have not decided if we will continue to play in the tournament.

And now for xMusiCa's perspective:

MusiCa, one of Fire's strongest arguments is that N9 waited until they were at a huge disadvantage (four barracks down) to pause the game and do something about the bug. Why did N9 wait so long, when we could see that after a failed gank on top, you said on all chat that Puck was abusing a bug?

xMusiCa: It was not up to us to make a decision on that matter, we did voice out in regards to the bug. Weren't the admins curious about what was happening at the given time, where they could have questioned us? Why did we have to pause to actually get an admin to recognize that there is some sort of bug/exploit going on?

What was N9's objective during their discussions with DRB's admins? Did your team want a rematch, a best-of-three final, or a disqualification?

xMusiCa: Electronic gaming is the fastest growing leisure sports in this current era. Surely its future and influence is beyond even the world's most popular game - Soccer. DotA has finally gained recognition and awareness after five years of promotion and the perseverance of sponsors, gamers and supporters. And kudos and thanks to the developers of this wonderful game; the development of Dota 2 has enabled the game to be a fully fledged, standalone title, with the support of Valve.

This is a big step for all DotA players, professional or amateur. It has pushed DotA to the top of world of online gaming, alongside other popular games such as LoL, Counterstrike, and StarCraft 2.

As professional gamers, it is our duty and obligation to ensure that rules are abided by, and a clean game is played. Proper governance and policing should be enforced to ensure the healthy growth of the game. With that as a backdrop we firmly believe that all cheating or bug exploits must be severely and instantly dealt with. To us it did not matter whether or not we got the win; what we wanted was the rules to be enforced in regards to the Puck exploit, and for the community to see that this isn't allowed. Just for example, if a competitor is found with steroids in his system, it does not matter if he did it intentionally or not, the fact remains that he was cheating and he was exploiting it, and he would definitely be disqualified or severely dealt with for doing so.

And yes it, would be a great example of sportsmanship on our part if we were to just go with the remake. But that would also mean that the tournament admins are allowing such things to just slip by them without any action being taken.

Team Fire, the commentators and admins of the game, claim not to have realized or had any knowledge of the bug during the game. In such a grey area, where rules are incomplete and not followed while the referees gives the players "green light" to keep playing, do you think that the staff made the right decision?

xMusiCa: The fact remains that the ultimate factor is whether or not Team Fire were aware of the bug when they were using it, and whether or not they were exploiting it. In eSports, bug exploits are the highest form of cheating. In the original DotA, rules clearly stated that any bug exploits would not be tolerated. In Dota 2 it is the same.

Who are we to judge to what rules and what not to apply? It is not up to us tell the admins what bugs are there and what are not. The rules prior to this game clearly stated that all cheating or bug exploits would lead to a disqualification and ban from the entire season.

And teams of our caliber should recognise the bug when its shown. We're here to fix it; not abuse it within The Dota 2 Community.


That's their interpretations of the issue. After hearing both sides and watching the VOD, what do you think about it? Leave us your comments.