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| Team Redemption |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--An entire DOTA 2 team and several other Southeast Asian gamers were banned from joining the Shanghai Majors tournament because of their involvement in game-fixing scandals.
Valve, the gaming company behind DOTA 2, disqualified Malaysian e-sports club Team Redemption, formerly known as Arrow, from the said competition as part of its penalty on the team for admitting that it tanked some matches.
Valve earlier banned the group from joining The International 5 and reportedly further extended the ban to all the major tournaments sanctioned by the company including the Shanghai Major.
However, in a statement by team manager Teng Dawei, Team Redemption was surprised that it got banned from joining the tournament, claiming that the organization in charge of the Southeast Asian qualifier, FaceIT, failed to show the team a statement from Valve regarding the ban on the Shanghai Majors participation or any proof that the TI5 ban also includes bans from other tournaments.
Even one of the Philippine contingents was not spared from sanctions as Mineski-X member Mark Soriano was not allowed to join the team for the regional qualifying rounds because of his involvement in a local game-fixing case in 2014.
Soriano was not allowed to play at any MPGL event for nine months and was cleared to participate again on June 14, 2015, but Valve, apparently now aware of the said game-fixing case, banned Soriano from joining and asked Mineski-X to replace him.
Valve also banned seven Filipino gamers, who were also part of the said scandal that involved Soriano, from the Shanghai Major as well as three Vietnamese players.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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