The Chinese Dota 2 team, Azure Ray, recently expressed dissatisfaction with the organizer of Bali Major, IO Esports. Their criticism stems from the handling of the controversial lower bracket Playoff match against Eastern Europe’s BetBoom Team.
Azure Ray released a statement on their official Weibo account on Monday (17 July), suggesting that IO Esports painted them as “the villains”. This translation came from the Chinese team’s statement.
The roots of the controversy lay in an incident involving BetBoom offlaner Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko, who was found stream-sniping during their upper bracket semifinals match against Tundra Esports.
BetBoom initially won the match 2-0, and advanced to the upper bracket finals while Tundra moved on to the lower bracket to face Azure Ray.
When Pure’s misconduct became apparent the next day, IO modified the match outcome, declaring a default victory for Tundra and barring Pure from any subsequent Major matches.
This led to BetBoom being moved to the lower bracket to compete against Azure Ray. For this match, BetBoom brought in Roman “Resolut1on” Fomynok, who had attended the Major as talent, to stand in for Pure.
This switch was evidently not well-received by BetBoom’s players. During the match, BetBoom’s Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek questioned Azure Ray, asking why they had made the admins disqualify Pure and whether they were scared to go up against their complete roster.
However, Azure Ray triumphed in the match, eliminating BetBoom from the Bali Major in 9th-12th place with a 2-1 scoreline.
Azure Ray preferred to play against Tundra
The Chinese team stated that despite winning the match, they felt IO’s handling of the situation ended up casting them as the villains in the scenario.
Azure Ray insisted they hadn’t received any notification about facing off against BetBoom instead of Tundra – who they’d originally prepared to go against – and even requested the organiser to follow the original plan to avoid any waste of their efforts “due to BetBoom’s mistake.”
Essentially, Azure Ray had asked for either a revocation of BetBoom’s penalty to leave the match lineup untouched, or a direct disqualification of Pure. They reported that IO’s communication with BetBoom conveyed the idea that Azure Ray would only play if Pure was disqualified or else they’d forfeit the match.
Azure Ray stated, “We had no intention to target BetBoom or Pure at all. We fully respect them, but we still have the right to say no to any unfair treatment.”
Subsequent controversy arose when BetBoom’s chances for a direct invite to The International (TI) 2023 were compromised by the incident. Changes in the match outcome combined with Azure Ray’s elimination led to sustained tension between Chinese and Eastern European Dota 2 communities.
However, despite these challenges, BetBoom finally secured the last direct invite spot to TI 2023 by placing 12th on the DPC point leaderboard, in light of Quest Esports’ fourth place finish in the Bali Major.
On the other hand, Azure Ray ended the Bali Major in 7th-8th place after losing to fellow Chinese team PSG.LGD and will have to earn their spot at TI 2023 through the Chinese regional qualifiers. This team was only formed during this season’s Summer Tour.
In conclusion, Azure Ray castigated IO for their reportedly unfair treatment during the tournament even while acknowledging IO’s care towards them during the Major. They complained about the referees’ professionalism and the organizers’ competency handling the situation.
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