There are times when one small mistake can ruin an entire career. In Dota 2, there have been situations like that, and this time, the focus is on Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko. That’s because his team, Virtus.pro, terminated his contract.
What exactly happened? After weeks of uncertainty, a decision was made to have the teams in Eastern Europe go through playoffs and give them a chance to join the Stockholm Major. One of the teams that was able to join was Virtus.pro, though they changed the team name to Outsiders for obvious reasons.
In a match between Mind Games, there was a pause in the game wherein Pure drew the letter “Z” on the minimap. At any other point in time, that would have been innocent enough. However, the letter has been associated with those supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
That action riled up the community to the point that Pure issued a video statement about the incident, which some didn't take it nicely. Then again, the ultimate decision was left to game publisher Valve.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Virtus.pro revealed that right after the incident, the organization informed Valve and BTS and then conducted its own investigation. Virtus.pro CEO Sergey Glamazda even personally talked to the players to learn more about what happened.
Whatever the organization wants to do won't matter as the final word is up to Valve. Now, Valve has been known to impose disciplinary measures against issues and incidents like this one. Who could forget when Carlo “Kuku” Palad was banned from Chongqing Major Dota 2 due to racist language against China?
While Virtus.pro was prepared to face sanctions, it was the severity of the punishment that surprised the organization. Instead of one player, the entire team was disqualified from the DPC tournament. They had won against Mind Games and were supposed to be the one facing BetBoom Team in the Upper Bracket Final.
This is pretty much why the organization decided to terminate its contract with Pure. Not only did that action lead to the team’s disqualification, but it also harmed the team's "relationship with the worldwide esports society." Virtus.pro ended by saying that there will be roster changes soon. Hopefully, only that one player is affected.
If you've had enough of this drama, you can just read more about the Eastern Europe playoffs here. Dota 2 is available on PC.
