A vlog released by Alliance alerted the general public to coaches’ access to the comms during the game, which eventually led to Dreamhack’s changing of the rules in line with Valve’s guidance.
A failure to communicate
Recently hired coach and TI winner Peter “ppd” Dager was heard on the in-game comms in Alliance’s week 4 vlog of their DPC battles. Fans and rivals alike quickly picked up on ppd’s presence in the server and on the call, and it quickly became clear that though DreamHack’s rules for the event allowed for this to occur, it ran afoul of general competitive Dota practices and Valve’s own stance on the matter.
Under normal circumstances, coaches would only be allowed to communicate with their teammates during the drafting phase. Dreamhack decided to alter this for their DreamLeague Season 15 DPC Western Europe event to ensure it’s consistent with their approach in other competitive video gaming events. As it turns out, they didn’t even consult with Valve about this, which led to a quick reversal in the middle of the tournament.
A close-run affair
Though the European Dota 2 teams were under underwhelming at the season’s first DPC Major in Singapore, the regional battle for the qualification spots for the next one have been on a knife’s edge. Alliance have pulled away from the competition with a 5-1 lead in the seven-round round robin format (part of why there was such an outcry of ppd’s input in the middle of the game), six teams are still in contention for the remaining three spots.
Such a stacked competition featuring teams like Liquid, OG, Nigma and Team Secret will inevitably produce its fair share of upset results and surprise eliminations, but the very realistic prospect of potentially two of these squads outright missing out on the next Major is an incredibly exciting affair for neutrals.
