Once TI winners, Newbee are now officially banned from all Chinese Dota 2 events. The reason – match-fixing.
Newbee are without a doubt one of the most recognizable Chinese teams on the Dota 2 scene. The organization made history back in 2014 when they claimed the champions title in the most prestigious event – The International. A couple of years later in 2017, they were on the brink of doing it again but fell short in the grand finals against Team Liquid. Ever since then, Newbee’s success started to dwindle, and results in the last few years were seriously lacking. Their most recent success was a second place in the ESL One Los Angeles Online – China where they lost in the finals against RNG.
Despite the lack of results, the team has been a vital part of the healthy Chinese pro scene and took part in most of the leagues the region has to offer. Until now, that is.
Banned for match-fixing of all things
This is likely in response to their match against Avengerls in the Minor qualifiers, the most blatant fix I've ever witnessed. pic.twitter.com/ZB6IBUHkPD
— Kyle Freedman (@keepingitKyle) May 15, 2020
The game in question isn’t very recent as it took place two months ago in the ImbaTV Starladder Dota 2 Minor. There, Newbee faced Avengerls and the game was really weird. You can check the game and see for yourselves.
One of the famous Chinese Dota 2 legends, Zhang "xiao8" Ning, was watching the game and commented that he’ll “eat s*** if this match isn’t fixed”. Things have surely gone the right way for xiao8 as he was right all along.
The ban hammer swings
As a result of an investigation led by Chinese event organizers, the entire Newbee roster is now banned. Participating in any Chinese event is no longer possible as the organization is also removed from the CDA (Chinese Dota Professional Association). This includes both active and inactive players.
- Lai "Fonte"' Xingyu
- Yin "Aq" Rui
- Wen "Wizard" Lipeng
- Yan "Waixi" Chao
- Zeng "Faith" Hongda
- Xu "Moogy" Han
Valve and Perfect World have also been notified of the violation and both should soon make a statement. As for the team itself, Newbee are maintaining radio silence. Whether Valve will add an additional ban to complete it all remains to be seen. It’s a shame that Newbee fell from being TI champions to being banned as a result of a match-fixing scandal. Needless to say, Chinese fans will be furious, especially the ones who supported Newbee. Let’s at least remember the good times when the team gave us Sccccuh.
- READ MORE: Cloud9 leave the Dota 2 scene
Stay tuned for further updates on the matter and more Dota 2 news.
