Due to travel restrictions, Ukrainian Dota 2 team B8 was stuck in Europe and unable to return to North America to participate in the third Dota Pro Circuit. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, Valve granted the team an exemption and allowed them to participate from their current location in Europe.
The decision divided the Dota 2 community as it went against a longstanding rule that prohibits teams from physically playing from a region other than the one they are competing in.
The aforementioned rule requires teams to have at least three of their members physically located in the region in which they are competing. While most Dota 2 fans were sympathetic to the situation with B8 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many questioned the fairness of the decision. In the eyes of some fans, Valve and PGL have made some controversial decisions recently.
During the spring tour, the Fart Studios NA team was forced to cancel matches because three of its members were away from NA for a short period of time due to work. Brian “BSJ” Canavan and Andrew “Jenkins” Jenkins were working as talent at events in Europe and PGL decided to demonstrate the rules at FS instead of resolving the situation.
In a similar event, Valve and PGL forced Old G to forgo a tiebreaker match because two of their members were attending the Berlin Major as fans and could not attend the series.
Valve and PGL have been tough on these two decisions, giving the affected teams no room to maneuver, and their recent decision regarding B8 adds more salt to the wounds of these teams, according to Dota 2 fans. Many of them expressed their concerns about fairness, asking why B8 can’t just play in the Western European or Eastern European DPC instead.
