Be ready for force majeure – 5 stories when circumstances influenced the fate of an important match

Krasnodar Chronicles Virtus.pro

Many Virtus.pro fans still remember February 2017 with negative memories. It was in the first days of this month that the qualification for Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 – a major Chinese tournament with a prize fund of more than $ 600 thousand. Eight strongest teams in the region fought for the right to represent the CIS at the international tournament in Shanghai, and Virtus.pro was considered the favorite of that race.

Shortly before the qualifying games, Alexey’s roster Solo Berezina went to a bootcamp in Krasnodar, but this trip turned out to be a disaster for the team. In the first match of the group against Effect there were problems with the internet at the Virtus.pro training base. The team was unable to troubleshoot quickly, so they received technical defeat and fell into the bottom grid. In a few days Virtus.pro had to play with the mix LQ in the relegation match, however, shortly before this meeting at the bootcamp in Krasnodar, there were again interruptions in the Internet. According to the qualification rules, Virtus.pro had only 20 minutes to enter the lobby. The players went to the nearest internet club, but did not manage to join the match within the allotted time. Having received second technical defeat, the team dropped out of the race for the quota without playing a single match.

Then Virtus.pro manager Andrey Kimi Kwasnevsky suggestedthat Internet problems at the bootcamp could have arisen due to targeted DDoS attacks. Despite this, the day after the departure of the team, his fired from the club…

Misfire Natus Vincere

A similar situation, albeit less dramatic, occurred with Natus Vincere during the regional qualifier for the tournament The chongqing major in Dota 2. The team of the Ukrainian club started the qualifiers well, having won Winstrike Team in the first match, however, in the second series of the group stage, she had technical problems.

The NAVI series against Gambit Esports went on under its own power, but with the score 1: 1 before the decisive map at the NAVI training base, the Internet disappeared. Initially the coach of the team Andrey Mag Chipenko suggestedthat it happened due to a DDoS attack, but the manager Igor caff Sidorenko denied this theory. At the same time, he said, similar problems were observed throughout the city – presumably due to bad weather and icing of wires. To end the series, NAVI players went to the nearest computer club, however, like VP, they did not have time and got a technical defeat from the organizers.

This situation differs from the incident with Virtus.pro in that the team of the Ukrainian club was still able to play the decisive match for the second place in the group. Unfortunately for NAVI players, in that series they lost Team Empire Hope and left the qualification.

For myself and for Lyosha!

At the same The Chongqing Major, another interesting incident occurred, uncharacteristic for tournaments of this level. Upon arrival in Chongqing, many of the championship participants fell ill with colds, so the teams had to literally play on pills or make forced replacements. This fate was not spared either by Virtus.pro, in which half of the roster fell ill with fever.

On the eve of the game Virtus.pro against PSG.LGD In the semifinals of the upper bracket of the tournament, the captain of the Russian team Alexei Solo Berezin complained about poor health. There was no way to postpone the match in the playoff stage, therefore, as an exceptional measure for the team the coach had to speak Arseny ArsZeeqq Usov. The game against the strongest Chinese team in her homeland promised to be super difficult in itself, and due to the forced replacement by Virtus.pro, many expected that the fight would end in defeat.

Despite the difficult situation, the Virtus.pro players retained their concentration and, by a willful effort, ended the series in their favor. ArsZeeqq may not have been able to fully replace Solo, but played at a fairly high level and helped the team win several important fights. As a result, unexpectedly for everyone, Virtus.pro won with a score of 2: 0, and after this match the main meme in the Russian-speaking community for a long time the phrase remained “For myself and for Lyoshka!”

Nigma without light

Not only teams from the CIS suffer from technical problems, but also European grandees. Before the very start of the match Nigma vs Team Secret at ESL One Birmingham 2023 at Maroon House Gh Merhei lost electricity for 20 minutes. Support Nigma was unable to join the game for a while, which caused his team to got a technical defeat on the first map. It is noteworthy that the judges made this decision immediately and without warning, even without giving Nigma the opportunity to wait for the player or find an emergency replacement for him.

After this incident GH criticized the administrators ESL for a hasty and unfair decision. Following him, not only Nigma fans, but the entire Dota 2 community were outraged. At that time, due to the coronavirus pandemic, almost all teams found themselves in difficult conditions – players of the same composition could geographically be located in different countries or even on different continents. In the case of Nigma, this played a big role, because two members of the team lived in Jordan, and the team captain Kuro KuroKy Salehi Takhasomi – in Egypt. At the same time, the roster was forced to play tournament matches on European servers all the time, despite the high ping.

By words Nigma manager Mohamed Morad, his team never complained about high ping and technical problems, but they were the reason for the technical defeat on the first map. He thanked the fans for their support and promised that the roster will show quality matches in the future. Although Nigma lost 1: 2 to Team Secret in that series, this situation caused heated discussions and pushed online tournament administrators to be more loyal to the teams.

Organizers’ omissions

The organizers often require teams to adhere to the schedule and regulations, but sometimes they themselves are the unwitting victims of technical problems. For example, during the final stage Excellent Moscow Cup # 2 Dota 2 tournament participants underwent a series of DDoS attacks, due to which matches were constantly suspended and postponed. As a result, the final of the tournament between Natus Vincere and Team empire decided to play it online, although it was originally going to be played on stage in front of the audience.

During the match between Evil Geniuses and Complexity Gaming in the playoffs The International 2015 Dota 2 to the arena servers was also completed massive DDoS attack… This caused internet interruptions and the teams could not continue the match normally. It took the administrators almost three hours to troubleshoot.

Day 1 of QuakeCon 2017 Quake Champions at the venue the internet is gone… Fortunately, then the organizers were able to continue the competition offline, although spectators had to watch some of the matches on tape. Participants FACEIT Major – London 2018 CS: GO also suffered from internet problems… Due to network failures, the series between Astralis and Complexity Gaming at first they postponed it until late at night, and then generally transferred it to another day. how it turned out later, at the Twickenham Stadium arena, the backup Internet line did not work, which should have been connected automatically.

The first away streak in the history of the Overwatch League 2019 for many viewers will be remembered for 40 minutes blackout… During the match between Paris eternal and London Spitfire The Allen Event Center has lost electricity. Viewers were condescending to the incident as disruptions occurred throughout the area around the venue.