Cover-Credits:
In a recent match during the lower bracket semi-finals of the BetBoom Dacha 2024 Dubai Western Europe (WEU) closed qualifier, Tundra Esports' carry player Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko sparked controversy by typing a simple "?" in the all-chat. He also tipped opponent Nikko "Force" Bilocurafrom of Team Tickles. The incident unfolded after Pure’s Faceless Void bashed five times in short duration to kill Force, leaving fans and fellow players puzzled. Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski speculated that Pure was bearing a grudge against Force due to a misunderstanding from an earlier incident in the same game.
Pure’s Passive Aggression Against Team Tickles' Force
In the lower bracket semifinals series against Team Tickles, Pure incited drama by tipping Force and typing a question mark (“?”) in all-chat after killing the player. In Dota 2, or any multiplayer game for that matter, typing a simple (“?”) in all chat is a passive-aggressive way of questioning the enemy on what they’re trying to do or saying “what now?” depending on the situation.
It should be noted that Pure’s behavior could have been a subsequent reaction to an earlier incident in the game. Pure’s Faceless Void triple-bashed Mars and secured the first blood at 4-minutes in the second game of the series.
After Force died to Pure’s triple bash, the Team Tickles player tipped Pure and used a voice line by Jake "SirActionSlacks" Kanner. The line said, “Yee Haw! That’s a Dota play right there! Woo [Marie]”
Popular Dota 2 streamer Gorgc was streaming the game live on his Twitch, watching it all unfold. When Pure tipped Force, Gorgc said Pure might have misinterpreted the earlier tip and voice line from Force as a toxic message. He said, “I think Pure misinterpreted that whole thing.”
Tundra Esports eventually beat Team Tickles and knocked it out of the tournament with a clean 2-0 series and then went against Team Secret in the lower bracket finals.
After successfully winning against Secret, it faced OG in the qualifying series. However, OG proved to be the stronger team as it took the series victory with a clean 3-0, eliminating Tundra Esports and destroying its hopes of playing at the BetBoom Dacha 2024 Dubai main tournament.
Notably, this is not the first time Pure has typed a "?" in the all-chat. Last year, during The International 2023, Pure pulled off a similar stunt against Azure Ray. The question mark from Pure against Azure Ray was traced back to a lingering rift from the events that unfolded during the Bali Major 2023. To remind what happened at the Bali Major 2023, Azure Ray pushed the Bali Major 2023 organizers to disqualify Pure after he was caught watching a stream in between a game against Tundra Esports.
