False Alarm: Azure Ray's Bug Abuse Allegations Turn Out to Be Unfounded

The Bali Dota Major 2023 organizers have found themselves amidst controversy after initially announcing that Azure Ray's 2-0 victory against nouns would be reversed to a 1-1 draw. The decision came as a result of allegations of bug abuse by Azure Ray during the second game of the match. However, shortly after the announcement, the organizers deleted its tweet, leaving fans and participants confused about the final verdict.

After a short while, the initial tweet accusing Azure Ray was deleted and the organizers put out a statement apologizing for the rushed decision, stating that they would be conducting a more thorough investigation to get to a final result.

After the organizers conducted a more thorough investigation, an official announcement was released stating that there was “inconclusive evidence” in regard to the bug and the accused team. This meant that the original 2-0 result was maintained for Azure Ray and the tiebreaker between Azure Ray and Bleed Esports would be carried out.

Allegations of Azure Ray’s Bug Abuse  

During the Azure Ray and Nouns series, the Chinese team faced accusations regarding their alleged use of a bug. The bug in question was said to be associated with the utilization of Watchers, enabling them to gather extra information on the opposing team's movements and whereabouts.

The bug revolved around teams being able to determine whether the Watchers were captured or not, even when they were concealed within fog, by pinging them. Once pinged, if a Shield Icon is displayed, it meant that it was captured and an Attack Command would mean that it was not captured. 

Teams would essentially be able to gain an unfair advantage by using this bug, which was assumed to be the accusation made against Azure Ray.

At the time of writing, Azure Ray is competing in a tiebreaker match against Bleed Esports for a spot in the Bali Major 2023 Playoffs. While Bleed Esports still has a chance to qualify for The International 2023 (TI12) by virtue of DPC points, Azure Ray will need to compete through the Chinese DPC Qualifiers even if they win the Bali Major.