Cover-Credits:
In a surprising turn of events, the former Old G roster has registered itself as PuckChamp for the upcoming Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Western Europe (WEU) 2023 Tour 3: Division II. This move comes after four of the team's players left the roster and essentially joined PuckChamp, acquiring the team's Division II slot. PuckChamp's entire roster was released and replaced with four members of Old G, including Vladimir "No[o]ne" Minenko, Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen, Sébastien "Ceb" Debs, and Kartik "Kitrak" Rathi, along with Adam "Aramis" Moroz, who had an impressive stand-in performance for Tundra Esports in Dreamleague Season 19. This has led to the former Old G roster registering itself as PuckChamp, raising many questions and speculation among the Dota 2 community.
The move follows Old G's disqualification from the Summer Tour 2023 Closed Qualifiers, as members of the team were accused of violating the code of conduct, according to PGL. It all started when Old G forfeited a tiebreaker match against PuckChamp to keep their Division II slot, as two of their players were playing as stand-ins at the Berlin Major 2023. Ceb, one of Old G's players, criticized PGL and a member of the admin team on Twitter, which led to their disqualification from the closed qualifiers. The team is now playing under the PuckChamp roster in Division II, with four of their original players and Aramis.
Qojqva says PGL must be frustrated
After Old G registered themselves as PuckChamp and bought their Division II slot to continue playing in the DPC WEU 2023 Tour 3, popular Dota 2 streamer Max "qojqva" Bröcker reacted to the situation. Qojqva mentioned that PGL must be frustrated with this move as it meant that Old G's roster would still be playing in Division II, despite their disqualification from the Summer Tour 2023 Closed Qualifiers. “They actually bought the slot from PuckChamp? Oh my god. PGL must be fuming right now. That's pretty funny. So Ceb just threw money at it and the problem went away?” qojqva said.
Gorgc reacts to new PuckChamp
Another Dota 2 streamer, Gorgc, also reacted to this move and speculated whether Old G bought the slot and how much they paid for it. “Old G bought PuckChamp Slot? Is that what happened? Is PuckChamp in Div II? Oh yeah, No[o]ne, Topson, No position 3, Aramis, wait for Aramis, was he in a team before? This guy is a new guy. So Ceb I guess is gonna be the last one right? So they just bought the slot? But why would they? Maybe they didn't feel like playing the qualifiers. I wonder how much they paid for it. Must have been at least $10k. That’s kinda sad for them because they were just about to play an elimination match against them and they couldn't field the roster and then they have to buy their slot. That's a rough one,” Gorgc said.
It is interesting to see the reactions of the Dota 2 community to Old G's move to play under the PuckChamp roster. While many of the Dota 2 community have assumed that Old G bought the slot from PuckChamp in Division II, there have been no official announcements made regarding this transaction. Going forward, fans will definitely be excited to watch the new PuckChamp play in Division II of the next tour, featuring their newest addition, Aramis.
