Cover-Credits:
Anatoly "Lefitan" Krupnov has been accused of cheating in Dota 2 by multiple individuals in the community in the past few weeks. Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski and Ammar "ATF" Al-Hassaf along with others in the Dota 2 community have accused Lefitan of cheating. However, recently, many including the Team HYDRA manager and a former teammate showed their support for Lefitan and emphasized that he is innocent.
The accusations against Lefitan: Updates and new statements of support
Accusations against Lefitan have come from multiple sources in the Dota 2 community, including the Manager of BetBoom Esports, Luka Lukawa Nasuashvili, Gorgc, and ATF.
In a short clip from Gorgc’s previous stream, he seems to be frustrated with Lefitan in his team, “I don’t know how Valve doesn't like permaban people like this instantly. It should be so f**cking fast,” he said. Shortly thereafter, ATF also accused Lefitan of cheating as he was also present on Gorgc and Lefitan’s team, “he is a cheater and I told him that he is a cheater, so he got mad,” said ATF.
However, recent statements made by individuals in the Dota 2 community have been more supportive of Lefitan, dismissing any cheating allegations.
Anton “antoha” Marchenko, a professional Russian Dota 2 player (and a former teammate of Lefitan) who last played for Team Sexy, emphasized that Lefitan’s gameplay has not displayed any suspicious behavior, “Im just fed up with the community. There is not a single piece of evidence that Lefitan is cheating. Not a single dirty de-ward + he plays in a Bootcamp where 4 other players and management can see his monitor.”
Team Hydra’s manager, Svyatoslav Frank-Orlovsky commented on the accusations against Lefitan, “This (cheating accusations) is complete nonsense. We have known Lefitan for over a year. I brought him to Hydra. We, of course, checked him for all these rumors. I went to his home and watched him play pub games. When we play pub games, I always sit in discord with the team and watch the game through his eyes,” he said.
Retired professional Dota 2 player turned caster for RuHub NS also expressed doubts about the allegations of cheating. “There someone (by the way, I didn’t even quite understand who) accuses the HYDRA player nicknamed Lefitan of using cheats. Well, it all seems the same, you never know who is accusing who without evidence,” he said.
Valve handles cheating very harshly in Dota 2. Professional players that are caught cheating receive a lifetime ban from any tournaments that are associated with Valve. This can be career-ending for many players as they would not be able to compete in the Dota Pro Circuit, Major tournaments, and The International, which is the largest Esports tournament in the world.
While it is important to weed out cheaters and match-fixers from the competitive community, it is also important to remember that Valve operates under an ‘innocent until proven guilty’ policy and substantial evidence of cheating or match-fixing will result in a player ban.
