Yatoro Shares His Thoughts on Valve’s Permanent Bans, Sympathizes With Koma

Just as Dota 2's competitive scene heads into the 2023 season, there has been a ban wave as multiple players have been punished with permanent bans. It has been Eastern Europe (EEU) that has been at the fore of this, with ten players permanently banned by Valve. Team Spirit's carry player Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk shared his thoughts on the matter. He believes that all of them, except Kamil "Koma`" Biktimirov, deserved the repercussions. According to Yatoro, Koma` has been playing with him for the past three years and has put in so much effort that he would not engage in match fixing. A more lenient punishment might have been appropriate, according to him.

Yatoro says Koma should not have been permanently banned

Yatoro was the latest in a series of personalities to express their thoughts on Valve's recent ban wave in a Telegram post. As Yatoro explained the bond he shares with Koma`, he stated that Koma wouldn't do anything like match fixing.

“I wanted to share my thoughts on 322 in which the banned players from the CIS, all of them 100% deserve it, except Kamil "koma". Kamil is a man who I can call a friend, we have been playing together at Dota for 3 years, constantly communicating about it, etc. Knowing his efforts and efforts to get on the team and become one of the best players in Dota, he would never do 322.”

The ten players from EEU have been banned for sharing accounts and impersonating other teams during tournaments, but other players such as Dzmitry "Fishman" Palishchuk have also speculated that some of them may have engaged in 322 (a term used for intentionally throwing a game).

Yatoro admitted, however, that Koma` did play on two accounts. However, he considered a year's punishment adequate and a permanent ban unwarranted.

“Yes, he did play on two accts (accounts) because at the time he was playing for Luna Gaming (he did not know that they are 322 beasts) and at the same time he played bet guys, so sometimes he asked other players (which you all know) to play for him. Personally, in my opinion, a ban for a year would have been fair and deserved, but to ban permanently for such a misdemeanor is not worth it.”

[translations via DeepL Translate]

Following his suspension, Koma` apologized and accepted responsibility for the account sharing incident in a public statement. The 20 year old added that he would request a reduction in his ban from Valve. At the moment, it is unknown whether or not his ban time will be shortened.