Perma-banned players Cheng “vtFaded” Jia Hao and Wong “Gy” Kok Guan were reportedly seen participating in the ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 qualifiers. Their presence was noticed by Geek Fam players during the matches.
Playing under the name Wizard King, the vtFaded stack made it to the finals of the open qualifiers. If they had defeated Geek Fam, they would have secured a spot in the closed qualifiers.
Geek Fam called out vtFaded and Gy when both teams joined the lobby, causing Wizard King to abandon the match. As a result, Geek Fam was awarded a default win. However, Wizard King was still allowed to play in the third-place match, where they suffered a heavy loss against IHC Esports.
VtFaded and Gy were permanently banned by Valve in 2022 after their involvement in match-fixing and playing under different aliases in an active DPC season. They had used smurf accounts to avoid detection, but their playstyle gave them away. Professional players have distinct item positions and habits that make them easily identifiable to others.
In a similar incident, TI11 winner Neta “33” Shapira was caught illegally standing in for a team in an ESL Turkey tournament in 2017. Despite using another account, his item positions and gameplay style exposed him, resulting in a temporary ban from ESL Turkey events.
It is currently uncertain whether the suspected vtFaded squad will participate in the second open qualifiers, as ESL may be investigating the matter. The second round of open qualifiers in SEA begins on November 14th, with two more teams advancing to the closed qualifiers on November 16th.
Source: DOTESPORTS
