Thunder Predator disqualified from TI qualifiers

Thunder Predator’s macro use in games on Huskar and Meepo land the squad a disqualification from The International SA qualifiers.

This year’s South America qualifiers have not been a stranger to drama after numerous DDOS accusations and subsequent threats. After all of the commotion died down and the dust settled, it seemed likely that the qualifiers would end on a relatively high note. The playoffs began, and Thunder Predator managed to take series off paiN Gaming and SG e-sports with heavy utilization of Huskar and Meepo to advance to the Grand Finals.

However, some viewers took to the combat logs and discovered something troubling. Evidence suggested that Juan ‘Atun’ Ochoa was using macros to gain a competitive advantage on Huskar and Meepo. Macros allow for easy armlet toggling on Huskar as well as seamless Poof use on Meepo. Upon discovery of the evidence, a reddit thread was created to illustrate the abuse which is clearly already outlined and considered a cheat by Dota 2 standards. 

Following a review of the evidence, it was determined that macros were, in fact, being used and disqualification from the qualifiers would be an appropriate punishment. Evidence of the script use for Armlet was provided.

Atun has posted a video on his facebook where he admits to using macros since Frankfurt Major but was not aware there was anything wrong with doing so.

As you may have heard, my and my team, Thunder Predator, have disqualified us. The macros that you will see in the video I have been using them since before the Frankfurt Major, where we qualified before DC and I got to use the toggle of the armlet in my game against Newbee and no referee explained to me then that you could not use macros. It is for this reason that I continued to continue these simple macros and as you can see, I can get to replicate almost the same speed with any of these. I'm unhappy, frustrated, because I think I've come here with a lot of effort, fighting against DDoS, criticism towards me and others and that this happens just when we are 1 BO5 to classify IT, I get a rage that I can not describe. I have nothing more to say, I say goodbye momentarily and I hope that Torus Gaming will reach that Peruvian quota for the TI8 that we hoped to obtain it.”

A tweak in the format of the remaining playoffs was announced as well. SG e-sports will be playing paiN Gaming in the Winner’s Finals with the loser of this match squaring up with Torus Gaming in the Loser’s Finals. The prevailing teams will face off for the sole South America slot to The International 2018.