Team Orca manager took the blame and asked to unban the players

The manager of the Team Orca Dota 2 team issued an official statement in which he took the blame and asked Valve and Beyond the Summit to unban the players.

My selfishness and greed caused irreparable damage to both the 10 players of the Orca and Apex teams and the entire competitive scene. It all started when I became the manager of Orca 3 months ago. After an ambitious month, I decided to create my own team and launched Apex.

Initially, Apex roster included high-ranked players that I was looking for according to the MMR leaderboard and their past achievements. Until a certain time, everything was fine in the team, until disputes between two players destroyed it. They both left the team. We tried different stand-ins before the open qualifiers for the DPC, but the results of training did not show anything good.

With time running out and my investment in the team (which was all my savings) going down the drain, I personally forced the Orca players to play under Apex accounts. I was blind and did not think that the fact of transferring accounts could compromise the players themselves, as well as the competitive integrity of the tournament and the game that I love.

The Orca and Apex players are very talented and I single-handedly ruined their careers. However, I can assure you that both teams were not involved in leaking matches. They looked very sad after each defeat. They train 24/7 for the sole purpose of winning every match they have. Please don't punish them for my own greed, give them a chance to justify themselves. These kids are still young.

Recall that the studio Beyond The Summit conducted an investigation, as a result of which the players of Team Orca and Apex received a lifetime ban from tournaments from Valve. During the investigation, representatives of the studio found out that members of Team Orca used the accounts of the players of the Apex team, thereby speaking on their behalf.

In addition, a separate investigation was conducted that revealed that Team Orca players were involved in match-fixing at the BTS Pro Series and other third-party tournaments. As a result, it was decided to permanently ban Team Orca and Apex players from all championships held by Valve.