The 2023 Dota Pro Circuit in China started with high-profile retirement announcements. Despite losing great talent, the Chinese Dota 2 region has been as hectic as ever since the battle to claim the Lima Major spots came to a close.
PSG.LGD’s latest iteration and Team Aster secured their Major spots, and they were accompanied by a team that has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently. Knights, a team that was accused of using map hacks in early January, also qualified for the Lima Major, raising eyebrows throughout the community.
Knights’ immense accuracy in countering wards and suspicious movements around the map was picked up by a caster. As a result of the allegations, Perfect World, the organizer for the Chinese DPC, completed an investigation report and sent it to Valve.
Valve’s yet to make an official statement regarding Knights’ stance within the DPC, but the team’s qualification could force the developer’s hand. If the allegations turn out to be true, Knights players are likely to get permanently banned from all the ongoing and future Valve events, which make up 99 percent of Major Dota 2 tournaments.
While the Knights mystery is yet to be solved, LGD ended an impressive run that was almost a relief for the fans. Without Faith_Bian and Ame, the Dota 2 community didn’t know what to expect from LGD, but the season turned out to be business as usual for the org.
At the time of writing, only the fourth seed remains up for grabs in the Chinese Dota 2 region, with three teams chasing after it. Xtreme Gaming, EHOME, and Invictus Gaming are still battling it out to snatch the final Major spot which will be held on South American soil for the first time.
