"Match manipulation (match-fixing), as well as the potential use of third-party software." This was the exact reason for HellNight's disqualification from tournament Esports Pro Circuit Season 3; the team was also banned from all competitions held under the EPT.
HellNight qualified for the tournament through the open qualifiers. Administrators likely began suspecting unfair play and software usage after HellNight defeated top players from Southeast Asia — Xipto Esports (23savage & Co.).
Xipto Esports0:2HellNight-
Rumor has it that bets totaling around $160,000 were placed on matches involving HellNight. These are astronomical and abnormal sums for Tier-3 level games.
Retsu has long been suspected of such match-fixing. Gudiny, Lucky, and AtoMic are lesser-known players who spend most of their Dota 2-career grinding qualifiers, hoping to make it into bookmaker lines to profit from match-fixing.
In this situation, lupsione's role is particularly interesting, as he recently played for a decent team, 9Pandas, and qualified for Tier 1–2 tournaments.
Match-fixing and account sharing are standard practice for Tier-3 players. As soon as their team hits the betting lines, they try to maximize their earnings from fixed games.
One only needs to remember the situation with Koma` and Luna Gaming, or 4IVAN at EPL. No need to look far: match-fixing has surfaced even at the Tier 1.5–2 level. Take the story of TaiLung, or Vintage with DarkMago, where PlayTime was disqualified from the premier Esports World Cup 2026 tournament, while their midlaner and coach received bans from ESIC.
Roster HellNight:
- Retsu
- gudiny
- Lucky
- lupsi
- AtoMic
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