Schedules and team lists for upcoming Dota Pro Circuit regional qualifiers went live earlier this week, and for fans who keep up with all the regions, there were likely a few key names missing from those lineups that previously announced plans to compete for one of the final spots at The International 2022.
One such team was Team SMG, who signed both poloson and iceiceice to fill holes in its roster ahead of the competition. And now, the organization has confirmed that its Dota 2 roster has been disqualified from Southeast Asia’s TI11 qualifiers due to a “communication breakdown” that delayed roster confirmation on official channels.
Internal communications between the team manager and players broke down and resulted in the team being too late to confirm its updated DPC roster within Valve’s systems, according to the org’s official statement.
“We accept full responsibility for what has happened and our lapse in judgement that caused our disqualification,” SMG management said. “After discussion, both the players and management have acknowledged that there mistakes made that were uncalled for, and have come to terms with the situation. We will be stricter on ourselves and better ourselves inside out as an organization.”
Some community members are calling this karma for how the team reportedly kicked ninjaboogie from its roster back in May while he was away from the team for family reasons between DPC regional leagues. But there are also plenty of fans who are equally sad that iceiceice will not get a chance to qualify for TI11.
This is especially devastating because both iceiceice and poloson are from Singapore and were actively looking forward to a chance to earn a spot at TI11 and compete in front of what equates to their home crowd. Now, both are likely out of luck unless a team needs a local stand-in during the TI11, which iceiceice has already noted he is down to be for certain teams—including his previous stomping grounds at Evil Geniuses.
Related: Iceiceice opens up about being kicked from Team Secret’s Dota 2 roster
As part of SMG’s stricter approach, CEO Kenchi Yap will be stepping down from the role and an interim CEO will be appointed until a permanent replacement is found.
In addition to that move, SMG’s Dota 2 division is now in flux, with the org not committing to its current lineup, but rather saying it will announce details about its future in the 2023 DPC “at a later date.” This likely means some roster moves are inbound once the post-TI11 free agency period begins.
