At the PGL Wallachia Season 2 Dota 2 tournament, pro player Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev reportedly accosted and threatened rival player Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf over comments made in a pub game months ago. However, the punishment for his actions handed down by the tournament seem laughably insignificant.
According to statements made by ATF and the team he plays for, Team Falcons, earlier today he was met in the lobby of the hotel by SoNNeikO, where the latter put his arm around ATF and made threats of physical violence before asking him to ‘step outside’, presumably for a further physical confrontation. Eventually, the pair were physically separated by onlookers from both Falcons and SoNNeikO’s team, AVULUS.
SoNNeikO was reportedly upset about comments ATF had made towards him in a normal matchmaking game some months beforehand. While ATF is known as one of the more toxic and controversial players in pub games, which is something that should also be addressed as he is not without fault, no amount of toxicity should warrant a physical confrontation and threats of violence.
The incident occurred shortly before the two teams were due to play in the tournament, and was apparently witnessed by tournament organisers and admins. Given the serious nature of the incident, many expected an equally serious punishment would be handed down.
Instead, tournament organisers PGL announced that AVULUS would get a level 3 penalty for the entire series against Falcons. While that sounds serious, in reality it just means they get less time to pick the heroes they wish to play during this one series. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a massive deal.
Falcons would go on to win the match 2-0, however this was the expected result even before the draft penalty. Now AVULUS have no further consequences to deal with and are still in a good position to qualify for the next stage of the $1 million competition.
Following the match, the Team Falcons organisation has released a statement calling for SoNNeikO to be removed from the tournament, and should that not happen the team is currently deciding if they will continue to play in the event themselves.
SoNNeikO is yet to make a full statement on the incident, promising that one will arrive tomorrow.
The incident has sparked a lot of conversation in the world of Dota 2, with almost everyone agreeing that a stricter punishment should have been handed out for such a serious incident. However, at the time of writing, PGL is yet to make any kind of statement other than the announcement of the initial punishment.
It’s likely that the rulebook for the tournament is what has dictated the seemingly insignificant punishment, and the tournament organiser may not be able to hand out harsher punishments without deviating from that. However, given the community response, it would be a surprise if there are no further developments on the situation in the coming days.
Ultimately, this is an embarrassing incident for the pro Dota 2 scene, which has a history of controversial incidents. While it feels unlikely, there is some hope that this incident might be the thing that brings some chance when it comes to how pro players conduct themselves both in and out of the game.
