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In the lead-up to Dota 2 ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023, Dmitry "Korb3n" Belov, Team Spirit's manager, demanded Azure Ray's disqualification from the Malaysian tournament for breaching ESL guidelines. Belov took to his Telegram channel and stated that "three stand-ins" aren't allowed:
"I'm waiting for ESL to officially announce Azure Ray's disqualification from the Malaysian tournament. Rules do not allow three stand-ins."
Azure Ray went through a difficult transition period as three of their players bid farewell from the competitive scene. In light of that, the Russian manager's comments have drawn heated responses from the community.
Story behind Azure Ray's Dota 2 controversy ahead of ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023
Azure Ray is one of the four invited teams in this year's ESL One Kuala Lumpur. An untimely roster shuffle forced the Chinese team to fill their ranks with three new players. Displeased to see an invited team change their roster prompted Belov to write the following:
"Don't tell me these are not stand-ins but the new roster players. The current reality is, without transfer windows, I can change the roster every two weeks, officially. And I don't see ESL's transfer windows in the rules, only fines for stand-ins."
The Team Spirit manager wants ESL to cancel Azure Ray's invitation from ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 due to the latter's roster shuffle. Notably, Team Spirit, one of the four teams to receive a direct invitation to the tournament, withdrew from it, citing health concerns.
With three invited and nine qualified teams, ESL One Kuala Lumpur is set to commence on December 12, 2023.
Did Azure Ray break the ESL transfer policy ahead of Dota 2 ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023?
As of writing, Azure Ray's invitation hasn't been revoked. Notably, the team announced the roster shuffle a day before the TI12 Grand Final, which doesn't break the transfer policy.
ESL One Kuala Lumpur is right around the corner, and no official punishments have been issued from the organizers.
Azure Ray's Dota 2 transfer saga
Lu "Somnus" Yao, Yang "Chalice" Shenyi, and Xu "fy" Linsen announced their exits from Azure Ray on November 28, 2023. The team subsequently started scouting for the top talents in the SEA region. Keen to replace their former star players, Azure Ray acquired the following talents:
- Safelaner - Lou "Lou" Zhen
- Midlaner - Guo "Xm" Hongcheng (new addition)
- Offlaner - Lin "Xxs" Jing (new addition)
- Soft Support - Zhao "Xinq" Zixing (new addition)
- Hard Support - Jiang "tiān mìng" An
This squad will be locking horns with Team Secret in their first ESL One Kuala Lumpur matchup.
For more news and updates, follow Sportskeeda's Dota 2 section.
