Dota 2 Pro Players address smurfs in the game.

Valve has been facing a persistent issue with smurfing in Dota 2. They recently took action against it in the Frostivus update by banning numerous smurfs in Dota 2, including those belonging to professional players. The ban affected many accounts, including Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov, which was at Immortal rank 2 on Europe servers.

Moreover, Valve’s hilarious way of banning a particular Dota 2 streamer gained widespread attention from the gaming community. Despite their actions, some players continued to create smurf accounts a week after Valve’s decisive action. Recently, Dota 2 professional players have started to call out on these ill-mannered players, as they haven’t stopped their ways.

The New Cases

A few weeks ago, former midlaner of Team Liquid and current streamer Max "Qojqva" Bröcker, along with popular Dota 2 streamer Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski, called out Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko, the safelaner of BetBoom Team, for smurfing in pubs. According to the Dota 2 pro tracker, Nightfall has five smurf accounts.

Nightfall playing for Evil Geniuses at TI12.
Credits: Valve

BetBoom’s safelaner is not the only professional player smurfing in pubs. Nigma Galaxy’s safelaner, Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi, also used his smurf account to practice before making his professional return with his team.

However, Miracle-’s actions could not be titled as smurfing. Many argued that his smurf account has a higher MMR than his main account. Additionally, some fans point out that Miracle- has separate accounts for practicing in pubs and playing in official matches. Furthermore, he is climbing the leaderboards with that particular smurf account. Hence, his actions might not fit a smurfing profile.

One of the iconic pictures of Miracle- which shows how scary he is as a player.
Credits: Valve

The renowned Invoker player has had most of his smurf accounts banned in the recent Frostivus ban wave. As a result, only one smurfs is left.

Why Pro Players Smurf

The most iconic picture of Notail: Him lifting the Aegis for the second time, making him a legend in Dota 2.
Credits: Valve

However, some professional players use alternate accounts to practice new heroes and in-game strategies secretly. OG’s former captain and back-to-back TI champion, Johan “N0tail” Sundstein, once revealed how stressful it was for successful professional players to use their main accounts in pubs.

Johan revealed that successful professional players often become prey to toxicity in pubs. Hence, to hide their identities, certain pro players have alternate accounts. N0tail also went on to say he completely understands why pro player smurfs in Dota 2.

A Conflicting Issue

Some retired professional players have alternate accounts for various purposes. However, the trend took a heavy toll in the recent ban wave.

"I can't even find my real hero" Ana's famous word at The International 2018.
Credits: Valve

Recently, a retired back-to-back TI champion and OG’s former safelaner, Anathan "Ana" Pham, took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express his frustration with his dilemma. The player admitted to playing unranked matches on his alternate account. However, it wasn’t for ill intentions.

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how can we play dota 2 with friends if can’t find normal matches on a main acc and we can’t smurf❓

— Anathan Pham (@anadota99) December 19, 2023

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He wants to enjoy Dota 2 with his friends, but his main account is not eligible for a party queue as it has a very high MMR. Thus, he has to use an alternate account to enjoy Dota 2 with his friends. Nevertheless, the player clarifies he does not smurf. He uses the alternate account to play unranked matches on SEA and AU servers.

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To clarify : Yes I queue sea/aus and to those who can’t read/understand properly, It’s called unranked matches, but it seems like they made the system alot more strict 🤷‍♂️
Haven’t had this experience in any other unrated games.

— Anathan Pham (@anadota99) December 19, 2023

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OG’s former safelaner is not the only player who thinks playing unranked matches with friends on alternate accounts should be permissible. Recently, Gaimin Gladiators’ current midlaner, Quinn "Quinn" Callahan also expressed his thoughts about smurfs. Although the player is against smurfing, he agrees that Ana has a point.

Quinn Before The Riyadh Masters 2023
Credits: Twitter/ @GaiminGladiato

However, he continued to say he sympathizes with people willing to play party queue, as Valve prohibits playing party queue after a certain MMR. Nevertheless, the player completely agrees with Valve that smurfing should not be allowed.

A Hilarious Case

Unfortunately, this is not the case for most players. A Dota 2 streamer, Rostislav "fn" Lozovoi, is going viral in the Dota 2 community for getting banned more than five times for smurfing.

In the player’s defence, his main account has a low behaviour score. Thus, he only met toxic teammates on his main account, which resulted in him making alternate accounts. Additionally, the player’s reaction to getting banned repeatedly acts as entertainment for the fans of the Dota 2 community. Rostik is currently on his ninth smurf account ban and counting.

Thoughts On Smurfing 

Earlier in 2023, Valve issued a statement, standing their ground against smurfs in Dota 2.
Credits: Valve

Smurfs continues to be a potent issue in Dota 2. Despite Valve’s affirmative stance, many smurf accounts are still online. Moreover, the community stands divided about the issue. While some high-rank players just want to enjoy the game with their friends, some players want to bully newcomers.

Some professional players have voiced their thoughts on the issue. Smurfing is a bad practice, and there is no debate about it. It creates a negative experience for new players. Moreover, it can have an impact on the overall player count of the game. Furthermore, no player wants to play against an opponent who is much higher in rank than they are.

However, Valve should allow players to create alternate accounts with limited capabilities specifically for teaching newcomers the basics. Valve can disable the rank matches mode from those particular accounts to ensure a fair and positive learning experience for new players.

Furthermore, players should be allowed to have alternate accounts with the same rank level as their main account. Doing so would allow the players to switch between accounts based on their mood. Moreover, it wouldn’t hurt the gameplay experience for other players. Overall, smurfing is a tricky issue to tackle, and hopefully, Valve will figure out a way to deal with it. What are your thoughts on smurfs? You can let us know in the comments about where you stand on the issue of smurfing and your overall experience with it.​

Featured Image Source: Valve

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