Team HYDRA and Lefitan Parted Ways
A match-fixing allegation has shocked the Dota 2 professional scene in recent days. The scandal included teams from various regions, such as Eastern Europe, China and North America. As most teams involved were from Eastern Europe, a particular team from Division II received the honorary spotlight, Team HYDRA.
The Aftermath
Team HYDRA is a Division I team from Eastern Europe. Their Spring Tour run was not terrific, but with two wins and five losses, the team will remain in Division I for the Summer Tour. However, with the recent allegations against the team, the team’s spot could be in jeopardy. As there was proof, the team has now cut ties with one of its players, Anatoliy "Lefitan" Krupnov.
Even though in Morf’s video, most of Team HYDRA’s players got accused of participating in match-fixing, Lefitan took the highlight for alleged cheating as well. Before the video, Team HYDRA and other known personalities defended him, but as the video came out, Lefitan pleaded guilty to the allegations against him.
Team HYDRA had started an internal investigation since the accusations started. However, they had hit a dead end. In the winter tour, the organisation uncovered that Lefitan has been using a third-party software called OverPlus. OverPlus is a tool that advertises itself as a skin-changer software, and it also unlocks most features to which Dotaplus players have access. Overall, using Overplus is considered a grey area as it provides information unavailable to players using the in-game client only.
The Guilty Statement
Lefitan admitted that he had betted against his team via Telegram. However, he stated that the information contained in the video was false as he had never worked directly with Anton Monetin. He only placed his bets through a frontman who later was revealed as an acquaintance of Monetin. Even though he addressed the match-fixing allegations, he did not address the cheating allegations held against him.
Team HYDRA is a young organisation trying to build a reputation for itself. Based on the action taken by them, HYDRA is ready to strike anyone who puts a potential threat to the team’s reputation. Moreover, Team HYDRA’s announcement is only the begging. As multiple players from various teams got accused of match-fixing with evidence, more news will follow in the coming days. Valve is yet to announce the action taken to the match-fixers.