Ace shocked fans with a candid confession about himself and teammates from Gaimin Gladiators

Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard, a player for Gaimin Gladiators, admitted to using third-party programs in Dota 2, as well as having smurf accounts, just like his teammates.

He made this statement in a post-match interview at DreamLeague Season 22, published on YouTube.

"Third-party programs are very useful. I personally get a lot of information from there. Smurfs are a very good thing, but not so straightforward. People use them for various reasons, but many abuse playing on them. Most pro players, including my teammates, have several accounts"

In this way, he commented on the wave of bans from Valve for using Overplus, which was considered a cheat in Dota 2. As a result, many players received punishment in the form of a lifetime account ban. Ace did not specify what programs he used, but it's quite likely that this was related to some statistical data.

It's possible that these programs were used for training or refining new strategies, as the use of third-party programs during matches is prohibited. Recall that over 40 pro players received penalties for using cheats in Dota 2, resulting in a permanent ban in Dota 2.