NAVI Junior was stripped of their slot at ESL One Raleigh

The NAVI Junior roster has been disqualified from a slot in the ESL One Raleigh 2025 tournament due to the use of a game bug by a roster player during the regional qualifiers. The team's place at the tournament will be taken by AVULUS.

The tournament organizers made the corresponding announcement at X.

“ESL One Raleigh Update: Due to multiple instances of abuse of the Smoke bug by NAVI Junior's Riddys throughout the WEU qualifiers, we are disqualifying the team and inviting the next eligible squad, AVULUS.

This bug has been noted at previous tournaments as a reason for disqualification.”

During the regional qualifiers, where teams played for two slots in the main tournament, NAVI Junior lost the top grid final to Tundra Esports, but were able to snag a second-round bye from AVULUS in the lower grid. However, due to the disqualification of the NAVI Junior lineup, the slot was given to the third place team in the regional qualifier.

Earlier Yaroslav “NS” Kuznetsov named the NAVI Junior player in whom the streamer sees the future star of the Dota 2 pro scene.