Team SMG qualified for the DPC thanks to the disqualification of an opponent

Team SMG, which includes such famous players as Yeik «MidOne» Nai Zheng and Chai «Mushi» Yee Fung, qualified for Dota Pro Circuit 2021: Season 2 - Southeast Asia Lower Division. However, this might not have happened.

On April 8, Team SMG played against Team D in Dota Pro Circuit 2021: Season 2 - Southeast Asia Open Qualifier. Team D beat their opponents and had to continue playing. However, by the decision of Valve and the organizers of the DPC league, Team D was disqualified.

The reason for this was the incorrect interpretation of the rules by the team members. Cheng «vtFαded» Jia Hao was already a player of Team Mystery, but he participated in the qualifiers for the DPC league for another team. Valve's official website states that the player cannot be removed from the team after April 6th. But the Team D members thought that this does not prevent the player from leaving the team on their own after this period. While vtFaded was solving a problem with his current team, Team D played with a stand-in. Later, vtFaded himself performed with the new team, but from his smurf account. They didn't hide this event and answered the question of the administration honestly. The organizers did not perceive this as a violation, since many participants used smurf accounts. And the situation with vtFaded and Team Mystery was already known.

However, Valve found out about it. Since vtFaded didn't have time to leave his previous team before the deadline and was playing for another team, he violated the DPC rules. Team D was disqualified and vtFaded was banned from playing in the DPC league until the end of the season.

Thanks to this, Team SMG, who had previously lost to Team D, got a second chance and were able to get into the Dota Pro Circuit 2021: Season 2 - Southeast Asia Lower Division.