Voodoo League: Another Scam Tournament in the Dota 2 Scene
Voodoo League, a smaller Dota 2 event, was supposed to be a tier-three tournament with a $7,500 prize pool. However, it turned out to be another example of tournament organizers trying to scam teams and manipulate match results for profit.
Just like the NA Summer Shuffle in June, Voodoo League featured matches that included unaffiliated players and fake team accounts.
Teams Speak Out Against the Scam
Representatives from NOVA, Team Solid, and Meta4Pro expressed their concerns about the issues surrounding Voodoo League. Despite being listed as participants, none of these teams actually played in any matches of the tournament. Solid’s manager, GaRRaT, revealed that the Voodoo League admin claimed ignorance of the situation. Maestro, the captain of Team Solid, also spoke out against the event, stating that the team did play some games, but the newer results were not from their accounts.
Confirmed Falsified Results
Liquipedia, a reliable source for Dota 2 esports information, quickly confirmed that the match results from Voodoo League were falsified. They promptly removed the tournament page from their website. Louis, an editor for Liquipedia, also notified betting sites about the scam and asked them to de-list the tournament.
Shady Sponsors and Scam Detection
Voodoo League was supposed to have two sponsors – Suunrise Energy and MobileGo. However, both sponsors were flagged by Liquipedia as sketchy from the beginning. MobileGo, a cryptocurrency that has been declining since 2018, has been criticized for its incompetent leadership. Suunrise Energy, an energy drink company, has very little online presence, with newly created social media accounts and no product information available.
The Voodoo League account and the tournament account were both created in July and only follow each other. The tournament account also follows MobileGo, despite the account being inactive since 2019.
In the end, the tournament was canceled due to the majority of teams withdrawing. GosuGamers and other betting companies have removed all Voodoo League matches and references from their websites.
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