AVULUS’ Dota 2 squad was sentenced to penalty at PGL Wallachia Season 2 after team captain SoNNeikO allegedly threatened Team Falcons star offlaner ATF at the hotel lobby, saying he would “punch him and put him to the ground,” whose team is now considering to withdraw from the tournament.

Three months ago, the two players in question played against each other in a pub match. Getting his final win to reach 14,000 MMR, ATF got ahead of himself and admitted to calling SoNNeikO on the opposing team “braindead” after winning the match against the latter.

ATF sheds light on his point of view of the situation.

Unhappy with getting called out, SoNNeikO allegedly proceeded to send ATF physical threats through direct messages on X (formerly Twitter). ATF took these messages as simple banter until the players met face-to-face at PGL Wallachia Season 2.

AVULUS and Team Falcons had a strong start in the tournament’s Swiss stage, matching against each other in the 2-0 pool. On the third day of the event, according to statements from several parties involved, there was a physical altercation between the two players in the hotel before the match. Per ATF’s recollection and his team’s statement, SoNNeikO met him at the lobby and put his arms around him, threatening to “punch him and put him to the ground.” ATF replied, “Please punch me.”

Team Falcons Dota 2 ATF press release statement
The team’s official statement. Image via Team Falcons

Team Falcons accused SoNNeikO of telling ATF to “step outside of the hotel” while this was happening. The situation unfolded with the AVULUS players, coach, and manager present. Fortunately, no jabs were thrown, and the players were broken up eventually.

PGL was made aware of the altercation before the match, and it issued a level three draft penalty to SoNNeikO and AVULUS for the 27-year-old player’s behavior. “We expect all participants to maintain professionalism on and off the stage,” PGL wrote in its official statement.

SoNNeikO also weighed in on the controversy in a Telegram post, saying he will make a post tomorrow to “share with everyone how everything was and what actually happened today,” as translated from the original Russian.

While the match was unfolding, many professional players and personalities commented on the affair.

Team Falcons’ coach, Aui_2000, backed his offlaner in a reply to Spanish broadcast talent Flapjack’s take on the situation, saying that he is not a fan of how SoNNeikO, a player nine years older than ATF, would resort to sending physical threats through direct messages just because of in-game trash talk.

Aui_2000 supports his player.

Gaimin Gladiators’ Quinn concurred in a thread of his own, adding, “Words in a pub are COMPLETELY different than physical threats in real life. Do not conflate these two.” Following up, he wrote that the draft penalty punishment is insufficient, advocating for AVULUS’ complete disqualification from the tournament instead.

Ultimately, ATF’s squad took an easy 2-0 victory over SoNNeikO’s, with 39- and 21-minute wins granting them a spot in the playoffs.

Team Falcons also released a statement of their own, claiming that a draft penalty was too little of a punishment for such a “serious incident” and that they are concerned for ATF’s safety and want to ensure a zero-tolerance policy for the behavior shown by SoNNeikO. Though PGL allocated a security guard to protect the team throughout the event, the org demanded that SoNNeikO be “[removed] from the tournament” entirely, adding that they’d otherwise consider withdrawing themselves.

The tournament organizer has yet to give an official reply to this, but having the best team at the tournament withdraw would be a massive loss of prestige. Unless further steps are taken, there’s also still the possibility that the two teams—and the two players—could meet again in the playoffs.