“My sympathies go out to Scofield and the rest of the team”—the community reacts to DarkMago and Vintage’s suspension from ESIC
The Dota 2 community has been discussing the scandal surrounding the PlayTime organization—player Oswaldo Gonzalo “DarkMago” Herrera Martinez and coach Juan David “Vintage” Angulo Nicho have been temporarily suspended from participating in the Esports World Cup 2026 amid allegations of violating anti-corruption rules. Commentators, analysts, and players shared their opinions on the incident.
Quotes are reproduced with the source’s spelling and punctuation intact
Caster Rustam “Adekvat” Mavlyutov said that he had noticed DarkMago’s suspicious play as early as the start of the tournament and waited for ESIC’s official decision:
I’ve been calling out DarkMago’s subpar play throughout the entire tournament, which I’ve mentioned repeatedly here on the channel. It all seems to have clicked for me, but let’s wait for the EWC’s verdict following their investigation.
Stay tuned
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Haha, good old Adevat is still on top form!
I figured out that *** [sneaky] DarkMago was up to something as early as the second day of the tournament on air, and posted about it here on the third day. He and his accomplice Vintage have been temporarily suspended from participating in the EWC.
Commentator Vladimir “Maelstorm” Kuzminov noted with regret that the scandal has affected the young carry player PlayTime, Hector “Wits” Orosco Alsa:
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Wits has a promising career ahead of him. [An image of the “This is fine” meme is attached to the post. — Ed.]
Natus Vincere manager Zhanna “Ryzhaya” Batkovna called the situation one of the most high-profile scandals in recent memory and praised ESIC’s swift response:
This is some next-level rock bottom in the news, where the Playtime organization—if rumors are to be believed—wanted to force a team to throw a match; however, ESIC reacted surprisingly quickly and banned Coach Vintage (who, by the way, already coaches more than one team) and player Darkmago (or maybe they took the blame themselves). Hopefully, Wits, who was just seeing his promising career take off, won’t be implicated in this.
That said, we’ll still get to see the match against VG today.
Of course, everything that’s happening at this EWC saddens me.
Former pro player Felipe Matheus “NS-4RT” Costa expressed his sympathy for the rest of the team, whose tournament prospects have been dealt a blow:
I feel for Scofield and the rest of the team—even without any involvement in what happened, their chances of a good result in the tournament are now practically zero.
Former OG coach Mikhail “Misha” Agatov called for stricter penalties for match-fixing and drew attention to the reaction of the Chinese media:
I’m familiar with the situation; Taiga did the exact same thing, right in the middle of an important LAN. To be honest, I think we need to start putting these guys in jail, because they’re colluding with the mafia, betting tens of millions, and destroying the integrity of the game from within. If the screenshots circulating online are true, then Playtime leaked the game to the League 20 minutes early in an unfair way.
Well, it’s an absolute disgrace, a disgrace, a disgrace. People like this are destroying esports—let’s throw Darkmage in jail as an example, what do you think?
By the way, Chinese media are reporting that Playtime’s organization and coach forced bad picks, and the PLAYTIME PLAYERS THEMSELVES are asking for an investigation
P.S. It’s a top-notch start to Vits’s career, kicking things off with TrashRamm while Tailong is still in the top organization. Talk about fairness in life
P.P.S. By the way, good luck to the esports bettors—there you are, analyzing the game, and some guys are just getting crushed on Tier 1 Turik and losing their entire bankroll. Good luck, guys. They just walk in and lose every league.
Professional player Artur “Arteezy” Babaev briefly reacted to the news about the PlayTime vs. Vici Gaming match:
Wow, I wonder what happened with the PlayTime vs. Vici Gaming match... Very intriguing.
Analyst Ernar “Mantis” Urazbaev pointed out that viewers had already begun to suspect DarkMago on the very first day of the tournament:
They let those guys lose, bro.
Actually, as soon as the news broke, almost everyone immediately thought of DarkMago, because he was really pulling off some wild *** [nonsense] in the matches; on the first day, I immediately said it was a setup and didn’t bet on their matches.
Analyst and commentator Vladislav “BLACKARXANGEL” Ivashchenko explained that suspicions of a fixed match arose even before it began—due to shifts in the odds at bookmakers:
For those who aren’t in the know, before the PlayTime vs. Vici Gaming match, people probably noticed some drops in the odds at the bookmakers or somewhere else, and then the rumors started flying)))
It’s a shame, of course, that a Tier 1 team would do something like this; I don’t want to believe it, but the facts speak for themselves.
Earlier, Nemiga Gaming manager Eduard “zverHDD” Ashurkevich commented on the temporary suspension of DarkMago and Vintage from tournaments: “I have a feeling that right now we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps a few people have simply become the necessary scapegoats.”
Photo — PGL.
Timur Kadyrov
