According to a Weibo posts, ACE (Association for Chinese esports) has decided to issue a lifetime ban to the former Wings players, Shadow, Iceice, Blink, Faith_bian and Y, aimed. They are also barred from competing in any competitions except Valve’s Majors and The International., ACE also banned organizations and clubs in China from signing any of these players. The severe action was taken as a reaction to players’ decision to leave the Wings Gaming organization while still under contract.
The TI6 winning team members of Wings Gaming decided to leave Wings Gaming Just before Kiev Major due to lack of communication with their owner, unpaid salaries for over three months and a 40% cut being taken from their TI6 winnings.
“When the 5 of us decided to start Team Random, we collectively agreed that we will accept any consequences including a ban” Chu ‘shadow’ Zeyu’s Weibo post from today said.They also knew that they will probably have this outcome when the disbanded as Wings and Reformed as Team Random.
However, the main drama began when things got real, the five members of the TI6 winning team split up and tried to save their skins. According to the same Chu ‘shadow’ Zeyu post, Zhang ‘y/Innocence’ Yiping and Zhang ‘Faith_bian’ Ruida tried after the Kiev Major to go back to and get some settlement with their former Wings boss, despite previously agreeing that they would not cooperate with Wing’s owner again. They offer that the two would be allowed to move or even be transferred to EHOME during the shuffling period. In his post, Shadow points at his former teammates and accuses Y and Faith_bian of trying to dodge the ACE punishment by ”throwing ice, shadow, and blink under the bus.”
Li ‘iceice’ Peng posted on his weibo account an email supposedly sent by Y to ACE to backup Shadow. The email apologizes for their (Y and Faith_bian) hasty decision to leave Wings, saying they were pressured by the lack of communication from the organization. Y also expressed remorse and claimed that himself and Faith_bian wanted to settle with Wing’s owner, but Iceice, Shadow, and Blink refused. Further, in the same email, Y states that he and Faith_bian decided to leave Team Random right after the Kiev Major. Although details are still emerging there, the team members did not stick for long after leaving Wings Gaming.
ACE, which is a structural organization that governs and regulates the entire professional Dota 2 scene in China, decided to forbid any team from ever signing any of the five former Wings players, and lifetime ban was issued to the players to compete in any Dota 2 tournaments except Valve sponsored ones. Iceice’s Weibo post quoting Y alleges that two of the biggest organization in China, LGD and IG , who are deeply involved with ACE, are behind this decision.
For those that might not be familiar with the Chinese Dota 2 scene, ACE was formed back in 2011 to serve as a player’s union with the initiative coming from the IG, DK, LGD, and Tongfu managers. Since then, the organization has been run by IG and LGD for the most part.
Shadow, Iceice, Blink, Faith_bian and Y were not part of the ACE union for a long time, despite the three of them playing together even before joining the Wings organization. When Wings Gaming was formed, they were forced to join the union to be allowed to play Chinese qualifiers for any tournament. Although they never wanted to join ACE in the first place, the five players’ goal to Compete in TI6 the start under Wings Gaming banner forced them to become a part of ACE
Unless ACE changes their mind all five of them are facing a possible career-ending punishment the only possible solution for any of them to continue playing would be moving out of China, which is not easy as it sounds due to family and financial constraints.
