South American org Mad Kings have announced that they have released their entire Dota 2 roster and will no longer be sponsoring the team. The news comes just 1 day after captain StingeR was banned mid-match against Thunder Awaken.
This initially seems like a bit of an extreme response to a player ban. But with Valve’s sweeping bans affecting pros as well as pub players, this may not be the last mid-game ban we see.
Credit: Mad Kings on YouTube
Mad Kings Disband
Less than one month after Mad Kings introduced their new roster, the entire team has been released. In an announcement posted to their official X account, the org confirmed that they would no longer be partnering with estar_backs and investing in the team.
Despite being in the scene since 2017, Mad Kings have struggled to make an impact on SA Dota. So it doesn’t take much to figure out why they initially wanted to partner with this roster. StingeR himself has previously played 3 iterations of The International with beastcoast, so this could have been their year.
Reasons for StingeR’s Ban
It has been speculated that StingeR’s main account was banned due to boosting. This came after his teammate was found to be playing on the account. However, it was confirmed in the statement that this was not the reason for the ban. The actual reason for the ban was not revealed.
For now, it’s not quite clear what Mad Kings will do next. Their statement confirmed that they’re ceasing participation in all tournaments for the time being but will continue to produce content. It seems like they’re not quite done with Dota yet and a new sponsorship for a new team may be on the cards.
This is another hit that SA Dota really didn’t need. After a promising revival the last couple of years regionally, they have still struggled on the international stage. There is a lot of uncertainty in the world of pro Dota at the moment. Many teams are still figuring out how to secure their place at this year’s International – let’s hope Mad Kings will be among those teams.