ESL bans NAVI Junior, sparking controversy; more Dota 2 teams exposed for abusing smoke bug

Recently, the "Dota 2" team NAVI Junior was disqualified by ESL for abusing the smoke bug in the game, but then the matter escalated and many teams were exposed to have also exploited the loophole.

Last week, NAVI Junior became the first professional team to be penalized for abusing a smoke bug that allowed players to detect if a Smoke of Deceit bullet in a player's inventory had been used, providing important intelligence to the team.

When dealing with the case of NAVI Junior, ESL did not hesitate to disqualify them and quickly invited another team to replace them. However, a Ukrainian "Dota 2" commentator Bafik provided a lot of game replays and found that more teams also used the smoke bug.

Many Dota 2 players have begun discussing the teams using the smoke bug in the community. The teams currently suspected of using the vulnerability include Tundra Esports, Team Spirit, Talon Esports, L1GA Team and 1win.

Therefore, the "Dota 2" community questioned ESL's decision and called on ESL to deal with all teams using the smoke bug consistently, either by disqualifying those teams or withdrawing NAVI Junior's ban.

However, ESL should not intend to take further action, as it has been five days since their last ruling on NAVI Junior. If ESL disqualifies the five accused teams, it will cause great trouble to the organization of ESL One Release 2025.