The International 2018 is off to an exhilarating start. With the main stage bracket already being determined, we will get to see even more high skilled Dota starting tomorrow. However, there was one controversial event that transpired during the group stage. VGJ.Storm, the top of their group, ended up using two coaches during the group stage, which is against the rules.

Today we learned that VGJ.Storm had used two coaches during their group stage drafts. When we asked VGJ.Storm, they said that they asked a PGL employee if they could have more in the draft, and he told them that he doesn’t care as long as they left at the end of the draft. (1/4)

— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) August 18, 2018

According to the official Dota 2 twitter, VGJ.Storm used two coaches, but they were not aware that it was against the rules. While that might seem like a lame excuse at first, they actually asked about using a second coach in the draft beforehand, and they were told that they were allowed to.

We had clearly instructed all teams in the required players meeting that only 5 players and 1 coach were allowed in the competition room during the draft. (2/4)

— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) August 18, 2018

The rules clearly stated that each team was only allowed 5 players and 1 coach. Valve does, however, believe that the team was not doing anything inherently malicious, and that this was all a massive misunderstanding. However, despite the fact that this whole incident was an accident, the team still had an unfair advantage. In order to make things fair, Valve have decided to penalize VGJ.Storm for their first series against OG.

This penalty will include not having a coach for the entire series, and they will additionally receive a tier 2 time penalty. The use of coaches have become nearly essential in the professional Dota circuit, so the absence of one during their first series against OG is somewhat significant. In the past, many teams have relied on their captain to draft and plan out the game as opposed to a coach, so VGJ.Storm will have to dig deep in order to pull out a win against OG.

In addition, the time penalty will be significant. When drafting, there is a lot of thought that goes into picking and banning heroes. Since the team will have less time to be able to decide on who to pick and ban, their decisions will have to be quick, and mistakes or hasty decisions might be made during that drafting phase. Even more so, on the biggest stage in Dota and esports history, every second and asset really does count.

VGJ.Storm will be playing OG on August 21, so the results of this incident will reflect the outcome of their match soon.