Ceb on TI13 qualifier drama: "I hope this will be a lesson that teams need to have a substitute"

OG captain Sebastien "Ceb" Debs commented on The International 2024 qualifiers and the situation with his baby birth, followed by the stand-in controversy. He wondered why Dota 2 doesn't allow substitutes, and admitted the team was in poor shape at the event. Ceb spoke about it on YouTube.

It's crazy that in 2024, we don't have subs in Dota. You have them in League of Legends and other esports. Any mature discipline should allow for subs. In my case, that was a birth, but God forbid, some players might get into a car crash or break their hand; lots of things can happen in life. We all are trying to adapt to Dota 2 rules and stay behind locked doors in a room to not hurt ourselves, because they won't allow subs.

It would be nice if we were more in touch with where esports and Dota 2 are these days. The stakes are high, everything is professionalized, and some things are still lacking and still behind.

I've been told about competitive integrity, and of course, I'm the first defender of that. I'd never push for an advantage. And if anything, that situation was an obvious disadvantage for our team, because we would've played with a substitute we hadn't practiced with and without a captain. So it's not so much about the integrity of the competition. These arguments are kind of full of shit. It's not about us trying to get a buff, it's just unfortunate. In that case, we were given a pretty messy situation. I hope this will be a lesson moving forward that teams need to have a substitute. It's even silly that I even have to explain why at this point.

Topson on his time in OG: "It felt like I was a kid, taken care of by N0tail and Ceb"

OG lost to NAVI Junior in the lower bracket of the closed qualifiers for The International 2024. Ceb just returned from his baby's birth and missed their previous game against Entity. It was unclear until the very end if he would make it in time. Before the match, OG released a statement, accusing PGL of an "unprofessional" approach for not allowing them to use a stand-in for the second time in a row. You can read more about the whole scandal here.

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