ESL backtracks on Dota Pro Circuit rule change following Alliance criticism

The European Dota 2 scene has been up in arms after one Dota Pro Circuit team made use of a new rule change to allow its coach to talk to players during games - something that is banned in almost all other professional Dota 2 competitions.

The team in question is Alliance, one of the eight teams competing in the DreamLeague Season 15 Dota Pro Circuit competition which is organised by DreamHack and ESL. After footage of Alliance's games last week were shown in a vlog, viewers noticed coach Peter 'ppd' Dager giving in-game callouts to his players. This is against the rules in all other major Dota 2 tournaments, with coaches only allowed to interact with their players during breaks and the draft.

However, a change to the rulebook by the tournament organisers had flown under the radar of most teams, and it transpires that DreamLeague coaches were now permitted to communicate with their players during a match. The rule change was reportedly emailed out to team managers, according to OG CEO Juan Luna, who has been critical of Alliance for exploiting the change.

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