Dota 2 is on a Godlike streak with its newest ban wave, which has arrived courtesy of Frostivus 2023 and already banned tens of hundreds of smurf accounts.

The world of Dota doesn’t have a Santa Claus, however it appears that evidently Wraith King is stepping as much as fill his footwear nonetheless, and his “Naughty Listing” consists of hundreds of accounts which have been positively unsportsmanlike.

Certainly, the Frostivus 2023 replace that rolled out incorporates a hilarious shock for smurfs and different dangerous actors in Dota 2. A few of these gamers had been stunned to be taught that the precise Frostivus bundle of their Armory was not a present chest that includes cosmetics and the like, however a “extremely poisonous lump of coal,” with punishments starting from habits rating penalties to most important account bans.

One of many gamers caught within the act is Mason “mason” Venne, whom you may acknowledge from the Evil Geniuses Dota 2 roster in 2014, or Notorious in 2019. After opening his reward chest, Mason took to Reddit to debate the ban at size, apologizing to the group and explaining that his misconduct concerned hiring a habits rating booster.

In keeping with the Frostivus announcement put up, “many tens of hundreds of smurf account bans” had been focused, so Mason isn’t going to be the one one weathering this crackdown.

Valve isn’t relenting in its regulation of smurfs and cheaters

Earlier this yr, Valve introduced that it was banning a whopping 40,000 cheaters, and adopted that up with one other ban wave in September, eliminating one other 90,000 smurf accounts. Smurfing, in the event you’re unfamiliar with the time period, is when a participant who would normally be match-made at the next rank makes a brand new account, to play in opposition to lower-ranked gamers.

Now, the Frostivus 2023 occasion is doubling down on the sport’s dedication to sweeping unruly gamers out of the group, so it’ll be attention-grabbing to see if there’ll be much more of those brutal ban waves within the close to future.

At any price, the eponymous replace additionally comes with gameplay patch 7.35, introducing a bunch of adjustments and bug fixes which you can take a look at right here. There are additionally Christmas-themed cosmetics, premium units, and new UI animations, so remember to verify them out when you will have a second.