The Starting Five is eSports by INQUIRER.net’s short weekender round-up. Miss any stories from last weekend? This is the place for you. 

QuoteStarter: Quotes to start your week off the right way — by thinking

Stop telling me esports is nearing the size of mainstream sports if you also think casters can't be paid accordingly.

— Thorin (@Thooorin) March 24, 2016

FEATURED STORIES

Duncan “Thorin” Shields on the subject of freelance shoutcasters not being paid market wages by Riot. Last week, three of the most recognizable casting talent that cover the Korean League scene revealed that they were offered pay that was 40-70% less when compared to freelance talent in other games.

Riot’s League of Legends is the current market leader for eSports worldwide. In 2014, they reported a gross $1.1 billion Q4 profit.

Main Topic: The trouble with sending emails…

Just below the radar after the whole EG-Secret-Digital Chaos roster shuffle hubbub, three South American Dota 2 players were in for a rude awakening when they tried to register their respective teams for the Manila Majors roster lock…and the system rejected them.

Last Thursday, Freddy “SMASH” Siña, Ricardo “Mstco” Román Sandoval and Jesus “Ztok” Carhuaricra locked in for their respective teams — Elite Wolves and Team Archon — in time for the roster locks for The Manila Major, but Valve’s registration site rejected their applications.

Their ineligibility is thought to be the result of alleged match-fixing at the ProDota Cup Americas #3, In a match where they lost 2-0 against Infamous, Elite Wolves were accused of intentionally losing their games for profit.

Team Secret Manager Matthew “CyborgMatt” Bailey said that the players were never cleared of the incident and were informed beforehand about their ineligible status.

Valve have told me that EWolves were never cleared of matchfixing. Players marked ineligible are correctly marked & were told before locking

— Matthew Bailey (@Cyborgmatt) March 24, 2016

But another report from DotaBlast says that ProDota owner Sam Manuelson received an email from Valve clearing players of their accusations after Valve conducted their own investigations.

Bottom line: The players thought they were in the clear, thanks to an email. Turns out they weren’t. No email sent this time.

Also in the news…:

Remember Avengers Dota? That team that was a team for all of three days? Well, turns out they might no longer be a team.

Shortly after announcing their new roster, Avengers Dota announced that they were replacing Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorokhod with Yousif “Solitude” Kutaiba. The move caused their manager Michael “Pixul” Komornik to leave the organization.

A tweet from their official twitter account then announced the disbandment of the team.

The team has decided to part ways. We hope you continue to follow our players wherever they end up. Always #AvengersAssemble

— Avengers Dota (@AvengersDota) March 27, 2016

But the team’s midlaner Jonas “Jonassomfan” Lindholm denied the rumors, stating that the tweet was made by someone who was, “trying to cause drama”.

@TigerDota24 @AvengersDota No, its just someone whos running the twitter account trying to cause drama

— Jonas Lindholm (@jonassomfan) March 27, 2016

Looks like the Dota Avengers are skipping the second movie and jumping straight into Civil War.

Events to look out for:

MLG Columbus: The first ever CSGO Major on American soil kicks off April 1 and it’s shaping up to be an amazing tournament. With the first ever $1 million prize pool for a CSGO tournament, the story lines and rivalries from the best teams in the game are hyped as all get out.

Will Fnatic continue to dominate? Has Luminosity peaked? Is there a North American team that can get rid of the memes? Will Astralis finally get over the hump? Catch the event live here.

Heroes Spring Global: It’s the Heroes of the Storm Spring global tournament and the Philippines will be represented! Renovatio, who won the SEA qualifiers, will be competing on April 1 to April 3 in Seoul, Korea. Their first opponents are North American team, Naventic.

First place prize is a cool $150,000. Can the Renovatio squad make waves and put the Philippines on the Heroes of the Storm map? Catch their games live by clicking here.

Banner photos owned by BeyondTheSummit.

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