PGL Reverses American Goons Decision

After further scrutiny, PGL has overturned its decision to disqualify American Goons from the DPC NA 2023 Tour 3 Division 2

PGL had sparked mass controversy after disqualifying American Goons from the DPC NA 2023 Tour 3 Division 2. The organization accused the Closed Qualifier winners of match-fixing and betting after it caught sight of a screenshot that allegedly proved that the team partook in match-fixing. 

We owe you an important update regarding the recent disqualification of the American Goons. Upon receiving new information, we have thoroughly reassessed our initial verdict and have ultimately chosen to overturn the decision previously made.
Our commitment to fairness and…

— PGL (@pglesports) May 27, 2023

Following their defeat to American Goons in the closed qualifiers finals, Kobey “Napkin” Eimers from GateKept engaged in a friendly conversation with American Goons’ Jose “esK” Coronel on Steam and jokingly asked him whether his team had intentionally lost against GRIN Esports in the upper bracket finals so they could eventually play GateKept. esK played along and responded with a humorous “yes”.

PGL took notice of the conversation but failed to realize that it was nothing more than lighthearted banter. Considering it as evidence of foul play, PGL moved to disqualify American Goons from the division. 

The Dota 2 community strongly protested the decision and criticized PGL for not understanding the context of the conversation. Tundra Esports coach Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling, former Evil Geniuses star Peter “ppd” Dager, TSM coach David “MoonMeander” Tan, and Gaimin Gladiators ace Quinn “Quinn” Callahan are some of the prominent Dota 2 figures who came in defense of American Goons. 

After receiving strong backlash for reaching a conclusion without conducting further investigation, PGL took a deeper look into the situation and realized that it made a silly mistake.