Arkosh Gaming is branching out, and Dota 2 fans and pro players aren’t happy about it.
Arkosh Gaming was originally imagined as a series of show matches involving a black metal-themed squad of anonymous players who take on opponents from all regions and all levels of pro Dota 2. Things started going in a different direction when this lineup was invited to the BTS Pro Series Season 4 tournament.
Though the Americas region is thin at the moment, a number of credentialed teams were forced to compete in qualifiers despite Arkosh having minimal experience. This was compounded further when the invited 4FUN team dissolved and was replaced with SADBOYS, a roster of notable pros that is yet to play a professional game together.
The man behind Arkosh Gaming, host Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner attempted to handle this in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but it didn’t really help matters.
Luki Luki and No Pango suffer confusing loss to Arkosh Gaming
The invitation of SADBOYS was met with frustration from Infamous’ Mariano "Papita" Caneda, who griped on Twitter about the matter. Alongside this was a complaint from Luki Luki, a Canadian player that has been on the rise over the last year.
While Papita’s complaints were largely ignored, Arkosh Gaming announced it would face a team formed by Luki Luki with its spot in the BTS Pro Series on the line. That added an extra bit of intrigue to the match, but the outcome left both fans and Luki Luki’s team frustrated. That’s because the match ended with a strange shmoz:
Though No Pango had a 65,000 net worth lead and was attacking Arkosh Gaming’s ancient to seal the series, Arkosh Gaming’s GOAT said “Enough. Izh vo'poz doq nith. Ozh vo'fek ensh izh Arkosh ful.” ActionSlacks’ broadcast of the stream then cut to No Pango’s ancient exploding, as he shouted that GOAT had said “the sacred words” and that this had resulted in Arkosh Gaming’s comeback victory.
ActionSlacks says he’s cool with Luki Luki, but is it true?
The response to this was mixed from the start, but got worse once it became clear that Luki Luki and his team weren’t aware of what had happened. Luki Luki streamed the match himself on Twitch, with the game ending with a normal win.
Luki Luki and his team were clearly not aware of how the game would end. Following their victory, the players discussed whether they will actually be able to compete in the BTS Pro Series after winning. Shortly thereafter, the mood in the team dropped after Twitch users started posting clips of the fixed finish from ActionSlacks’ channel.
Backlash was harsh, and ActionSlacks took to Reddit to discuss the matter, saying “I just wanted to break character here and let you know of course the NoPango bois were compensated for their time and the players are all good.”
That’s not necessarily true, judging from Luki Luki’s Twitter account. The Canadian player openly discussed his disappointment with how things had gone and was clear that he was hoping that the show match would earn him and his team a berth in a relatively prominent tournament:
i mean idk you guys can call me delusional or w/e i was just a little optimistic that if a meme team could get invited over teams like infamous maybe they could be changed just as easily. i did feel baited by dms like this tho and the "thank you for playing" after the series idk pic.twitter.com/9OBIRSxoLP
— luki luki (@lukiluki_dota) December 9, 2020
Who is in Arkosh Gaming?
Arkosh Gaming is made up of five anonymous players known as Pale Horse, GOAT, Canus Vulpus, Gremlo, and Crow. It is unknown who is actually behind the keyboards of these characters, but rumors and speculation have pointed to various free agents and pros-turned-casters. One rumored lineup posted to Reddit includes Brian "BSJ" Canavan, Austin “Capitalist” Walsh, Jason "Newsham" Newsham, Andrew "Jenkins" Jenkins, and Peruvian journeyman Shaggy. Though that's a relatively strong lineup, Arkosh's anonymous roster could hypothetically allow any player to step in and compete as one of its characters.
Who is Luki Luki?
Luki Luki is a professional Dota 2 player and streamer from Canada. He has ranked in the top 50 of the North American Dota 2 MMR leaderboards and rose to prominence in the regional scene in 2020 as part of Team Plasma, also known as Plasma1337x, which competed in a handful of notable events. Following a racism controversy surrounding Plasma’s sponsor, Luki Luki and the rest of the roster split off and began competing as No Pangolier.
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