Anyone who places sports bets knows the problem. Matches are often influenced by freak weather and other external circumstances. How nice that there is eSport, where this does not play a role. Interruptions due to “force majeure” can be virtually ruled out.

However, bizarre incidents are not excluded, as a Dota 2 match in the previous week showed.

Quincy Crew vs. nouns interrupted

In Malaysia, the Dota 2 qualifying rounds for the next major event are currently underway: ESL One Malaysia, a major tournament, is just around the corner. Every match is important for the teams. In the knockout mode, it's all or nothing for the eSport clans. The tension is felt in every game, after all, the qualification for the ESL One Malaysia is associated with really a lot of prize money.

The unusual incident occurred in the playoff match between Quincy Crew from Malaysia against the nouns, a North American Dota 2 team. In the first round, the favorite – Quincy Crew – had won sovereignly.

Tumultuous scenes in the Quincy Crew boot camp

What then followed at the start of the second round might be unprecedented in eSports history. The fans in front of the screens suddenly heard sirens and shouting in the background. Chaos broke out in the Bootscamp/Team Hotel. A fire alarm not only threw the Dota 2 playoff completely off track.

Players Arif “MSS” Anwar, Quinn “Quinn” Callahan as well as Rodrigo “LESLÃO” Santos described the situation as surreal on their Twitter accounts. No one really knew where to run. Playing was out of the question for the time being.

Administrators intervene

Of course, the organizers of ESL One Malaysia immediately intervened and interrupted the match. At the bookmakers, the betting odds for the match were frozen within a few minutes.

Users could no longer place live bets on the Quincy Crew vs. nouns match. No one really knew at this point what had happened and whether the match could continue.

Players themselves give the all-clear

The situation was really unpleasant for the gamers of nouns, who stayed in front of their computers. Actually, they wanted to start the turnaround of the playoff encounter in the second round of the match, but were now thwarted. The waiting mode might have been even more nerve-wracking than the situation of the Quincy crew.

After almost two hours, the Malaysian players then reported back from their hotel. They were able to give the all-clear. All gamers were fine. The gaming equipment was not destroyed. The fire alarm had been triggered by a minor smoke development. However, there was no real fire.

Team returns and finishes the game

In consultation with the administrators of ESL One Malaysia, it was subsequently agreed that the game would be continued directly. The tournament schedule should not be too upset. The bookmakers switched the betting offers back on after the official decision.

The crucial question now was, of course, who could handle the bizarre situation better. Was Team Quincy Crews out of the game due to the excitement on the ground, or had the nouns “fallen asleep” in front of the screens altogether?

Presumably, the adrenaline rush provided the right effect for the Quincys. They also managed to get through the second round of matches with aplomb and moved into the next qualifying round with a score of 2:0.