PlayTime Eliminated from Esports World Cup 2026 after Suspensions due to “Integrity Concerns”

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has announced the provisional suspensions of two members of the Dota 2 organization, PlayTime, due to an “ongoing integrity investigation arising from the Esports World Cup 2026.”

The suspensions resulted in the roster, playing as ‘PTime’ at EWC, exiting the Esports World Cup after a forced forfeit loss to Vici Gaming in the Survival Stage of the competition.

ESIC suspends Vintage and DarkMago pending investigation

ESIC announced the provisional suspensions of Juan ‘Vintage’ Angulo and Oswaldo ‘DarkMago’ Herrera pending investigation.

The ESIC statement noted, “The Esports Integrity Commission, the integrity partner of the Esports World Cup 2026,  has issued provisional suspensions to Juan ‘Vintage’ Angulo and Oswaldo ‘DarkMago’ Herrera, two participants associated with the PTime Dota 2 team, in connection with an ongoing integrity investigation arising from the Esports World Cup 2026.

“With immediate effect, Vintage and DarkMago are prohibited from participating, directly or indirectly, in EWC26 and all ESIC Member events while the investigation remains ongoing.”

DarkMago is PlayTime’s Position 2 player, notably individually struggling in the event up to the point of his suspension, drawing question marks from the community.

Vintage is the Sporting Director of the PlayTime project, also acting as coach for the event, and taking part in the draft for PlayTime.

ESIC explained, “With immediate effect, Vintage and DarkMago are prohibited from participating, directly or indirectly, in EWC26 and all ESIC Member events while the investigation remains ongoing.

“In Vintage’s case, the interim measure also prevents him from undertaking coaching, management, strategic, team-facing or other support functions connected with participating teams or players.”

ESIC did not explain the reasoning behind the suspensions, but at this point, the prevailing sentiment in the community regards whether the pair were trying their best to win the EWC contests.

PTime eliminated from the Esports World Cup Dota 2 tournament

The suspension came as the Dota 2 EWC tournament had reached its ‘Survival’ LCQ stage, where twelve teams were fighting for the final four spots in the playoffs.

PTime were set to face Vici Gaming after finishing fourth in their group, finishing with a 1-2-2 Bo2 series record, and a 4-6 games record overall.

The Peruvian team secured one series victory against Level UP, splitting their series against Liquid and L1, and losing 0-2 to Aurora and Nigma Galaxy.

In the end, their Bo3 series against Vici Gaming never took place as the team was forced into a forfeit loss as “PTime were no longer able to satisfy the eligibility requirements necessary to continue in the competition,” according to a statement by the Esports Foundation.

Vici Gaming move on to the final round of the Survival Stage, facing Team Spirit for a place in the EWC 2026 Dota 2 playoffs.