Dota 2's stance against smurfs leave pros unable to find matches

Ever since Valve started taking strict actions against professional players for smurfing, others have not dared to play on their smurf accounts. However, this has now led to another problem.

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Dota 2 matches players based on their MMR. Professional players have some of the highest MMRs in Dota 2. Since there are not many players that high, matchmaking can take up to one hour or more.

Waiting to find a match can get really frustrating. This is one of the reasons why many pros have Smurf accounts. These used the alternate accounts to play games normally.

Valve banned smurfing as many people let others play on their accounts to reach a high rank in exchange for money. A high-rank player on a Smurf account on lower ranks can also take out the fun elements from the for beginners.

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SBMM creating long matchmaking queues

While it is necessary to keep Smurfs in check, skill-based match making (SBMM) is also one of the problems for pros. Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp a professional Dota 2 player for Gaimin Gladiators posted on X as king Valve to let them play the game.

“Trying to play Dota with my teammate Ace. In the past we played together on Smurfs, I won't defend Smurfing, it's good that it's banned! Are we allowed to play together outside of tournament games and team practice?” he said.

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Seleri suggests bringing back party MMR instead of solo to counter the situation. Many agreed this was the right move. Some suggest they queue at the same time to get a match together, however, the entire issue here is the long queue time.

In-house leagues and matchmaking solutions like FaceIt can help to play the game. However, they do not affect the MMR.