9Pandas mid laner Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyranov teased Yellow Submarine towards the end of their match for a spot in the finals of The International 2024 Dota 2 closed qualifiers. After their opponent's throne fell, Zyranov posted “)O” in the all-chat. Throughout the match, he frequently used the chat to type playful messages and symbols to the opposing team.
The incident was captured during the Russian-language broadcast of the TI13 qualifiers by Paragon Events on Twitch.
Following this, 9Pandas shared a post on social media featuring the same symbol, “)O.”
Former 9Pandas manager Aldar "Jamba" Djambinov expressed his disapproval of kiyotaka's behavior. He mentioned his belief in karma and the negative impact of such actions.
"As someone who strongly believes in karma, I don't like these moments with symbols in chats and aggressive behavior towards opponents," Djambinov stated.
Despite the controversy, 9Pandas emerged victorious over Yellow Submarine with a 2:1 score. They are now set to face 1win esports for a slot at The International 2024. The best-of-five series has started, and the score is currently tied at zero.