BuLba vs. mangekyou: a 322-scandal has erupted between former members of Shopify Rebellion
Former coach of the North American team Shopify Rebellion, Kanishka Sam BuLba Sosale, accused the team's former offlaner Mark mangekyou Kharlamov of participating in match-fixing. The Ukrainian esports player admitted that he was involved in 322, but noted that BuLba knew about it and still accepted him into the team.
BuLba’s accusations against Kharlamov were made during Roman RAMZES666 Kushnarev’s stream:
RAMZES666: BuLba, what will be the next pick, your prediction? You are a professional coach, can you predict the draft for my viewers, please?
Afoninje: What are you talking about, he took mangekyou in his last roster.
BuLba: How could I have known he was 322, tell me? <...> I didn't know he was 322.
RAMZES666: Really?
BuLba: Yes, yes, he's 322.
In response to Sosale’s words, mangekyou shared all the details about his transfer to Shopify Rebellion and his time with the team. According to Kharlamov, shortly after joining SR he told BuLba about the only case of 322 in his career, for which he never received any money.
"After the start of the war, I moved to Poland, my family was running out of money, rent was due. I was ranked around 200, playing mid, but I was invited as a stand-in carry with a pool of three heroes (Brood, Batrider, Clinkz). Then a pub acquaintance offered me a 322. At first, I refused, but then, when they offered $4,000, I agreed on the condition that bets would be placed on my team to win. I was told there would be no problem, that there were bought-out teams intentionally throwing games. But once, a large bet was placed on our victory, and somehow my team managed to lose. Maybe one of my teammates was throwing, but my goal was to win.
After that loss, I was told: ‘You must lose the next match, or you’ll be in debt.’ I agreed — especially since I was low-skilled as a carry, and it didn’t take much effort to lose. I was afraid of being in debt to the ‘mafia’ — I still need my arms and legs. In the end, I threw one match, but I never got any money. Who could’ve thought you’d just get screwed in such a story? The result: urgent need for money, blackmail, one thrown match, and $0.
I told BuLba all of this. His reaction: "You didn’t get paid, and it was a long time ago. I trust you." He kept me on the team."
Mark further noted that the SR coach behaved very toxically, which made it difficult for him to stay with the roster.
"<...> He humiliated me in front of the whole team, saying what a great organization Shopify was and what a chance they gave me. During scrims all the blame was only on me. They only reviewed my mistakes, even though everyone messed up. There was a small quarrel with Timado, and it quickly escalated when BuLba stepped in, calling me a son of a wh***, talking about my ‘big ego,’ and again accusing me of 322. Let me remind you: he himself said there was nothing wrong with it, since it was just one match, long ago, and without money. But that didn’t stop him from pressuring me.“
mangekyou stated that after he left Shopify Rebellion, BuLba asked tournament operators to ban Kharlamov for 322.
”TOs investigated, but found no evidence of my unfair play. ESL and PGL have no claims against me. Which means everything BuLba said is a lie."
In addition, mangekyou accused BuLba of hypocrisy, attaching screenshots of private conversations where Sam insulted players, including RAMZES.
"SaberLight wasn’t the only one — Arteezy also got targeted, blamed for his toxicity, which according to BuLba made Cr1t leave. BuLba vividly described how ‘bad’ his players were and that he lost qualifiers because of them. Already then I should’ve been alarmed that the coach trashed and blamed his players in front of me, but I was young and stupid and didn’t realize how inadequate it was.
And now, a message to Ramzes: your best friend and former coach calls you a lazy junkie, because during COVID you drank and used all kinds of stuff. Are you sure you should trust a man who trashes you and at the same time actively uses drugs himself (calling a taxi on your stream to buy weed)?”
Kaniška Sam Sosale denied mangekyou's bullying accusations. According to BuLba, the player was toxic, always late, never talked in games or scrims, and prioritized streaming and matchmaking instead. Soon after, the coach received proof of Kharlamov’s involvement in 322 matches, and Shopify Rebellion’s management decided to kick the player.
The conflict was also commented on by Dmitry Fishman Polishchuk, who, according to mangekyou, knew about his involvement in a fixed match.
"I don’t think mangekyou was throwing for this team, but I can say that after talking to players from Shopify Rebellion and to BuLba a little, I realized that mangekyou is, first of all, a very poor professional. He doesn’t like to put in effort. He also has major health problems. He drank too many energy drinks, which clearly affected his performance. And for him, the most important thing was to hold rank 1, 5, or 10. From what I understood, when they reviewed replays and pointed things out to him, he would always say: ‘Guys, you’re rank 100, shut up, I’m rank 1, I know better.’ So, he didn’t put much effort into scrims"
mangekyou represented Shopify Rebellion from September 2024 to February 2025. With him, the team took 7th-8th place at ESL One Bangkok 2024 and 15th-16th at FISSURE PLAYGROUND.
As CyberScore reported earlier, Shopify Rebellion announced its departure from the professional Dota 2 scene.
by CyberScore