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The 7.35 update for DOTA 2 released in the late evening hours on December 14. With it came the usual assortment of balance adjustments, a few fixes, and a few gameplay related changes. You know, the usual. The update also kicked off Frostivus 2023, an in-game event that delivers a little holiday cheer to the world of Dota 2. It comes complete with festive cosmetics, three new premium sets for Dota Plus users, and more.
Tonight's update for Dota 2 also brought with it one of the more unique ways of delivering a matchmaking ban, or even a Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) ban, that I have ever seen.
As part of the Frostivus event, players are able to earn gifts that presumably contain new cosmetics or other fun little unlocks. What nobody saw coming is that some of these gifts contain a "Toxic Lump of Coal" or even a "Highly Toxic Lump of Coal." These lumps of coal were given out to players that Valve found to be smurfing or engaging in other violations of the Steam Terms of Service.
Players that find themselves receiving the Toxic Lump of Coal were merely issued a little warning by Valve to cease their naughty ways else they will be banned. Those that received the Highly Toxic Lump of Coal were outright banned right then and there upon opening their "gift" from Valve.
The r/Dota 2 community on Reddit is already filling up with people complaining about receiving these lumps of coal for their gifts. The replies are, as you can probably imagine, full of people pointing and laughing at the offenders.
I was first made aware of this cheeky little method of banning when someone in Discord linked to this clip from Dota 2 streamer Mason.
Maybe you believe that Mason here is innocent. You would be wrong. Mason himself admitted right after this clip that he paid for a service to boost his Dota 2 behavior score.
Several other users that aren't Twitch famous also reported receiving the lumps of coal in their Frostivus gift boxes. Here's one right here. Here's another. And another. Well, you get the idea. As this update just came out a few hours ago, you can probably expect to see several similar posts popping up.
