Renowned Polish esports player Michał "Nisha" Jankowski, a member of Team Liquid's Dota 2 roster, has found himself at the center of a media controversy. A smurf account allegedly linked to the player was spotted on a team with the provocative name "XoXJIoPeZIb" and a Russian flag featured on its logo during Valve's weekly in-game Battle Cup tournament.
Initial accusations from Reddit users claiming that Nisha personally participated in the controversial match were quickly disproven. It was established that during the Battle Cup, Nisha was playing an official match for Team Liquid against Aurora. Following a statement from the team's coach, the original discussion thread was removed, and the nickname of the suspected profile was changed.
Despite Jankowski's apparent alibi, the community's investigation suggests that the controversial account under the nickname Jankos does in fact belong to him. Several factors have been cited as evidence:
- The profile is set to the Polish flag, and Nisha has previously used the nickname "Jankos."
- The account reached Rank 1 on the Dota 2 leaderboard, a milestone that media outlets publicly associated with Nisha's rise to the top of the rankings, with no subsequent denials.
- The ownership of the smurf account was also confirmed by Andrii "Ghostik" Kadyk, head coach of Ukraine's Dota 2 national team and a serviceman of the Azov Regiment, who stated that the account's connection to Nisha has long been known within the high-MMR community.
At present, the leading theory surrounding the incident is that Nisha may have shared access to the smurf account with third parties, who then participated in the tournament under the controversial team name.
Only Valve can officially confirm or deny whether account sharing took place through an internal investigation. If a violation of Steam's rules is established, the player could face penalties, including a Dota 2 ban for account sharing.
As a reminder, the Ukrainian organization Boars Gaming will be competing for a spot at Esports World Cup 2026.