DAVE "ASSASSIN DAVE" MAO, one of the most influential figures in the North American MLBB scene is currently branded as a villain, as he was accused of allegedly ruining BTK's chances of playing in the MSC 2023.
Pressured by the allegations directed towards him, Dave was forced to published a 58-minute video, explaining his side of the story. He even uploaded a 32-page report, showcasing Discord conversations and private screenshots.
There were those who considered Assassin Dave as a puppet with the power to dictate MOONTON's actions, however he reiterated that despite his role as a member of the NACT Committee, he is never a part of the MLBB developer.
"Let me be straightforward I'm not part of MOONTON, we're independent contractors (Foreign Famous, his company responsible for NACT's league operations), we're partners for MOONTON in North America," explained the MLBB influencer.
And as he went on in his video, he revealed that BTK's Michael "MobaZane" Cosgun has been spreading false accounts about him.
MobaZane's list of lies according to Dave
In his report and video, Dave showed a clip from MobaZane's livestream last May 19, 2023, in which the BTK jungler was complaining about the shortened timeline to submit their final rosters for the MSC.
But according to Dave, this wasn't the case.
"Zane continually lied about the roster change timeline and said somebody decided the roster should be changed on mother's day, right after grand finals (NACT)," said Dave. "Basically, the whole idea that Zane was trying to push was that he only had half a day to decide his MSC roster, which is completely not true."
Eventually, Dave showed a screenshot dated back on April 30, 2023, revealing the MSC 2023 roster requirements. Dave even mentioned that the message was sent to both Team OutPlay and BTK.
Here's what's stated on the announcement.
"MSC requires to collect all necessary information of the NACT Championship Team no later than 05/14 (the same day of Grand Final). Here are some must knows:
- 1. NA representative can have up to 10 all expense covered slots including 5 starting player, 2 substitute player, 1 coach, 1 analyst, 1 manager.
- 2. Due to the nature of the time constraint, NACT Committee recommend Grand Final participating teams to prepare the final roster before 05/11, allowing us a few days for confirmation.
And to further assert that the messaged was delivered, Assassin Dave kept on tagging MobaZane regarding the MSC roster policy.
After revealing his conversations with MobaZane, Dave mentioned that he wasn't fond of his rants given its impact.
"So I wanted people to know that what you hear from (Zane's) stream is one-sided biased and a one-sided lie and I do not like the fact that this lie is being continually pushed by one of the most influential influencers in Mobile Legends, someone that the community chose to represent in the North American region in a lot of tournaments," said Dave.
Passport issues
But that wasn't the only alleged false narrative that MobaZane shared in his livestream as the BTK superstar pointed out that Dave told MOONTON that Team Outplay should sign the MSC forms.
"Dave informed the MOONTON worker that Dave had all of OP (Team Outplay) signed the (MSC) form. I sent that to Dave and I was like, 'What the f*ck is this?" explained MobaZane on his livestream last May 19, 2023.
In response to this, Dave revealed a lengthy conversation he had with the BTK roster via Discord in which he tried to resolve the team's passport crisis, centered on players Yato and TEA.
The conversation took place last May 16, 2023.
"TEA says, 'Do you (Assassin Dave) speak Chinese, can you talk to my mom. I need someone to talk to my mom to get a passport," narrated Dave. "I said, 'Sure TEA. Send me all the information you need and I'll help."
As Dave was trying to resolve BTK's issues, MobaZane suddenly jumped into the conversation, which seemed as if he was sarcastically mocking the North American shoutcaster.
"Having OP (Team Outplay) sign forms already are you?" said MobaZane.
Dave revealed in the video that he found Zane's comment to be 'immature' and he even said: "I'm going to ignore it. I don't really respond to stupid comments right away especially at a time when I'm helping BTK to go to MSC."
But that never deterred Zane from insulting Dave.
"@AssassinDave Do you work for OP. That's f*cking CORRUPT! I need an apology Dave, can't wait to f*cking stream tonight," said the BTK player in the Discord conversation.
As he went on, Dave revealed his thoughts on Zane's comment.
"In that scenario do you respond to a maniac or do you simply ignore him? Then right after that I responded, 'I am busy at this moment,' because at this point Zane's ranting is going out of hand. I said, 'Can you ask Zane to call instead good luck,' because this is already out of my hand, I was helping out of courtesy because I want to support NA's champion," reflected Dave in the video.
Then at the end of the convo, Zane went below the belt saying, "F*cking snake, busy s*cking and milking OPs c*ck."
Defamation Effect
As things went out of hand, Assassin Dave revealed the aftermath of MobaZane's accusations.
Given the nature of the situation, Dave is forced to take a leave. It was also revealed that his company (Foreign Famous) is also affected. He even posted screenshots of the harassment he received.
And while his reputation has been affected, Dave went back on how much he loved the North American MLBB scene.
Screenshots were revealed of him supporting BTK and other NA teams as his way of helping the scene grow. He even motivated MobaZane when he doubted his teammates during the NACT Spring campaign.
MobaZane apologizes to Assassin Dave
With Assasssin Dave's public reports, MobaZane expressed his apologies to the involved parties via YouTube.
He explained why he ranted on the MSC's ruling, while apologizing to Dave.
"To Dave I would like to sincerely apologize, I'm well aware that he has been a believer in me and my team for the whole NACT but I was wrongly led to believe that he was favoring one team to go to MSC over BTK and I have since realized that it's completely untrue. I was acting on speculations and I want to apologize for doing so."
Then he further discussed that he wasn't at the best mental state due to the MSC ruling.
"I was heartbroken & not in the best mental place after the rulings were final on MSC. Being unable to represent North America in an international tournament had me sobbing out of pure desperation and feeling a way I haven't felt in many years. I know that doesn't justify any of my irrational actions and I hope the community can give me another opporunity to prove myself."
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