2017 so far is a year of pleasant surprises.
This year welcomed Toh ‘xy-‘ Wai Hong back into professional Dota 2 under Team Faceless, reuniting with Daryl ‘iceiceice’ Koh Pei Xiang and Wong ‘NutZ’ Jeng Yih. Despite a rocky year so far, Galvin ‘Meracle’ Kang Jian Wen still managed to fight his way into The International 2017 regional qualifiers.
Overseas, we have Nicholas Kelvin ‘xFreedom’ lleto Lim and Benedict Lim ‘hyhy’ Han Yong continuing their CN Dota 2 crusade with White Fries Gaming. Let’s take a closer look at these Dota 2 Pioneers, young and old!
1. Toh ‘xy-‘ Wai Hong – Team Faceless
Xy’s return to the pro scene by joining Singaporean Dota 2 powerhouse Team Faceless was the most unexpected event for Singapore Dota 2. Observers and fans alike were speculating other, more established players once Daryl ‘iceiceice’ Koh Pei Xiang confirmed he was returning to Singapore to build a team.
Ultimately, xy was the best fit because of the philosophy behind Team Faceless: A team made of friends who are united by the same goal. Including Anucha ‘Jabz’ Jirawong, every Faceless player does not take a salary, but has all their expenses paid for out of iceiceice’s own pocket.
Previously, Team Faceless had revealed that iceiceice decided to forego sponsors to avoid having to commit to sponsorship agreements which might get in the way of team practice. While he was playing for DK, iceiceice blamed streaming contracts for pro teams as a root cause of why China’s Dota 2 was falling behind.
The lack of salaries also brings context to their constant use of the Singaporean colloquial joke: no wins means no food to eat. While Team Faceless is not result-oriented, a weak showing at The International 2017 (TI 2017) might result in a roster shuffle or disband.
2. xFreedom and hyhy – White Fries Gaming
Since the start of 2016, White Fries Gaming was a team that people wanted to watch. Going to China for the best chance at making a competitive team, both hyhy and xFreedom did not manage to qualify for any major international events this year.
The news of PatSoul joining the team also did little to hype up the team this year, and their most recent result was a loss in the group stages of the WCA 2017 Pro Qualifiers. White Fries Gaming was missing from the Chinese Qualifiers for The International 2017, and hyhy has yet to stream on this douyu.tv account since 2016.
3. Iceiceice, NutZ and Furryfish – Team Faceless
If there was a history book on the Singapore eSports scene, these 3 names would undoubtedly be recorded amongst the many people who have consistently worked hard in the scene.
Iceiceice returned to Singaporean soil both as a player and as the primary team sponsor for Team Faceless. Reprising his offlane role, iceiceice’s stability and deep hero pool is something Team Faceless constantly emulates.
Alongside teammates Dominik ‘Black^’ Reitmeier and xy, iceiceice plays heroes like Bristleback, Lina and Invoker across multiple lanes, a mark of Faceless’s versatility in terms of drafting and hero specialisation.
Faceless position 5, NutZ, is a scene veteran who is commonly known for achieving 8th place at TI 2015 with Korean Dota 2 team MVP. Since then, NutZ has been playing and supporting local esports by organising Dota 2 tournaments and competing in locally-made esports titles such as Endgods.
Fun fact: although NutZ has said he and iceiceice have been friends for little over 10 years now, Faceless is the first time they are playing on the same team.
We also saw Tammy ‘Furryfish’ Tang’s return to the Dota 2 pro scene as an advisor and longtime friend to Team Faceless, often accompanying the team overseas as their manager.
She currently works as the Twitch.tv Asia-Pacific (APAC) event manager. In the context of Dota 2, this means she organises twitch afterparties for any competitive events they support in APAC.
4. Galvin ‘Meracle’ Kang Jian Wen – Mineski, Fnatic, and Moogle
If you followed Meracle’s journey, you would know how unforgiving and how quickly the esports scene in SEA moves. Since 2016, Singapore’s up and coming Dota 2 star looked to have an extremely promising year ahead, having joined Team Mineski since September 2016 after leaving National Service.
Unfortunately, as Mineski soon underwent a period of restructuring, the lack of solid results meant that Meracle’s Mineski roster was dissolved to focus resources on supporting Mushi’s new team.
Even so, Meracle quickly managed to find a new team in Fnatic, proving that his value as a player was recognised at large by Tier 1 SEA pro teams. The new Fnatic roster was quickly met with the reality of the SEA scene as they were constantly beaten by the older and more cohesive teams.
Once again, Meracle’s roster did not produce the results they needed to quickly enough, and he became a sub for Fnatic at around mid May 2017. This, thankfully, is not how the story ends.
In June 2017, Meracle got back together with his old Dota 2 teammates Teo ‘Kai’ Kai Sheng, Paul ‘hana’ Tan and Wilson ‘poloson’ Koh Chin from First Departure and Joel ‘Chibix’ Chan from Scythe.SG, another legendary Singaporean Dota 2 team. They are currently vying for a chance to participate in the TI 2017 main event as a SEA qualifier team, which ends on 27th June 2017.
Courtesy: https://www.redbull.com/
This year welcomed Toh ‘xy-‘ Wai Hong back into professional Dota 2 under Team Faceless, reuniting with Daryl ‘iceiceice’ Koh Pei Xiang and Wong ‘NutZ’ Jeng Yih. Despite a rocky year so far, Galvin ‘Meracle’ Kang Jian Wen still managed to fight his way into The International 2017 regional qualifiers.
Overseas, we have Nicholas Kelvin ‘xFreedom’ lleto Lim and Benedict Lim ‘hyhy’ Han Yong continuing their CN Dota 2 crusade with White Fries Gaming. Let’s take a closer look at these Dota 2 Pioneers, young and old!
1. Toh ‘xy-‘ Wai Hong – Team Faceless
Xy’s return to the pro scene by joining Singaporean Dota 2 powerhouse Team Faceless was the most unexpected event for Singapore Dota 2. Observers and fans alike were speculating other, more established players once Daryl ‘iceiceice’ Koh Pei Xiang confirmed he was returning to Singapore to build a team.
Ultimately, xy was the best fit because of the philosophy behind Team Faceless: A team made of friends who are united by the same goal. Including Anucha ‘Jabz’ Jirawong, every Faceless player does not take a salary, but has all their expenses paid for out of iceiceice’s own pocket.
Previously, Team Faceless had revealed that iceiceice decided to forego sponsors to avoid having to commit to sponsorship agreements which might get in the way of team practice. While he was playing for DK, iceiceice blamed streaming contracts for pro teams as a root cause of why China’s Dota 2 was falling behind.
2. xFreedom and hyhy – White Fries Gaming
Since the start of 2016, White Fries Gaming was a team that people wanted to watch. Going to China for the best chance at making a competitive team, both hyhy and xFreedom did not manage to qualify for any major international events this year.
The news of PatSoul joining the team also did little to hype up the team this year, and their most recent result was a loss in the group stages of the WCA 2017 Pro Qualifiers. White Fries Gaming was missing from the Chinese Qualifiers for The International 2017, and hyhy has yet to stream on this douyu.tv account since 2016.
3. Iceiceice, NutZ and Furryfish – Team Faceless
If there was a history book on the Singapore eSports scene, these 3 names would undoubtedly be recorded amongst the many people who have consistently worked hard in the scene.
Iceiceice returned to Singaporean soil both as a player and as the primary team sponsor for Team Faceless. Reprising his offlane role, iceiceice’s stability and deep hero pool is something Team Faceless constantly emulates.
Alongside teammates Dominik ‘Black^’ Reitmeier and xy, iceiceice plays heroes like Bristleback, Lina and Invoker across multiple lanes, a mark of Faceless’s versatility in terms of drafting and hero specialisation.
Faceless position 5, NutZ, is a scene veteran who is commonly known for achieving 8th place at TI 2015 with Korean Dota 2 team MVP. Since then, NutZ has been playing and supporting local esports by organising Dota 2 tournaments and competing in locally-made esports titles such as Endgods.
Fun fact: although NutZ has said he and iceiceice have been friends for little over 10 years now, Faceless is the first time they are playing on the same team.
We also saw Tammy ‘Furryfish’ Tang’s return to the Dota 2 pro scene as an advisor and longtime friend to Team Faceless, often accompanying the team overseas as their manager.
She currently works as the Twitch.tv Asia-Pacific (APAC) event manager. In the context of Dota 2, this means she organises twitch afterparties for any competitive events they support in APAC.
4. Galvin ‘Meracle’ Kang Jian Wen – Mineski, Fnatic, and Moogle
If you followed Meracle’s journey, you would know how unforgiving and how quickly the esports scene in SEA moves. Since 2016, Singapore’s up and coming Dota 2 star looked to have an extremely promising year ahead, having joined Team Mineski since September 2016 after leaving National Service.
Unfortunately, as Mineski soon underwent a period of restructuring, the lack of solid results meant that Meracle’s Mineski roster was dissolved to focus resources on supporting Mushi’s new team.
Even so, Meracle quickly managed to find a new team in Fnatic, proving that his value as a player was recognised at large by Tier 1 SEA pro teams. The new Fnatic roster was quickly met with the reality of the SEA scene as they were constantly beaten by the older and more cohesive teams.
Once again, Meracle’s roster did not produce the results they needed to quickly enough, and he became a sub for Fnatic at around mid May 2017. This, thankfully, is not how the story ends.
In June 2017, Meracle got back together with his old Dota 2 teammates Teo ‘Kai’ Kai Sheng, Paul ‘hana’ Tan and Wilson ‘poloson’ Koh Chin from First Departure and Joel ‘Chibix’ Chan from Scythe.SG, another legendary Singaporean Dota 2 team. They are currently vying for a chance to participate in the TI 2017 main event as a SEA qualifier team, which ends on 27th June 2017.
Courtesy: https://www.redbull.com/
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