To Those Who Gave Their Best But Were Not Enough

Picture of M-King
M-King

An homage to this season’s The International absentees

Raven Image by PGL Esports | MoonMeander Image by DreamHack

The International has always been the gathering of the world’s best Dota 2 players, but not all who gave their best can be granted with the chance to play for it. As the ninth iteration of the annual Dota 2 world championship approaches its much-awaited launch, let us recognize the efforts of those who failed to make the cut.

Raven

Photo by PGL Esports

Raven’s time with TNC Predator honed him to become one of the most respected carry players not just within the Southeast Asian region, but also internationally. He’s a consistent performer who was about to reach the pinnacle of his professional Dota 2 career in the next few years. Unfortunately, the world-class talent succumbed into the darker side of the post-The International 2018 roster shuffle after rumors about him being recruited by Team Secret prior to the start of this season failed to materialize.

The Filipino player first sought refuge in Ohaiyo’s Lotac. Expectations were built around the team, especially since it was spearheaded by recognizable figures. As it turned out, however, their names alone is insufficient to sustain the intensity of the competition. The team disbanded after five months of vying for a Dota Pro Circuit slot.

Raven’s hail mary was with Mushi in another Malaysia-based esports team, Geek Fam. On paper, the team looked solid and are easy favorites to make it out of The International 2019 Southeast Asia qualifier. Yet, their failure to gel together as a team still proved to be more significant than their individual titles or sheer skills.

Here’s to a Raven bounce back.

Febby

Photo by ESL

Febby has been pretty vocal about the rather abrupt end of his run this season due to the boot he received from Mineski-Dota for Raging Potato. Sure, he may have been awarded with a brand-new Mercedes-Benz in ESL One Mumbai 2019 after standing-in for the Filipino Dota 2 fans’ all-time favorite player, who failed to attend the event due to visa issues, but we all know that he’s not playing Dota 2 to win a car—he’s playing for the Aegis of Champions.

His desire to participate in this year’s The International gave birth to one of Southeast Asia’s fiercest regional qualifier contender—Team Jinesbrus, an amalgamation of young guns and seasoned veterans who share the same dream of qualifying to the world championship, but has no team or organization to do it with.

Febby almost had the last laugh as he battled tooth-and-nail against Mineski-Dota for Southeast Asia’s The International 2019 spot. It was a setup for the season’s best revenge arc. Just imagine how fulfilling it could have been for Febby if he managed to eliminate the organization that kicked him for wanting a greater chance at achieving a spot in The International (not to mention Gunnar too, who was repeatedly kicked in multiple teams by EternaLEnVy). Unfortunately, despite giving it all, the Korean support ultimately failed to meet his goal.

Here’s to a Febby bounce back.

Gambit Esports

Photo by Gambit Esports

Gambit Esports was supposed to be this year’s breakout team. It was hard not to build up expectations around them because (1) the team is composed of CIS veterans like Afoninje, AfterLife, and the guy who led the team that stopped the all-star Team Secret in The International 2015, fng, and (2) their two second-place finishes in two consecutive Minor tournaments can’t mean nothing other than their rise to the top.

Their downfall started in Split, Croatia in the OGA Dota PIT Minor 2019. Gambit was one of the favorites to dominate the tournament until they finished the group stage without even scoring a single win. It wasn’t really an issue at that time since they were still on a pretty stable spot in the Dota Pro Circuit. Heck, even if they faltered, Gambit virtually has no worthy competitor that can impede their trip to Shanghai via The International 2019 CIS qualifiers.

Gambit was so much of a sure thing that almost all Battle Pass owners locked them in the predictions, but that’s where everyone, including me, was wrong. We overlooked the fact that one of their greatest opponents are also the mental stress and pressure that comes from playing high stakes Dota 2 for long hours and bearing expectations from everybody. The result was a controversial rage quit by Afoninje that eventually cost their The International 2019 attendance.

Here’s to a Gambit Esports bounce back.

MoonMeander

Photo by DreamHack

If you’d tell me during the first half of this year’s Dota Pro Circuit that MoonMeander will be a part of this list, I wouldn’t believe you. The Canadian pro was off to a great start with Tigers after winning Southeast Asia its first Minor tournament of the season in DreamLeague Season 10 over Natus Vincere. Sure, they may have had a poor showing in The Kuala Lumpur Major, but every team can have a bad tournament, right?

But that one bad tournament turned into a bad season. Tigers failed to emit the same fierce impression they opened the season with, eventually forcing MoonMeander to leave back home in North America. There, the seasoned offlaner went from one team to another, joining any tournament he can. After failing to take North America’s The International 2019 regional qualifier slot with bryle, ritsu, Kingrd, and Kitrak in Kookaburra, MoonMeander went to Twitter to vent out his frustrations as a professional Dota 2 player.

While lackluster results may acceptably be taken as a setback to one’s career, esports organizations who can’t pay their players right is a major step back not only to any individual, but to the entire esports industry as a whole.

Here’s to a MoonMeander bounce back.

MP

Photo by StarLadder

What happened to MP was disheartening, to say the least. Even though Fnatic publicized that the decision was agreed by both sides, and he will still receive salary on top of his share of however much his former teammates can earn at The International 2019, being sidelined just mere months away from the tournament that you’ve been working so hard for just sucks.

Fnatic’s Pre-The International 2019 roster change was a reaction to their two consecutive last-place finishes during the latter half of this year’s Dota Pro Circuit. Hypothetically speaking, the team’s world championship attendance could have been jeopardized due to those poor finishes, if not for their third place finish in DreamLeague Season 11, the third Major tournament of the season.

MP is never the most consistent performer in the team, frankly speaking. He’s a hit-or-miss carry with a passable hero pool. Nevertheless, he gets things done and he proved it by helping his team secure the seventh spot of this year’s Dota Pro Circuit race. While it’s understandable that Fnatic’s resolve for a fresh change in their cores’ synergy was to change roster, it feels bad to think that MP won’t attend The International 2019 even though he deserved it.

Here’s to an MP bounce back.

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