Giants of loyalty in Dota 2 world

Luo «Ferrari_430» Feichi in Invictus Gaming (1017)

Age: 27 y.o.Country: ChinaCurrent position in the table of the region’s leaders: 153Current team: Big GodMain achievements in the roster of Invictus Gaming:

• The International 2012 - 1 place
• WPC 2014 - 1 place
• ESL One Frankfurt 2014 - 1 place
• Major All Stars Dota 2 Tournament - 1 place

Luo «Ferrari_430» Feichi can be truly called a legend of Invictus Gaming as this player has been playing under the tag of his favorite club for almost 5 years and the most important fact is that he managed to get “Aegis” for his team which the team received in 2012. Luo joined Invictus Gaming in August 2011 before the first The International started. He was an unknown player and nobody could imagine that Feichi would become a real legend of the Chinese professional stage.

During the whole following year the team took part only in two tournaments the prize pool of which was not more than $1,000 but the team got nothing. So, it was time for The International 2012 and at the very group stage the collective showed that they came to get top places – 13 victories and only one loss provided the team with the first position. At the playoff, Ferrari_430 helped his team win over the number of opponents at the Chinese region and at the Grand Final they managed to win over their main offender at TI1 – Natus Vincere. Luo is proud of the victory at The International 2010 most of all.

The nearest 2-3 years after the World’s Championship 2012, the collectives had ups and downs, various reshuffles, but only Luo «Ferrari_430» Feichi always performed his role in a good way and was considered to be one of the best at the central line.

In 2016 the team was completely snuffed out and got stuck in different elimination rounds and qualifiers. The Legend of Invictus Gaming was 26 years old at that moment and he left the organization of his own free will giving his place to younger esportsmen. Since January 2017, he was registered in the roster of Newbee.Boss, which was made with no aim. In January he joined Big God and the collective sensationally got to the closed qualifiers for DAC 2017, where they won the 5th place, giving the way to VGJ.Thunder and LGD Gaming at the qualifier. If the guys had won at one meeting more, they would have received a place at the LAN finals as 3 slots were kept for the Chinese region.

An interesting fact: Right after a match the teammates told: “When he was playing on Invoker, he seemed to be playing the piano!” The nickname “Pianist” is used even now.

Airat «Silent» Gaziev in Team Empire (1144)

Age: 25 y.o.Country: RussiaCurrent position in the table of the region’s leaders: 74Current team: Team Empire (inactive)Main achievements in the roster of Invictus Gaming:

• StarLadder StarSeries Season 9 - 2 place
• DreamLeague Season 1 - 3 place
• Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 - 1 place
• StarLadder StarSeries Season 11 - 1 place
• joinDOTA MLG Pro League Season 1 - 1 place
• DreamLeague Season 4 - 2 place
• The Summit 4 - 2 place

For the first time, Airat «Silent» Gaziev joined Team Empire in September 2012 and the team’s results already improved. During the nearest 2 month, the roster managed to become champions 7 times at various tournaments and also finished in 2 twice. The beginning of 2013 isn’t thought to be failed as the collective got top places at prestigious championships and also won at minor competitions at times, but the management wanted more and it was time for changes – Airat was deprived of his place in the team.

The next stage of Gaziev’s career was an international team Quantic Gaming, the leader of which was a functional coach of OG - Sébastien «7ckngMad» Debs. But we shouldn’t talk a lot about the team as it existed only 2 month and their only achievement was the second place at DreamHack Summer 2013. But Airat think that this period was very useful for getting experience and studying the mindset of Europeans.

Meanwhile Team Empire didn’t manage to make it to the main championship of the year so they offered a new contract for Airat «Silent» Gaziev. After his returning, the team had “golden years” – for 2 years the players got 11 gold medals and 11 silver medals, and in total they got $760,000, and two trips to The International in 2014 and 2015. Nevertheless the team’s performances were good, the management again decided to reshuffle and again Airat had no place in the team.

After 2 years of failing attempts to show himself in Virtus.Pro, Polarity and Vega Squadron, the esportsman returned to Team Empire. Literally in 2 month, the collective won at the qualifier for Captains Draft 4.0 and StarLadder i-League Invitational #4 and became the champion of ROG MASTERS 2017. The guys seemed to perform in the best way possible, but at the final stage of StarLadder i-League Invitational #4, the team appeared with a substitute sending Silent to the reserve. Having finished the competition, the collective made a decision to continue playing with Nix. Airat got a stuck of well-known players from the CIS and managed to make it to the closed qualifiers for EPICENTER XL.

An interesting fact: by the end of 2015 he kept the first place according to the quantity of the played matches at the professional Dota 2 stage. Also this esportsman made a record of the highest winrate among professional players at Dota 2 stage.

Saahil «UNiVeRsE» Arora in Evil Geniuses (1098)

Age: 28 y.o.Country: The USACurrent position in the table of the region’s leaders: 11Current team: Evil GeniusesMain achievements in the roster of Evil Geniuses:

• The Summit 1 - 1 place
• The International 2014 - 3 place
• StarLadder StarSeries Season 10 - 1 place
• DreamLeague Season 2 - 1 place
• Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015 - 1 place
• The International 2015 - 1 place
• The Frankfurt Major 2015 - 1 place
• The International 2016 - 3 place
• EPICENTER 2017 - 2 place

Saahil «UNiVeRsE» Arora’s first team was Online Kingdom, being a part of which he managed to gain the 7th place at The International 2011. After that he was noticed by other collectives and he could play in it’s Gosu and Quantic, showing himself as a talented and promising player. Fear decided to strengthen Evil Geniuses before The International 2012 and enticed Saahil to his team as a support and that turned out to be fruitful – the team won at DreamHack Summer 2012 and got a direct invitation to the main championship of the year.

The collective’s performance at TI2 rather was rather disastrous, so getting only 9-12 places and Universe, he decided to have a break to get prepared for the exams in the best way. In a couple of months, Arora appeared on the professional stage as an offlaner of Team Dignitas. The team performed commonly in general, but Saahil did outstand with his unusual playing which caused many troubles for the opponents. The roster got an invitation to The International 2013, but again the team couldn’t get higher than the 9th place, but it was enough for Saahil to return to Evil Geniuses.

The team couldn’t boast about any result for 4 month, so the roster was deactivated, but Fear and UNiVeRsE decided for sure that they would continue performing together. The guys formed the collective “S A D B O Y S” together with  Arteezy, Zai, Ppd, and there was an impression that the guys had been born to play together – the roster managed to show a good result of 19 won games in a row. Literally in 3 weeks since the collectives was formed, they won at Electronic Sports Prime Shock Therapy Cup and Evil Geniuses brought them into the fold.

Since that moment, the story of Evil Geniuses began and it is always associated with Saahil «UNiVeRsE» Arora. The collective began to develop sweepingly and showed the best results, returning the ancient glory to Evil Geniuses, and UNiVeRsE was told to be one of the best players of the position. A row of victories and top places led the team to a direct invitation to The International 4, where the roster got the third position. And this result is called a success for sure, as the Chinese collectives dominated at the competition and EG performed with a substitute because of Fear’s problem with his hand.

Right after TI the guys were losing their shape and Zai and Arteezy left the team. Instead of them Sumail and Aui_2000 joined the team. The roster was renewed so it returned to their level destroying everything on their way. During the season 2014/2015 the collective got about $1,600,000, winning 5 major tournaments and getting a direct invitation to The International 2015. EG ended up the year successfully, winning the major championship of the year. At the tournament, Saahil showed an incredible playing at his position and now fans had no doubt – “UNiVeRsE» is the best hardliner on the professional stage.” Younger players study by his games and the moment when Arora destroyed 5 players of CDEC with the help of Shaker’s ultimate at the decisive match will be remembered forever.

The roster continued to dominate on the professional stage, but slowly they began to gain the 3-4 places and couldn’t get higher so UNiVeRsE made a decision to continue his career in Team Secret, where he spent 2 month and didn’t get to the top. At that moment EG’s results were getting worse as well and both sides understood that they had made a mistake and “the prodigal son returned home”. The results got higher again, but because of the constant replacements of other players of the roster, the collective performed rather unstably. At the most expectative tournament of 2017 – TI7, the team got the kick out of the losers’ bracket taking 9-12 places, that couldn’t satisfy the players. The management made a decision to make some changes in the roster, but they led to nothing, so Saahil «UNiVeRsE» Arora joined Fnatic.

At the moment Saahil’s business is not looking good and the team often loses at the qualifiers for the major tournaments, but gradually is coming to their game. The team managed to win at the elimination rounds for GESC: Indonesia Dota2 Minor.

An interesting fact: until the middle of 2017 Saahil was considered to be the richest esportsman in the world, having approximately $2,700,000 of the won money. After The International 2017 was finished, Saahil gave way to KuroKy, who won at the tournament and the sum of the won money rose beyond $3,000,000 in total.

Zhang «Mu» Pan in Newbee (980)

Age: 29 y.o.Country: ChinaCurrent position in the table of the region’s leaders:Current team: finished careerMain achievements in the roster of Newbee:

• Dota 2 Super League - 1 place
• The International 2014 - 1 place
• World Cyber Arena 2014 - 1 place
• EPICENTER 2016 - 2 place
• The Manila Major 2016 - 3 place
• Nanyang Dota 2 Championships Season 2 - 1 place

Zhang «Mu» Pan could be characterized by only one word – “Loyalty”, as this esportsman performed on the professional stage about 5 years and changed only one organization – in 2014 he left TongFu and joined Newbee.

Pan played in TongFu since April 2014 and managed to gain trust among the participants on the professional stage thanks to his confident playing on Invoker and Templar Assassin. The esportsman was different contrasted with his teammates and even having unimpressive results of the team he played rather good. Zhang missed The International 2011, but at the same championship in 2012 the team managed to get the fourth place proving their status of the best team of Celestial Empire. The mid player’s great performance wasn’t unnoticeable so at the beginning of February of 2014 Pan joined Newbee.

This stage of Mu’s career started in the worst way possible – the new team, which was rather ambitious and wanted to win, couldn’t win for 3 months and then for 2 month they got only the second positions at minor competitions, the prize pools of which didn’t exceed $30,000. But it was enough to get a direct invitation to The International 2014. At the group stage Mu and the team finished in the 5th place and this let them get a place at the playoff and several days-off were enough for the collective’s reconsideration of their approach to the games – the team was different. Newbee gathered pace at the playoff and then not without difficulty won over Vici Gaming and then left no chances to Evil Geniuses and at the Grand Final they showed Vici Gaming that they were “the kings of China”. After the tournament they got the title “World’s Champion” and the money reward of $5,000,000, which still is a record sum for the organization.

Then for 4 months we could see a total domination of this team on the international arena – the guys won at four competitions out of six in which they took part and again gained about $430,000 for their eSports club. But after ups we always have downs. At the upcoming even the roster got the 13-16 places and lost trust of the organizers, and because of that Mu was forced to qualify but Newbee lost at 5 qualifiers out of 5. Then Newbee experienced a run of bad luck and the collective just couldn’t show the quality, adding at times new bloods in the roster. Only Zhang was a changeless watch of the middle line. More and more teams were gathering young nerds, but the management of this team decided to follow another way and signed well-known Chinese esportsmen which gave the result as a consequence.

Then the roster held the third position at The Manila Major 2016, the second position at National Electronic Arena 2016 and Dota2 Professional League Season 1 and also won at Nanyang Dota 2 Championships Season 2 and literally for 3 matches the team changed from the middle level into one of the favorite of the upcoming championship in the world. The International 2016 was played not directed by Mu and the team – at the playoff stage the collective lost at 2 out of 2 possible games and left the championship holding the 9-12 position. Mu made a decision to have a break from the professional career and to give the mid to young and promising Sccc. After several month the player reported that he wasn’t going to return to Dota2.

An interesting fact: after losing performance at The International 2016 the player took a break for a half of the year, but meanwhile PUBG was released – and the esportsman gave up Dota2 forever and joined Newbee’s roster in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Artur «Arteezy» Babaev in Evil Geniuses (730)

Age: 21 y.o.Country: CanadaCurrent position in the table of the region’s leaders: 1Current team: Evil GeniusesMain achievements in the roster of Evil Geniuses:

• The Summit 1 - 1 place
• ESL One Frankfurt 2014 - 2 place
• The International 2014 - 3 place
• StarLadder StarSeries Season 10 - 1 place
• The Frankfurt Major 2015 - 3 place
• The Summit 4 - 1 place
• The Shanghai Major 2016 - 3 place
• Mars Dota 2 League 2016 Autumn - 1 place
• The Boston Major 2016 - 3 place
• The Kiev Major 2017 - 3 place
• The Manila Masters - 1 place

Artur «Arteezy» Babaev is probably the most unpredictable character of the list – he is only 21 y.o. but he is known for his rushing from Team Secret to Evil Geniuses and vice versa after every loss. But it wasn’t an obstacle for him to play for the American organization at over 700 matches and this number is increasing.For the first time Artur joined Evil Geniuses at the beginning of February in 2014, when the eSports club enticed the roster of “S A D B O Y S” after winning at MLG Championship Columbus. AT the tournament, the player managed to win at the mid line over such opponents as Dendi and Mushi, and later he confessed that thanks to that victory he lost his interest in races for the title: “The best player of the mid line”. In a month the team won at their first championship under the new tag - Monster Energy Invitational. Literally in a couple of months the collective became one of the best in the world and if they didn’t win at the tournament they took part in, they got top places for sure, At The International 2014 the roster got a direct invitation but they went to the championship with a substitute because of Fear’s disease – Mason played instead of him. A little bit later the team started to worsen and Artur got an offer from Team Secret and changed the team.

When he was a part of Team Secret, he helped Puppey and the team to win at a number of tournaments but such big organizations want only one thing – to win at The International. The guys couldn’t win at The International 2015. Then the collective got the 7-8 places and their previous roster became the champion. Of course, Team Secret’s mood was spoiled as the guys were considered to be favorites, and Artur was offered to return to Evil Geniuses because of the kick of Aui_2000. Babaev was glad to join the team of the world’s champions and continued to fight for the colors of Evil Geniuses for a half of the year. During this time he managed to help the team to win at several big tournaments and the victory at the championships of the Major series was not fulfilled, so the esportsman again joined the renewed roster of Team Secret.

The second returning to Team Secret brought nothing good and if we know that the team was going to become the best in the world and at The International 2016 the collective got the 13-16 positions. Puppey didn’t like the state of things and ARteezy became a free agent. In his turn PDD decided to leave the professional stage and EG’s place turned out to be vacant. So the player got a very good chance a used it. After such a reshuffle everybody started to tell about the end of Evil Geniuses’ era, as the legendary head couldn’t help the roster with picks, but they started to win practically after that and in the next 2 months they got approximately $500,000. The roster was among top three teams in the world but at The International 2017 the guys gave the way to Team Empire which got to the event with the help of the qualifiers and also performed with a substitute.

Fear decided to return on the professional stage, having been a coach for nearly 2 years because of his problems with a hand, and Zai wanted to leave the team as he got an offer to perform with PDD in the one collective, so Arteezy was made to get to the mid line. Now the team receives direct invitations to the championship rather stably and performs at them in a worthy way, has a huge respect from their fans and the other teams and also holds the seventh place according to the received DPC points for a season. In his turn, Artur continues moving to the point 1000 played matches, and we are sure that he will pass it.

An interesting fact: nevertheless that the bigger part of his career Arteezy spent in Team Secret, Evil Geniuses and Kaipi, being 21 y.o. he was registered in 74 professional, semi-professional and amateur rosters. In the majority of them, Artur played at only 2 matches. Also Babaev often streams and has the biggest popularity among professional player on Twitch.