Ten players that have missed the professional scene this year - Part 2

The new Dota 2 season is in full spate - all qualifiers to the large tournaments of the year have finished and the first Minor tournament starts in a week. The majority of teams have already completed their main rosters and are ready to conquer new horizons, however, there are cyber-sportsmen that had made a statement about themselves on the professional stage but were forgotten before the start of the season. We decided to make a top ten of the most famous players that had left on the outside of the season 2017/2018.

[Jerry «EGM» Lundkvist]

Age: 26Country: SwedenCurrent MMR: 7470Main achievements:

• DreamLeague Season 1 - 1st place

• World Cyber Arena 2015 - 1st place
• The International 2013 -  1st place
• StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 1 - 1st place

Jerry «EGM» Lundkvist is one of the best supports of the fourth position in the Dota 2 history, everything started from the Swede’s joining to the team Emocore in the beginning of September 2011. After that, he used to play in the ranks of Team Infused, Turtle Masters and QPAD Red Pandas, however, he had become widely famous due to an incredible play on the roster of No Tidehunter that was signed by the organization The Alliance two months later.

The team won the row of tournaments in the first two months, among which he started winning one tournament after another: DreamHack Invitational 2013, The Premier League Season 4, G-1 Champions League Season 5, DreamHack Summer 2013 and StarLadder StarSeries Season 6.

The team gained a wonderful momentum and the roster was rightly considered as one of the favorites at The International 2013 in August 2013. The Alliance didn’t disappoint their fans and simply run down their opponents and EGM was proving every match that had chosen such nick for a reason (EGM stands for “Enter God Mode”). The victory at this The International was achieved by this Swedish team and they had shown us an amazing grand final that would stay in the memory of Dota 2 fans for a long time.

The roster was playing at a good level during a year, however, failed regularly. A bad streak always comes after a good one and The Alliance has not become an exception - after the 11th-12th place at The International 2014, the team made replacements on the main roster and Jerry left “on the outside of the professional stage”. Lundkvist was not been allowed to have a long rest and few weeks after the disbandment, he signed a contract with Team Tinker, which roster included Kanishka 'Sam' «BuLba» Sosale, Per Anders Olsson «Pajkatt» Lille, Max «qojqva» Bröcker and WehSing «SingSing» Yuen. He spent on the roster about four months and won a couple of small championships and could hold prize places at the row of larger tournaments.

In January 2015, Jerry was offered to return to The Alliance and accepted it with pleasure, moving to the hard lane. Such replacements led to nothing good and the Swede became needless for the organization four months later. The cyber-sportsman took a four-month break in a career, after which a new stage in Jerry’s career came - the transfer to 4 Clover & Lepricon. We can’t say that the performance on the international mix was successful but the team earned about $100,000 in six months. The third place at DreamLeague Season 4 and the second one at Game Show eSports Cup Season 1 can be mentioned among the main achievements.

Despite a well enough performance of the team, EGM again received an offer to return to The Alliance, his star roster that had won The International 2013. The roster’s things went very well and the team won World Cyber Arena 2015 and StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 1 in two weeks, having earned $500,000 for the organization. Then, the play of the team only started getting worse and the situation on the roster was not even defused by the third place at WESG 2016, so the roster disbanded again. After that, Jerry started playing on the Crescendo roster together with his friend from The Alliance - Joakim «Akke» Akterhall. The team’s results left much to be desired and the roster ended its existence after the 9th place at the closed qualifiers to The International 2017.

A transfer period went past the famous Swedish cyber-sportsman, however, there is a proposition that Jerry hasn’t wanted to return to the professional stage as he had not been mentioned at any mixes at the qualifiers to various Major and Minor tournaments.

[Roman «Scandal» Sadotenkov]

Age: 25Country: RussiaCurrent MMR: 7562Main achievements:

• Game Show League Season 1 - 1st place
• Electronic Sports World Cup 2013 - 1st place
• ESL One Manila 2016 - 3rd-4th place
• The Manila Major 2016 - 9th-12th place

Roman «Scandal» Sadotenkov came to Dota 2 from Heroes of Newerth, as the majority of the best players did at the end of 2011. Roman was famous in Heroes of Newerth as one of the strongest players on the mid lane and after hard training sessions in Dota 2, he could have the same title in this game too. Team Empire became the first team for Sadotenkov, together with which he won RaidCall Dota 2 League Season 1, The Premier League Season 3 and Electronic Sports World Cup 2013, however, the roster was dismissed due to unstable results.

A few days later, he had been offered a contract with Power Rangers, where he spent the next three months for which he won Techlabs Cup 2014 Season 2 and held the second place at Excellent Moscow Cup. Due to unknown reasons, the player left the eSports club and moved to inactive. Dota 2 didn’t stop attracting Roman and he returned to the professional stage together with a new roster, headed by Goblak, in September 2014. The team prevailed at Game Show League Season 1 and was taken under the wing of Virtus.Pro as the second roster (Virtus.Pro Polar), which he would leave two months later due to an absence of results.

After a small pause, the Russian cyber-sportsman again returned to the game, playing for Fantastic Five 2015 and in the ranks of Yellow Submarine, spending less than three months in the teams. The return to Team Empire became a new stage in the career of Roman «Scandal» Sadotenkov, the head of the organization had lost the previous roster and made a decision to create an absolutely new one, based on the familiar player of the mid lane. Initially, the guys’ play had been not so good and it had been difficult to look at the roster’s results but it was difficult to recognize the team three-four months later - Scandal and the company gained a title of one of the best CIS rosters. The team won a few trips to large championships and didn’t fail there, the 3rd-4th place at ESL One Manila 2016 deserves a special notice. The 4th place at WePlay Dota 2 League Season 3 and the 9th-12th at The Manila Major 2016 can be noticed among the team’s achievements, however, the team didn’t get to The International 2016. This fact made Roman leave Team Empire.

After that, the things of the cyber-sportsman were getting worse. He was noticed less frequently on the professional stage and he spent the season 2016/2017 in tier 3 mixes that were not able to win even qualifications to small championships. Over the whole previous season, teams with Scandal earned about $400. Recently, Roman played on the roster of the team DX, again struggling in qualifications for a right to participate in various championships, but the team was suspected in a point shaving. Roman «Scandal» Sadotenkov told about “322” from his teammates, however, the organization UCC was not able to finish an inquiry and banned absolutely all members of the roster DX for three months. The punishment doesn’t seem to be serious, but the player will not be able to take part in the qualifiers to WESG 2017. How the story with the ban from UCC will continue and if the Russian is able to return to a good team - only time will tell.

[Zhang «Mu» Pan and Chen «Hao» Zhihao]

We decided to write about Zhang «Mu» Pan coupled with Chen «Hao» Zhihao because their careers are very similar and closely intersect. Both cyber-sportsmen started their careers in 2011 - PanDarea was the first team for Mu and Hao started with the famous enough TyLoo. Both cyber-sportsmen met on the TongFu roster in April 2012, holding the second and the first positions on the roster, respectively. The team had won the qualification to The International 2012, where it held the 7th-8th place, after which there was a year of calm. Guys rose their first cup over the head in July 2013, having held the first place at Dota 2 Super League due to which, they received a title of the best team in China. Valve cannot but reward the roster and gave the team a direct invitation to The International 2013, where the team reached the fourth place. Apparently, such result didn’t satisfy the head of the organization and it made a decision to make replacements on the main roster, having removed three players at once, including Hao. This change didn’t benefit the team - the roster continued winning the first places but at very small tournaments, which prize pools amounted $5,000 - $10,000.

Such juncture of events was not able to satisfy any of players and in the end of February 2014, Hao and Mu received an offer to continue a career in Newbee, players accepted with a pleasure against failures in previous rosters. Also, the new roster of Newbee differed from the “golden” roster of TongFu with only one player. The history of the players’ great success started from the signing of a contract with Newbee - the team held prize places at the row of small championships, guaranteeing itself a slot at The International 2014. Each representative of Newbee played very strangely at this tournament, beating one opponent after another and bringing the owner of the eSports club the desired Aegis. After the victory at this tournament, Hao and Mu were considered as one of the best on their position in China and one of the best in the whole world and the players continued satisfying their fans with their play, winning World Cyber Arena 2014, National Electronic Sports Open 2014 and ECL 2014 Dota 2 Autumn.

The team was not able to fight its way to any worthy championship in the following four months and Chen «Hao» Zhihao received an offer, which he was not able to reject - the best Chinese team at that moment offered him a full contract. In his turn, Zhang «Mu» Pan remained faithful to Newbee and continued “putting the team on its feet” that was showing awful results. Being on the roster of Vici gaming, Hao won the championship at StarLadder StarSeries Season 12, held the second place at i-league Season 3 and stopped on the fourth place at The International 2015. During the nearest reshuffle, Chen was removed from the main roster of Vici gaming and left the organization after some thoughts, having reunited with his friend Zhang in Newbee.

The team was struggling in qualifiers during a few months, demonstrating abominable results and making a row of replacements, only players of the first and the second position left unchanged. The most successful reshuffle for the team happened in March 2016 when kpii and Kaka joined the team. The team’s play received a fresh coat of paint and guys started transforming into a real “machine”, achieving the second place at EPICENTER 2016 and National Electronic Arena 2016 and also the third place at The Manila Major 2016. In July, the roster won Nanyang Dota 2 Championships Season 2 that brought the roster a direct invite to The International 2016 and a status of one of the favorites at the championship. Something went wrong at the tournament and the team only held the 9th-12th place, despite all analysts’ forecasts. Zhang «Mu» Pan informed that he got tired of the professional stage and temporarily finished a career and Chen «Hao» Zhihao continued playing for Newbee.

This led to nothing good and the famous carry joined the ranks of Vici Gaming in May 2017, in which roster he held the 5th-6th place at Galaxy Battles and failed qualifiers to other championships. After missing TI7, he made a statement about the end of the career. Both players missed a transfer window and left without a team for the upcoming season, however, everything is not that simple - in the middle of September, the head of the organization Newbee announced the return of “the star couple” to the ranks of the eSports club but as PUBG players.

[Ryo «RyOyr» Hasegawa]

Age: 25Country: PhilippinesCurrent MMR: 6872Main achievements:

• i-League Season 1 - 3rd-4th place
• Korea Dota League Season 4 - 1st place
• Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015 - 5th-6th place
• World Electronic Sports Games 2016 - 1st place
• StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3 - 3rd-4th place

Ryo «RyOyr» Hasegawa is one of the veterans of the Philippine stage, he started his way with the signing a contract with EoT Hammer in the end of 2013. The roster existed a half a year and Ryo helped his team to win Korean Dota League Tier 2. The organization informed about the disbandment of the team on 04.05.2012 and it became known on the same day that Hasegawa joined Rave. Being in this team, RyOyr began fighting for the highest places in Southeast Asia and became publicly known. The team almost immediately achieved high results, holding the 3rd-4th place at i-League Season 1 and the 1st at Korea Dota League Season 4.

The team’s good performance didn’t go unnoticed and organizers of Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015 gave them a direct invite to their championship, which prize pool amounted $3,057,519. During the competition, the Philippine team sensationally beat Invictus Gaming and Newbee, guaranteeing itself a slot in the playoffs. Then, guys overcame HellRaisers without a special effort and again defeated Invictus Gaming but in the three-match confrontation, in such way, they guaranteed themselves the 5th-6th place and a money reward in the sum of $152,876. Then, there was an unsuccessful participation in a couple of large tournaments and a failure at the qualification to The International 2015. The head of the organization was not satisfied with such juncture of events and it disbanded the team, however, four guys didn’t want to disband and continued playing together under the tag MSI-EvoGT. After a two-month absence of any results, the roster made a decision to disband and Ryo received an invitation to Mineski.

The performance of Ryo «RyOyr» Hasegawa in Mineski can’t be called successful but can’t be called failed too. Over the six months of being on the roster of the Malaysian organization, he could go to The Frankfurt Major 2015, where he held the 9th-12th place. The roster had failed the majority of qualifications to various championships, so it needed replacements and Ryo again decided to return to Rave. This stage of the Philippine career may not be mentioned at all because they were not able to take prize places at any competitions and earned $0 over six months of being in the ranks of the organization.

Ryo was invited as a friend to the roster of TNC Pro Team, where he had been already waited by old friends in the face of Raven and KuKu. After five months of ordinary results, the roster suddenly began playing well and their real “New Era” came. The team had turned into the leader of Southeast Asia that left no chances at regional qualifiers, gaining one quota after another. The victory at World Electronic Sports Games 2016 is the biggest achievement of the roster, it brought them about $800,000. While being on a roll, the team held the 3rd-4th place at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, however, the roster’s things began going down a bit later. The roster had held the 9th-12th place at The Kiev Major 2017, losing to its main opponent in Southeast Asia in the most important match - Team Faceless and two months later, it didn’t pass a qualification to even a single tournament. The team came to a conclusion that replacements in the team were necessary and benched Ryo «RyOyr» Hasegawa, where he spent about two weeks.

A transfer to Mineski.GGNetwork to Mushi and the company became a new stage of the Ryo’s career. The management assembled an interesting mix, consisted of the Ukrainian, the Russian, the Malaysian and two Philippine but no one believed in it. The team gathered at a bootcamp at once and started demonstrating great results but they lacked a bit to earn the desired quotas - the second place at the qualifiers to ZOTAC Cup Masters SEA Qualifier #2 and Mars Dota 2 League 2017 SEA Qualifier and also the third place at the qualification to EPICENTER 2017 SEA Qualifier didn’t let guys go to the LAN. This is followed by the failure at the regional qualification to The International 2017, where the roster stopped at the fifth place and disbanded. During a transfer window, Hasegawa didn’t receive a respectable offer and had to miss this season.