Titans of loyalty in the world of Dota 2 [Part 1]

Many players change teams “as gloves” on the modern professional Dota 2 scene and start each season under a new tag. However, there are such cyber-sportsmen that remain in one organization through thick and thin - we talk about such players in this article.

Clinton «Fear» Loomis in Evil Geniuses

Age: 29Country: the USACurrent MMR: 7778Signature heroes: Sven, Anti Mage, Lone DruidCurrent team: Evil GeniusesMain achievements in Evil Geniuses:

• StarLadder StarSeries Season 10 - 1st place
• Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015 - 1st place
• Dota Pit League Season 3 - 1st place
• The International 2015 - 1st place
• The Frankfurt Major 2015 - 3rd place
• The Shanghai Major 2016 - 3rd place
• The International 2016 - 3rd place

Clinton «Fear» Loomis joined Evil Geniuses for the first time in March 2009, while he was playing DotA Allstars and spent under the tag of the organization about six months. Later, he left the eSports club and changed five more teams before the launch of Dota 2. He played with the team Online Kingdom at The International 2011 and held the 7th-8th place, such result didn’t satisfy teammates and the roster disbanded. The joining of the player to Evil Geniuses in the end of October 2011 became the new page in Clinton’s history. The Loomis’ team played with unstable success, however, the player always stood out over the allies and reshuffles missed him. It is also worth to pay attention that various scandals happened very often with the players of Evil Geniuses but due to his character, Loomis was not involved in them. During the time passed in the above-mentioned American eSports organization, Clinton helped the team to win The International 2015 and Dota 2 Asia Championship 2015, after which the key moment happened in his career - the arm injury started worrying the cyber-sportsman more frequently and he was not able to continue playing on the professional stage. The World Champion left the main roster, however, headed the new roster as a coach and helped the team to conquer new horizons, recovering from a radial tunnel syndrome. At the moment, “the legend of the North American stage” has returned again on a role of a player in the favorite organization and learns the new role, having about 1039 played matches on the score. Now, Clinton holds the fifth position and has taken the responsibilities of a captain.

Yao «Yao» Zhengzheng in LGD Gaming

Age: 26Country: ChinaCurrent MMR: 7055Signature heroes: Dark Seer, Clockwerk, InvokerCurrent team: LGD GamingMain achievements in LGD Gaming:

• The International 2012 - 3rd place
• Dota 2 League Season 4 - 1st place
• i-League Season 2 - 1st place
• i-league Season 3 - 1st place
• The International 2015 - 3rd place
• Mars Dota 2 League 2017 - 1st place
• The International 2017 - 4th place
• PGL Open Bucharest - 2nd place

Yao «Yao» Zhengzheng spent the majority of his career in the organization LGD Gaming and had started his professional career on the roster of Online Kingdom in 2011. After the failed performance at the International 2011, he moved to LGD Gaming and has been playing there to date. Being on the LGD Gaming roster, Yao looked at “the fall of his or enemy’s throne” about 1044 times, this allowed him to enter our list. The player made a decision to leave the roster in August 2015, when the team stopped on the third place at The International 2015 and, also, Zhengzheng had an invitation from the best team in China - CDEC Gaming. This period can be called the most failed in the professional career of the cyber-sportsman because the roster lost all qualifiers to the largest events. Yao wore the LGD Gaming t-shirt again in August 2016 and the team’s results started improving. Step by step, the player moved to the main roster and helped the roster to become one of the strongest in the world and entering the top 4 at The International 2017 shows that Yao and LGD Gaming are created for each other, so we will see not only match by the Chinese player under the tag of the above-mentioned organization.

Joakim «Akke» Akterhall in the Alliance

Age: 29Country: SwedenCurrent MMR: 6408Signature heroes: Chen, Keeper of the Light, EnchantressCurrent team: The player has ended his careerMain achievements in The Alliance:

• The International 2013 - 1st place
• DreamLeague Season 1 - 1st place
• joinDOTA MLG Pro League Season 2 - 2nd place
• DreamHack Summer 2013 - 1st place
• StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 1 - 1st place

Joakim «Akke» Akterhall started his professional career in Dota in far 2006, however, the Swede succeeded in Heroes of Newerth. Akterhall and his friend Berg began playing actively in HoN in 2010 and even won HoN Super Series. Then, Akke received a reward “The best support player” from GosuGamers 2011, but the information about the tournament The International made him enter the world of Dota 2. The world fame came to him with the team “No Tidehunter”, which results didn’t go unnoticed and The Alliance enticed the whole active roster to its ranks and this happened in the end of 2012. Joakim spent in the ranks of The Alliance about three years, having played 1171 matches. During this time, the Swedish roster became the world champion, according to The International 2013, and also won various prestigious championships. After a row of replacements on the roster, results had become worse and the roster disbanded. Joakim had been playing in various mixes about a year, however, finished a professional career due to the birth of the son. Also, it is worth not to forget that Joakim «Akke» Akterhall won Nintendo Swedish Championships (2004, 2006, 2012) for three times and confirmed his multifunctionality at The International 2017, where he coped great with a role of an analyst.

Jonathan «LodA» Berg in the Alliance

Age: 29Country: SwedenCurrent MMR: 6073Signature heroes: Juggernaut, Lifestealer, GyrocopterCurrent team: InactiveMain achievements in The Alliance:

• The International 2013 - 1st place
• StarLadder StarSeries Season 8 - 2nd place
• DreamLeague Season 1 - 1st place
• joinDOTA MLG Pro League Season 2 - 2nd place
• DreamHack Summer 2013 - 1st place
• StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 1 - 1st place
• World Electronic Sports Games 2016 - 3rd place

The biography of Jonathan «LodA» Berg is fully similar to the story of Joakim «Akke» Akterhall, however, Berg continued playing on The Alliance roster after a reshuffle in 2016. Jonathan spent on the main roster eight more months that allowed him to play 128 more matches under the tag of The Alliance. Then, LodA changed his gaming position to a CEO position and continued developing the organization but the desire to play made Jonathan to leave the position and to start assembling a roster. At the moment, Berg is working on the selection of candidates for the Dota 2 roster of The Alliance and promised to announce the final roster after the new year, so the Swede will play not just one official match in the colors of Alliance.

Danil «Dendi» Ishutin in Natus Vincere

Age: 27Country: UkraineCurrent MMR: 7562Signature heroes: Pudge, Magnus, InvokerCurrent team: Natus VincereMain achievements in Natus Vincere:

• The International 2011 - 1st place
• The International 2012 - 2nd place
• The International 2013 - 2nd place
• StarLadder StarSeries Season 1,2,3,4,7,8 - 1st place
• Dota 2 Champions League Season 2 - 1st place
• DreamLeague Season 3 - 2nd place
• ESL One Frankfurt 2016 - 2nd place
• StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2 - 1st place

Danil «Dendi» Ishutin started his professional career in far 2007 and Wolker Gaming became his first professional team. The Ukrainian joined the ranks of Natus Vincere on 25.12.2010 and is still loyal to his eSports club. Danil has not left Natus Vincere and brought the world fame to the organization and a respect for the Dota 2 stage, the player has been considered as the best mid player on the planet. Being on the Natus Vincere roster, Dendi became the champion of The International 2011 and stopped on the second place at The International 2012 and The International 2013. At the time of writing an article, Ishutin has played 1387 matches, all of them have been played in the mid lane. The Ukrainian cyber-sportsman, together with the above-mentioned Clinton «Fear» Loomis, played in the film “Free to Play” by Valve that brought him a great fame - now, Danil is one of the most recognisable cyber-sportsmen in the world and his personal streams sometimes gather more viewers than official broadcasts of the professional matches. To sum up, we would like to notice that the Ukrainian has the biggest number of matches under one tag and continues growing their number, getting away from the competitors in the top very fast.