Where are Singapores Dota 2 Pioneers now?
Pursuing eSports as a career is a leap of faith, but it takes dedication to continue walking down the path of a professional gamer. In 2011, Scythe.SG broke into the international Dota 2 stage by placing third in the first ever The International (Ti), later cementing Singapores place on the world stage by going on to place fifth and twelfth respectively at Ti2 and Ti3 under the name Zenith . Without these high-performing players, Singapore Dota 2 would have remained a giant question mark. With ESL One Manila right around the corner, we tracked down the most prominent players in Zenith to see how they are doing. 1. Benedict Lim hyhy Han Yong  hyhy(left) being interviewed at The Asia 2012.  Gosugamers.net  Most notable for his appearances in Valve documentary Free to Play alongside Tammy  Furryfish*  Tang, hyhys name is a combination of initials from his and his girlfriends Chinese names. Since Scythe.SGs performance at the first Ti, hyhy has been seen as the commander of Singaporean Dota 2, later leading Zenith onto the international stage . After transitioning into League of Legends with the Singapore Sentinels at the end of 2012 following perceptions that Dota 2 was becoming less popular in Singapore, hyhy has not made a return to competitive Dota 2 . Since finishing his mandatory national service in 2014, hyhy has been streaming solo queue games regularly on his douyutv channel. Now, with his name registered with Chinese Dota veteran and ex- HGT carry ZSMJ for the Manila Major SEA qualifiers, there is definitely something to look forward to from hyhy . 2. Daryl iceiceice Koh Pei Xiang  Iceiceice at the Nanyang Championships 2015.  Nanyang Championships  Competing in Dota since 2005, iceiceice is currently the most successful player from Zenith . Ranked #17 at esportsearnings.com with a whopping $881,613 in lifetime earnings, his presence in top China teams for the past 3 years is a testament to his skill as a player. In 2011, he played League of Legends, Heroes of Newearth, Dota 2 and Starcraft 2 competitively at the same time , a rare feat of versatility which is evident in his excellent control over micro-intensive heroes like Natures Prophet as well as his decision-making as an offlaner. Having just joined up with ex-DK teammate LaNm in EHOME for Ti6, iceiceice will become one of the few players who have attended every Valve-supported Dota 2 event since The International. 3. Toh xy- Wai Hong  Xy(second from left) with Zenith at TI 2013.  Valve  Playing competitive Dota since 2007, xy went the distance after joining up with his teammates in Zenith , dominating Singaporean Dota 2 competitions from 2011 to 2013. He attended all 3 The Internationals with Zenith (with Scythe.SG during Ti1), but had to stop competiting in Dota 2 in order to pursue his university studies overseas. We asked xy what he thought of Dota 2, and to him, it  has grown beyond [his] expectations as an eSport , and he likes the way how Valve has set up the Majors system as it gives a positive impression that the scene is organised in a professional way. Currently, xy awaits graduation in July 2016 from University of Southampton, after which he  might return [to Dota 2] depending on the situation since [he] has lots of catching up to do. 4. Nicholas xFreedom Kelvin Ileto Lim  (L to R) xFreedom with YamateH, xy and iceiceice.  furryfish blog  Quiet and humble, people might not know that xFreedom is ethnically half-Filipino and half-Chinese. Maintaining a steady presence in the Dota 2 scene after leaving Zenith , xFreedom played for LGD International alongside MiSeRy- and Black^ until the end of 2013. The disbanding of LGD.int was a setback to xFreedom, but he persevered and joined Scythe Gaming in preparation of Ti4 , but failed to qualify through the SEA qualifier. With Scythe, Nicholas participated and performed well in several high-profile SEA tournaments such as The Inaugural SEA (2014) and Good Play Gaming Tournament (2014), but always lost out against international competition. Towards the end of 2014, xFreedom joined Zephyr to participate in Korean Dota League Season 4 , topping the Tier 2 round robin stage 5-1 but finishing 4th, eliminated by MVP Phoenix . Currently serving National Service, xFreedoms persistence in the SEA Dota 2 scene in the face of adversity is highly commendable, and he is keeping [himself] updated with the current Dota 2 scene, but still deciding to whether to continue playing competitively.  5. Vahid Anthony Ant Moh Heng Li  Anthony (right) with Bruno at The International 3  furryfish blog  One of the co-founders of Zenith back in 2006, Ant was the team leader and organised sponsorships for Zenith. We asked Ant about what eSports was like for Zenith back then:  Zenith and Rapture Gaming pulled off a lot of stuff that would be easy now, but was unheard of back then. We had huge companies (HP, AMD) give us substantial sponsorships which we used to attend events overseas. We had our pictures all over Orchard Cineleisure (A popular cinema theatre in Singapore) in advertisements. Tournaments overseas were very much like the LAN events of today - players played on stage and the game was shown on a screen in front of a live audience in a packed hall with casters covering the games.It was basically a tinsy bit of what eSports is today. Corporate sponsorships, personalities being advertised, global tournaments, casted games (sans the livestreaming), and what seemed to be a growing community. Ant cited the lack of livestreaming as the main reason why Dota did not take off like Dota 2 did back then. The lack of a visible eSports scene, combined with the pressure of real-life commitments, convinced Zenith to disband in 2010 . Anthony currently works as a Software Engineer in Redmond, but still keeps up with Dota 2 eSports to see how his ex-teammates xy , hyhy and iceiceice are doing. Follow RedBull.com Games on Facebook and Twitter for more updates. Get the best stories delivered straight to your inbox with the Red Bull Newsletter .