#Faceless gaming pro

'While we give ideas during the draft, he decides.' 'Jabz watches a lot of replays from other regions and public games and he'll try to copy the strategies in his own training,' said Koh. A wrong pick can lead to disaster if it gets countered, while the right picks can win the game for the team.

#Faceless gaming pro

He's the drafter and mid-player, a position that has the highest impact in the crucial early parts of the game.ĭrafting happens before a match in pro Dota 2 games, where each team's drafter picks and bans heroes (from a massive list of 112) to form a strategic blueprint for the actual battle. He's also the youngest among his teammates, but shoulders quite a bit of responsibility. English isn't his first language, though he speaks it well enough to communicate with the team. The prize catapulted each team member to the top of the earnings chart from being relative unknowns on the scene.įor Jirawong, 18, moving from Thailand to Singapore to play on a new team was quite the gamble. China's Wings Gaming took home $9.1 million in earnings. The base prize pool, before the community got involved, was $1.6 million. In 2016, for example, the tournament had a final purse of $20.7 million, thanks in large part to crowdfunding. Its annual championship, The International, offers the biggest prize pool in all of e-sports. While it's not the most played game in the world (it had 13 million unique players in June, versus the 100 million League of Legends has), there's big money in Dota 2.

'I'm the only one in the team with big winnings, the rest are poor compared to me, especially Jabz, so we really want to win for Jabz,' jokes Koh. While Koh could retire comfortably, he isn't doing so.īesides Koh, the Team Faceless squad features four other veterans: German Dominik 'Black^' Reitmeier, Singaporeans Wong 'NutZ' Jeng Yih and Toh 'xy-' Wai Hong and Thailand's Anucha 'Jabz' Jirawong. That's not even counting undisclosed sums from streaming deals with Huomao, China's equivalent of Twitch.

He's so far made over a million dollars in e-sports. Koh moved to China for three years to play for big-name teams such as Vici Gaming and Ehome. Team Faceless' captain, Daryl 'iceiceice' Koh. At least, until the team makes the money back in tournament earnings.

Instead, the team relies on its captain, veteran player Daryl 'iceiceice' Koh, to pay for meals and rent on its townhouse. Unlike more established e-sports organizations, Faceless doesn't have a sponsor. But for Faceless, finishing last is not an option. The team was formed just a month ago, but has already cruised to victory in the Southeast Asia qualifiers for the upcoming Boston Major competition, taking place from December 3 to December 10.įaceless joins 15 other teams to compete in the $3 million event, where the winning team can take home up to $1.1 million. Team Faceless is a Singaporean e-sports team that competes in Dota 2, Valve's multiplayer online battle arena game. In a sunny island state where the idea of playing games for a living is seen as a fool's dream, five players of Valve's Dota 2 game are making it work.