Fear Takes A Break From Pro Dota. Again.

It was bound to happen. Old man Fear, as some people call him, will be 33 years old in February next year. For esports, that’s old. Many people start playing professionally around the age of 16-20. At 30+ you’re typically out of the game. Of course, that’s the current mentality. If we compare esports to other intellectually challenging games such as chess, then even the age of 40 shouldn’t be considered as too old. But back to Fear and his career.

Fear’s Dota 2 Career Start

Fear started when he was around 18. His love for DotA made him forget about everything else and brought him recognition on the modest international stage that existed at the time. In 2005, esports was still more of an idea than a practical thing to get involved in. But the people who believed in this notion of competitive gaming persisted.

To be fair, the fact that large companies like Blizzard and Valve were around gave people a lot of hope for the future. Sure, they weren’t yet involved in the MOBA genre, but this genre was quickly developing into something important and it was only a matter of time until someone said “hey, let’s try something!”. Competitive gaming had already proved it had an audience with titles like Counter-Strike and StarCraft. Some 5 years later, League of Legends, developed by Riot Games, was already a big thing, and Dota 2, developed by Valve, was already underway.

During this time, Fear competed for a number of small teams. The International 2011, which was the first edition of the tournament, caught him fully prepared. At the time, he was a member of OK.Nirvana.int. The team finished 7^th – 8^th at the biggest tournament in the history of esports (at the time), giving Fear his first taste of success at the highest competitive level. But this was just the start of what would come next.

Winning the Aegis of Champions with Evil Geniuses

Fear played for several small teams after Nirvana, and finally ended up competing for Evil Geniuses. This was his first big team. He joined in August 2011 and after 4 years of competing for and coaching EG, he finally managed to win The International. The year was 2015 and it was an unforgettable moment in the history of Dota. Of course, because of Sumail’s spectacular skills, few people will remember Fear or credit him with having a massive contribution in EG’s success. But as the team’s carry at the time, he obviously played an important role in this process.

Injury and Breaks

Fear went through an arm injury at one point and this has marked his career in a negative way. After winning TI 5, he quickly declined and then announced his retirement. A bit later he came back but was not the same player. Now he has a family to take care of and gaming simply requires everything of you. To succeed at the highest level, you don’t just have to be exceptional. You have to be better than everyone else who is exceptional. And that’s hard.

Recently, Fear announced another break from competitive Dota 2. This time, I suspect, it’s going to be definitive.

 

Photo credit: Valve