In almost all cases, a professional Dota 2 player career starts with a dream. For very few, the dream comes true after years of grind and a lot of hard work.
Passion, dedication, raw talent and sometimes a stroke of luck are the perfect mix that kickstarts a professional Dota 2 player career. For many of those who are now becoming role models of the younger generations, everything started back in the Warcraft era, years before The International or Dota 2 existed.
GosuGamers crew in Seattle for The International 12 had the opportunity to ask some of today’s stars and Champions who were their role models, and who inspired them to take the next step and embrace a professional career in Dota 2.
Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau
"It always used to be NAVI - Dendi. He was such an inspiration to me. He, of course, won the first TI, he is a mid laner, playing the same role as me, and he liked so many heroes that I also like. His invoker was very famous, and now Invoker is my favorite hero. He was always a personality that I admired, and there was also the Free to Play documentary that revealed some insights on him. That he had some tougher times in his life but he still managed to always have a smile on his face, and always be happy for the people who were cheering for him.
Up to this day, Dendi is by far one of my most favorite persons as role models and I really need to thank him for everything that he did for the Dota 2 community.
The first time when I got to meet him was in 2016 at ESL One Frankfurt. I went there as a spectator and I got the chance to say “hi” to him. He probably doesn’t remember that, because at that time I was just a random Dota 2 fan. But, since then I have been on a couple of LANs with him, I also played some party queue with him, he added me to his friends list on Steam and everything. We are not the closest friends, we don’t chat every day and go out for a coffee, but it’s still pretty crazy how everything turned out."
Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov
"Puppey is kind of my idol. He is the best captain in the world. Maybe not right now, but he was the best captain for a very long period. As for a team, NAVI was my young dream and I guess everyone who plays Dota.
I would also say Team Secret. I would like to play with Team Secret. Maybe not position 5, I would like to play with Puppey on the team, so maybe position 4."
Danylo "Kingrd" Nascimento
"Back in the day, when I started, I was looking at Yamateh, at the TI1, TI2 EHOME, Team DK, Team Orange, so the really old guys. Those were really good times. Right now, I still like to watch Puppey. He is a really good captain and after all these years he is still a really good player."
Jose "Panda" Padilla
“Back in the day, it used to be just Sumail because I was also playing core. I was a 4K noob playing Mirana mid, anything mid, actually. But now, I look up more to Puppey.”
Luke "Yamsun" Wang
"Arteezy and EternaLEnVy because I grew up watching them and they were the pride of NA Dota for me back when I was like a 4k shi**er. I’ve spent a lot of my free time watching their streams. When you are a very impressionable young child, it’s easy to fall in love with these personalities. I think I was probably a very annoying young kid because of that, but it’s only good memories for me. And the fact that I got to play with EternaLEnVy before he retired, is pretty special for me, so shout-out EE-sama!"
Omar "OmaR" Moughrabi
“GH because ethics wise while playing, he is keeping very high standards. You never see him being rude or throwing any bad words at anyone. He has a very good image as a player and as a person and that's what I want for myself too. He is also a Lebanese player, so I have watched him since the very beginning of his career. I also watched the old Team Liquid, the one with KuroKy and GH. Watching them play always got me really excited about the idea of making a professional career for myself.”
Erik "tOfu" Engel
"I don’t really have someone that I looked up to try to be like them. There are a few players who are cool and very hype to watch. Miracle-, Arteezy, Sumail, the classic, well-known stars in the scene. But I didn’t have a support role model in the sense that I would download replays and watch their gameplay and try to be like them or play like them.
The old Team Liquid, in the KuroKy era, and OG were the teams that motivated me the most in a way. I always found it very interesting how they were so consistent with their players. They basically slicked together for a long time, building a special chemistry and a friendship, which I find very important. In a team, I think it’s very important to be comfortable with each other, grow together with your teammates, work out the mistakes together, and not give up on each other."
Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek
"I respect some of the offlaners a lot. Zai and Faith_bian are really good and I look up to them from the offlane perspective. But, a person I also respect a lot is Timado. Not only as a Dota 2 player, but also as a human. As for a team, I liked OG a lot, back in the day when they won two TIs. I respected their mentality, their friendship and their way of playing unconventional Dota. I think that was really cool."
Aydin "iNSaNiA" Sarkohi
"When I switched from HoN to Dota, I remember I used to look a lot at the old Liquid. I was a big fan of the Matumbaman, Miracle-, Gh, MinD_ConRoL, KuroKy roster and if I have to pick a single player, then maybe Kuro.
I always looked up to a lot of position 4 players and I liked to play a lot of Rubick when I first switched, and YapzOr was one of the first people that let me add him on my friends list so I could watch his replays. So, probably YapzOr would have to be the original player that I was a big fan of. "
Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok
“I admired Dendi from the very beginning of DotA days. He was my idol. I remember that I was watching all of his replays, I was studying him a lot, I wanted to become a top player like he was at that time. I remember that in the Dota All Stars era, I was watching and following DTS, a team with Dendi, Artstyle, Dred, NS, and LightofHeaven. That was a long time ago, oh my god. It was a good team.”
