esports
We take a look at ChuaN, a legend of old, and his upcoming endeavors.
An icon of Malaysian DotA and Dota 2, Hock Chuan ‘ChuaN’ Wong has been around for ages - from the early days of DotA with then-legendary team Kingsurf, to the highlight of his career with Invictus Gaming (who won The International 2), to the present day loan to Vici Gaming. Chuan is a man who has seen it all, so let us take you on a journey to witness his growth, and discuss his future plans.
THE PAST
With a resume of Kingsurf, Aeon, Nirvana.my and LGD, few in Malaysia could rival the pedigree in which ChuaN has associated himself with. Towards the end of 2011, LGD’s roster was absorbed into a new organization called Invictus Gaming, and it was there that the legacy of the tyrants known as iG began terrorizing the international scene. Starting off with a gold in SMM 2011, 4th in WDC 2011 and topping it off with championing The International 2012, iG featuring ChuaN was on top of the world, and diligently crushed opponent after opponent.
ChuaN and iG continued strong but were unstable throughout 2013, finding themselves finishing at the quarterfinals of most major tournaments, including a shared 5th place finish in The International 2013 after losing to TongFu (who went on to finish 3rd). 2014 was much kinder to iG, where a string of podium finishes coming up to The International 2014 led many to believe that the first two-time TI winner was about to be crowned, however, they fell short and lost to LGD in the quarterfinals.
Despite everything, ChuaN remained faithful to the iG brand, and continued to play throughout 2015 with the team. However, a disappointing shared 9th place finish was the only highlight of the year, and with the team’s chemistry and morale at low levels, the legendary team finally crumbled. ChuaN left for Newbee at the end of the year. There, ChuaN had another year of ups and downs, with major wins such as a podium finish at EPICENTER 2016, Manila Majors and Nanyang Dota 2 Championships, to disappointing qualifier failures. ChuaN underwent a period of inactivity after The International 2016, where Newbee finished with a shared 9th place.
THE PRESENT
At the start of 2017, ChuaN was revealed to be part of a casual team called Newbee.B, intended to be more of an entertaining team (which consists of inactive veterans such as xiao8, Chisbug, Ferarri_430 and female player Axx). However, the team did not last long nor did they have any major achievements. At the start of April, ChuaN went to Vici Gaming on loan to replace Fat-meng ‘ddc’ Leong. Since then, Vici Gaming has been struggling to get a foothold in the new meta and forge a great team chemistry.
THE FUTURE
As rocky as the future seems for the Malaysian legend, ChuaN is not likely to return to Malaysia any time soon. With his businesses set up in China and the long amount of time spent there, ChuaN may be set on his move to Vici Gaming, should Newbee agree to release him from his contract.
Nonetheless, ChuaN could also be considering to retire from the competitive scene altogether. Despite still being relatively young, he has already established a strong foothold in the scene; and with his experience and contacts, could find himself with a managerial role in a Chinese team, or fall back to streaming casually. The International 2017 is just around the corner, and it is very likely that only after the event would we know ChuaN’s chosen path. Whatever his decision is, ChuaN will remain a legend in the DotA and Dota 2 scene, and we can only hope for the best in his future endeavours.
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