esports
Meet Travis “Castaway” Waters, a member of White Rabbit Gaming, South Africa’s top Dota 2 team and arguably one of the best Dota 2 players in the country.
For many years South Africa’ competitive Dota 2 scene was dominated by Bravado Gaming. The team consistently won every major competition on offer. However, towards the end of 2016 a new force arose. White Rabbit Gaming’s Dota 2 team began to show glimpses of something special. Those glimpses turned into a glowing shimmer at the Telkom DGL Masters Final at the rAge Expo in October 2016, where the team beat Bravado Gaming in the final of the landmark competition. Since then they’ve held this title by winning the VS Gaming Dota 2 Masters Final at EGE in Cape Town in 2017 and have continued to shine on throughout a host of local and international competitions.
One of the rising stars of this team is Travis “Castaway” Waters. He helped his team claim victory against Bravado while still in Matric and is now only 19 years old. His talent is unmatched and he has regularly been earmarked by overseas talent as one to watch.
Castaway was only 6 years old when he started his gaming career - and the first game he played wasn’t his beloved Dota 2 but rather a First Person Shooter!
“My brother, Jono, introduced me to Counter Strike 1.6 because he and my cousins played it at LANS and local internet cafes. I was so bad at it but I still really enjoyed it. I remember playing at an internet cafe one day and I killed this guy (which was a big achievement for me at the time) and his friend started laughing: “You got owned by a 6 year old!.””
Most gamers start their journey on a console, and many major Esports organisations argue that console is the gateway to competitive PC Esports. However, Castaway actually started on a PC and was never tempted by console gaming.
“My brother had a Playstation and I bought my own when I was about 13 or so (with my Grandma’s inheritance), but I quickly found I preferred playing on the PC. I think this was because it was what my brother and cousins were doing but also because it meant I could play at LANs and internet cafes versus other people - which I really enjoyed.”
So how did he make the jump from shooting strangers in internet cafes to playing Dota 2 in the top team in the country?
“I believe I got into Dota 2 because of my brother. He was playing Dota 1 on Twilight back in those days with my cousin. I just really wanted to be like them and play the same game. I also wanted to be as good or even better than them. I thought that them being good at a game was really cool. Dota 2 came along and I got a key in 2012 from my cousin. One day I saw a tab called “The International”. I clicked on it and saw the winners and also that Na’Vi had taken second place. I thought those Na’Vi players were so cool and I was instantly hooked. I watched all The International 2 replays and fell in love with competitive Dota 2. I just enjoyed the way the players could express themselves through the heroes they chose. The way you play, your flashiness, your cockiness, can all be communicated in game. I enjoyed watching and it fed my need to play more. I enjoy playing Solo Mid because I get to go toe-to-toe with another player in raw skill and game mechanics - which is honestly what I love the most about Dota.”
After finishing school in 2016, Castaway made the decision to focus his attention full time on competitive gaming. Along with his White Rabbit teammates, he is gaming full time in South Africa. While he believes it is possible he is quick to point out that financial backing is not nearly as free flowing as seen with overseas teams. Castaway relies on winning tournaments and the support of his mom to ensure he can reach his dream of moving overseas either by himself, with his team or by being picked up by an overseas team. His current grind is towards a leaderboard spot - even with the 185 ping!
Prepping for competition is something he enjoys and believes it gives him purpose to what he does on a daily basis.
“Building up to a competition I spend a lot of time in solo ranked games for individual practice, in order to play the heroes my captain wants me to play during the competition. I then bring those heroes from my role into a draft and practice those drafts as a team by scrimming other teams from Europe, in order to perfect our play style and drafting. The actual competition is always my favourite. I feel like I get to show off my talents and abilities as a player as well as get to see my incredible teammates perform when they need to the most. For us, as of late (since beating Bravado in the 2016 Masters Finals), it’s been a different feeling going to competitions because we feel as if we’re the top dogs now. For me, it takes a lot of the previous pressure away of constantly wondering if you have what it takes to actually win this time. I feel people now have to try and find a way to beat us and it makes things a lot easier for me.”
While competitions are fun, what does a normal day in the life of a competitive South African Esports player look like?
“A normal day in my life is pretty straight forward. I wake up, read my bible, pray, listen to some music, watch some videos (almost anything but a lot of Dota is thrown in) and then I get into my daily practice (Ranked Dota 2). I’ll play or stream for most of the day and then leading into the evening I’ll see if we have any official matches or scrims. If not, I’ll carry on playing. I usually try get at least 10 games of ranked in a day as I find it helps me improve a lot. Especially as I’m playing against good players in Europe.”
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