Chinese Esports powerhouse Vici Gaming announced its highly-anticipated roster shuffle that included the Thai superstar player, Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon. The announcement came as a pleasant surprise for fans, after the young prodigy departed from Fnatic.
He will be joined by Ren “eLeVeN” Yangwei into a roster swap designed to elevate VICI Gaming to premier tier status in the following season.
Vici Gaming’s wonderchild
Amidst the pandemic, the Chinese Dota 2 pro scene has never really slowed down, and maintains a sustainable industry for professional players. Unlike the other minor regions such as Asia and North America, amateur teams find it difficult to stay afloat.
Vici Gaming, the International 2014 first runner-up, made a bold move to recruit the Thai player, 23savage to their revamped roster. Rumor has it, Vici Gaming already hired a teacher and translator to teach Mandarin to the new signee. As to why VG would invest so heavily in 23savage, we can only only point to his recent performance at BTS Pro Series Season 3 for all the reasons why.
Back in July, Fnatic, seemed unstoppable heading into ONE Esports’ SEA League. They got bamboozled by Geek Fam, who suddenly became a force to be reckoned with. At that time, all the focus was on Geek Fam’s carry player, Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto, who played exceptionally well. Not long after the tournament, Fnatic announced that Raven joined their active roster, while 23savage departs.
Although the roster shuffle felt like a brutal move to wipe out the competition in SEA, Raven’s presence in Fnatic was mostly welcomed by the community.
Fans expressed that 23savage, albeit a talented prodigy, lacks discipline and tilts too quickly when the game goes south. And for the most part, 23savage’s behavior is not limited to official pro matches as he occasionally throws a tantrum in casual pub games.
The young lad was trying to find ways to get back into the scene over the summer. He recently landed on a chance to play at BTS Pro Series Season 3 next to former teammate Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong and EG superstar Abed Azel L. Yusop. Based on his most recent performance and stats, it’s no wonder he got quickly signed by ViCi gaming.
Similar to the path of two-time champion, Anathan “ana” Pham, young Savage can now get a fresh start to grind out and prove himself in Asia. Maybe along the way he can attain the calm and collective mannerisms of Anathan as he got his back when Invictus Gaming signed him.
As Vici Gaming preps themselves for the upcoming season, it would be interesting to see how impressive 23savage would turn out. And perhaps he can pick up Mandarin and some anger management skills along the way.
[cta id=2581 type=geo]We can expect 23savage in his new ViCi jersey as early as November or December of this year. With the pandemic blocking many avenues of entry to China, we can expect the visa process taking a few months. On top of that mandatory quarantines and initial bootcamps will push the debut down to the end of the year.
The organization will stand in Yang “Erica” Shaohan in the meantime.
This recent move once again takes us back to the original debut with Jinesbrus. His initial stack went on to play in the International 2019 SEA qualifiers. They proved their worth even when falling short to Mineski in the finals. Back then, the performance was enough for Fnatic to instantly sign him.
He was once again in a similar position, proving his worth to the world. The Among Us mix roster provided the right avenue for it.
Read next: Among Us going for gold at BTS Pro Series Season 3
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