BSJ and monkeys-forever Join VGJ.Storm Following Leviathan’s Disband

On January 1st, Leviathan decided to call it quits and let all of their roster go. The North American team had never really managed to achieve something important. They came close to qualifying for Valve events multiple times, reaching regional qualifiers and even the semifinals of these qualifiers, but lost every opportunity in the face of much stronger rivals such as compLexity Gaming, OpTic Gaming and Immortals.

Following Leviathan’s disband, another contender in the North American region (namely VGJ.Storm) decided to bring in two of their former players: the carry (Brian “BananaSlamJamma” Canavan, who has replaced Ravindu “Ritsu” Kodippili) and the offlaner (Jaron “monkeys-forever” Clinton, who has replaced Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu). Both of them are seasoned veterans, even though the first has never played for a big team while the second’s highest career peak was being a member of compLexity Gaming, back in 2016.

In particular, BSJ is a well-known streamer and content creator in the Dota 2 community. He was also a caster/analyst at the recent DOTA Summit 8 tournament. As a theory crafter and thinker of the game, he’s definitely very good, but his ability to actually make use of his knowledge during professional games is still unconfirmed.

It remains to be seen whether or not these roster changes will help VGJ.Storm in their quest to qualify for more Dota Pro Circuit LAN events. So far, they’ve only taken part in one of them: MDL Macau, where they finished in last place.

Some top level Dota 2 players, including Peter “ppd” Dager (former TI champion with Evil Geniuses and currently the captain of OpTic Gaming) have already expressed doubts about VGJ.Storm’s decision to bring in BSJ and monkeys-forever, thanking the organization for their foolish move.

Keep in mind however that VGJ.Storm are one of OpTic Gaming’s main rivals in the North American region, so this type of sarcasm may be more cunning than sincere. Time will tell. Meanwhile, we can only watch as regional qualifiers for future Dota Pro Circuit events unfold, and wish VGJ.Storm the best of luck going forward.

Finally, this is what VGJ.Storm’s team director had to say about their roster changes:

“We’re excited to welcome BSJ and monkeys-forever to VGJ. Both players have battled through NA Dota for years to compete at the highest level, and we can’t wait to add our resources and structure to their drive in helping everyone reach their potential. It’s sad to be moving on from a player who was in many ways the heart and soul of our team, Sneyking. I’d heard many things about him when initially coming into this organization, but at the end of the day what stood out above all else to me is how maniacally competitive and relentless he was. He had vision and experience that few people can match, and continually refused to settle. Some of these are qualities that can’t be taught or instilled. We wish him well and he deserves and will probably find success wherever he goes. 2017 was a great year. We learned a lot about each other and what it takes to compete at this level, and we’re on to make 2018 even better.”

– Jack “KBBQ” Chen

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