Cover Image Courtesy: OG | Thumbnail Image Courtesy: Liquipedia
Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka has announced his retirement from pro Dota 2. With this, his time with OG comes to an end, the team with whom he went on to win the TI two times in a row.
According to the blog released by OG, JerAx quit because he wants to pursue new things in life. While answering the question personally he goes on to say that,
“I love being creative and have a huge urge to bring ideas to life. I’ve found video games to be an amazing platform for this, as there are truly no limits and you are able to share the experiences with others. I find myself often questioning how things are in their current form and I seek for alternative ways to change the standardized models.”
He goes on to express his love towards the game and how it has slowly faded away, due to him seeing the game as a competition. He talks about what he as a player had to go through in the competitive circuit stating that,
“Thinking about the yearly “grind” makes me feel apathetic, exhausted, and almost numb. The fact that I even see it this way, you can already feel something is off.”
Expressing how it wasn’t the wins that brought him joy, but the creative work behind it, he confesses that he has no willingness nor passion to play Dota 2 anymore.
The support player whose career started back in 2013 with the Finnish team Rat in the dark has come a long way since then. In his seven-year-long career, the Finnish star has spent a good chunk of his time in OG with whom he has gone on to register wins at The Boston Major 2016, The Kyiv Major 2017, MDL Macau 2017, TI 8, and TI 9.
OG went on to say that JerAx will be with the team for the True Sight premiere on the 28th, as well as at the OG Night Show on the 29th. Giving us a bit more, the organization also declared that an exclusive tribute night will also be dedicated to Jesse very soon.
