Cover-Credits:
It's time to see Dota 2's beloved carry in action once again. According to the official team rosters for the upcoming Riyadh Masters 2022, former two-time The International (TI) winner Anathan "ana" Pham will be seen playing for Team Liquid in this tournament. Ana will be filling in for Lasse Aukusti "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen, who will be unable to attend the event.
The Riyadh Masters 2022 is set to take place from 20th to 24th July, with a whopping prize pool of $4 million USD to be split among the 10 teams.
Ana to replace MATUMBAMAN for Team Liquid at the Riyadh Masters 2022
Team Liquid, who qualified for the Riyadh Masters via the Gamers Without Borders 2022 event in May, will not have its entire lineup at the event due to the absence of MATUMBAMAN. However, retired Dota 2 player ana, who has a large fanbase, will be seen putting his Dota 2 talents to the test once again, this time for Team Liquid.
Ana will appear in professional Dota 2 for the first time since his retirement in June 2021. Since then, the player has played in Dota 2 pubs in patches. At different periods during the past year, there were also rumors of him coming out of retirement and joining Invictus Gaming and T1, but nothing came to fruition.
In a tweet on 19th June, ana had asked the Twitter community to vote on his potential next venture, which included livestreaming, gaming merchandise, and more. The most votes were cast for livestreaming, implying that the gamer, who prefers to retain a low profile, may begin livestreaming shortly.
However, ana will focus his efforts for the time being on playing as a stand-in for Team Liquid. It will be intriguing to observe how much of his form he has retained. A terrific series to watch out for during the group stage of the Riyadh Masters will be Team Liquid versus OG, as ana will face his previous squad.
While ana has previously taken many breaks from competitive Dota 2 before eventually returning to play professionally, it is currently uncertain if playing for Liquid as a stand-in indicates a step in that direction. The formal retirement last year looked to be a firm choice, but his ways are frequently unpredictable, and it will not be surprising if he makes his reappearance in the future months.
Ana and Team Liquid’s first series in the Riyadh Masters 2022 will be against Royal Never Give Up on 20th July.
