Cover-Credits:
Canadian player Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao has announced his retirement from professional Dota 2 after a celebrated ten-year career. The player made this announcement on Twitter, writing, “Retired Competitive” which does not come as a very surprising development for the Dota 2 community because EternaLEnVy had already been out of the professional Dota 2 scene since October 2021, when he announced that he wasn’t feeling like he was playing on a high level, after watching the gameplay of The International 10 (TI10) winning carry Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk. The 31 year old, known for his outlandish playstyle, hangs up his mouse after an animated career well received by his fans.
EternaLEnVy steps away from playing professional Dota 2
EternaLEnVy's last professional game was for 4 Zoomers in September 2021 at the BTS Pro Series S8: Americas. Following TI10 in October, the player concluded that he was not performing at the level required to play professionally, going on to opt out of all three Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021-22 Tours. This was despite a subsequent tweet in which he stated that he was not retiring or taking a break.
During the previous eight months, the player has sometimes livestreamed Dota 2 on his Twitch account, however his most recent livestream was 24 days ago. EternaLEnVy appears to be working a lot on getting his body into shape, as seen by his recent tweets, like the post on 10th April where he said that he had placed a "$20000 USD bet to get a six pack in 3 months."
It is this eccentric personality of EternaLEnVy that also manifested in his gameplay over the course of his career. Known for his berserk maneuvers during testing times, the Canadian is affectionately referred to as "EE-sama" in his fans' language. Sama means someone you hold in high regard in Japanese. Even though EternaLEnVy doesn't have multiple Major or TI wins to his credit, he still enjoys one of the largest fanbases in Dota 2.
EternaLEnVy's competitive Dota 2 career began with No Tidehunter in 2012, and he went on to play for more than 20 teams in various regions over the next ten years. Following his popular triumph with Speed Gaming.int at the MLG Championship Columbus in 2013, some of his most successful periods include his time with Cloud 9 in 2014-15, Team Secret in 2015-16, Team NP in 2016-17, and Fnatic in 2017-18. EternaLEnVy won his sole Dota 2 Major whilst with Team Secret at the Shanghai Major 2016. According to Liquipedia, the player won $995,465 USD in prize money throughout the course of his career.
EternaLEnVy’s highlight will always be the high risk, high reward situations he generated in multiple games, especially those that ran on for too long. His performance on Ember Spirit vs Evil Geniuses at the Frankfurt Major perhaps tops such a list.
At the same time, EternaLEnVy was at the center of several controversies, including being engaged in the ejection of players from a squad he had just recently joined.
Regardless, the entertaining decade long career of EternaLEnVy, which had its ups and downs, but was never short of thrilling moments and amusement for the viewers and the fans, comes to an end.
