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In one of his latest broadcast sessions, Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang, gave his thoughts about the leadership figures in the SEA competitive scene and elaborated his opinions on who he thinks is the best captain in SEA. The Evil Geniuses’ offlaner believes that the Malaysian legend, Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung, who was recently recruited as TNC Predator’s coach, is the best captain in the region due to his accomplishments at TIs and Majors stages. Iceiceice also explained why Mushi has an edge over T1's current captain, Carlo "Kuku" Palad.
Iceiceice talks about Mushi as a player and as a captain
During one of his regular livestreams while quarantining in a hotel in Singapore, Iceiceice was asked if Kuku is the best captain in the Southeast Asian region. After thinking about it for a while, Iceiceice replied by stating that Mushi is the best captain in the region.
“No, I think Mushi is the best captain in SEA. Kuku has never really won anything substantial but I think Mushi has, as a captain. Yeah, I think Mushi won one of the Majors right? And he got like third, fourth at TI as a captain but Kuku... I mean Kuku did not win anything huge, I guess, as a captain. So we have to see.”iceiceice
Previously, Iceiceice and Mushi were teammates at Team DK and Mineski. The Chinese seasoned player, Xu "BurNIng" Zhilei, was captain during Team DK, but Mushi assumed much of the leadership duties during Team Mineski.
As for himself, iceiceice does not think he is a good captain. He also praised T1's current coach, Park "March" Tae-won, who he believes is a "good position five, captain."
“I am not a good captain. March is definitely a good position five, captain but I think March is tired of playing. Like I said, it is really not easy to play so much Dota.”iceiceice
Iceiceice also discussed Mushi as a player and competitor in the Dota 2 space. While the Malaysian might have lost some of his touch as a player recently, iceiceice believes that he is still capable of performing at the highest level if he plays enough Dota 2.
“I mean I definitely respect Mushi a lot and right now he is definitely better as a coach. He seems to have lost his touch in a way but I think he used to be hardworking and works well. I have no idea man, you have to ask Mushi for that (on if Mushi can still play at a high level). I am pretty sure if he is gonna try really hard and play every day, he can still do it but whether he wants to do it or not, it’s kinda up to him. It is not easy to maintain that high level skill. You have to play so much Dota.”iceiceice
At the time of writing, Mushi is ranked 107 in the SEA MMR leaderboards which more or less indicates that he still is an elite tier player.
Iceiceice has already qualified for TI10 with Evil Geniuses and will compete at the event from August 5-15, while Mushi is looking to qualify with TNC Predator as their coach through the regional qualifiers. The TI10 SEA qualifier begins on June 30 and TNC Predator’s first series will be against Team SMG.
