Malaysia is one of the breeding grounds of Dota 2 players in Southeast Asia (SEA). Throughout the years, we have witnessed the rise of a number of industry titans from the country, including Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung, Ng "YamateH" Wei Poong, and Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng. Recent months have seen an increase in players from Malaysia that have shown promising results thus far and have made it into the best SEA teams as well as international teams. In this article, we take a look at five such Malaysian Dota 2 players who are making a name for themselves.
Top rising Dota 2 talents from Malaysia
NothingToSay
Currently, Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang is having the time of his life. The Malaysian midlaner has been making strides in competitive Dota 2, delivering impressive performances throughout the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021. Top three finishes were achieved at almost every event the team participated in 2021, including a championship run at the WePlay AniMajor.
Besides being a successful competitive player, NothingToSay’s progress in casual games is noteworthy as he has already broken the 12k MMR mark. At the time of writing this article, he is ranked number one on the SEA leaderboard.
NothingToSay's performance in the midlane has been hugely lauded. A versatile player, he can smack opponents in the midlane, flash farm on greedy midlaners like Templar Assassin, and make all the necessary room for his safelaner.
AlaCrity
Vincent "AlaCrity" Hiew Teck Yoong is currently playing for Galaxy Racer as the midlaner. With Mineski, he had a promising start to his career, but he had limited success later on. In recent months, however, AlaCrity's shares have been rising as Galaxy Racer has done well in SEA events.
The Galaxy Racer roster includes some of the best players in the region who have finally come together as one. Even though they did not win The International 10 (TI10) SEA qualifier, Galaxy Racer's performance was admirable. Their efforts were rewarded in the BTS Pro Series S7: SEA, where their superior performance overcame regional giants like Fnatic and T1 to finish first.
Throughout the year, AlaCrity has continuously improved and delivered impressive performances in the midlane. In the previous patch, both his ability to play as a greedy midlaner and his ability to make plays were heavily rewarded.
ChYuan
In his Dota 2 career, Ng "ChYuan" Kee Chyuan has made steady progress. ChYuan has come a long way since playing for the Malaysian team, Team Bazaar.Youth, his first professional stint, then serving a trial period with Team Aster, and now playing for Fnatic, SEA's premier Dota 2 team.
When joining Fnatic initially as an offlaner, ChYuan, who is traditionally a midlane player, did not seem to be able to express himself effectively. His gameplay prowess was only revealed when the organization transferred him to the midlane. In the TI10 SEA qualifier, he helped the team win a ticket to TI10, followed by a second-place finish in the BTS Pro Series S7.
Sometimes ChYuan will pick greedy heroes based on the meta, however, most of the times, he picks heroes that are capable of winning lanes and converging to other areas such as Queen of Pain, Invoker, and Leshrac. The Malaysian midlaner seems to have a good understanding of how to maximize his hero's potential in laning as well as teamfight battles.
JT-
Thiay "JT-" Jun Wen shot to fame after his team, Invictus Gaming, won the Singapore Major 2021. Invictus Gaming players have played together for a long time now, but they only had middling results until this DPC season. Their performances throughout the stacked Chinese region in the DPC 2021 were admirable, and their results were excellent.
JT-, who plays as the offlaner, has been a rock for Invictus Gaming, ensuring their offlane is successful almost every time. He is well versed in many of the traditional offlaner heroes, particularly Mars and Centaur Warrunner, and is quite adept with his spellcasting and last hitting during the laning stage.
Oli
Chan "Oli" Chon Kien and JT- have played competitive Dota 2 often together. Both Malaysian players started their careers with Genesis Pro Gaming and then played for Geek Fam. While Oli, who plays position five, soon made it into Invictus Gaming, JT- had to play for other teams before he was able to finally join his buddy in 2019.
In a similar way to JT-, Oli's name shot up when their team won the Singapore Major 2021. Oli seems to read the game very well, similar to the majority of Chinese support players who have an excellent understanding of their role within the game. Disruptor, Oracle, and Winter Wyvern are some of the more traditional support heroes he plays. It is his consistent play on these clutch heroes that will make him one of the players to watch out for at TI10.
It is interesting to note that three of these five players now represent Chinese teams. As for who will continue to succeed and eventually become one of Malaysia's most prominent Dota 2 players, only time will tell.
