The second issue of Dota 2 The international took place in Seattle, Washington state in the USA. Started on August 26th with the grand final on September 2, TI 2012 offered players the same prize pool of $1,600,000 USD. 16 teams took part in the championship, including 14 invited and two teams from Eastern and Western qualifications. The players represented 7 countries: China, Ukraine, the USA, Belgium, Singapore, Germany and Russia.
The reigning champion Na Vi from Ukraine could not defend their title this time against the Invictus Gaming team from China. iG had a really hardcore training camp with 10 hours of training sessions with no day offs for weeks, which eventually led them to the Aegis of Immortal.
The almost brilliant championship record of 13–1 happened as a result of clearing the group stage with no losses, knocking down the Evil Geniuses team from the first round of playoffs and being sent to losers bracket after a loss to Natus Vincere. Invictus Gaming made it out of losers by overcoming EHOME, Team DK and LGD Gaming. The revenge with Na Vi took place in the grand finals, and the Invictus gaming became the World Champion in Dota 2 with the $1,000,000 champion’s prize.
Cybercube looks back on the champions team of Invictus Gaming during The International 2012.
“Zhou” Chen Yao
iG champion carry player was born in 1990 in China. He was playing for the Catastrophic Cruel Memory team before Invictus Gaming purchased the whole organization in 2011.
In the squad of SanSheng, xiao8, DDC and Ferrari_430, Zhou took part in The International 2011, resulting in taking the 6th place with the $35 000 paycheck for the team. A year later Zhou and Ferrari_430 managed to lead a roster along with Faith, ChuaN and YYF and won The International 2012.
Zhou also performed on The International 2013, but not so well, which led him to removal from the teams roster. Then he joined TongFu team, where he played until announcing his retirement in 2014. Later this year he came back to take a carry position in the Old Boys team, where he is currently playing.
During his career, Zhou took part in I-League Season 1, World Cyber Games, G-League season 2 and many other championships. In his interviews, he insists that the communication inside the team and practising player understanding is the key for successful Dota 2 performance. At the time he held the captain’s position in iG, he was ready to sacrifice his extra salary in order for all the team members to earn equally.
“ChuaN” Wong Hock Chuan
The only non-Chinese iG player in 2012 was born in Malaysia. In his youth ChuaN was passionate about playing basketball, but an injury made him switch to eSports.
His active performance as a support and sharp leadership as a captain eventually brought the iG to the Aegis of Immortal in 2012.
After the victory, iG prepared for the World Cyber Games 2012 championship in China, but ChuaN couldn’t join the team because of non-Chinese citizenship. Nevertheless, the team managed to win.
After taking 5–6th place at The International 2013, ChuaN decided to leave professional Dota scene, but later came back to iG to get them through the Starladder Season 9. his second attempt as the captain brought iG to victory in ESL Frankfurt and WPC 2014 and 7–8th positions in The international 2014.
In December 2015 ChuaN switched to Newbee team. With ChuaN on their side, Newbee managed to overcome CDEC and EHOME with no losses and enter the EPICENTER championship with the record of 29–0. Later team successfully qualified for the Manila Major. Newbee took silver agins Team Liquid on the EPICENTER 2016 in Moscow.
Chuan announced his retirement in 2016, but came back in 2018 to play for the Echo International Team.
As a person, Zhou admitted that Chuan matured with time, even though his aggressive leading style. Being known as “the nervous captain”, ChuaN didn’t rage at the team after their loss to Na Vi on TI 2012 but calmed and supported other players. ChuaN is also known as a person who never turns down air conditioning, no matter the weather and season. In the Chinese gaming community “raging ChuaN” is one of the most popular eSports-related memes.
“Ferrari_430” Luo Feichi
Coming from Wuhan in the Hubei province of China, Luo Feichi is considered to be one of the best solo midders alive. After his long and legendary career in the iG, he switched to the Newbee boss team, and then to Big God, Young Dumb and again to Newbee boss. His signature Dota 2 characters are Shadow Fiend, Queen of Pain and Dragon Knight.
Luo had to add “_430” to his Ferrari nickname because the original nickname was already taken. Luo Feichi is widely known in the Chinese community via “The Pianist” nickname.
“YYF” Jiang Cen
The oldest team player of 2012 iG was born in 1987. Jiang YYF Cen is famous for his offlaner gaming style. After years of successful performance for LGD gaming team, YYF, ChuaN, 830 and ch were hunted by the iG in August 2011 to form the iG.Y line-up. In November 2011 Y and Z line-ups of iG team formed the team to take part in TI 2012.
Jaing Cen left the iG in 2014 to join TongFy.Ob for a month and then joined Old Boys team, where he is currently performing.
“YYF”’ is an abbreviation of “Yue Ye Feng”, which refers to “Maple in the Moonlight” in Chinese.
“Faith” Zeng Hongda
The youngest iG 2012 player, born in 1992 in Guangdong.
Mostly playing on the support position, Faith represents the second Dota 2 players generation.
The International 2012 was his second TI. Faith played for Hao team in 2011, when they took 9–12th place. After winning TI 2012, he switched to LGD.cn team for a while but soon returned to the iG. shortly after Faith joined TongFu team for a year and eventually was invited to Newbee team, where he is currently performing.
In 2017 Faith and KuroKy took part in The International grand final for the second time as a part of Newbee team against Team Liquid. Newbie lost 3–0 that day and didn’t manage to be the second team to ever hold the Aegis of Immortal.
