Blame it on the Filipinos
Dota 2 player, Nuengnara “23Savage” Teeramahanon, who holds the world record for the highest MMR, lashed out at the Filipino Dota 2 community, swearing to never play with them again.
In his recently deleted clip, he vented his frustration after he suspected a player on the opposing team stream sniping him.
Stream sniping is a term used in online gaming when a player intentionally watches a livestream of another player to gain an unfair advantage. In this case, 23Savage suspected that a player named Tusk was stream sniping him during his solo ranked game, which means Tusk was potentially using information from the stream to gain an unfair advantage in the game.
“I don’t want to play in a team full of Filipino players again, ever,” he said in Thai.
“If I were to manage a team and choose my own players, I will allow only 1 Filipino player in my team at most. I won’t let my team have 2 or more Filipino players.”
His teammate, Anucha “Jirawong” Jabz, added to the conversation, saying that if they had their own team, they would not allow the Filipino player to vote on the next transfer, as they would only suggest other Filipino players.
“Exactly. The moment there are two of them in a team, it will eventually become three and so on. Like a cancer, they will gradually spread,” said 23Savage.
While many of 23Savage’s viewers poked fun at his frustration, his Filipino fans were offended by his statements, feeling that he was denigrating Filipinos as a whole.
All talks and skills
Despite the controversy, 23Savage’s skills cannot be denied. He has achieved exceptional individual accomplishments this season, and Talon Esports has performed well in international competitions. The team, which is primarily composed of Thai players, recently ended Filipino supremacy in the DPC SEA Tour 2, and will compete in its second Major in Berlin next month. Prior to Tour 2, they finished third in the Lima Major as underdogs.
The intense nature of Dota 2 ranked games in Southeast Asia has led many players to resort to underhanded tactics to increase their MMR, which has frustrated both amateur and professional players alike. While 23Savage’s comments may have offended some, they have highlighted a growing concern in the Dota 2 community about unsportsmanlike behavior in the game.
