Talon Esports ace Rafli “Mikoto” Rahman recently mentioned North American Dota 2 professional Tal “Fly” Aizik as the key figure who convinced him to join the Filipino side when he was still competing in his home country, Indonesia, around 2021.
Prior to his successful season, Mikoto was a member of the Boom Esports squad from 2018 to October 2021 and was recognized as one of the local players that drew the attention of the community as the first Indonesian who reached 10,000 MMR. His uneven performance at the time, however, caused him to frequently leave the team to become a stand-in for other Dota 2 teams outside Indonesia until he ultimately received an offer from Fly.
During a livestream on his YouTube channel, he stated that it was Fly who personally approached him shortly after he left Boom. Considering the Israeli veteran’s track record, it was clearly a no-brainer for him to start a new career in Philippines and play with him.
“The first person who invited me to Talon was Fly.” Mikoto said. “At that time, Talon wanted to create a Dota 2 organisation, and since their base is in Hong Kong, perhaps the most sensible and convenient choice was SEA, probably because SEA’s budgeting is quite different from that in China.”
He also said that it was his own decision to leave Boom and focus on improving his game by playing in numerous lower-level tournaments in Indonesia. This decision ultimately proved beneficial, as his improvement drew the attention of his seniors.
In addition of Fly, he also played with several SEA veterans, such as Damien “kpii” Chok and Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte, when he first moved to Talon. Their partnership was short-lived, though, as they left the team the following year. In the middle of January 2022, Fly accepted an offer to rejoin Evil Geniuses, while Gabbi made the choice to reunite with Carlo “Kuku” Palad at T1. Meanwhile, in November 2022, kpii made the decision to join Fnatic.
