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The SEA Dota 2 community has emerged as one of the most competitive scenes in the game.
A region covering several countries, the SEA region makes up for a massive chunk of the global Dota 2 player base. Yet, this year's International only had two SEA teams out of the 18 that participated. Only T1 had enough DPC points to make the cutoffs for the direct invitation. Fnatic took the sole leftover slot from the TI 10 SEA Qualifiers.
While T1 had a marginally better finish at the 7th-8th TI 10, Fnatic's 9th-12th place standing was still above expectations.
After their star ex-midlaner Abed Azel "Abed" Yusop and offlaner Daryl "iceiceice" Koh Peng Xiong left the team to join Evil Geniuses in 2019 and 2020, Fnatic struggled to fill this void.
Roster changes continue in the post-TI 10 seasons as their midlaner Ng "ChYuan" Kee Chyuan and offlaner Yang "Deth" Wu Heng have parted ways with the team.
Fans plead with management to stabilize Fnatic's Dota 2 roster with long-term contracts
Fnatic's Dota 2 roster had its first big recomposition after TI 7 when they signed Jacky "EternalEnvy" Mao, Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Aarora, and Johan "piedielie" Astrom. All three of the new talent left the roster right after TI 8. This has since become a repetitive pattern for each DPC calendar.
Leading up to this year's qualifiers, Fnatic was in rough shape. They could not find success with their most recent recruit, offalner Natthaphon "Masaros" Ouanphakdee. This is where ChYuan was added as a replacement offlaner. After Deth was added as a last-minute recruit at the end of the transfer window, ChYuan could move to mid-lane, his preferred Dota 2 position.
With their relatively new Dota 2 squad, they managed to find their way to the upper brackets of the qualifier. They remained undefeated throughout the tournament and eliminated the crowd favorites, TNC Predator, to seize the final TI 10 invitation slot from SEA. However, ChYuan and Deth's contracts have expired, which means they are free to explore options.
In a quick turn of events, TNC Predator's roster disbanded. This means their top players, Armel Paul "Armel" Tabios and Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte, are potential candidates for the open slots in Fnatic. Bu "YaphetS" Yanjun and Damien "kpii" Chok are also free agents.
However, Fnatic's roster crisis echoes a systematic issue. Since 2017, they have struggled to keep a stable Dota 2 roster, shuffling players every DPC season. This results in lackluster team chemistry.
