Dota 2: The Soft Supports At The International 12 And Their Signature Heroes #1
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author Zlosterr
Here are the soft supports at The International 12 and the heroes that they’re known for.
A lot of people do not give enough credit to support players because they believe this is the easiest position in Dota 2. While it’s true that supports players do not have that much pressure on them later on, soft supports have to make a difference in the early stages of the game. Consequently, people in this role need to know what they are doing.
The International 12 will gather the best Dota 2 teams in the world, which means that we will have access to the top soft supports in the world. Some players are more popular than others, but here are some of the top soft support at The International 12 that you should be aware of.
Contents
Samuel “Boxi” Svahn – Team Liquid
Boxi is a Swedish Dota 2 player that began playing professionally in 2016. He started his career in Evil Corporation and then moved to Alliance, where he spent around 2 years. However, after the club’s decision to drop its roster, he made a move to Team Liquid and has been a parto of the Western European team ever since.
What’s interesting about Boxi is that he was also an offlaner, so he can play a lot of interesting position 4 heroes. We’ve seen him on many different names, but one of the top soft supports at The International 12 usually focuses on include:
Erik “tOfu” Engel – Gaimin Gladiators
One of the top soft supports at The International 12 is also the position 4 player with one of the highest MMR in Dot a2. ToFu is a really interesting player that began his professional career in 2020, even though he’s 27 years old. He has only been a part of 3 teams throughout his career, one of which is Gaimin Gladiators. Together with is teammates, tOfu won pretty much all big events in 2023 and is the big favorte for TI 12 as well.
Another interesting fact about tOfu is that he’s an ex-League of Gleends player. In fact, he also played CS:Source competitively, which means that he definitely knows how to compete at the highest level. In terms of the heroes he’s known for, tOfu excels with the following:
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov – Tundra Esports
Saksa is one of those players that has been a part at the Dota 2 scene forever. Over the years, he played for tons of different teams and won almost anything that Dota 2 has to offer. This also includes The International because he and Tundra Esports lifted the Aegis last year. Besides winning TI, he also reached a TI final with Digital Chaos several years ago.
Saksa is a player that can make anything work. He can play with a wide range of heroes and has proven his skills over the years. An interesting fact about the player from North Macedonia is that he is also the tallest player in the professional Dota 2 scene.
Vladislav “Antares” Kertman
Most of the players from 9Pandas are new to the big Dota 2 scene and are yet to play at their first The International. The team’s offlaner is not an exception because the 20-year-old hasn’t had the chance to shine on the big stage yet.
Antares is an interesting soft support that became popular with his incredible Techies skills. Of course, we’ve also seen him in action against other heroes and he always played really well, so it will be interesting to see if he will be one of the top soft supports at The International 12.
Another interesting thing about Antares is that the Russian player was a part of X3, Team Empire and HellRaisers before joining 9Pandas this April.
Farith “Matthew” Puente – Evil Geniuses
There are a few popular South American soft support players, and Matthew is among them. Similar to the other members of Evil Geniuses, this player was a part of Thunder Awaken for around 1 year before joining the newly-formed organization.
The 25-year-old has proven himself over the years because he was a part of many top teams. What’s interesting is that many people consider him to be one of the best Earth Spirit players in the world. This hero requires a specific set of skills, which explains why ot everyone can use him.
Another interesting fact about Matthew is that the 25-year-old is also Evil Geniuses’s captain. This means that he’s the one that calls the shots, making him one of the most important soft support players at The International 12.
Lin “planet” Hao
Even though planet also does not have as much experience on the big stage as some of the offlaners mentioned earlier, he is one of PSG.LGD’s stars that has been really good recently. Before joining the squad, he played for EHOME and Phoenix Gaming, where he helped the team achieve a lot of impressive results. This was not left unnoticed, so LGD decided to get him in their roster.
An interesting thing about this soft support is that a lot of people consider him to be the new “fy”. The latter is one of the most-well known Chinese support player and he’s famous for his incredible micro-skills. Considering this will be the first TI for the Chinese player, it will be interesting to see if he’ll live up to his fans’ expectations.
Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen
The las top–tier soft support at The International 12 that we need to talk about is none other than Cr1t-. He is probably one of the most famous players overall because he’s been in the professional scene for more than 11 years.
The 27-year-old support played for a lot of teams over the years, such as H2k gaming, mousesports, Meet your Makers, and even OG. However, he’s been a part of EG since 2016, and he plays for Shopify Rebellion, which is the ex EG’s team new organization.
Needless to say, Cr1t- has proven he can play with pretty much anything and adapt to the meta. A lot of people consider him the best support player in the world, so his team will definitely count on him to be at The International 12.