The Singaporean Dota scene used to be a flourishing one, a hotbed for young talents who would enter the esports scene to much acclaim. Once the home of players like xMusica, HyHy, iceiceice and many others, the country has seen a slump after many of its players left, leaving nothing but amateur teams trying to break into the world league. With some of its players returning back to the country, Singapore has seen a fresh face in the region, a lineup consisting of ex-Zenith player Nicholas 'xFreedom' Lim and star carry player Gavin 'Meracle' Kang. The reformed Scythe.sg is a mix of old and new players, promising a fresh start for the Lion city.

Despite the strength of the new squad in the region however, there is still much contention as to whether the team will receive an invite to the prestigious TI4, Valve's million-dollar tournament. With all the hype surrounding the possible invites, we reached out to famed-Singaporean player Nicholas 'xFreedom' Lim to talk about the Singapore scene, the newly formed Scythe squad, the National Service debacle and whether the team has what it takes to take down some of the world's best at Seattle.

China & Organizations

The first topic discussed was one that received a lot of debate within the Singaporean community. With the break-up of Zenith and the departure of long-standing player Daryl 'iceiceice' Koh to play for DK in China, the local scene has recently suffered from a lack of experienced talent. Not long after, Toh "xy-" Wai Hong retired and even Lim himself moved to China standing in for LGD's International squad- leaving the SG scene as little more than a trove of amateur teams.

When asked whether Koh had made the right decision in moving to China, Lim responded, "It was the only way to take it seriously with a [sic] backing of a proper esports organisation".

This is the brutal truth. The Dota scene in Singapore has long suffered from the lack of gravitas towards the legitimacy of gaming as a career. While it is partially due to the strong presence of strict Asian culture (that disapproves of almost every career aspect apart from a stable deskjob - I study in an arts school, my case is rare), it has also suffered from the lack of organizational structure and funds. There hasn't been an organization within the local community that has succeeded in giving the players a decent salary to cover Singapore's high cost of living, while maintaining sustainability.



When one talks about Singaporean Dota/Dota 2 organizations, you would most commonly hear "Zenith", "AeonSports", "xtc" or "Scythe", all teams well established in their own right from their fame during WC3 Dota and even at The International. Still, none of them could provide their players with a sufficient salary, which getting sponsored entails. So when we get to the relative newcomers to the scene, such as the now-defunct Flash Esports and Netolic.sg (both of which housed Gavin "Meracle" Kang and Joel "Chibix33" Chan respectively once during their forays into Dota 2), they too did not offer a full-time paygrade. 

In order for a player to make gaming a sustainable full-time career, it is much easier to look abroad- afterall, Dota only requires a computer, a mouse and a keyboard.

National Service

Another long-standing problem within the professional Dota community is National Service. National Service is a mandatory two-year programme where every Singaporean male of 16 years old and above must serve the country's military. The problem lies in the fact that during these two years, enlisted men would have to stay in camp and spend most of their time training not for Dota, but for war. Not only will the men be exhausted when they come home over the weekends (if they do at all) but they would be horribly out of touch with the ever-changing metagame. Their mechanical skills and agility will see severe setbacks and their focus would probably be on their next "book-in" (term to describe the checking into camp) where they will spend another 120 hours away from home, slogging under the scorching heat.

National Service has been such a problem to professional gamers that it has been rumoured that some even decided to fail their exams in school just so they might retain for another year in school, out of the military but dedicated to gaming. So when asked about whether the players would benefit from the government's recognition of gaming as a career, he responded, "Definitely a large problem, just look at all the past players. For a period of time they had to step down."

Experience

"Inexperience isnt a factor, its about the momentum when you're there." said Lim when queried on whether his team can compete with the top tier teams at the International despite their career youth. 



Experience is a contentious topic when talking about a team's ability to take down others at a LAN event. While some may argue that LAN experience is invaluable (it is) and is an important factor, some critics, like Lim, think that LAN experience is invaluable but do little to change the scope of the game. Both are true to a certain extent. There are two aspects of a LAN event that one must consider when thinking about experience as a factor:

1. The fact that at a LAN event, the crowd will always have their favourites. The immense pressure from playing in front of an audience can make or break a team. Teams such as Natus Vincere are excellent in times of pressure, being able to feed of the energy of the crowd while others simply break at the cheering of the crowd for the opposing team. It is then with experience that a player might come to overcome the enormity of such pressure and ensure focus throughout the game despite the roaring of the crowd.

2. While the pressure at a LAN event is substantial, the fact that these players have made it to the International has proven that they are at the very least decent at the game and like Lim said earlier, "it's about the momentum". Surely after a few days of playing in front of a crowd the team would get used to the pressure (if any at all) and so it all boils down to the momentum, whether they can break the losing streak or continue the rampage. 

With these two in mind, one must realize that it depends a great deal on the player individually and so there really is not an answer. That being said, however, the majority of players in Scythe have never played against a Western team on LAN, making them especially inexperienced in that regard if they do get into the International line-up. When asked about whether Meracle or himself have anything to add to the team after their experience internationally, he replied an honest "Haven't fought any top tier teams on lan." Fret not however, as Lim assures us that "Meracle has return [sic] to his rat cave and is slowly digging his way to victory". 

It would be a first for them and adjustments will definitely be made but would it be enough? Only a trial will tell if experience does matter.

Photo source: Jason Ho,  TheNextWeb, Team Zenith, Flash Esports, Scythe Gaming, AeonSports



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