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Iceiceice: I'll retire when there is no more joy left in competing

Evil Geniuses' offlaner, Daryl "Iceiceice" Koh, still has plenty of fight left in his storied esports career.

Having joined the North American team in November last year, the esports pro only recently left his home country of Singapore to live in the US and compete in the revamped Dota 2 Pro Circuit (DPC).

Even knowing that he will miss his wife and son, the veteran competitor said he was determined to go all the way in the Dota 2 scene as long as he found the competition meaningful.

When asked if he would consider retiring if he won TI10, Iceiceice replied with a firm no.

"I'll retire only when the game isn't fun to me anymore, I'll play till there's no more joy left in competing," he said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia.

Having previously compared playing Dota to eating, and stating that "you don't retire from eating after being full", it seems Iceiceice still has plenty of gas left.

While the Singaporean has also branched out to playing Magic: The Gathering (MTG) semi-seriously, he ruled out the trading card game as a career, even if he stopped playing Dota.

"As much as I like playing MTG, I don't think it's viable as a career right now with the current infrastructure," Iceiceice said.

Despite being a competitive gamer, Iceiceice said he found it difficult to play games casually.

The reason for that, said the 30-year-old, was that he couldn't help but be completely focused when he plays a game. However, Iceiceice added that he might start thinking about gaming casually the next time he took a break.

The last time he had a break was last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said helped to motivate him as a competitive player.

"It's something I've always done throughout the years when I get bored of the game," he said.

"I actually took a pretty long break after COVID-19 happened and it helped a lot with my passion for the game, as I'd already had an idea of taking a longer break before due to burn out."

As for what he plans to do after Dota, Iceiceice has no plans yet.

"I just want to be the best in whatever I'll enjoy next."

This is the third part of a three-part interview series with Daryl "Iceiceice" Koh. You can read the first part and second part here.

Aloysius Low is an ex-CNET editor with more than 15 years of experience. He's really into cats and is currently reviewing products at canbuyornot.com

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page.