Singapore Dota 2 pro Meracle announces retirement
The Singaporean player is most known as a Naga specialist, and played with teams such as iG.Vitality, Complexity Gaming, T1, and Nigma Galaxy SEA.
After his team Myth Avenue Gaming were eliminated by Boom Esports 2-1 at the The International 2023 SEA qualifiers, Singapore Dota 2 player Gavin "Meracle" Kang announced he would be retiring from professional Dota 2.
"That concludes my run as a pro gamer in Dota! Was definitely a wonderful 15 years with all the people I've met and the people I've played with. Couldn't have asked for a better group of people to play with for my last ride! Love y'all," he said in a post on Twitter.
"It's unfortunate that I couldn't achieve my dream within the game in this long a- timeframe but it is how it is!"
He also added that he had "no regrets, and hopes that "everybody out there competing gets to achieve what they want".
The 27-year-old is best known for his Naga when he played in the carry position.
His most famous plays as Naga was against superstar Team DK, where his Naga took over the map and made it impossible for DK's players to do anything.
Despite his renown, Meracle was unable to find success despite joining teams such as iG.Vitality, Complexity Gaming, T1, and Nigma Galaxy SEA.
It was also in Nigma SEA that he switched to playing in the offlane, and would continue to play that role for his last team, Myth Avenue Gaming.
Myth remained a DPC SEA 2023 Division II team, and was unable to earn promotion to Division I.
The team managed to play in the TI qualifiers, but had to bow out in the 9th to 12th position.
Community reacts to Meracle's retirement
Meracle's retirement was met with plenty of kind words from the scene, with notable names such as TorteDeLini calling it an "end of an era", and Jonathan "Loda" Berg saying his "Naga will be remembered".
Adam "343dota" Shah also thanked him for carrying during the Complexity days, and that he would miss him.
SEA personalities such as Richie "SeekNStrike" Garcia added that he was always impressed with his plays, especially on Naga, while Leon "Arthur" Lee called Meracle a "one of a kind talent".
Meracle has not yet stated what he will be doing in the future, but he has updated his Twitter bio to say former Dota 2 gamer, so it remains to be seen if he will pull a Sébastien "Ceb" Debs and come back to play in the future, or if he will be looking for other opportunities in the scene such as coaching or casting.
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
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