Anathan “ana” Pham is back—terrorizing the Southeast Asian server, at least.
The 22-year-old and legendary ex-OG hard carry has played 119 public matchmaking games over the past eight days as of the time of writing, third among all players tracked by Dota 2 Pro Tracker—trailing two professional streamers, Mihai “canceL^^” Antonio and Steve “Xcalibur” Ye.
That’s almost 15 pubs a day. Talk about grinding.
Hovering at around 50% win rate, he’s going through every role, frequently playing Anti-Mage, Spirit Breaker, Outworld Devourer, and Luna.
While he’s played sporadically since his retirement, often popping up in Australian normal pubs, the former OG carry has been consistently playing solo ranked games on the Southeast Asian server for about two months, starting on December 1 last year.
Fans of Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen’s stream would have caught ana frequently, often on the opposing side—and the former carry doesn’t seem to have lost a beat.
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Invictus Gaming wanted ana in the offseason
Chinese organization Invictus Gaming reportedly contacted ana for a potential return to pro Dota 2 in the offseason, according to LeonArthurDota, and the player was “interested in the idea.” But IG eventually changed their mind, preferring for every member to be together offline.
In the end, the negotiation broke down. If ana is feeling the competitive itch again, however, there will surely be several teams willing to take a chance on him considering his illustrious resume—even if he’s prone to retirements.
Besides, he wouldn’t be the first player from his former squad to come back. Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka joined Evil Geniuses in November last year. If ana comes back too—who else is going to follow?
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