Dota 2 Sumail Innocent Boy or Cocky Man

Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan is a Pakistani American professional Dota 2 player who last played for Team Secret.

Initial Life in Pakistan

Sumail was born in Karachi, Pakistan. He started playing Dota when he was eight years old. When his family moved from Pakistan to Rosemont, Illinois, in 2012, he began playing in the North American Elite League.

Sumail quickly became the highest-rated player in the in-house league, establishing himself as one of the best upcoming talents in the North American scene.

Flashy Play Style

His play was so impressive that UNiVeRsE pushed for EG to recruit him in January 2015. Sumail’s LAN debut was at the Dota 2 League Season 5 finals in Las Vegas on January 6, 2015.

The team performed poorly at the event due to the lackluster performance by Sumail. Critics began to question whether he deserved a roster spot on a team like Evil Geniuses.

Father of Eul’s Scepter of Divinity Shadow Fiend Build

In February, Sumail would get a chance to redeem himself as EG participated in the Dota 2 Asia Championships. In his first match of the tournament, Sumail introduced his Eul’s Scepter of Divinity Shadow Fiend builds.

He would quickly become part of the meta for the tournament. EG’s captain, PPD, entered the contest, focusing on drafting around Sumail to ensure he was comfortable in the game.

This proved successful as EG found themselves in the top 4, with an 11-4 record, after the group stage. EG stormed through the upper bracket beating Na’Vi and Big God but were soundly defeated 2-0 by VG in the upper bracket finals. After a 2-0 victory over the tournament favorite Team Secret in the lower bracket finals, EG had a rematch with VG in the finals.

From Zero to Hero on Storm Spirit

In the finals, Sumail established himself as one of the best mid-players globally with his stellar play. However, Sumail’s most notable performance was in Game 3 of the finals, where he found himself with a 0-3-0 score on Storm Spirit before the three-minute mark.

Undeterred by the poor start, Sumail quickly took control of the game and led his team to victory while finishing with 17-7-11.

The Breakout performance

Sumail’s breakout performance at DAC led to widespread recognition as a young prodigy in both the Chinese and Western Dota scenes and secured a reputation as one of the best Storm Spirit players.

Sumail helped EG establish itself as the best team at the beginning of 2015 and secured USD 1,284,158 for the team.

The two Favourites

EG entered The International 2015 as one of the two favorites along with Team Secret; EG had finished 2nd behind Secret at each of the previous two LAN tournaments, The Summit 3 and ESL One Frankfurt 2015. Team Secret finished in 8th place, leaving the way to the championship open for EG.

However, EG experienced a setback of their own after losing the Upper Bracket Finals 0-2 to the surprise wildcard powerhouse CDEC Gaming. Then, EG defeated LGD Gaming in the Lower Bracket Finals and prevailed 3-1 in a rematch with CDEC in the Grand Finals to claim the International 2015 championship.

Playing in Gold

Sumail’s play was particularly noteworthy in both the Lower Bracket Finals. The Grand Finals – Game 1 of the Grand Finals was eerily reminiscent of Sumail’s experience in DAC, as Sumail died three times on his signature Storm Spirit in the game’s opening moments. Later on, he proceeded to complete the fastest Orchid Malevolence on a Storm Spirit across the entire tournament.

EG took home $6,634,661 for their first-place finish, making Sumail the youngest player to surpass $1 million in esports winnings.

RTZ Gone

Following the tournament saw the departure of Aui_2000 for Arteezy. He finished second place in the MLG 2015 World Finals.

He came third in Valve’s inaugural announcement of the Majors system, the Frankfurt Major 2015, losing to potential champions OG in the lower bracket finals.

Ending the 2015 calendar year, ppd’s decision to draft the Shadow Fiend for Sumail in the grand finals of The Summit 4 saw the team making an eventual comeback of 3-2, winning the tournament.

A Set Back, Still a Third Position

In 2016, SumaiL started with a slow start and finished third in the Shanghai Major.

However, numerous roster changes throughout the year saw his team exit in the early stages of premier tournaments.

After the announcement of being directly invited to The International 2016, a roster change occurred with the addition of Zai and Universe, causing the team to play in the open qualifiers.

After Zai

Later on, he attended The International 2016 for the second successive time under Evil Geniuses and came third place in the tournament. After the extended post-TI break, he traveled to China to compete in the MDL Autumn 2016 and came first place.

Trivia

A)- SumaiL was featured in Time Magazine’s top 30 influential teenagers of 2016, making him the first-ever Dota 2 player to be included in the magazine’s awards.

B)- He is the brother of Yawar “YawaR” Hassan.

C)- He is the youngest player to win an official Valve event at only 15 years and 361 days old at DAC 2015.

D)- He is the youngest player to win an International, having won The International 2015 when he was just 16 years and 176 days old.

E)- He looked up to Maelk in 2010.

F)- He enjoys cheese pizza so much that he has it every two days.

G)- He is a big NBA fan, cheering for the Golden State Warriors.

Statistics

A)- He holds the record for the most kills (31) in a single game at The International. He achieved this feat while playing for Evil Geniuses as Tiny against OG during Game 3 of their Upper Bracket series at The International 2018.

Achievements

Biography Videos

A)- 2017-03-12 (Youtube) | The Story of SumaiL by eSports Stories

Interviews

2015

2015-05-15 | Evil Geniuses’ Fear and SumaiL at The Summit 3 (Day 3) – theScore eSports by Matt Demers of theScore eSports at The Summit 3
2015-02-07 | Suma1L Interview by Hotbid by [[Hot_Bid]] of [[Beyond the Summit]] at Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015
2015-02-03 | EG SumaiL Interview @ DAC 2015 by [[Sheever]] of GosuGamers.net at Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015
2015-02-01 | DAC 2015. Interview with EG.Sumail by Ineskaua of [[StarLadder]] at Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015 (trans. Russia by StarLadder)

2017

2017-04-24 | Интервью с EG.SumaiL @ The Kiev Major by Oleh “AbsoKulikov” Kulikov of RuHub Studio at The Kiev Major 2017 (trans. Russia by RuHub Studio)

2018

2018-08-22 | SumaiL at TI8: “The next time we play Liquid, it’s going to be 2:0 for us.” by Jesper “Julmust” Bergeskans of cybersport.com at The International 2018
2018-08-20 | SumaiL: «Я хотел бы снова стать тем “старым” Сумаилом» by Vitalii “v1lat” Volochai of Dota 2 Maincast at The International 2018

References

1- https://liquipedia.net/dota2/SumaiL

2- http://evilgeniuses.gg/Profile/73,Suma1L/Biography/

3- http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2015/8/pakistani-gamer-becomes-youngest-gamer-to-surpass-1million-in-esports-earnings-a-391494

4- Annabelle Fischer (2016-10-02). “Evil Geniuses win MDL Autumn 2016”. thescoreesports.com. Retrieved October 20, 2016.

5- “The 30 Most Influential Teens of 2016”. Time Magazine. 2016-10-19. Retrieved October 19, 2016.

6- https://clips.twitch.tv/CaringSullenPandaAllenHuhu

7- https://www.gosugamers.net/dota2/features/38409-ti5-fun-facts-suma1l-has-a-cheese-pizza-every-two-days

8- “SumaiL: “Я хотел бы снова стать тем “старым” Сумаилом” [RU SUBs”]. Dota 2 Main cast. 2018-08-20. Retrieved August 20, 2018.