Europe’s most dominant Dota 2 pub player is breaking the leaderboard

The only one who can beat him is him.

Watson in front of the Dota 2 leaderboard.
Image via Valve, Remix by Gökhan Çakır

Hopeful Dota 2 players try to prove themselves on the leaderboard and claim the number one spot to get noticed by a top team, but there haven’t been any openings in the European region thanks to Alimzhan “Watson” Islambekov.

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Not only has Watson been holding on to the number one spot for the entirety of 2023, but he also just snatched the number two spot on the European Dota 2 ranked leaderboard. With two accounts pushing the MMR cap, Watson recently achieved an impressive Dota 2 milestone in a second region during TI 2023. While participating in the event, the star carry player’s second account took over the top spot in the North American leaderboard. As a result, Watson had two ranked-one accounts at the same time.

Now that TI 2023 is over and Watson is back in Europe, he started playing ranked matches on the European server again, causing his secondary account to move back to the EU leaderboards. During this migration, Watson’s second account entered the rankings in second place.

Nobody can stop him. Screenshot by Dot Esports

At the time of writing, Watson is ranked both first and second on the European Dota 2 leaderboard. A famous quote from Kuroko No Basket‘s Daiki Aomine says, “The only one who can beat me is me.” a statement that resonates with Watson in Dota 2 as he continues to push the game’s rankings to its limits.

Despite conquering the leaderboards, Watson hasn’t been able to lift a major trophy in his competitive career. Though the ranked sensation made it to TI 2023 with Entity, the team crashed out early in the tournament, as was also the case at Riyadh Masters 2023. The team recently missed out on attending ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 as Team Secret defied doubts to complete an impressive lower bracket run.

Author
Image of Gökhan Çakır
Gökhan Çakır
Gökhan is a Staff Writer and Fortnite Lead at Dot Esports. Gökhan graduated as an industrial engineer in 2020 and has since been with Dot Esports. As a natural-born gamer, he honed his skills to a professional level in Dota 2. Upon giving up on the Aegis of Champions in 2019, Gökhan started his writing career, covering all things gaming, while his heart remains a lifetime defender of the Ancients.