North American Dota 2 veteran Theeban “1437” Siva has joined Philippine side TNC Pro Team, the organization announced today.
The transpacific move comes as the post-Kiev Major player shuffle enters its final week. Siva, who was until recently a member of Team NP, began playing professional Dota 2 at The International 2011 and has competed for nearly a dozen North American organizations since, along with two stints as Team Secret’s coach. The move to TNC Pro Team, which is based in Manila, is the first time he will play competitively for a non-North American team.
TNC Pro Team, which is sponsored by the Philippine chain of LAN cafes, TheNet.com, has competed off-and-on in Dota 2 since 2013, but came to prominence after a better-than-expected performance at The International 6, where the team defeated western favorites OG (among others) en route to a sixth-place finish. Following TI6, however, several players, including Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho, left TNC Pro Team for the better-funded Malaysian outfit, Fnatic. When success proved fleeting, the original roster, minus DeMoN, who returned to the United States, reunited under the TNC Pro Team banner once more in early 2017.
Siva, who will also serve as captain, replaces hard support Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa, who joined TNC Pro Team during the post-International roster shuffle last September. What team, if any, ryOyr will join isn’t clear.
The organization also announced that the team’s statsperson, Murielle “Kips” Huisman, will remain with the team.
TNC Pro Team will debut its new roster later today against Invictus Gaming in the StarLadder i-League Invitational #2 in Shanghai.
