Sandbox: Dj and Fnatic’s Quest for a LAN Title

Of the Rave alumnis, there’s little denying that the Fnatic Dota 2 position 4 support, Djardel Jicko “Dj” Mampusti has been the most successful thus far.

The 2015-2016 season has been good to the Filipino pro Dota 2 player. Since joining the Malaysian Fnatic squad, Dj has posted a 67% win rate, winning 103 of his last 153 games. His good run has allowed Fnatic to appear in two Majors (Frankfurt and Shanghai), with an all but confirmed direct invite to the last Major of the year, Manila.

While the team has yet to put that one LAN victory to truly cement their place as a Tier 1 team, little can be argued that Dj, at the very least, isn’t a breakout player.

At Shanghai, Fnatic fought their way through the loser’s bracket to finish at a respectable 5th-6th place, bowing out to the cinderella team of the tournament, MVP Phoenix.

Since then, Dj has been arguably the greatest contributor to Fnatic’s current reign as the best in Southeast Asia. As part of the team’s 24-match streak in March and their ongoing 9-0 match streak this April, Dj’s impact rivals that of even their own team’s carry in Wai Pern “Net” Lim and midlaner Nai Zheng “MidOne” Yeik.

From the beginning of March 2016 to today, April 14, 2016, Dj has posted 8,678 in total hero damage, 300 points better than hard-carry Net over the same time frame.

Much of this comes from Dj’s role in the team. As the Fnatic position 4 support, Dj’s play style focuses mainly on roaming and ganking lanes heavily in the early game in an effort to get laners ahead. The early aggression accelerates the pace into an early mid-game, where Fnatic likes to group up and fight around objectives, backed by early item picks up and high-impact ultimates.

His effect in this capacity has been so devastating that his signature heroes in Enchantress and Io have become ban priorities in their recent games. His Enchantress has so far won 10 out of 13 games for a 77% win rate, while his Io play has won 9 out of the last 12 games for a 75% win rate.

Both picks have been highly contested in their games, where Io and Enchantress have been banned in the first phase — clear indications that against Fnatic, the first priority is to answer one of Dj’s signature heroes.

In their latest game against Sig.Trust at the finals of the SEA Kappa Invitational tournament, Dj’s Enchantress finished the Game 2 of the 4-game set with 17 kills, 7 deaths and 14 assists; the only player on Fnatic to post a double digit kill score.

Doom is another highly contested pick for teams facing Fnatic. Although Dj has only been allowed access to Doom a handful of occasions this season, he has so far been undefeated on the hero, averaging 4.7 kill and 17 assists.

The kinetic energy brought by Dj in the early game has placed him as the team’s early game shotcaller. Despite being a Filipino and speaking 0 Mandarin, Dj is the one that calls the plays, signalling his team when to fight or when to set up the waves for a successful smoke ambush.

The result is that Fnatic Dota has the second highest Gold Per Minute (gpm) score by minute 5 for professional teams in the aftermath of the Shanghai Major, scoring 1480 gpm when playing Radiant side and sixth highest on the Dire side at 1400 gpm.

So far, it’s hard to argue with the numbers. Fnatic has claimed three finals wins in the last three days. The team has qualified for three LAN events since Shanghai. All match sets where Dj has left an indelible mark on their victories.

It is likely that Dj will continue putting up good numbers and stellar performances. However, what is unclear is whether Fnatic can transition their momentum into a coveted LAN win.

A lot is riding on the rest of Fnatic to truly capitalize on the leads that Dj generates. While Chong Xin “Ohaiyo” Khoo has so far proven that he is a capable star player to pick up the baton that Dj passes from the early to the mid-game, MidOne and Net have so far been hit-or-misses. Not catastrophic by any stretch of the imagination, but the two other core players haven’t shown the same level of consistency as their position 4 support player or their offlaner.

With ESL ONE Manila looming over the horizon? Can Fnatic and Dj claim their first LAN title in an event that will be headlined by the number 1 team in the world, Team Secret and perennial title contenders, Team Liquid?

My guess is that they have a closer shot than people give them credit for. A win in Manila will guarantee an invite to the next Major, but a failure will not be demoralizing; at the very least, losing in Manila will mean even more growth for Dj and company.

For now, Fnatic Dota 2 remain as the reason to follow the SEA region. A big part of that is thanks to the exciting performances of Rave’s once-safelaner.

Don't miss out on the latest news and information.

For feedback, complaints, or inquiries, contact us.