Syed Sumail Hassan goes by the name of “SumaiL”. SumaiL is born in Karachi, Pakistan on February 13, 1999. The young Pakistani Dota 2 player has turned 20 this 2019.
He is the one among the most iconic figures in Dota 2 since the rise of Dota 2 as a competitive Esports. The Pakistani player is most notable for his impressive skills as a midlaner. He is widely recognized as “King” of the mid lane after his Tweet.
A prodigy's initial steps
Sumail started playing Dota since the age of 8. When his family moved from Pakistan to Rosemont, Illinois in 2012 he started taking part in competitive Dota 2 scene. The first league he played was North American Elite League where he quickly claimed the highest-rated player title. With his outstanding performance, Sumail established himself as one of the most promising talents in the North American scene.
A rough start
At that time, Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora in EG was extremely impressed with the teenager. He quickly urged the organization to recruit SumaiL in January 2015. The youngster made his first LAN debut at the Dota 2 League Season 5 finals in Las Vegas on January 6 in 2015. However, the tournament turned out a disaster as the youngster failed to display an adequate performance. Many people raised the question about the signing of such a newcomer like SumaiL in an established organization as Evil Geniuses.
Later in February, the Pakistan midlaner had another chance to redefine his name as EG participated in another event, Dota 2 Asia Championships. SumaiL shocked Dota 2 fans by introducing the Eul's Scepter of Divinity on Shadow Fiend. The item build was so effective that it became the meta for the whole tournament.
The potential
Quick to realize the potential of the teenager, EG’s captain - Peter “ppd” Dager – decided to draft around SumaiL to help him feel most comfortable. Throughout the tournament, the team played around the midlaner, defeating big names like Natus Vincere and Team Secret. They managed to make it to the grand final against Vici Gaming.
Sumail’s most outstanding performance was with the hero Storm Spirit. In game 3, he struggled in the early laning stage with 3 deaths in a row. Unfazed, the mid laner quickly regained composure and controlled the tempo of the game. He finished the game with a positive KDA of 17-7-11 and a sweet 3-0 victory. SumaiL quickly gained the reputation for himself as “Sumail Spirit” (named after his outstanding plays as Storm Spirit). People would assume Storm Spirit as his signature hero.
Since then, SumaiL has become the iconic core player that represents the EG organization. He stuck to the organization through ups and downs.
The milestone
Later on, EG attended many big tournaments but could only finish 2nd after losing to Team Secret in The Summit 3 and ESL One Frankfurt 2015. Team Secret at that time was the dream roster with the star-studded lineup. However, The International 2015 was a whole different story. Packing the prize pool of $18,429,613, the event was the most funded tournament at that time.
EG and Team Secret went to The International 2015 being the favorites to claim the trophy. Trembled before the overwhelming pressure of such big event, Team Secret lost to Virtus.Pro in the lower bracket to finish 8th. Evil Geniuses, on the contrary, stay comfortably on the upper bracket and only lost once to CDEC Gaming. They managed to come back with a convincing 2-0 victory over LGD Gaming. EG would then rematch CDEC in the grand final best of five.
The enticing grand final
In the first game of the grand final, EG managed to draft Storm Spirit for Sumail. Signature hero in hand, the EG's midlaner finished Orchid Malevolence and tore through the defense of CDEC. The game quickly ended in 35 min. CDEC had to respect ban Storm Spirit in game 2 and 3. However, the Chinese let it slip in game 4 and let SumaiL take Storm Spirit.
With the Zip Zap hero, he quickly destroyed the enemy DK in the mid lane, leading to enormous advantage for EG. The game went on one-sided and one situation saw SumaiL dead, CDEC decided to take Roshan. That led to the famous $6 million Echo Slam from UNiVeRsE.
EG ended up winning The International 2015 with $6,634,661. SumaiL became the youngest TI winner in the history of Dota, just at the age of 15! Since the start of his career in early 2015, SumaiL earned $1,730,083.34 From 12 Tournaments. He is the first prodigy to prove that playing video games can actually make you a millionaire.
The uneventful period
As the hype wore off and everyone went back on track, EG got a bumpy ride after lots of internal conflict and roster changes. The organization was too ambitious with recruiting new stars and decided to swap Aui_2000 for Arteezy. However, the star addition did not yield good results for the team. EG struggled to balance the resource distribution between the two farming greedy core players. Arteezy would later leave EG to get back to Team Secret once again. The fickle change of Arteezy led to the meme of Babyrain Artour.
SumaiL was the one affected the most due to roster changes. He had to adapt and sacrifice himself for other players’ resource. The time after TI 2015 saw a drop in SumaiL’s performance. EG later went through numerous position and roster changes. There was a period of time where SumaiL played as an offlaner while Clinton “Fear” Loomis took on the mid lane role. However, that didn’t work out well and SumaiL eventually got back to his best position.
The #3 curse
EG would attend The International 2016 with a significant decline in form. They fell to Digital Chaos, finishing #3 with the prize money of $2,180,898. This seemed to be the start of the infamous #3 curse for EG. In any big tournament they went to, EG would most likely finish #3. It happened again in The International 2018 where they lost to LGD Gaming in the lower bracket.
Actually, the game against OG in the upper bracket turned out a disaster for EG. The North Americans were having overwhelming advantages against OG. However, one questionable Toss from SumaiL's tiny landed Arteezy into the OG's side, making them unable to push the last lane. The serious mistake from SumaiL cost EG the game and eventually the whole tournament. They could have made a deeper run into the tournament. However, the rest is history. EG had to settle for #3 with $2,680,879.
2019
Throughout this year, SumaiL and Co. displayed significant improvement while playing in big tournaments. They most notably finished #2 in ESL One Birmingham 2019 after a decent fight against Team Secret. However, SumaiL never quite reached the height in his initial years when finishing #3 in 3 tournaments.
EG has already secured the direct invite to The International 2019. They have roughly one month to rest and train before the $31 million event. Though EG looked shaky at times, SumaiL still retained his dominant skills at mid lane. The Pakistan youngster will look to claim the 2nd The International trophy this year in mid-August.
Trivia:
- His elder brother, Yawar "YawaR" Hassan currently plays for Newbee after qualifying through North America Qualifier. The two brothers will rejoin in the largest ever Esports tournament.
- SumaiL is the youngest TI winner in history, winning millions of dollar at the age of 16.
- The youngster took a part in Time Magazine's top 30 influential teenagers of 2016. He is also the first Dota 2 player to ever get a mention in the magazine's awards.
- Until this point in August 2019, SumaiL has earned $3,349,914.94 from prize money, finishing #6 in Esports earner list.
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