Prior to The International 2022, Team SMG had it all figured out. The Dota 2 team was looking to make it through the TI11 regional qualifiers with the addition of iceiceice and poloson, but SMG’s dreams were left hanging when the organization failed to submit its roster on time.
The team’s TI absence meant the end of the road for poloson and iceiceice, while SMG decided to fill the holes left by the two with Marvin “Xavius” Rushton and Lee “CDR” Jia He.
This move finalized SMG’s Dota 2 roster for the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit, while also introducing role changes. To make way for CDR, MidOne will be transitioning into position three, a role he’s familiar with from his days on OG.
The 2023 iteration of SMG consists of CDR (position one), Kam “Moon” Boon Seng (position two), MidOne (position three), Tue “ah fu” Soon Chuan (position four), Xavius (position five).
Despite spending the majority of his Dota 2 career as a position one/two player, MidOne transitioned into playing position three when OG recruited him in 2020. With MidOne stepping down, CDR will be taking the ropes of the safe lane with Xavius by his side.
Though CDR is just at the beginning of his career, Xavius is coming off of a hot stint with Polaris Esports, who made it to the Last Chance Qualifiers for TI11. Polaris performed above expectations during the group stage and secured an upper bracket spot, only to crash out of the tournament in two rounds.
Considering the last iteration of SMG never had a chance to prove itself because the org missed the deadline for roster registration, it’ll be highly unlikely for SMG to make the same mistake twice. The organization will be after revenge for a major lost opportunity last summer.
