The International 2012 (TI2) remains an iconic edition for multiple reasons. It was the first time when TI was held on US soil, in Seattle at Benaroya Hall and the first year when China would claim the most wanted trophy in the scene, the Aegis of Champions.
Beginning with Invictus Gaming’s crushing victory in 2012, for many years to come, the East would go on claiming the Aegis in every even numbered year, while the West would do the same in the odd numbered years.
TI2 featured 16 teams fighting for a share of the same $1,600,000 prize pool as the very first TI edition had. iG were one of the 14 directly invited teams after placing top 6 at The International 2011. They came with an adjusted roster, after replacing three of their players, and went on to dominate the group stage with a 13-1 series score.
Invictus Gaming The International 2012 roster
Yao “Zhou” Chen
Fei Chi “Ferrari 430” Luo
Cen “YYF” Jiang
Hock Chuan “ChuaN” Wong
Hong Da “Faith” Zeng
Game two of the upper bracket final iG vs NAVI delivered an iconic team fight that would forever keep iG’s carry Chen "Zhou" Yao in fans' memory.
“Patience from Zhou” became an in-game Chat Wheel phrase and the symbol of a perfect team fight initiation.
But, although they landed a perfect Song-Vacuum-Ravage combo, iG lacked the follow-up damage, lost the fight and eventually lost the series 1-2 to NAVI. They bounced back from the lower bracket rounds by having to send packing three other Chinese teams, namely EHOME, Team DK and LGD Gaming, and took revenge over the defending champions to become the first Chinese team to win The International.
The roster remained intact for next year’s The International and placed top 6 in 2013, while remaining a true force throughout the year. At TI4, Invictus Gaming’s line-up was already different, and by today, none of the TI2 champions are actively playing.
Where are the TI2 champions now?
Zhou started his Dota 2 career as the player with the highest tournament earnings in DotA 1, approximately $31,620. He joined iG in August 2011 and stayed with the organization until after TI3, when he moved to TongFu. However, he continued to play only for a few months after leaving iG, announcing his retirement from the competitive scene on the 10th of February, 2014.
Although in his retirement post he mentioned that he is interested in becoming a coach, he never truly pursued that path. Instead, he joined forces with other retired Chinese players and competed every now and then in smaller tournaments under the Old Boys tag. His last official game was in May 2020 in the Chinese online Vulcan Champion League.
More recently, Zhou joined the Chinese broadcast for The International 2022 and this year he was an official Douyu partner Streamer for Riyadh Masters 2023.
Ferrari was loyal to iG for five years. Through his time spent with the team, he was undoubtedly the best mid laner in the world.
His incredible plays had him dubbed “The Pianist” but, once players like Zhang "Mu" Pan, Lu "Somnus" Yao, Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan or Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi started to make their mark on the mid lane, Ferrari faded away. Ferrari’s last TI appearance was in 2015 with iG, where he placed just 9th/12th.
In 2017 he moved to Newbee, but played mainly for their secondary team. In 2019 he made a final attempt at revitalizing his career with EHOME, but after a failed qualifying campaign for TI9, he hanged the mouse and the keyboard for good.
He made a few appearances on the Chinese broadcasts for TI8 and TI9, and his last showing was as an analyst for ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021. After that, Ferrari exited the spotlight completely.
Despite being one of the most consistent players on the TI winning line-up of iG, YYF made an early retirement. He left behind the competitive play after TI4 and has never dabbled in commentary or analysis. He made a couple of appearances with the Old Boys squad and played in the open qualifiers for TI9, but after failing to reach the closed qualifiers, he didn’t push for more.
ChuaN is the first and the only Malaysian player to have won The International. He is also the only one from the TI2 iG line-up who is still involved in the professional scene in some capacity.
In his prime, ChuaN was one of the best position 4 players. He was known for being extremely vocal during the games, very driven, but also quite an emotional player. He saw the top 6 placement at TI6 as a pretty disappointing result and decided it was time for him to retire. However, he returned to the active roster a few months later and stayed with iG until the end of 2015.
In 2016 he joined Newbee, and although he never replicated the performance from early iG years, he recorded with his new team a 29-0 winning games streak. He continued to play in China until 2018 when he made another retirement.
In 2022, he returned to the pro scene, but in his own region, Southeast Asia, and joined Neon Esports. At first, he tried to reignite his professional play, but just three months later he switched to the coaching role and has helped NEON to maintain a spot in the SEA Dota Pro Circuit regional league where the team will start the 2024 season in Division I.
Faith was one of the best and most successful support players in China. He was highly regarded not only for his TI2 title but also for the second place finish at TI7. He was the first Chinese player with a real shot at claiming the Aegis of Champions twice but lost the TI7 grand finals to Team Liquid.
Unfortunately, Faith is also the only TI champion who has ended his professional career in the worst way possible. He stayed with Invictus Gaming until 2015, after which he moved to TongFu for one year. In 2016 he joined Newbee and reached the TI7 grand finals with them. Newbee meant for him a revitalization of his career but also the ending.
On May 15, 2020, the entire Newbee roster was found guilty of match-fixing in China Dota 2 Pro League Season 2 and DPL-CDA Season 1. All players on the team got banned from participating in any tournaments organized by ImbaTV, Mars Media and CDA and later on the organization as a whole as well as the five players on the Newbee roster at that time got lifetime banned from any Perfect World and Valve events.
While fans can hope that any of the TI2 champions will grace the stage either at TI or at Majors in a coach position or as a part of the official broadcasts, there is little to no chance that Faith will make a comeback in any capacity.
