A day after they announced the departure of Roddgeee from their roster, Team SMG is ready to welcome a veteran aboard and start fresh with a new captain.
Michael "ninjaboogie" Ross Jr will be taking the leadership from hard support role at Team SMG for the Spring Tour of the Dota Pro Circuit.
Ninjaboogie is returning to the competitive scene after nearly two years of on and off activity with a couple of Southeast Asia rosters.
His last big ride was back in 2019 with Mineski, placing ninth at TI9 with them. In the aftermath of that year’s TI edition, he decided to skip the first tournaments of the 2020-2021 DPC and take time off to deal with personal matters. Then, COVID hit and through the online 2020 period, he tried to build a team from scratch, 032 Dota, and compete in the online regional events that happened. However, the results didn’t show up and after a few attempts with team Io, he again decided to step away for a while.
At the beginning of 2021 Ninjaboogie was a part of Team SMG’s starting roster. He fought under the organization’s banner for a spot in the 2021 DPC, but to no avail and since then he went into a yearlong break.
In the meantime, SMG gathered SEA veterans under their roof, building a new team around Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng and had continuous progress, from 2021 DPC Season 2 SEA lower division to now being a Division 1 team and a top four placement at the recently concluded Regional Finals.
Heading into the Spring Tour, which is set to begin on March 14, SMG and Ninjaboogie will look to improve the previous season results and punch a ticket at the ESL One Stockholm Major.
Team SMG current roster
Nai Zheng “MidOne” Yeik
NaNa “Moon” ♪
Ryan Jay “Raging Potato - Bimbo” Qui
Tue “ah fu” Soon Chuan
Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross
headline picture courtesy of EPICENTER