TI2 Champions: Invictus Gaming – Where are they now?

Invictus Gaming were the first Chinese team to ever win The International with their win going into the 2012 iteration.

They performed admirably at TI2 with a near flawless record of 13-1 in the group stage, only to be sent down to the lower bracket by the reigning champions; NAVI.

Fighting their way through the lower bracket, and reaching the grand finals by eliminating their Chinese counterparts, IG was finally able to triumph over NAVI in a 3:1 series and win the coveted Aegis of the Immortal.

Let’s find out the whereabouts of the TI2 winning squad.

Chen “Zhou” Yao

Image Source: Valve

Zhou was widely regarded as one of the best position 1 players in China alongside Burning, Sylar and ZSMJ during that time.

He helmed IG’s roster during TI2 and created history by being the first Chinese team to lift the Aegis.

Subsequently at TI3, IG were unable to maintain their form with Zhou’s form deteriorating over that period.

Unable to defend his throne, Zhou was later transferred to TongFu although a few months later he announced his retirement.

At present, it is unknown as to what Zhou does but there was news on him starting his own business on Taobao – an online Chinese shopping platform.

Luo “Ferrari_430” Feichi

Image Source: AMD Pro Dota 2 Series

Arguably the most prominent player coming out of China, Ferrari_430 has wowed the community across the globe with his terrific and impeccable plays.

The position 2 player wreaked havoc amongst his enemy ranks with his ferocious plays on Templar Assassin, Shadow Fiend and Invoker – to name a few, and was instrumental in IG’s success at TI2.

Ferrari stuck with Invictus Gaming for five years after which he began to fade into the shadows.

His last appearance was for EHOME in 2019, post which he’s gone inactive and hasn’t been seen on the competitive circuit.

Jiang “YYF” Cen

YYF played for LGD Gaming before getting poached by Invictus Gaming to form iG.Y and eventually winning TI2 with IG – a squad formed by merging iG.Y and iG.Z.

A solid player on the offlane, YYF provided IG with stability and intricate plays – a fact that proved to be instrumental towards IG’s success at TI2.

After failing to defend his Aegis at TI3, YYF announced his retirement on Weibo in 2014 being unable to keep up with the rapidly changing meta.

Currently his whereabouts are unknown.

Wong “ChuaN” Hock Chuan

Image Source: ESL

Chuan is perhaps the first Malaysian player to be imported to China where he played with LGD.cn in 2011 before getting poached by Invictus Gaming.

He is widely known for his vocal antics and goofy personna, and was a pillar in IG’s backline at TI2.

Chuan then featured in multiple iterations of The International primarily through IG and Newbee, but couldn’t find much success.

He last competed with Echo International in 2018 for a very brief period and went inactive shortly after.

He has now resurfaced as the coach of Neon Esports – a SEA team based out of the Philippines.

 Zeng “Faith” Hongda

Image Source: DreamHack

Faith was a prominent figure in the Chinese Dota scene having won TI2 with Invictus Gaming.

Following his departure from IG, Faith switched between several Chinese teams before finding a home at Newbee – a place that would later turn out to be both; fruitful and uneventful.

Along with Newbee, Faith reached the grand finals of The International 7, which they lost to Team Liquid in a whitewash.

Similar to many players, Faith too started to fade into obscurity but it was in January 2021 when he would get the biggest blow of his life – being permanently banned from all Valve events for match-fixing.

That was the last anyone has heard or seen of him.