Anathan “Ana” Pham is rarely less than frank when interviewed about his DOTA2 beginnings. “I was just playing non-stop, for 10 hours a day,” he said in a Valve player profile video. “My mum, she would tell me to go to school, but I would like, try to get out of it. I would eventually get sneaky with like, how I get on the computer – I would use the camera to film what password mum is writing…”
His story of exploring a deep passion for the game in spite of school or parental wishes is certainly familiar to those who heard enough interviews with young DOTA talents. Similarly, Ana the player managed to blend into the crowd during these early days, remembered mostly by those unlucky enough to face him on the high-mmr matchmaking brackets where he farmed ranks and built up his skill as a mid laner. He learned fast, saying his attitude is to take every defeat as a chance to spot the holes in his game, so the then-16 year old rose swiftly to the elite level.
Coming of age as a player when the DOTA2 scene was well-established, Anathan’s road to international competition looks very different to Damien’s. His friend and long-time manager Tian shopped him around to connections in the Chinese teams as a developmental talent, at a time when Chinese DOTA was seen as lacking promising new blood. Despite his mother’s reservations, by December 2015 Ana had already dropped out of high school to play in Shanghai as part of the powerful Invictus Gaming organisation.
While Kpii was struggling on EHOME.Keen, going months without a significant win, iG.Ana was subbing in for legendary mid Luo “Ferrari_430” Feichi. The fierce competition in the Chinese in-house leagues and regional tournaments helped him continue his rapid growth as a player, and teams outside of China began to take notice of him, even if he wasn’t yet well known to overseas fans. Ana was on the rise.
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