Forev Replaces iceiceice in ESL One Thailand

Iceiceice dota summit — Image credit: Beyond the Summit

Fnatic are changing their Dota 2 roster before the start of ESL One Thailand as Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang will be replaced by Lee "Forev" Sang-don.

ESL One Thailand may have already kicked off in the Americas, but there’s still a week until it starts in Asia. Fnatic decided to make a notable change in their roster as Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang will be taking a break. The star player will be out of action until the start of the next Dota Pro Circuit season which is expected to kick off this fall.

We have been invited to the @ESLDota2 #ESLOne Thailand THHowever, we will be playing without @iceiceicedota as takes a break until the restart of the DPC. Filling our offlane role for this tournament will be @DotaFoREv. Let's play some Dota! pic.twitter.com/Arnm1K1BJy
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) August 12, 2020

The SEA player was instrumental for Fnatic’s success in the many tournaments they attended. Fnatic took first place in DOTA Summit 12, ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online: SEA, BTS Pro Series: SEA, ESL One Birmingham 2020 – Online: SEA and World E-sports Legendary League. Most recently they placed third in BTS Pro Series Season 2: SEA and second in the ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League. You could say the team has had quite a good year so far. Fnatic are without a doubt one of the strongest teams in the region and are currently favorites to take ESL One Thailand: Asia. The event will kick off on August 20 and it’ll feature a total of 12 teams, 10 of which are already clear:

Fnatic
BOOM Esports
Geek Fam
T1
TNC Predator
Royal Never Give Up
Sparking Arrow Gaming
Aster.Aries
Motivade.Trust Gaming
Hashtag?.DOTA
TBD
TBD

The final two will be determined by closed qualifiers that are set to start on Monday, August 17.

Standing in for iceiceice during ESL One Thailand: Asia will be Lee "Forev" Sang-don. Most recently Forev played for T1, but was released roughly two weeks ago. It's still unclear whether Forev will fill in for iceiceice until the next DPC season or just for ESL One Thailand: Asia.

geumilburo T1 DOTA2eseo hwaldonghan Forev isangdon seonsuwa sanghohyeobyihae gyeyageul jongryohage doeeossseubnida. isangdon seonsuyi saeroun dojeoneul eungweonhabnida.Today we part ways with Forev. We highly appreciate his contribution to the team and wish him all the best.#T1WIN #T1Fighting pic.twitter.com/heiTyjDYvK
— T1 (@T1) July 30, 2020

Forev spent almost a year with the team, but success never came for T1. With him out of the equation T1 currently consists of:

Galvin "Meracle" Kang Jian Wen
Muhammad "inYourdreaM" Rizky
Tri "Jhocam" Kuncoro
Wilson "Poloson" Koh Chin Wei

The South Korean organization is currently missing an offlaner and it’s still unclear who’ll be their fifth for the big event. The most interesting part is that Foreve’ll get the chance to play against his old team and teammates in the upcoming ESL One Thailand: Asia. Who will prevail though? Fnatic seem to be in better shape, but who knows?