If you have read Part 1 of our journey in the life and times of Anathan “ana” Pham, we merely scratched the surface of his talent. Now, it is time to take a deep dive into his personal achievements and team awards. Sit back and relax as there is a lot to talk about.
How did ana’s career start?
As we mentioned in Part 1, Anathan Pham did not have an easy start to his Dota 2 professional career. After a short spell in Australia and the major decision to drop out of high school, he moved to China in search of stardom.
It is important to mention that ana topped all the charts in official Dota 2 matchmaking and it was obvious that it was only a matter of time before someone picked him up. Even though he did not get the role he wanted, being a substitute in Invictus Gaming wasn’t a bad professional start for ana.
However, he did not stick around there. OG was calling to him and he answered the call. The rest, as you might imagine, is Dota 2 history. Ana started racking up the wins and his list of titles only grew:
- National Electronic Arena 2016
- Elimination Mode 2.0
- The Boston Major 2016
- Elimination Mode 3.0
- The Kiev Major 2017
- The International 2018
- The International 2019
As you can see from the list of Dota 2 tournaments, most of them are Major titles. On top of that, he is the only Australian Dota 2 player that has won The International not once, but twice.
The International 2018 – here comes the underdog
After Tal “Fly” Aizik and Gustav “s4” Magnusson left OG in order to pursue their TI dream with Evil Geniuses, no one gave OG the benefit of the doubt at TI 8. However, ana had other plans.
Believe it or not, OG is the only team that won TI that had to qualify via European Open Qualifiers. When it comes to bookmakers, OG were the least favored out of all 18 teams.
We all know that Ember Spirit, Alchemist and Phantom Lancer are Anathan’s best heroes and He proved that against LGD gaming as he topped the charts with Ember Spirit. After putting on a show during TI 8, ana lifted the trophy and decided to take a break.
The International 2019 – least favored yet again
After getting some well-deserved rest, ana came back to try and lift another Aegis. Once again, no one took OG them seriously and everyone thought that The International 2018 was a fluke. However, the Australian wonderboy stepped up even more, especially in the playoffs.
It was time for ana to introduce core Io.
No one had a counter to that play and certain betting sites predicted the first-ever 3-0 sweep in a TI grand final. However, things did not pan out in OG’s favor as Liquid took the first map. But when times are hard, you call for ana. This is exactly what OG did and eventually, they won three straight maps against Liquid in order to lift another Aegis which solidified the entire roster as one of the best Dota 2 teams that ever touched the game.
All in all, it seems like Anathan is a player for big events, at least for now. Majors such as those in Kiev and Boston saw him perform really well. However, lower-tiered events are where he seems to be struggling. A likely reason for this might be that he is burned out and it seems like he is only willing to compete at the highest level.
At the time of writing, ana is still listed as inactive and we would be surprised if he does not show up for The International 2020. We only saw him briefly at WeSave! and since it wasn’t a Major... it didn’t work well.
If you somehow missed our series on the famous players across esports, check them out here:
READ MORE:
- The life and times of Topson – Part 1
- The life and times of Topson – Part 2
- The life and times of Forg1ven – Part 1
- The life and times of Forg1ven – Part 2
And make sure to come back next Saturday for another exciting story in the Life and times of the best and brightest in esports, here, at EarlyGame.
