Taiga Announces Retirement From Professional Dota 2

The 25-year-old Support player from Norwegia, Tommy “Taiga” Le, announced on Twitter about his retirement from professional Dota 2. Taiga plans on becoming a full-time streamer and sell coaching services on the side.

Who Is Taiga?

Tommy “Taiga” Le was a former professional Dota 2 player. He played the fourth position role and was known for his Earth Spirit, Rubick, and Io. 

After his skills were established and known to the world, Taiga played in three TI-winning organizations: Alliance, Team Liquid, and OG.

During his time as a professional player, Taiga worked with players such as Michael “miCKe” Vu, Samuel “Boxi” Svahn, Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi, Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov, Ammar “ATF” Al-Assafand, and Sébastien “Ceb” Debs.

Taiga’s Career Achievements

Though he wasn’t the most successful Dota player in the world, Taiga still won several S-Tier tournaments. His career was at its peak during 2022 with OG.

Taiga’s most notable achievements include:

• ESL One Malaysia 2022: 1st place with OG
• ESL One Stockholm Major 2022: 1st place with OG
• ESL One Germany 2020: 1st place with Team Liquid
• Dota Summit 10: 1st place with Alliance

Taiga isn’t as title-rich as other names playing the same position, but he is renowned as one of the more mechanically skilled players. He made a name for himself playing Earth Spirit, his signature hero. 

Issues That Declined His Performance

Unfortunately, Taiga’s gameplay in his OG days started going downhill. Eventually, Taiga was moved to OG’s inactive roster without publicising the reason.

Taiga took to Twitter in October 2023 to reveal his gambling addiction, which was taking over his life. Not only could he not focus on playing Dota, but his compulsive habit also affected his relationships and family. 

A lot of you have been wondering where I’ve been for the past year, so here’s my explanation.

It’s time to leave the past behind, and welcome the future with open arms💙

Like I mentioned in the text down below, if you ever need anyone to talk to or if you’ve struggled with… pic.twitter.com/jesYSJ47LR

— Tommy Le (@Taigadota) October 30, 2023

In a sad TwitLonger, Taiga mentioned he had essentially lost all the money he made from tournament earnings gambling. According to Liquipedia, he would have made over $600,000 throughout his career.

After coming clean on Twitter, Taiga announced he was motivated to return to professional Dota. He relocated to Southeast Asia to play for BLEED Esports, along with some of the region’s finest names. 

Alas, the team could not achieve any results and was losing to no-named teams, which was unacceptable considering the skill cap and reputation of the players in the roster. Taiga was benched after a month of his time in BLEED and returned to Europe. 

What’s Next

As of February 2024, Taiga announced that he was done with competitive Dota 2 and wished to become a full-time streamer, following the footsteps of his long-time teammate, Max “qojqva” Brocker. 

Retired, full time streamer grinding 12k next for fun ✌️
First on https://t.co/lnI7BDmAu7
Then laterhttps://t.co/lHiTEc80Ug
Also do some coaching from now and then here https://t.co/tsXK3Yv8dN pic.twitter.com/ZjZCcNJDxJ

— Tommy Le (@Taigadota) February 8, 2024

Taiga is currently 11,000 MMR and plans to reach his goal of 12,000 in front of his audience on his Twitch stream. He has also opened coaching services on Metafy, which are accessible to anyone. 

Header: @taigadota2 Instagram