Has Ana Return to his Summer Job?

The International 2023 is on the horizon, and it seems that Anathan "Ana" Pham, a legendary safelane carry player who won back-to-back Ti with OG, is back for his summer job - securing another TI title.

Unlike most Dota 2 professional players who grind the entire DPC season to get a ticket to TI, Ana returns to pro play only when TI is near and seemingly vanishes into thin air once  Ti is over. Nevertheless, his dedicated fans flocked to the legendary former OG carry player to welcome him back to the pro scene.

Brief Summary Of Ana’s Tradition 

After OG became The International 2018 Champions, Ana took a break from the professional scene. He returned to the active professional scene with OG in the final Major of 2019, before The International 2019. Ana’s return gave OG the Anime Power Boost they needed, and eventually, OG went on to become the first-ever back-to-back Ti Champions.

After Ti 9, he once again disappeared from the active pro scene. During the pandemic lockdown season, Valve cancelled the year’s Ti and Ana did not come out of his training arc for that year. In the 2021 season, Ana made a short return to the pro scene with OG, but he announced his retirement and did not attend The International 2021. OG failed to defend their throne that year, getting eliminated by Team Spirit, who went on to become The International 2021 Champions.

Ana’s known tradition had not always worked in his favour. Before The International 2022, rumours about Ana joining a new team for Ti11 surfaced. The reports stand correct, as Ana joined T1 with his former teammate from OG. T1 cruised through the SEA open qualifiers, but they met their match in the Last Chance Qualifiers and got eliminated.

The Surprise? 

Ana is known for his skills as being the best safelane hard carry player in the world. His signature Spectre, Ember Spirit and Phantom Lancer had become a nightmare for many players, and many teams prioritised banning those heroes whenever they were up against Ana.

The expected return of Ana does not catch anyone by surprise. However, a peculiar thing about his return did. Ana is practising soft support and offlane heroes instead of his usual role. Ana was playing heroes like Magnus, Pangolier, Marci and Techies. He has ten matches on Techies with a 60% win rate. His Marci has a 66.7% win rate in six matches. He had played 57 matches in the last eight days with a 43.59% win rate.