One of the most iconic Chinese players of all time has to be Lu ’Maybe’ Yao. He has been one of the top players in the world since the early days of DotA. Yesterday it was announced that Maybe would be returning to Dota 2 with PSG.LGD. Let's take a look at Maybe's career to date.

Dota

Maybe has been playing DotA since the early days of its existence. However, some of his most notable accomplishments were with team Greedy. His teammate was probably the most famous Shadow Fiend player of all time - YaphetS.

Following the team's success, it was picked up by Vici Gaming. Lu is also famous for playing in various Chinese in-house leagues. Only the best players back in the days could “afford” to play there.

Dota 2

As soon as Dota 2 came out, Maybe continued to better himself in the first big in-house leagues. Despite being really good at the game, his first professional appearance happened in 2014 when he was picked up by LGD.Gaming. The reason for his late professional start was his studies, which were his primary focus back then. Like in many other cases, his family wasn’t thrilled about him gaming so much.

Not long after he joined LGD.Gaming, Lu was sent to the organization's second team. He was replaced by Lin, who was not able to live up to expectations. Maybe proved himself yet again and just after the end of DAC 2015, he was transferred back to the LGD Gaming’s primary team.

In 2015, Maybe and LGD.Gaming were slowly but surely building up their name. They managed to win the MarsTV Dota 2 Chinese League as well as I-League Season 3. This made them one of the main contenders for TI 5. Despite not winning the event, Maybe and Co. were able to finish third. During that time the Chinese region was very strong and even though LGD were very good, they were not the elite.

The next year was full of ups and downs. LGD managed to snatch 4th place at the Manila Major. However, their TI 6 run was not as good as the previous year’s. Many people thought that Lu would leave LGD after the event but he proved them wrong by staying. Some consider him to be the “Chinese Dendi” in terms of his loyalty to a certain team, although Dendi is not currently with Na’Vi.

Maybe’s greatest Dota 2 accomplishment was his second place finish at TI 8. He was one of the main reasons for the incredible performance of his team. Sadly, despite being the favorites, LGD were unable to deal with OG in the Grand Finals.

Maybe’s Most Notable Heroes

Storm Spirit

When you think about Storm Spirit, the first player that comes in mind is definitely Sumail. While EG’s prodigy is indeed the “S-God”, Maybe is definitely up there as well. There are countless games where he and his Storm single-handedly carried his team to victory. The game against Virtus.Pro at TI 8 that is linked above is a clear example. There are not that many people that could play a near perfect game against one of the best teams in the world at the biggest event.

Shadow Fiend

All those years playing alongside YaphetS seem to be paying off. Somnus (Maybe’s other nickname) is considered to be one of the best Shadow Fiend players in modern Dota. It was always interesting to see him playing in any of those 1v1 events that used to be held during big tournaments. Even though there are many amazing SF players, Maybe is definitely one of the most notable ones.

Invoker

Of course, there is no top-tier mid player that doesn’t play Invoker. The “one man army” hero is always one of the most exciting to watch in-game. If we take a look at Maybe’s DotaBuff, we will see that he has over 400 Pub games with the hero on his main profile alone. This is a clear sign that Invoker is one of his most comfortable heroes to play. Unfortunately, the current meta is not really favoring the hero.

Kunkka

Whenever LGD have their backs against the wall, Maybe’s Kunkka comes to the rescue. The hero itself is very strong versus most matchups. That’s why it is surprisingly common to see him in-game nowadays.

Final Thoughts

Maybe is currently playing with his team in the MDL Disneyland Paris Major qualifiers. They finished first in Group B and now have to face Newbee in the Playoffs.

PSG.LGD was able to cope with the absence of Maybe fairly well. They finished 5th-6th in the DreamLeague Season 11 Major. The Chinese team is currently 6th in the DPC ranking which means that they need more DPC points to secure their direct invite to the upcoming TI 9.

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Image Via: The Score Esports