Danish veteran MaNia returns to competitive DotA

Brian 'MaNia' Strandby has decided to make a comeback to professional DotA2 with a Danish team called Monkey Business after retiring in late 2013. His team has qualified for the Stage 2 of the ESL Frankfurt European Qualifiers.

The long-time supporters of professional DotA have surely heard of Brian 'MaNia' Strandby and his feats in the scene. The veteran has now returned to professional Dota and teams up with a few of his former teammates under the banner of Monkey Business/LiangHao. Together with former MYM players Jonathan 'Unicornxoxo' Arge, Jon '13abyKnight' Andersen, Malthe 'Blan' Zimakoff, Marcus 'Ace' Hoelgaard and Christoffer 'Ryze' Winther as their coach, the squad has successfully qualified for the 2nd phase of the European qualifier for ESL One in Frankfurt.

Being one of the oldest players in the business (born in 1984), MaNia started playing professionally back in 2006, staying with teams such as Meet Your Makers for which he attended the first International with DeMoN, Maelk, MiSeRy and PlaymatE and placed fourth. The Danish veteran was involved in the scene for almost 8 years and was also awarded the GosuGamers award for best ganker in 2008. He retired in October 2013, stating that he wanted to coach younger players to help eSports grow.

As for the rest of the team, the Danes played together under the MYM banner leading up to TI4, after which the squad slowly fell apart which resulted in an abysmal 25% winrate in September. The squad eventually disbanded and vanished from the competitive scene but has now resurfaced.

Monkey Business/Lianghao roster:

Jonathan 'Unicornxoxo' Arge

Jon '13abyKnight' Andersen

Marcus 'Ace' Hoelgaard

Malthe 'Blan' Zimakoff

Brian 'MaNia' Strandby

Christoffer 'Ryze' Winther (Coach)

Source: TeamLiquid.net, joinDota.com

Headline image source : MaNia Facebook page

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