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Anuxi at joinDOTA studios Anuxi at joinDOTA studios

Why did you decide you wanted to invest in the DOTA2 scene, and why jDL specifically? Why not closer to home?

Anuxi At TI3 I was so in love with the DOTA2 competitive scene I wanted to do my part in helping the scene grow. Sure, I had player sets I could help with, but I wanted to also see if there was a way to help grow the scene locally in Australia, outside of making hats.



I looked around in Australia for a tournament to help sponsor; I decided to go with Southern Cross Dota and help them establish a new tournament with LAN finals in Melbourne. In the end, there wasn’t enough local and international sponsorship on top of my contribution to let the tournament go ahead, so the Southern Cross Open (SCO) was cancelled. Fun fact, the Dazzle set,



After the cancellation of the SCO, I started thinking about other tournaments to sponsor locally or in and around the SEA region. At the time joinDota League was on its way to finishing up and I saw that a few Aussie teams did well in the SEA bracket and March of Masick was sponsored by Team Immunity! I saw no better tournament/league out there that helps foster DOTA2 competitively on such a global scale, so I thought it would be a great tournament to help out, since I think we need more teams getting the exposure they need. My sponsorship in the jDL season 2 will not only help out teams in the Australian scene, it will also help teams in Asia, Europe and America too! At TI3 I was so in love with the DOTA2 competitive scene I wanted to do my part in helping the scene grow. Sure, I had player sets I could help with, but I wanted to also see if there was a way to help grow the scene locally in Australia, outside of making hats.I looked around in Australia for a tournament to help sponsor; I decided to go with Southern Cross Dota and help them establish a new tournament with LAN finals in Melbourne. In the end, there wasn’t enough local and international sponsorship on top of my contribution to let the tournament go ahead, so the Southern Cross Open (SCO) was cancelled. Fun fact, the Dazzle set, Shadow Flame that was recently added was originally supposed to be part of the ticket bundle for the SCO.After the cancellation of the SCO, I started thinking about other tournaments to sponsor locally or in and around the SEA region. At the time joinDota League was on its way to finishing up and I saw that a few Aussie teams did well in the SEA bracket and March of Masick was sponsored by Team Immunity! I saw no better tournament/league out there that helps foster DOTA2 competitively on such a global scale, so I thought it would be a great tournament to help out, since I think we need more teams getting the exposure they need. My sponsorship in the jDL season 2 will not only help out teams in the Australian scene, it will also help teams in Asia, Europe and America too!

Is the item creation business that lucrative that you have cash to spare? Are you at a point in your career where you feel pretty stable?

Anuxi I don’t believe item creation is a stability, to be honest. But thats similar to the games industry with exception from a few unique companies like Valve. I’ve gotten into a hard saving mindset ever since I started in the industry 10 years ago. Making sure you have 6 months of living expenses saved up is pretty vital in an industry where your game can be cancelled without notice, and all funding dries up.



Through some hard work and some sacrifice plus getting in at the right time, I have seem to hit a bit of a sweet spot in the DOTA2 hat making system. I have been able to work full time making DOTA2 items, travel to Dreamhack Winter and visit the joinDOTA studios in Berlin. I have saved up enough for the possibility of a dry spell, and have some money to spare. Why not invest it in the game I love and the community that helped me get to where I am today?

Anuxi signing at TI3 - © Anuxi signing at TI3 - © Penny Arcade

Why not put the money towards an Anuxi foundation, perhaps supporting new artists to get their items into the game?

Anuxi There are already websites out there that do that kind of stuff better than I would be able to do, like Polycount and Live Workshop. It’s all free to learn everything you need to know on the internet. The artists who want it enough will find it. If I was to do a teaching school it would be small classes locally, and it wouldn’t focus on dota2. It would focus on making video games. But yeah, that’s a pie in the sky idea which would need a huge amount of capital to get started. I don’t have that kind of money and right now investing in the competitive scene feels like the right thing to do.

What are you hoping will be the result of this investment, what impact would you like it to have?

Anuxi I just wanted to help the prize pool so that teams who won it can use that money to keep playing DOTA2. It would be really cool to see this inspiring other artists to do something similar, or even other private investors to come forward and help the scene if they are passionate in DOTA2. Helping out the scene is reward enough for me. #YOLOsponsorship

Anuxi is responsible for a horde of well known sets for DOTA2 including courier Shagbark , Windranger's Featherfall set and the Nightsilver Mirana set . Anuxi was also a VIP guest at The International 3 where she was invited to sign prints of her favorite sets and creations. After such a long stint creating items for the community at large, Anuxi decided it was time to put her success to good use by giving back into the community. We caught up with her to find out why.This article was written byLawrence Phillips, joinDOTA's Editor-in-Chief.Malystryx has been in eSports since 2004 working as eSports Editor for Razer and Editor-in-Chief of SK Gaming in the past He misses the days of Warcraft3 but makes do with the world of DOTA 2.Location: Bristol, UKFollow him on @MalystryxGDS.