Syed Sumail "Suma1L" Hassan’s performance at The International 5 for Evil Geniuses changed the Dota scene forever. The pickup of a new, fresh talented individual from the Dota 2 public leader board had proved a phenomenal success. The last three Valve run events have been won by Evil Geniuses (The International 5), Team OG (Frankfurt Major) and most recently, Team Secret (Shanghai Major). The common denominator? A “pubstar” in their roster.

Aliwi “w33” Omar became famous to the Dota 2 world when he became the first player to reach a then unfathomable 8,000 MMR . He was renowned for his unbelievable plays on Meepo, a hero with a skill cap much higher than most, as well as his signature hero, Invoker. The first professional team that w33 had experience with came through Balkan Bears and although the team struggled to have any real results of note, w33’s performances were still catching the eye of Dota fans and players alike. He joined MeePwn’d with veterans such as H4nn1 and pieliedie before rejoining Balkan Bears with another famous pubstar: Miracle- .

Again, following a limited amount of success, w33 moved on to play with EGM (now of Alliance) and Pajkatt where his first tournament wins came, even if they were small in nature. Shockwaves were sent through the Dota world when he became part of Puppey’s new look Team Secret in August 2015 where he would eventually have great success. Now sitting at eSports earnings of just shy of $400,000, w33’s sometimes unbelievable plays carried Team Secret to many a victory and even tournament. When it was announced just a few days before the Manila and TI roster lock that he would no longer be a part of Secret, he moved swiftly to become part of an exciting new Digital Chaos roster who will be competing in the Regional Qualifiers for Manila .

We caught up with w33 to find out more about his meteoric rise to the top.

Tell us about your gaming history. Have you always been a PC gamer?

Yes, to be honest I've always been a PC gamer at heart. I have tried the PS3 and I absolutely loved it but it was very time consuming and unrewarding compared to PC gaming. I just kept on playing Dota, then Dota 2 as well as Counter-Strike 1.6 and Global Offensive. I’ve been playing them for as long as I can remember, so PC gaming just stuck with me.

How did you discover Dota, and do you remember when you first fell in love with it?

I used to play a lot of Counter-Strike 1.6 in LAN cafes. After about a year of playing 1.6 I started to notice a lot of people playing Dota 1 so I decided to give it a shot. I instantly fell in love with the game and couldn’t stop playing it, and still can’t to this day.

You were the very first player to reach 8,000 MMR. How did you manage it? What would be your number one tip for someone aspiring to reach that level?

I set my goal as reaching 8,000 MMR first, as I thought it would be a good way to get noticed by all of the professional teams and players to potentially go competitive. I tried my very best to get it with always having a good attitude towards my team, and trying extremely hard every game. If you are really into Dota and you think you have a good chance of making it, then just go for it and never give up, even during the hardest of times.

You very successfully made the move into the professional scene; how difficult was the transition from pub strategy to playing at a high level professionally?

Transitioning from a high level pub to a competitive game can be very tricky due to the sheer pressure of people having high expectations from you, and there being a huge number of viewers during official games. I don’t think that matters too much if your only goal is to play for a big team or in a big tournament like The International. That’s what motivated me more than anything else and helped me overcome these issues.

w33 in action at the Frankfurt Major © Steffie Wunderl, ESL

You were picked up on Team Secret and won the Shanghai Major with them. Did getting picked up by Secret surprise you? Did you ever think you would be playing Dota 2 as a career?

Playing Dota 2 as a career was always my goal and that’s why I started going competitive and made it to 8,000 MMR. When I was picked up by Team Secret it was a bit surprising, but honestly not all that unexpected. Suma1L’s performance at The International 5 made me expect for all of the big teams to look for fresh new pubstars, which kind of happened and it was a very good opportunity for new talent in the scene to develop.

Playing at the Shanghai Major must have been difficult with the intense support for the Chinese and well documented technical difficulties, did you feel the pressure?

I don’t feel like there was a huge amount of pressure on our team. We felt very confident going into the event and were also very prepared. Once all of the Chinese teams dropped out of the tournament before the top eight, all of the crowd sort of ended up cheering for us because of EternalEnvy, the last Chinese hope.

How did it feel to win the Shanghai Major?

Winning the Shanghai Major was definitely an amazing experience for me. Throughout the tournament we prepared intensely and I personally tried extremely hard in order to make it a reality. Once the final was over, I felt almost relieved, and becoming one of the best teams in the world became fact.

You have now moved on from Team Secret to join North American team Digital Chaos. How are you setting in with your new team?

At the moment we’re just getting to know each other. It’s a team that I believe has huge potential once we get the synergy going and everyone understands what they have to do. I think it will take a little while but I think it will all be worth it.

You've moved to America to live in the team house out there. Have you had experience of living with your team-mates before? Do you think it will be beneficial?

The only time I’ve been to a team house was when I boot-camped with Team Secret in Istanbul, Turkey. It was a lot of fun and I certainly learned a lot which I am already applying in practice with Digital Chaos. It’s a lot better to be face to face with your team because you can talk a lot and watch replays together which makes understanding mistakes and identifying opportunities a lot easier.

You've switched role to carry recently, how difficult is it to transition from the middle lane role to the carry role? Which do you prefer?

It’s been quite difficult because you have to change your understanding of heroes and when they are needed which makes your game a little bit harder. I also had to change my playstyle a bit to suit the carry role but I think it’s going to be fine. I might end up switching back to the middle lane again though, who knows?

You are famous for your Meepo. Do you think the hero has a place in the competitive meta? Is Meepo your favourite hero to play?

Meepo is in a really weird place right now. It can go one of two ways: either you’re destroying everything or you are a glorified creep. I think he has a place in the meta but he needs a lot of commitment and specific drafts to go around him. My favourite hero to play is actually Skywrath Mage. I love the hero and its skillcap once you get a few items. It can be really satisfying when everything goes perfectly.