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Team Falcons Welcomes Aui_2000 as Coach

Team Falcons Welcomes Aui_2000 as Coach

Dota 2
17 Jan
Radu Muresan

Team Falcons is one of the wealthiest organizations in esports, simply because it’s owned by Saudi investors. And what do wealthy organizations want when they enter a sport or an esport? The answer is simple: to win trophies and make a name for themselves. So what do you do? You bring in highly capable individuals who have demonstrated their competence over the years. Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling is certainly one of those individuals.

Why Aui_2000?

Aui_2000 interview Aui_2000, TI4 interview with Hot_Bid

Aui_2000 started playing Dota 2 professionally around 2012, for a team called PotM Bottom. From there, he went to all kinds of organizations, big and small, and had a lot of success with some of them. Right now, his total winnings as a player are above $2 million.

In 2015, Aui won The International with Evil Geniuses, as well as the Dota 2 Asia Championships, which was one of the biggest tournaments at the time because it offered more than $3 million in prize money.

No doubt, 2015 was the year in which Aui_2000 consolidated his reputation as a world-class Dota 2 player. He used to be a position 4 with an excellent understanding of position 4 Dota 2 heroes, so he had ample time to familiarize himself with the macro aspects of the game even before he became a coach.

The irony is that after winning TI5, EG kicked Aui to make room for Ludwig “zai” Wahlberg. At the time, zai wasn’t as famous as he is today, but he was still regarded as a phenomenon.

Aui_2000 spent most of his player career getting decent results but rarely being in the spotlight.

Then, in 2018, he started to coach. Initially, he was the coach of Fnatic, then moved to Forward Gaming. In 2022, he joined Tundra Esports and won The International 11 with them that year. This was a spectacular achievement in an esport like Dota 2. Winning the Aegis of Champions as a player and then as a coach is a task of monumental difficulty.

Last Season Results and Joining Falcons

In 2023, Aui finished 3rd at the Bali Major, 9th – 12th at Riyadh Masters, 5th – 6th at DreamLeague S21, and 13th – 16th at The International. These results were not as good as the ones from the previous year, but they still convinced Team Falcons to sign him.

Of course, the decision probably also came as a result of Oliver “skiter” Lepko’s recommendation. Or perhaps Wu “Sneyking” Jingjun’s. Both of them were part of the Tundra team that won The International 11, so it would make perfect sense for them to lobby for the signing of their former coach.

READ MORE

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  2. MinD_ContRoL Joins Tundra Esports
  3. How Esports Teams Make Money

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