The identity of the Arkosh Gaming roster has been a mystery and a constant source of rumors since the Dota 2 team was first announced, but fans finally know for certain which players are behind the squad’s demonic characters.
Ahead of the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit season, Liquipedia began linking out to the actual player profiles for five past and present North American pros. Arkosh Gaming hasn’t officially acknowledged these player identities, but the organization submitted photos for each member of the team for the recently added Dota Pro Circuit Fantasy Challenge. This served to confirm and officially unveil the squad behind Arkosh Gaming.
The team includes the following players:
Alongside this, past members of the Arkosh Gaming roster were also confirmed. Muhammad Saad Ali “high_shaggy” Ghaznavi was revealed as Canus Vulpus, the team’s original mid laner who now plays with Black N Yellow. Nick “GOD_Z” Zhang previously revealed himself to be support player G.O.A.T. as part of his retirement from the team before the qualifiers for The International 2021.
Arkosh Gaming’s Pale Horse is actually popular caster and streamer BSJ.
From 2015 to 2018 BSJ was a steady presence in the tier-two North American scene, competing with a number of different teams including Team Freedom, Team Leviathan, and ROOONS. His most notable accomplishment as a pro was qualifying for the DreamLeague Season 10 DPC minor in 2018.Â
He juggled pro play with casting and content creation for much of that time before seemingly retiring from active competition in 2019. While Arkosh Gaming was originally announced for a series of show matches, joining the team and helping it reach the upper division of the North American DPC League is a great second chapter in BSJ’s career as a pro player.
Arkosh Gaming was initially revealed by Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner as a North American team meant to compete in a series of show matches against both professional and semi-professional teams. SirActionSlacks remains their manager to this day, and seemingly runs its YouTube channel.
Arkosh began competing in actual Dota 2 tournaments with BTS Pro Series Season 4, something that inspired controversy on multiple occasions. Questions were raised on multiple occasions regarding the competitive integrity of its matches given that its players’ identities were hidden.
Whats a pro Dota team sounds like (behind the scenes)
Arkosh Gaming is good enough to play competitive Dota 2 at a high level, but Arkosh Gaming is a massive underdog in all of its upcoming matches.
Betting sites currently have Arkosh Gaming as a 12.50 underdog in matchups against Evil Geniuses and Quincy Crew. Even against weaker competition in the North American DPC League, Arkosh Gaming stands as a sizable underdog.
Anything is possible, but there are also questions regarding how seriously Arkosh is actually approaching the Dota Pro Circuit. The players are predominantly casters and personalities, and many are juggling the two responsibilities during this season. This could limit practice and preparation time, especially in comparison to the full-time pro players they’ll be facing in the DPC.
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