Two players of the famed TNC lineup from The International 2016 have reunited to raise the banner of Geek Fam.
Carlo “Kuku” Palad joins former TNC teammate Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto in Geek Fam. In 2016, these two players were able to pull off one of the biggest upsets at The International 2016 when TNC eliminated tournament favorite OG.
Geek Fam recently confirmed that Kuku will be a new addition to its team. The Malaysian team was established in 2016 but struggled to make a significant mark in minor and major tournaments. Southeast Asia powerhouse teams such as Fnatic, TNC, and Mineski, always dominated the region.
Shortly after The International 2019, Kuku alerted fans with a Twitter post indicating that he’s looking for a team. There were also several chat logs leaked within the SEA Community that indicated Kuku would be flying abroad to attend boot camp.
Kuku later apologized to fans for baiting them and told everyone that he just took his family to Hong Kong for a vacation. Fans were initially convinced that Kuku would stay with TNC after the false alarm. However, the Filipino player has now officially parted ways with the team.
For the past four years, Kuku played for TNC and took on the captaincy role. TNC looked completely different when it played without Kuku, but the organization decided to take its TI10 journey without its former all-Filipino lineup.
It’s also worth noting that Kuku’s time with the team was marked by a heated racial incident that has set a precedent for how the community tackles alleged racial slurs and epithets today. This strongly affected not just Kuku’s own career, but also the trajectory of his team. TNC received a lot of booing and jeers during The International 2019 in Shanghai, China. The player had previously been accused of showing racial bias against Chinese players.
Kuku and Raven will join Kim “DuBu” Doo-young, Eric “Ryoya” Dong, and Kenny “Xepher” Deo at Geek Fam for the 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit. They will join together in a fight for one of the limited automatic qualification slots in The International 2020 in Stockholm, Sweden.Â
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