Sumail

Syed Sumail Hassan (Urdu: سمیل حسان ; born 13 February 1999), better known mononymously as Sumail, is a Pakistani and American professional Dota 2 player for Team Secret. He has played in five iterations of The International, winning in 2015 as a member of Evil Geniuses.

Sumail
Sumail in 2017
Personal information
Name	Syed Sumail Hassan
Born	(1999-02-13) 13 February 1999 (age 25) Karachi, Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Career information
Game	Dota 2
Playing career	2014–present
Team history
2014–2019	Evil Geniuses
2019	Quincy Crew
2020	OG
2021	Team Liquid (stand-in)
2021	OG
2021–2022	Team Secret
2022–present	Nigma Galaxy
2023	Team Aster (stand-in)
2023	Team Secret (stand-in)
Career highlights and awards
The International champion (2015)

Hassan's professional career began when he signed with Evil Geniuses in 2015. That same year, he and the team won The International 2015, which awarded him over a million dollars in prize money. He spent the next four years with the team, having varying degrees of success. In 2019, Hassan left EG to briefly play alongside his brother on the Quincy Crew before signing with OG in 2020. He has also played for Team Liquid and Team Secret.

Early years

Sumail was born on 13 February 1999, in Karachi, Pakistan.^[1][2] He has a brother, Yawar Hassan, who also plays professional Dota 2.^[3] Sumail first started playing Dota when he was eight years old. He and his family moved from Pakistan to the United States in 2012. He lives in Rosemont, Illinois, as a resident of the United States.^[1]

Career

Upon his arrival to America, Sumail began playing in the North American Elite League. Hassan quickly became the highest rated player in the in-house league, establishing himself as one of the best unsigned talents in North America.^[4] Evil Geniuses (EG) signed him in January 2015, joining Fear, Aui_2000, Universe, and ppd.^[5] A month later, EG and Hassan participated in the Dota 2 Asia Championships, where finished in first place. EG's captain ppd entered the tournament with a focus on drafting around him. Sumail's breakout performance at the tournament led to widespread recognition as a young prodigy in both the Chinese and English Dota scenes.^{[citation needed]}

EG entered The International 2015 as one of the tournament favorites. However, EG experienced a setback of their own after losing the upper bracket finals 0–2 to CDEC Gaming. EG defeated LGD Gaming in the lower bracket finals and prevailed 3–1 in a rematch with CDEC in the grand finals to win the tournament and a US$6.6 million grand prize, which made Sumail the youngest player ever to surpass a million in esports winnings.^[6] In 2016, Sumail was named by Time as among 'the 30 Most Influential Teens' that year.^[7] In September 2019, it was announced that he would be leaving the team to join the Quincy Crew alongside his brother Yawar.^[8][3] However, he left the team after only a few weeks, with the team's manager claiming he was not a "good fit" for them, before signing and playing with OG in 2020.^[9][10][11] Sumail left OG in July 2020.^[12]

In April 2021, Sumail signed with Team Liquid as a stand-in player for the second season of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit.^[13] He would leave them and rejoin OG two months later.^[14]

He then rejoined OG in June 2021^[15] before playing for Team Secret and Team Nigma.^[16]

References

1. Bonifacio, Patrick (4 August 2020). "Player Spotlight: SumaiL – A Generational Talent". Hotspawn. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
2. "Throne of Games". E:60. ESPN.
3. Tan Guan Hao, Dexter (28 September 2019). "Hassan brothers SumaiL and YawaR join the Quincy Crew". Dot Esports. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
4. . www.thescoreesports.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016.
5. Kolker, Robert (30 July 2015). "The Video Game Dream A Pakistani Teen Gets Rich Quick in E-Sports". Bloomberg. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
6. Daultrey, Stephen (11 August 2015). "Pakistani teenager becomes youngest gamer to surpass $1million in eSports earnings as Dota 2 tournament sets major records". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
7. "The 30 Most Influential Teens of 2016". TIME. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
8. . evilgeniuses.gg. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
9. "Sumail departs from Quincy Crew". ESPN. Reuters. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
10. Esports, OG (28 January 2020). "The King is back". ogs.gg.
11. "Ceb is back to OG Dota 2 roster, Sumail removed". TalkEsports. 25 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
12. Bonifacio, Patrick (23 April 2021). "SumaiL Returns to Dota 2 Play as Liquid Stand-in". Hotspawn. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
13. Michael, Cale (23 April 2021). "Boxi taking a break from Dota 2, SumaiL to stand in for Team Liquid". Dot Esports. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
14. Lozano, Kurt (15 June 2021). "SumaiL rejoins OG to replace ana for TI10 qualifiers". Yahoo!. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
15. "SumaiL is back with OG and the Dota 2 world feels right again". Red Bull. 29 June 2021.
16. "SumaiL is back at Nigma Galaxy for the second time | ONE Esports". www.oneesports.gg. 21 December 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.