After a fifth/sixth place finish at the ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League, Neon Esports has decided to shake things up by bidding farewell to veteran player Rafael Sicat “Rappy” Palo and bringing in offlaner Samson Solomon “Sam_H” Hidalgo on a trial basis.
In a post on Neon Esports’ official Facebook page, the organization announced the roster change and recounted Rappy’s achievements: “Since his debut in 2018, Rappy has played over 1000 games for Neon. And we certainly would not be where we are today without his skill and experience.”
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During the ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League, Rappy helped Neon Esports win crucial games with a unique offlane Chen strategy that no other team in the tournament was using.
Rappy joined the team in September 2018, competing for Neon until May of this year when he had to take a short hiatus. Aside from the ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League, Rappy alongside the team also recently finished in fourth place at BTS Pro Series Season 2: Southeast Asia.
“We are going to take the next few weeks to prepare ourselves for the coming season by trialling some players for 2020/21,” the post continued, hinting that more changes may be in store for Neon. Three-time TI participant Sam_H, who previously played for TNC Predator and Lowkey Esports, is the first of the new batch of players the organization will be trying out.
Sam_H is a seasoned veteran who made his mark playing for the previously known TNC Pro Team squad with Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto, Carlo “Kuku” Palad, and Nico “eyyou” Barcelon from 2016 to 2018.
Neon Esports Roster:
- Andrei “skem” Ong
- Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer
- Samson Solomon “Sam_H” Hidalgo
- Prieme Ejay PlayHard” Maque
- Jaunuel “Jaunuel” Arcilla
READ MORE: Neon Esports’ Yopaj: ‘We just started playing together a few weeks ago’
