Team Liquid shocked Dota 2’s European region when they announced that the midlane king, Syed “SumaiL” Hassan, was making his return to the DPC as a stand-in during DreamLeague Season 15 EU upper division.
SumaiL was brought in by Team Liquid when Samuel “Boxi” Svahn decided to take time away from Dota to be with his family. This surprising roster shuffle moved Max “qojqva” Bröcker to the offlane, while SumaiL made his return to the midlane.
The last time we saw SumaiL play in a DPC event was when he was with OG at the start of 2020. It was evident that SumaiL had to shake a bit of rust off in his debut, when he and Team Liquid faced Brame during Games 1 and 2.
We did, however, see SumaiL step up during the final game of the series, as he dominated Brame in an MVP performance on Puck. Team Liquid’s stand-in capitalized on Tommy “Taiga” Le and Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi’s duo support rotations that helped him win the midlane.
SumaiL played an elusive Puck, reading his opponents’ movements and preventing himself from getting caught out of position, silenced, or stunned. Once Brame’s supports came down, SumaiL went after the bigger targets, locking them down with Dream Coil.
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In Game 3, SumaiL looked more and more like a perfect fit for Team Liquid as he synergized with iNSaNiA and Taiga. After iNSaNiA casted Ink Swell on Puck, SumaiL blinked straight into enemy lines to stun his targets for the perfect initiation play.
Taiga then rolled in with his Earth Spirit and pushed the leashed targets, which resulted in Brame’s cores getting stunned and taking additional damage.
SumaiL finished Game 3 with a perfect 15/0/16 KDA record, and dealt the most damage to enemy heroes with 36,000 points in total.
SumaiL’s stats in his first game back with Team Liquid
- Heroes played: Leshrac, Puck
- Average KDA: 9.3/2.6/11.6
- Average Networth: 22k
- Average GPM/XPM: 623.6/677.6
Overall grade: B+
Jumping into the DPC and playing with a new team is no small feat. SumaiL proved that he still has what it takes to be one of the best midlaners in Dota. He also fit in with Team Liquid well by following their structured and methodical playstyle.
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