“I have no intentions of playing Dota professionally”, Mason ‘mason’ Venne confirms he’s been released from EG
As we at onGamers reported last week when mason made a Tweet alluding to him retiring from professional Dota, it has now been confirmed by the player himself in a blog that he has been removed from team EG and will no longer pursue a competitive career in the title.
The day after the afterparty (Tuesday) my team held a meeting without me, and I was unaware of it for a while (someone I knew knocked on their door and said they were having a meeting in my room while I was chilling with some other people). There they discussed some things about the future of the team, as well as my future with them. In shorthand, I was kicked from the team.
Venne, who was brought on officially to the North American team in early June had previously to his engagement with EG expressed discontent with most players he had played with previously, and that he could only see himself compete full-time with a specific group of people. It therefore seems now like EG captured lightning in a bottle and became one of the few teams the North American carry found his bearing in.
Like I said in multiple interviews, I only want to play with people I enjoy and people who are good enough to be a legit contender at every tournament they attend. Frankly, I don't see any 4 group of players like that at the moment.
EG, who managed to place 3rd at TI4 this year and net themselves a prize of over $1 million dollars, are the first ever North American team to advance past an 8th spot finish at Valve's annual event, meaning that the chance of Venne finding a team of similar stature seems incredibly slim.
mason ends the blog saying that he still finds enjoyment in playing the game, and will continue playing in the various in-house leagues available, where he made his name known initially. He also thanks EG for the time he got to spend as a player of their's.
While I'm upset with my teammates, I'm also grateful. The last 2 months (I guess 5?) have been pretty fun and I would definitely do it all over again. The money is nice but that's not what I played for. I would like to give a couple shoutouts to the people behind the scenes (kind of). Aside from my teammates, I also met Fear, Charlie (Monolith), Conrad (QuantumPope), and Alex. Charlie and Conrad especially made everything smooth as f**k for me and put up with us and did the most ridiculous s**t just to ensure we'd be happy and set for whatever.
The remainder of Venne's blog can be read here.
During his five months as a professional Dota 2 player, Venne managed to enter the top 100 of the highest earning esports competitors, where he lands on 64th place with a total of $232,277 earned. He helped EG place top 3 in all but one of the five major tournaments they competed in during the summer months.
Photo Credit: GosuGamers.net, Beyond the Summit
