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Fear Forever: A Retrospective of Dota 2's NA Star
Take a look at the long and wonderful career of a retiring Dota legend.
Fear has played a massive part in Dota 2 history
© Valve
Professional Dota 2 just got a great deal less frightful as Clinton "Fear" Loomis announced his retirement as a pro Dota 2 player yesterday. After playing through ongoing injury problems with his arm, the EG veteran has apparently decided to step out of the lineup and into management.
The team itself describes him as "the cornerstone of Evil Geniuses's Dota and Dota 2 rosters for the better part of a decade," and it's hard to disagree. "Old Man Fear" (all of 28 years old) has been around for longer than most of his peers — that much is plain fact. It's his incredible impact on the game of Dota 2 that makes his departure all the more meaningful.
Unlike so many other pro players who tend to switch teams in the fall each year, Fear isn't simply exiting Evil Geniuses in favor of another team — that was never his style. He's retiring as a professional player, and will now take up the mantle of coach for the team he's helped lead to several multimillion-dollar victories.
Consistently scary
Over his career, Fear has become something of an icon. From 2011 until just yesterday, he's maintained a presence on what's hard to argue is anything other than the premier North American team in Dota 2. In the past three-plus years Evil Geniuses has placed no lower than third at the Dota 2 championships, The International, as well as at the 2015 Shanghai and Frankfurt Majors. In addition, they took first at The Summit 1, and the original Dota 2 Asia Championships.
Sadly, despite never leaving Evil Geniuses, Fear wasn't present for all of these achievements — especially throughout 2014. Whether because of his lengthy tour in Dota 2, or just pure bad luck Fear has struggled with a form of lateral epicondylitis, aka tennis elbow, for some time. It kept him out of The International 2014, and other intensive on-site tournaments that year, and it seems to be the reason for his changing role now. While Evil Geniuses' official statement only cites "health reasons" for Fear's retirement, Fear himself has called his arm the culprit.
Fear wasn't just an amazing player on the field of virtual battle, but it certainly helped. His calm and collected demeanor made him a constant thorn in opposing players' sides. While former teammates Arteezy, and Suma1l stole headlines with their youthful energy, Fear would hold back — omnipresent, and efficient on heroes like Gyrocopter, Sven and Anti-Mage.
Fear was part of the TI-winning Evil Geniuses team
© Valve
The quiet killer
The role of a farming carry — a player who's meant to beef up for the late stages of the game — has changed considerably since Dota 2 first started paying out million-dollar prizes to competitors. Yet Fear has somehow made it work all this time. While his fellows drew attention, Fear would simply put out steady streams of damage that, ironically, his foes rarely feared as much as they should.
That quiet confidence has always been part of Fear's demeanor. The veteran player rarely broke character — or his neutral expression — in displays of overexcitement, or bad sportsmanship. That personality, like his relative age, has been the subject of jokes at times, but it belies a level of professionalism that many other players should — and at times, have — emulated.
In the developer-sponsored Dota 2 documentary, "Free To Play," Fear represented North American players as one of the film's three focal points. Even in the film — which depicts a younger, financially burdened Fear living with his single mother near the start of his Dota 2 career — you can see that Fear has been a rock for his team stretching back years, to a very different time in his life.
That experience might be an asset in the world of coaching. Dota 2 is a more thoughtful game than most, and having someone to keep your team calm, cohesive and on target can be a massive boon.
A rare image of Fear smiling
© Valve
Consistency is king
It certainly beats trying to rely on raw talent alone. Evil Geniuses itself has helped prove that over the years through their many successes. So-called "super-teams," like Team Secret, flounder as they cull players and fashion the most numerically impressive squads. Until this year (which also marks the departure of two of Fear's teammates) Evil Geniuses has instead remained mostly stable, thanks in large part to the ever-present Fear. Their performance has reflected just how powerful that player-to-player support can be, and other teams are implementing the same strategy.
With him now in the role of coach, this almost certainly isn't the last time we'll see Fear in and around Dota 2. Yet we've likely seen his last run at The International, or a Major, or maybe even the odd All-Star Match — here Fear's straight-man character would always clash with the silliness of the spectacle.
His impact on the game, however, will continue to be felt for years to come. Whether it's through his coaching talents, or the effects of the professional example he set year after year. Old Man Fear taught a lot of people the right lessons about how to play Dota.
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