Following the departure of Tobias “Tobi” Buchner last month, team Entity has announced the signing of ex-Fnatic Kim “Gabbi” Santos for the forthcoming Riyadh Masters 2023 and The International 12 qualifiers.
Surprisingly, Entity stated that Gabbi will be promoted from position 1 to position 3. However, it is not rare to see players switching up their positions within the team in order to adapt and optimise the teamwork. Players such as Team Liquid’s Ludwig “zai” Wahlberg and BetBoom’s Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko exemplified a succesful shift to offlaner roles.
Gabbi’s choice to join Entity followed in the footsteps of fellow SEA players Armel “Armel” Tabios and Saieful “Fbz” Ilham, on loan from Boom Esports, both of whom joined Team Secret. This is hardly unexpected given that European players have been playing with SEA players a while ago and have professed their admiration for the region’s high level play. With the rise of exceptional talent in top SEA teams, this trend will probably keep going throughout 2023.
Gabbi’s debut with Entity is certainly being anticipated by the Phillipines Dota 2 community, who are looking forward to see their synergy and ability in forthcoming competitions. Long-time fans are aware that Gabbi’s experience would complement Entity’s plan, which aims to stand among the top WEU teams.
Prior to joining Entity, Gabbi had spent a few years in the SEA competition with mixed results. Although he had a succesful run with TNC Predator, his performance were steadily dropping during his tenure with Talon Esports and T1 throughout 2022. He showed some remarkable performances when he joined Fnatic in November 2022. However, the team struggled to build their chemistry and failed to keep up with other teams in Dota 2 Pro Circuit SEA Division 1. Fnatic eventually relegated and decided to disband in February.
