Get Dunked: The Wind from the West

The Power of Friendship - Eosin, SexyBamboe, Blitz, Purge and Corey

Professional Dota may never see a team like Team Zephyr again, and that's a crying shame. They were a team made up of a couple of streamers, a professional caster, a young kid with potential and a pro who's career had hit the wall. The players took a huge risk, both financially and career-wise, to form Team Zephyr and compete in Korea. They did it in order to help out a friend and play some Dota. Team Zephyr may not be remembered in the same way Meet Your Makers or Online Kingdom are, but they were dominant in the Korean scene and crucial in its international development.

The story begins at the tail-end of 2013. William 'Blitz' Lee's former team-mate, and close friend EGM, had just won TI3 with Alliance, and with it the largest prizepool Dota had seen at the time. A chance bathroom encounter at the event convinced the talented Storm-Spirit player to try his luck in the fledgling Korean scene, experience some success of his own and maybe win some money doing so. It wasn't a bad idea.

The only problem was that someone else had exactly the same plans; ex MYM and EG player Demon. After re-locating to Korea, in his professional debut, Blitz's team For Our Utopia lost to Demon's MVP Phoenix and were immediately eliminated from NSL Season 2.

So obviously my pro debut in DotA happened yesterday and we lost. We had practiced hard for it and I had a great time playing and I thought I did alright considering how nervous I was. Some back story. I arrived on the 29th with the promise and hopes of winning NSL Season 2. Obviously nothing in this world is guaranteed, but Febby told me we would train hard work together to win etc. The agreement was that I would join the team for a period of around 6 months and extend / shorten my stay depending on how we did as a group. I trusted Febby as I was leaving home for this, having to pay my own way to get there and I spent countless hours convincing my mom of this. I arrived at the house, we had some issues as our personalities sometimes clashed but I felt we had resolved and hashed it at all out. After our match a few hours ago, we all seemed depressed but Febby told me I played well, don't worry about it and throughout the process assured me that no matter what we'd try again and regroup for Season 3.

I was dismayed as it meant I had nothing to do, but obviously we couldn't anticipate Demon coming, and we also didn't play as well as we could have. 

A short time later, the team disbanded and it seemed that Blitz's Korean journey had come to an abrupt end. Fortunately, this was not the case.


Close friends Keven 'Purge' Godec and Steven 'Eosin' Cheng, along with professional players Alaan 'SexyBamboe' Faraj and Corey Wright, flew to the rescue and Team Zephyr was born. To outsiders, this was a team made up of a streamer who only played Storm-Spirit, the guy who made guides for new players, his friend who he played LANs with, some American kid, and SexyBamboe.

In their brief lifespan, they dominated the Korean scene.

A large part of Zephyr's popularity was down to the regular insights into their lives. Through the videos posted on Purge's YouTube channel, and Blitz's candid blogs, fans were given a unique insight into the life of the professional Dota player long before it became the norm. It was the first time a fan felt like they shared in their success and failures. Here was a group of guys who'd gambled their futures on a dream, in order to help out a friend who'd been screwed over and hit rock bottom.

That may not have been entirely the case, but that's what it felt like.


Team Zephyr placed 1st in the Fomos Dota 2 League Season 3, Nexon Sponsorship League Season 3, and the Korean Dota 2 League Season 1. Due to their success, they secured an unlikely invite to the qualifiers of TI4, but that's sadly where Zephyr started to fall apart.

It was around that time that TI invites started going out, and although we weren't doing too well in the SEA scene, we thought their was a small chance we'd receive a qualifier spot along with MVP.Phoenix who was doing well. I remember we all made a pact that day we found out that we got into the qualifiers, I remember how happy and excited we all were. We promised each other that we'd all try really hard, and somehow pray that we could do it. I think a lot of people assumed that we dicked around the entire time we were here, but we normally played about 6 days a week, as many matches as we could at night. The SEA scene is kinda hurt by the fact that scrims don't begin until 9PM~.

Anyways, I remember the huge talk, Eosin had just got back from his mini vacation to Hong Kong and had to walk back to our house after having not enough cab fare to get all the way here. Random story, we thought he got abducted or some shit because he didn't get home till like 3am. I told everyone how we were perceived and how the Korean scene was perceived and blah blah blah hard work dedication, commitment and we can do some miracle shit. TI came, and I remember I was so nervous I didn't sleep for 2 days straight. I think in the Orange game I actually fell asleep and you can see me misclick stats on nightstalker. That was a bad idea. Not really an excuse though. We won our first game against FD handily, and we felt great, then loss after loss started rolling in and we just felt so lost. I remember how helpless everyone looked, and how upset I was. My entire family stayed up just to watch me look like a god damn loser. That part sucked the most. The day after that though Bamboe said yolo lets just do whatever and in our game against Scythe picked himself offlane Rubick and me Bloodseeker. He played amazing, and managed to carry us and I'll always have that highlight in my head. I remember he asked me what I wanted to play. I briefly looked over and said bloodseeker jokingly, remembering how I accidentally selected it for him in our first NSL match and he insta locked it despite me never playing it. We had such a fucking blast, and we sort of forgot all about how badly we had done. After that though, everything sorta started going downhill for us, I think due to a lack of goals and shit that happened in general. 

In the SEA qualifiers, Team Zephyr went 3-6, finishing second from bottom in their group. The power of friendship had run out. The team went through a series of roster changes, even bringing the legendary Merlini out of retirement, but to no avail. Not too long after finishing 3rd at the Korean Dota League Season 2, Team Zephyr disbanded.

"Thank you to the random strangers across the internet who have supported me and my team throughout our journey. I'd refer to you as fans, but you mean so much more to me then that. If I ever meet any of you, please approach me, I'd like to embrace you as a friend and give you a kind word in return for everything you've done for me." - Blitz

Team Zephyr are one of the greatest teams Dota 2 will ever see. They may not have been the most skilled, or had had the greatest results on the international stage, and they certainly won't go down in history as a legendary squad. But, they will be remembered.

What made Zephyr truly great was the fact they went above and beyond to help each other out and, at their peak, beat every single team they went up against. They were five friends who went to Korea, the esports capital of the world, won everything they could and had a blast doing so.

It was one hell of a ride Team Zephyr. I, for one, will remember you fondly.

"One lives in the hope of becoming a memory." - Antonia Porchia