Team Liquid secured a spot at Ti12 and placed runner-up yet again in a Dota 2 Major.
Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi is renowned for many accomplishments in his Dota 2 career. However, he got his fair share of Dota 2 fails as well. We list some of his most notable ones here.
iNSaNiA locket at DreamLeague S19
Back at DreamLeague Season 19, iNSaNiA was once again featured in a Dota 2 fail moment, which arguably costed Team Liquid’s grand finals.
Team Liquid still remains one of the top teams in the world, and a Dota Pro Circuit 2023 (DPC 2023) favorite, second only to Gaimin Gladiators in multiple tournaments.
It was likely Liquid’s destiny to face Gaimin in a full-on Grand Final at the Berlin Major after what transpired in DreamLeague S19. With $300K and ticket to the Riyadh Masters 2023 at stake, let’s just say Liquid just missed out big over a single item.
never buying holy locket again
— Aydin Sarkohi (@iNsan1a) April 23, 2023
It was Game 3 (Liquid and Gaimin were tied) and iNSaNiA was playing Chen. Just moments before a crucial teamfight, iNSaNiA seemingly dropped his Holy Locket near a jungle camp. Although iNSaNiA did eventually realized he’s missing an important item that amplifies his team’s healing, it was only after 10 minutes that his fellow teammate, Michał “Nisha” Jankowski found it on the ground.
Digesting what truly occurred, iNSaNiA might have misclicked his Holy Rocket to drop it while he was trying to send back a neutral item he picked up. Hence, not knowing where he last dropped his Holy Locket, he was even going to repurchase the Holy Locket, albeit he eventually decided to skip it anyways.
Regardless, the insufficient healing for his team might have made it easier for Gaimin to win the subsequent teamfights. Not to rub salt on iNSaNiA’s wound, but considering how close the DreamLeague S19 grand finals was. And, the back-and-forth game 3, where iNSaNiA’s Chen dropped his Holy Locket. Team Liquid could have won the DreamLeague S19 without a decisive game 5.
iNSaNiA Gyro Fail
Remember that infamous “iNSaNiA Gyro” fail back at the International 9? – I do..
Taking a trip down memory lane, arguably the most defining incident at TI9 for iNSaNiA was his Gyro misclick. It was the TI9 Playoffs Lower Bracket Round 1, where they are only a best-of-one series away from elimination. INSaNiA ran out of time to ban Gyro, which prompted a random hero ban before letting iNSaNiA pick a hero.
Not realizing he didn’t ban Gyro, but instead picked it. Alliance tried to keep a calm composure to work around the unorthodox pick. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a miracle since the iNSaNiA Gyro fail became one of the biggest immortalized Dota 2 fails to-date.
Knowing Valve, they too featured the incident in one of their International Archive series, titled “Ban the Gyro”. In the documentary, it revealed what went behind the scenes of that fail and words from the Alliance players/managers too.
A year after the faithful incident, iNSaNiA remains notoriously known for misclicks. He also mistakenly picked the Faceless Void instead of Void Spirit at the lower bracket round 1 at ESL One Birmingham 2020 versus HellRaisers.
Team Liquid lost this round but were fortunate enough to ultimately win the series regardless of his mistake.
However, in Berlin, Liquid were really starting to cook:
Regardless of missclicks and memorable Dota 2 fails, iNSaNiA remains one of the best Dota 2 players in the world. Currently, he is one of the only five players with a secure spot at The International 2023.