Hyhy returns to Dota 2 with the formation of Singaporean team Scythe.SG

If the name Benedict ‘hyhy’ Lim rings any bells, that’s because that’s the captain of the team who won third place during The International 2011.

Lim decided to retire from Dota 2 after The International 2012 even after his team won overall fifth place, and moved to play for League of Legends (LoL) team Singapore Sentinels. So much for a retirement, though. The Dota 2 veteran is now coming back with a new team that takes on the name of his previous championship one: Scythe.SG.

Hyhy will be joined by former Zenith player Nicholas ‘xFreedom’ Lim, who also previously played for LGD.int, former First Departure players Wilson ‘Poloson’ Koh and Jonathan ‘SCripted’ Lee, Galvin ‘Meracle’ Kang who most recently played for Team Titan after Chinese team RisingStars disbanded after he joined, and Kok Sin ‘KS’ Ang, formerly from Flash eSports and Netolic.SG.

A six-man roster is not new, but also not common in the scene nowadays. According to an article on GosuGamers, the team will have interchangeable roles. At present, hyhy and Poloson will be playing solo mid with Meracle as carry and xFreedom and SCripted playing support. Still, the team is an all-Singaporean one, and with half the team yet to serve their mandatory National Service, it’s hard to see how the team can train and compete.

Still, team manager Bryan ‘Jupi’ Koay is optimistic:

Most of them don’t have to enlist yet, at least for now. Even if they are enlisted, it’s still possible for them to play.

The team is apparently using the name Scythe.SG because it was an “old Zenith name” and did not have to do anything with sponsors.

While the SEA Dota 2 scene has had a number of LAN and online tournaments, the Singaporean scene has been rather quiet for a while. The Scythe.SG roster has individually skilled and experienced players, and can definitely give it the shake up it needs. On the other hand, the new Scythe.SG also does not have the synergy and experience of playing together. I’ll judge after we see how they fare in upcoming tournaments, though.