Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov – Full Player Profile

It is not often that an Estonian player reaches prominence for playing Dota 2 competitively. However, that is exactly what Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov did in his career as a professional Dota 2 player. Throughout the years of his career, Puppey became famous for his unprecedented style of play. Besides that, he became known as one of the bravest Dota 2 players in the world because he is not afraid to experiment even in the most important matches for his team.

Throughout his career, he most often found himself playing the role of Jungler and Support but he is an equally good player in almost all position in the game. Puppey did not have any amazing player from Estonia to look up to when he was starting his career which in the end turned out to be a very good thing.

Not being able to mimic anyone’s game, Puppey was forced to develop his own skills and talent and that is what made him such a good player all these years later. Today, he is the role model for young players all over the world and for those who are thinking outside the box while playing Dota 2, Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov is the biggest hero.

Biography

Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov was born on March 6, 1990, and with 27 years of age, he is one of the most experienced players in the world of competitive Dota 2 world. However, that did not stop him from becoming one of the best players in the world for his position. Just like Roger Federer is proving that the age is just a number in tennis, Puppey and other players who are almost 30 or older are also proving the same in the competitive Dota 2.

While many Dota 2 players had to put their education on hold in order to become the professional players, Puppey somehow managed to combine both worlds. Besides obtaining a classical education, he also managed to get a musical education in clarinet, guitar, saxophone, and violin which makes him a unique player in the world of eSports.

Besides that, until he was 12 years old he was a member of a choir and at that time whenever someone asked him what he wants to do in the future he replied that he wants to form his band. The ability to speak English very well provided Puppey with the opportunity to become a member some of the best teams in the entire Europe which he gladly accepted.

Professional Career

Puppey started his career in eSports back in 2007, back in the days when DotA was the official game of the competition. His first appearance in the world of eSports was with the team called XsK or Xero Skill. At that point, that team featured relatively unknown players. However, over time, those players, including Puppey proved to be a very talented and skillful player.

His first big success came at the ClanBase – EuroCup XVI – WC3 DotA. However, even though for them the group stage was a big success they were not able to move past the group stage. That same year, Puppey revealed that XsK would cease to exist. In later interviews, he revealed that there was a lot of misunderstanding among players at that time and that was the reason why XsK does not exist anymore.

For bigger part of 2008, Puppey was without a with a team but right before the start of DreamHack Summer 2009, mousesports approach him with the opportunity to become their stand-in That was the time when Puppey and KuroKy met which marked the beginning of a very long friendship. After the tournament, it was announced that the team will be changing their name to KingSurf.International and that Puppey was invited to become a member of that team.

After the first tournament that Puppey played with mousesports, some players decided to leave the team while others decided to retire. As a result, the team had to merge with another team called WG. 2009 was very problematic for the team due to the constant changes in the roster and because of the scandal in the team that led the main sponsor of the team to withdraw their sponsorship. After that, the team signed a new sponsorship deal with Razer and changed their names once again – this time to Razer.CGC.

Razer.CGC did not have a lot of success and very soon KuroKy would leave the team and after him, Puppey and several other players launched their own team called Bens Friendly Buddies and after signing a sponsorship deal with Blight, the team changed their name to Nirvana.int. After Puppey left the team he was supposed to join Farm4Fame but the scandal broke about when Puppey and Fear over the place in the team.

As a reaction to that altercation, Puppey revealed some information from the team that he should not have but he did not give up his claim for the spot in the team. He would not stay in the team for a long time as he will soon return to Nirvana.Int. After that team, he would move on to GosuGamers.net after they decided to launch their Dota 2 team but he will not stay there for a long time before the most important move of his career was right around the corner.

In 2011, Dota 2 became the official game of the competition and with the new title, Puppey decided to move to Natus Vincere and his transfer became official in June 2011. Natus Vincere was a good team for him at that time because the team featured ArtyStyle, XBOCT, Dendi, and LighTofHeaven. With Natus Vincere, Puppey would make his debut at The International scene and it would be a more than the successful debut.

In August 2014, Puppey and Natus Vincere revealed that he will be leaving the team. It did not take him a long time to find a new team because he announced that he together with Fly, BigDaddy, s4, and KuroKy will be launching their own Dota 2 called Team Secret. At that time, that team was characterized as the super team considering which players were playing in the team. These days, Puppey is still playing with Team Secret but his friend, KuroKy has left the team. Since launching Team Secret, Puppey has been trying to achieve the success that he had while playing for Natus Vincere but he has not been able to that.

Achievements

Puppey would have to wait until 2011 to win his first tournament and his first Dota 2 trophy came when he won The International in 2011 with Natus Vincere. That year, he also won the trophy at the Electronic World Cup 2011and they finished the year with the second place at the Dota 2 Star Championship.

In 2012, Natus Vincere and Puppey continued with good games as they won the titles at the Defense Season 1, The Premier League Season 1, StarLadder StarSeries Season 1, The Premier League Season 2, StarLadder Season 2, StarLadder StarSeries Season 3, Electronic World Cup 2012, and StarLadder StarSeries Season 4. That year, they also reached the final of The International but they were not able to win their second title because they were defeated by the Chinese side, Invictus Gaming.

In 2013, Puppey still with Natus Vincere also won several Dota 2 tournaments including RaidCall EMS One Spring Season, Alienware Cup 2013 – Season 1, The Defense Season 4, StarLadder StarSeries Season 7, WePlayDota 2 League Season 2, Techlabs Cup, and DreamLeague Kick-Off Season. In 2014, while still playing for Natus Vincere he managed to win titles at the StarLadder StarSeries Season 8 as well as Dota 2 Champions League Season 2. That year in October he would leave Natus Vincere and join Team Secret.

Just a couple of months after joining Team Secret, Puppey would win the XMG Captains Draft 2.0 as well as Dota Pit League Season 2. The biggest success that Puppey had in 2015 with Team Secret was winning The Summit 3  as well as winning the ESL One Frankfurt 2015. That year’s International was terrible for Puppey because they finished the tournament only in 7-8th place.

In March 2016, Puppey and Team Secret would go on to win The Shanghai Major as well as FACEIT Invitational, and ROG MASTERS 2016 at the end of the year. The International in 2016 was a huge disappointment for Puppey  and Team Secret because finished the tournament in 13-16th place. In 2017, Team Secret and Puppey did not have a lot of success as their best result was the second place at the Dota Summit 7. Once again, The International 7 proved to be a cursed tournament for Puppey as they once again finished the tournament in the 9-12th place.

Final Thoughts

The elimination of Team Secret at the International 7 might be the most painful at all because Puppey and his team were eliminated by one of Puppey’s best friends KuroKy and his Team Liquid. Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov has been one of the world’s best Dota 2 players for several years now and even though he won The International in early stages of his professional career, Puppey is still one of the most relevant Dota 2 players in the world.