Pan "Fade" Yi - professional Dota player for Vici Gaming - has announced his retirement following The International 2019. 23 year old Fade made the decision to retire after drama began to build before The International 2019 even ended. He was tasked with leading Vici to become one of the best Dota teams in the world, but now they must find a replacement for one of their star players. What happened that caused Fade to retire so early?
Vici Gaming were in prime position to make a run at The International 2019. They had been one of the most dominant teams throughout the Dota 2 season and many felt they had a legitimate chance of winning The International 2019. Fade had a lot of pressure on his shoulders when Vici entered the tournament. Fans were hoping for him to lead them to win it all, and in front of Vici's Shanghai home crowd nonetheless.
Things didn't necessarily go according to plan for Vici Gaming during The International 2019. Orangutan Ganja performed extremely well during the tournament, but Vici still managed to get into a good spot in the upper bracket. Unfortunately, Vici didn't live up to their potential and a few losses sent them home in a tie for fifth place. It wasn't the ending that Vici Gaming and Fade were hoping for and the pressure seemed overwhelming for the player.
After the tournament, though, Vici Gaming called out fellow professional team Royal Never Give Up for contacting Fade about potentially joining them after The International 2019 was over. Of course, Royal Never Give Up denied the allegations which caused Vici's CEO - Qc - to call out Fade about coming out with the truth; that he fabricated the story. It isn't exactly clear why that is the case, though.
Fade made his own post instead of responding to the accusations. In the post he announced his retirement. He called his professional playing days "bitter" and that he is "tired of being the center of the storm." He claimed to want to be an ordinary person, not tied to the professional scene, so that he can enjoy playing Dota again.
Fade has officially been removed from the Vici Gaming roster and they will now be looking to replace the star support player. With his announcement, Fade has officially retired from the professional Dota 2 esports scene. This marks an end to a solid, but short, career that never quite lived up to the lofty expectations.