The 30-year-old, who began his VALORANT career in 2020, has been a leading figure in the first-person shooter (FPS) world for 15 years and finishes his career at BOOM Esports.

SEVERiNE thanked BOOM Esports for allowing him to represent the outfit in VALORANT, after making his mark in FPS title Point Blank.

“No king rules forever. Thanks BOOM Esports. It was a great rollercoaster journey we rode for almost one year together,” he wrote.

“Even though we lost Ascension, we grew a lot together as a team. Thank you all for the support! With this, I also want to announce my retirement as a player… I will still be in VALORANT but not as a player anymore.”

His announcement comes on the heels of BOOM Esports giving him permission to explore other professional opportunities while still under contract. SEVERiNE, while starring in Point Blank, even secured the PBNC 2016 title with Guardian Force before the team was acquired by BOOM Esports.

His VALORANT career is no less storied. He represented Indonesia through various tournaments and almost clinched a spot in VALORANT Champions Istanbul while with ONIC G. Yet, his competitive journey concluded with BOOM Esports, the very team that defeated ONIC G in that decisive match.

During his tenure at BOOM Esports, SEVERiNE managed to snag a key win at VCL Indonesia Split 2, though they fell short against Bleed Esports in the semi-finals of the VCT Ascension Pacific event.

While he is stepping away from the front lines, SEVERiNE assured fans that he is not leaving VALORANT altogether.

Following his departure, BOOM Esports has enlisted Sheldon “NcSlasher” Andersen and Oliver “m0rea” Budi to fill the void left by SEVERiNE and another sidelined player, Gary “blaZek1ng” Dastin.

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The 25-year-old, who made his debut in the esports scene in 2015 with Malaysian team Who2bet, has played for several Southeast Asian Dota teams such as WarriorsGaming.Unity, Clutch Gamers, Team Bazaar, and then Chinese teams like EHOME, PSG.LGD, and most recently Royal Never Give Up.

XNova will be joining carry player John “Natsumi” Vargas, Filipino carry and solo middle player Erin “Yopaj” Ferrer, Indonesian offlaner Saieful “Fbz” Ilham, and support player Kenny “Xepher” Deo, who also joined the team on Friday.

XNova was among the first two Indonesian players to qualify for The International. While representing PSG.LGD, he led the team to the 2018 TI, where they came in second place, and in 2019, the team came in at third place, winning over US$3 million in prize money.

BOOM’s roster was whittled down to just two players at the beginning of the offseason, with Rolen “skem” Ong, carry player, Souliya “JaCkky” Khoomphetsavong, and support player Timothy “TIMS” Randrup all leaving the team. Hence, the organization used the opportunity to explore the free agency market by signing in Xepher, Natsumi, xNova, and coach Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung.

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The team came into the tournament with a 99.6 percent chance of elimination. However, they have toppled the odds by making their way into the lower bracket having finished eighth in the group A standings.

Prior to the start of the match, BOOM Esports were outsiders on top esports betting sites, with odds set at $2.55 and Team Spirit at $1.56. It comes as a shock to the Dota 2 esports community to see the Asian franchise defeat and eliminate the TI10 reigning champions from the tournament.

The Russian team seemed to have issues coordinating themselves in the tournament group stage, leading them to a lower bracket run and an elimination game.

With Spirit being the favorites, they were expected to win the game and, down the line, the tournament, having had a good regular season. Fans went as far as to speculate that the squad would be the first team in Dota 2 history to win the competition via the lower bracket.

BOOM Esports were able to evade elimination in this match and continue their winning streak, having gotten the better of Evil Geniuses and the tiebreaker wins over BetBoom Team and Soniqs in Group A.

The Southeast Asian lineup seemed prepared for the match after banning several of Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov’s usual off-lane heroes. BOOM’s Erin “Yopaj” Ferrer made use of Mars, while Saieful “Fbz” Ilham picked Beastmaster.

Team Spirit, on their end, chose an offlane Outworld Destroyer to go with Lifestealer, Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk’s hero.

The Russian team started the game strong after the team’s Lifestealer won the top lane. In the match’s first major fight, Spirit survived a gank launched by BOOM, which only showed how strong the team’s Lifstealer, as well as the OD picks, were.

To save his carry, Collapse cast OD’s Astral Imprisonment while Yatoro gave his off-laner extra HP by using Lifestealer’s Infest ultimate.

BOOM started playing with caution after losing the fight in the bottom lane, only engaging in scuffles when all five heroes were there. The move eventually paid off when Spirit were unable to keep up with BOOM’s players, and the team fight ultimates.

BOOM Esports team did not allow themselves to get into disadvantageous team fights, nor did they get cornered in tough spots. The Asian franchise were eventually able to get into the lead and take control of the map.

The team reached Spirit’s Dire base and took down the Dire Ancient while the Russian team could do little but watch. Spirit attempted to defend themselves once more, but BOOM were already too far in the lead and snagged their 1-0 victory.

The win earned the Southeast Asian squad at least a 9th-12th finish in the TI11, while Spirit ended their run in 13th place. BOOM’s new position also guarantees the team US$339,282 at the lowest in prize money.

Spirit’s loss cost fans the opportunity to see the team have their rematch against PSG.LGD in the second round of TI11’s lower bracket. Both teams previously faced off in the grand finals of the TI10.

In their lower bracket second round fixture, BOOM Esports will take on PSG.LGD instead on October 21. PSG.LGD are favorites to win the game on GG.BET with odds of $1.36.

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While core details of what the deal will entail are still unknown to the public, the CEO and founder of BOOM Esports, Gary Ongko Putera, expressed his delight in working with the top-notch brand, noting that the manifestation of the collaboration is a result of the dedication of their team and their zeal in upholding the objectives of the franchise.

“I’m very excited to work with Acer, one of the leading laptop brands in the world,” he said

“Being recognised by brands like Acer is a testament to the good work we’ve been doing. I’m very excited to be able to travel and prepare for matches with such a powerful and comfortable machine.”

Chief Revenue Officer of BOOM Esports Devesh Kabdwal said they were pleased with the collaboration and that it would boost their analytical data and give them a leg-up when travelling.

“Pleased to welcome Acer Nitro as our partner. We no longer have to worry about the means to practice or analyse games, whenever we travel,” he said.

“Acer Nitro will enable our gaming on-the-go capability. With their help we can hopefully engage better with our community, giving them a real-time experience of professional gaming.”

Although financial details of the contract have not been revealed, it has been established that BOOM Esports’ logo will be featured on the Dota 2 roster’s shirts. Whether or not it is restricted to just the Dota 2 roster is still yet to be known.

Besides the Dota 2 title, the South Asian franchise also maintains rosters in VALORANT, PUBG Mobile, and League of Legends: Wild Rift.

The squad has also clinched a desirable berth for The International 2022, the most renowned Dota 2 event globally, which is scheduled to begin on October 15 in Singapore. They are going to make their TI debut with this appearance.

Acer said the collaboration with such a strong esports team made it a no-brainer.

“We warmly welcome BOOM Esports to the Acer family,” General Manager of Acer Sue Ong-Lim said.

“Just as the Acer Nitro is a powerful gaming laptop, BOOM Esports is a powerhouse team. Together, they will elevate esports to greater heights.”

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The deal will see AMD provide hardware support for BOOM for their training sessions as well as competitive matches. The company will also gain more exposure through its upcoming event, AMD Gaming 2022.

In return, BOOM Esports will help the hardware company create content and will make appearances at selected AMD events to boost the brand’s visibility in the esports scene.

Although BOOM Esports have active rosters across several esports game titles including Dota 2, Wild Rift, PUBG Mobile, and Valorant, the partnership will only cover their Dota 2 and Valorant teams.

Speaking on the partnership, Peter Chambers, the managing director of AMD Asia Pacific & Japan, said the collaboration aims to show how technology can elevate esports talent.

“The sponsorship with BOOM Esports is an exciting milestone in AMD’s ongoing journey to raise awareness within the gaming community and support the growth of esports in the Asia Pacific region,” he said.

“By powering one of the region’s best-performing Valorant and DOTA 2 Teams with leading-edge AMD products and solutions, the partnership will demonstrate how technology has the incredible potential to elevate esports talent to new heights.”

The CEO and founder of BOOM Esports, Gary Ongko Putera, expressed the organization’s excitement about the partnership. He believes the partnership will help elevate the organization to the next level.

“We are ecstatic to be partnering with AMD, one of the fastest-growing brands in the industry. With their superior products and technology, we believe AMD will be able to give us the appropriate support to take our organization and esports as a whole to the next level,” he said.

According to Devesh Kabdwal, BOOM Esports CRO, the partnership will help the organization achieve their community-related goals.

“Besides adding advantage to BOOM Esports in terms of top-of-the-line hardware, we believe this partnership will also help us fulfil our community-related goals,” he said.

“With AMD’s support in the esports landscape in Southeast Asia, we’ll have a better opportunity to interact with our fans and contribute to the evolving esports and entertainment ecosystem for the near future.”

AMD is the latest company to partner with BOOM Esports, joining Rivalry, CBN Fiber, Yesports, and GamesPad.

The BOOM Esports Dota 2 team has had an incredibly successful 2022. Although BOOM had a poor outing at ESL One Stockholm, finishing 11th in the event, they have finished in the top two of all the SEA tours.

Perhaps their biggest victory this year was during the Gamers Galaxy Invitational Series Dubai 2022. They defeated Tundra Esports 3-2 in the grand final to win the event, walking away with $108,986 of the US$272,466 prize pool.

BOOM’s next outing will be during the PGL Arlington Major, which will commence on August 4. In Group B, their first match will be against Tundra Esports, who are $2.31 favorites on the moneyline at GG Bet. A top-eight finish will guarantee the SEA team the minimum points required to qualify for The International 2022.

Their Valorant team has also been impressive this year, currently fighting for a spot in the 2022 Valorant Champions tournament through the Asia Pacific Last Chance Qualifier. BOOM are currently in the upper-bracket semifinals and will play the winner of the ONIC Esports-ORDER matchup on August 3.

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Execration picked up a crucial win on December 18, when they took down TNC Predator, but have since lost two in a row against Team SMG and T1, which puts them in a tight spot ahead of the final two weeks of action. With a 2-3 record, Execration only need to win one more game to keep their place in the top division and considering they will face BOOM Esports next week, their best chance to lock in a W will come on Saturday.

Fnatic played their last game on January 6, when they won against Motivate.Trust Gaming (2-1) and with that guaranteed a spot in the upper division for the next tour. With a 3-2 record, Fnatic are set for a top-six finish, but they still need to keep themselves ahead of Team SMG to secure an additional 60 DPC points, so we don’t expect them to take this game lightly.

Performance-wise, Fnatic have been far more convincing than Execration, but we wouldn’t price them as $1.40 favourites with the online betting sites for this bout. They’re still the most likely victors, but we doubt Fnatic will manage to do it in straight maps.

The fifth week of action in the upper division of Southeast Asian DPC will conclude with a clash between two of the region’s strongest teams in BOOM Esports and T1. BOOM enter the match with a perfect 5-0 record and 10-0 map difference, yet they’re priced as the underdogs to defeat T1, who have managed four wins (4-1) across the first five rounds.

Admittedly, T1 deserve to be viewed as one of top SEA Dota 2 teams, but they haven’t impressed us with their recent performances. T1 dropped a map against Motivate.Trust Gaming at the start of the month and came close to losing the second map against Execration on Wednesday.

T1 deserve respect for what they showed last season, but in the current state, BOOM Esports look much better and are a great bet at the offered Dota 2 betting odds.

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Omega Esports enter this match winless in their last eight outings. That record looks even worse when you consider that they haven’t really faced any top teams outside of TNC Predator.

Fnatic, on the other side, have managed to win six out of their last 10 outings, although eight of those bouts happened in March and earlier. To highlight just how inactive Fnatic have been this year, they’ve appeared in only three official matches since clinching the DPC SEA Season 1 title on February 24.

Fnatic undeniably have a more stacked roster than Omega, but we don’t feel comfortable betting on a team that has played only three games across the last nine weeks. The value is with the outsiders.

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TNC Predator and BOOM Esports last met just under a month ago at Asia Pacific Predator League 2020/21 – APAC, where TNC won 1-0. That result put them 2-0 up in the head-to-head stakes for 2021 and took their record over the last six meetings to 2-1-3.

BOOM were the better team towards the end of 2020, but some key departures have left them looking a lot dangerous than they use to. While they are still performing well against weaker sides, they’re constantly being outclassed by the region’s top dogs.

It is hard to predict how TNC will do in any given match. They can play like a world-class team one month, only to disappoint the next. They seem to be in great form at the moment, however, having won all but one of their last nine series.

Considering how up-and-down TNC can be, it’s fair to doubt their ability to cover the map handicap, but at the offered price and with the form they’ve been showing, they’re worth a bet.

?Fnatic enter the fourth week of the competition off a devastating 1-2 loss against BOOM Esports. Their next opponents, Vice Esports, were much more successful last week as they edged past Execration (2-1) to win their first match of the tournament and their third of the year.

Fnatic and Vice last met in December when Fnatic won 2-0 at BTS Pro Series S4: SEA. They have since played six games and won only half of them, while Vice have a slightly worse record with three wins out of seven outings in the same stretch.

Fnatic are individually much stronger but haven’t looked too clean in their recent games, so there is a world where they drop a map to Vice. The odds on the underdogs with a map handicap are far too high and will likely drop, but anything above $2.50 is still worth a bet.

?On paper, this seems like a match that can end only one way, but looking at the latest Dota 2 betting odds, BOOM Esports seem to be slightly underestimated. TNC Predator and BOOM share the same 2-2 record this tournament, although Alfi “Khezcute” Nelphyana and co. have had to face slightly tougher opponents, so we have to put greater value on their record.

BOOM beat TNC five times out of 13 meetings in 2020 (5-2-6) and have not lost a single match against TNC in their last four meetings (3-1-0), claiming three successive clean sweeps in September-November. TNC have improved of late, but they historically struggle against BOOM and we don’t expect that to change here.

We predict a close match that will be decided on the third map.

Fnatic will clash with BOOM Esports for the first time since September, when the Indonesian squad won 2-0. That marked BOOM’s sixth head-to-head victory of 2020 and their third in a row, having previously bested Fnatic 2-1 twice during ESL One Thailand 2020: Asia.

It’s fair to mention Fnatic had to play with two stand-ins – Lee “Forev” Sang-don and Kenny “Xepher” Deo – in their most recent bout with BOOM, so it’s not fair to criticise them too much for that loss. Fnatic have since acquired a veteran support in Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong and a talented offlaner in Natthaphon “Masaros” Ouanphakdee.

With those signings Fnatic look the stronger team, but at these betting odds we have to take a shot with the underdogs. BOOM have won at least one map against Fnatic in all but two of their 14 meetings in 2020 and have not lost once in their last six. Expect a close series.

Execration started their 2021 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) campaign with a 2-0 win against TNC Predator but were far less successful when faced with Fnatic (0-2) on Wednesday. Regardless, they seem to be in great shape and should be favoured to defeat the shaky Vice Esports, who enter this match with two 0-2 defeats against 496 Gaming and TNC Predator.

Despite Execration’s solid form, we can’t agree with the latest odds at Dota 2 betting sites which imply Vice Esports have only a 26.5% chance of winning. They might have not looked too sharp of late, but they shouldn’t be priced as high as they are.

Vice have beaten Execration twice in 2020 (2-1-6) and have won at least one map in all of their last four meetings. Execration should win, but we don’t expect to see a clean sweep.

Fnatic are no longer the same powerhouse they were in 2019, both due to the departure of their star players and obvious struggles in the online era of Dota 2. T1, meanwhile, have seen tremendous growth since forming their Dota 2 roster in August 2019 and now field a very competitive roster.

Fnatic and T1 last met during the BTS Pro Series in December when T1 forced a stalemate in their first game and won the second bout 2-0. It marked their first head-to-head victory after three 0-2 defeats in the first half of the year.

The esports bookmakers have Fnatic priced as the favourites, which we can’t agree with. Fnatic have won only seven games since September (7-5-20) and it’s highly unlikely they will look much better after a month-long hiatus.

These teams last met in October when they shook hands and parted ways with a 1-1 draw. It was a fairly solid result for Neon, who have not beaten BOOM since December 2019, although they have managed to force their regional rivals to four stalemates (0-4-3) last year.

Both sides have made roster changes since then, and while we would rank the Indonesian squad slightly higher, it’s worth noting that BOOM have not played a single official match since November. Neon, meanwhile attended and won the Moon Studio Kagura Championship last week and although the competition featured mostly semi-pro teams, having some practice matches under their belt should give Neon an edge over the rusty BOOM. Compare odds at several different esports betting apps before placing your bets.