Raunak “Crowley” Sen was 9 years outdated when he began gaming. Again within the early 2000s, his brother invited him to a gaming cafe close to his home for a gaming session to play Counter Strike 1.6. Greater than 15 years later, Crowley is now set to compete in his second worldwide LAN occasion for Pokémon UNITE, the Asia Champions League in Malaysia.
So how did the participant go from CS 1.6 to Dota 2 to now being among the best in Pokémon UNITE? Esports.web acquired an opportunity to speak with the participant and discover out.
Raunak “Crowley” Sen
From Counter-Strike to Dota after which esports, the journey to aggressive gaming
Within the early days of Crowley’s life as a gamer, he, unsurprisingly, performed CS 1.6. Esports was a brand new factor on the time all over the world and the shooter was one of the vital well-liked video games all over the world – and in his gaming cafe.
Nevertheless, Crowley had another recreation he used to get pleasure from, and this was Warcraft III. The sport had acquired a brand new mod round this time, Dota, which piqued Crowley’s curiosity.
“It [Dota] was actually intriguing with the itemization and all the things. You had to make use of your brains to win the sport principally, whereas in CS at that stage, you simply wanted uncooked ability.”
Crowley loved the sport as an informal gamer for just a few years – balancing gaming whereas finishing his education. As soon as Dota 2 acquired launched is when esports actually picked up for the sport. Whereas good on the MOBA recreation, he wasn’t certain if he needed to turn into an esports participant. Esports as an idea was simply selecting up all over the world, and in a growing nation like India, it didn’t have numerous tournaments.
What actually acquired him into esports finally, although, was peer strain.
“Everybody advised me that I’m profitable already, why don’t I do it professionally? In order that’s the way it went down.”
Then, in late 2016, Nodwin Gaming introduced the ESL India Premiership – a yearly esports event that additionally included Dota 2. From then until 2020, Crowley gained scores of tournaments representing organizations like Reckoning Esports, Crew Signify, and even International Esports.
Unlucky retirement, and opening to new horizons
Nevertheless, with the pandemic hitting, and the expansion of cell gaming in India, the way forward for Dota 2 esports wasn’t wanting good. Crowley noticed this coming and determined to retire from Dota, however selected to proceed pursuing his ardour in gaming and esports, albeit on a special platform.
“Covid occurred and on the whole, there was nothing taking place in Dota for over a yr. The scene was lifeless in India additionally so it was a pure determination for me to maneuver on. I didn’t know which recreation to maneuver onto, however I might inform that cell video games are large sooner or later, so I made a decision to do some cell gaming.”
Being a MOBA participant, there weren’t numerous choices out there for Crowley. The Indian authorities had banned the 2 hottest cell MOBA esports, Enviornment of Valor and Cell Legends, for information privateness considerations.
On the time, Riot’s upcoming cell MOBA, Wild Rift, supplied a glimmer of hope for Crowley. Being a MOBA, the training curve wasn’t a lot for him. Moreover, Riot had demonstrated its capability to develop an esport from scratch with its tactical shooter, VALORANT.
Whereas Crowley discovered an org for Wild Rift in Noble Esports, there was one other drawback. After repeated delays, there have been no indicators of the sport releasing in India. The truth is, even now in March 2023, Riot hasn’t launched Wild Rift formally within the South Asian nation.
So Crowley determined to modify video games once more.
“When Pokémon UNITE was coming in July 2021, there have been solely neighborhood tournaments taking place in Wild Rift and so they have been simply delaying the India launch eternally. So certainly one of my mates who truly works within the esports scene advised me numerous good alternatives are going to come back in Pokémon UNITE, would possibly as properly make the change.”
That’s precisely what Crowley did and it has paid off. He joined Revenant Esports in June 2022. Since then, the workforce has been dominating domestically. They even gained the Pokémon UNITE Championship Collection – India to make it to the first-ever world championship for the sport in London. Right here, they faltered, ending in final place. Crowley stated that this was largely as a result of a scarcity of LAN expertise by the workforce who felt their nerves in key moments.
Now, although, Crowley and Revenant Esports are getting one other probability to struggle for worldwide glory.
Pokémon UNITE Asia Champions League – an opportunity at redemption
The workforce accomplished a dream comeback by means of the decrease bracket of the India Qualifier. Now, they’re headed to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the Asia Champions League. Right here, they are going to face the highest groups from throughout the continent, combating for glory and a prize pool of $60,000.
This time, Crowley actually fancies his workforce’s possibilities.
“Now, I feel the gamers are extra accustomed to LAN, they’ve performed like three LANs in India already. This time, if we make it out of teams, I’m assured of putting within the prime two.”
You’ll be able to watch Crowley reside in motion with Revenant Esports on the official Pokémon Asia English channel. The event will happen on March 18 and 19.
Learn subsequent: Pokemon Unite - Full Occasion Calendar for 2023
