Kurtis Ling (born October 2, 1992), better known as Aui_2000 or simply Aui, is a Canadian professional Dota 2 player and coach for Team Falcons. Kurtis was a member of the Evil Geniuses team that won The International 2015 and coach of the Tundra Esports team that won The International 2022.[2][3][4]

Aui_2000
Ling in 2014
Personal information
NameKurtis Ling
Born (1992-10-02) October 2, 1992 (age 32)[1]
NationalityCanadian
Career information
GameDota 2
Playing career2012–present
Coaching career2016, 2018–2019
Team history
As player:
2012PotM Bottom
2012–2013Team Dignitas
2013–2014Speed Gaming[a]
2014–2015Cloud9
2015Evil Geniuses
2015–2016Digital Chaos
2016Evil Geniuses
2016–2017Team NP
2017Cloud9
2018Animal Planet[b]
2018Digital Chaos
2021Arkosh Gaming
As coach:
2016Team Secret
2018–2019Forward Gaming
2019Newbee
2021–2023Tundra Esports
2024 – presentTeam Falcons
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

Personal life

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Kurtis attended the University of British Columbia before dropping out to play Dota 2 professionally full-time. His parents were initially skeptical of his career choice but eventually accepted it as he won more tournaments.[5]

History

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EG acquired Ling from Cloud9 in January 2015.[6]

On August 14, Aui_2000 was kicked off of the team just days after winning TI5. Artour "Arteezy" Babaev replaced him on the roster.[7][8] His sudden dismissal after winning the Dota 2 championships sparked some outrage from the community,[9] and forced team captain Peter "ppd" Dager to write a blog detailing the reasons behind Aui_2000's removal from the team.[10]

Shortly after being kicked from EG, Ling formed his own team, Digital Chaos, but struggled to achieve any significant results. On March 25, following the abrupt departure of Artour "Arteezy" Babaev and Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora from Evil Geniuses, Ling announced that he would be rejoining the team.[11] Ling was kicked from the team once again after the Manila Major 2016 in June.[12]

For the 2017 season, Aui_2000 joined Team NP. They managed to qualify for The International 2017 before being signed by the Cloud9 organization.[13] They were eliminated during the first round of the Lower Bracket by Team Empire.[14]

For the 2018 season, Aui_2000 joined Forward Gaming as a coach.[15] On July 21, 2019, Forward Gaming was dissolved;[16] the roster was then signed to represent Chinese organization Newbee at The International 2019.[17]

Notes

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  1. ^ Speed Gaming was rebranded from RSnake.
  2. ^ Animal Planet briefly rebranded to Iceberg Esports.

References

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  1. ^ Johnson, Lisa (August 10, 2015). "Vancouverite Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling's team wins $6.6M US playing Dota 2 video game". CBC. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  2. ^ Lau, Andree (August 11, 2015). "Kurtis Ling, Better Known As Aui_2000, Wins Millions In Dota 2 Gaming Competition". Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  3. ^ "'I just wanted to play games all day': Aui_2000 wins millions from his parents' basement". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  4. ^ Michael, Cale (October 30, 2022). "Tundra Esports dominates the Dota 2 world, sweeps Team Secret to lift the Aegis at TI11". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  5. ^ Wright, Nikos. "Our Campus: In the eSports ring, Kurtis Ling is king". The Ubyssey. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  6. ^ "Evil Geniuses in talks with Cloud9 to acquire AUI 2000". The Daily Dot. December 31, 2014.
  7. ^ Walker, Alex (August 18, 2015). "Evil Geniuses Decided To Kick One Of Their New Millionaires Before The International Finished". Kotaku. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  8. ^ Ke, Bryan (August 20, 2015). "Dota 2' professional player AUI_2000 replaced in Evil Geniuses by Team Secret's Arteezy". Ecumenical News.
  9. ^ "Aui_2000 claims he was kicked from EG". reddit.com/r/dota2. August 15, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  10. ^ Dager, Peter (August 18, 2015). "POST TI5 blog". peterpandam.blogspot.com.
  11. ^ "Evil Geniuses Announces Dota 2 Roster Changes". March 25, 2016. Archived from the original on March 28, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  12. ^ "Zai Returns to World Champions Evil Geniuses". PVP Live. Archived from the original on June 14, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  13. ^ "Cloud9 signs Team NP, bringing old members back into the brand". dotesports.com. July 21, 2017. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  14. ^ "Cloud 9 are eliminated from The International 7 by Team Empire". gosugamers.net. August 8, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  15. ^ "Forward Gaming Dota 2 Roster Changes". Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  16. ^ "Forward Gaming Termination".[permanent dead link]
  17. ^ "Newbee Picks Up Ex Forward Gaming Roaster for TI9". July 25, 2019.