Fri. Sep 5th, 2025

Watson Explains How ‘Free to Play’ Film Featuring Dendi and Fear Motivated His Esports Career

Professional Dota 2 player Alimzhan `Watson` Islambekov recently discussed his idols in Valve`s MOBA title. During a stream, he shared that his motivation to become an esports competitor originated from watching the documentary film “Free to Play,” which featured prominent players like Danil `Dendi` Ishutin and Clinton `Fear` Loomis. Following his initial inspiration from the film, he became a fan of Artur `Arteezy` Babaev, and later Wang `Ame` Chunyu.

My idol… Honestly, I wanted to become an esports player because of the “Free to Play” movie with Dendi and Fear. After that, I started being a fan of Arteezy. I wasn`t exactly a fan of Miracle-. After Arteezy, the Ame era began, and after Ame, I stopped closely following anyone. Arteezy used to be incredibly dedicated. He invented a lot in Dota. At one point he was a midlaner, and there`s a concept called `Arteezy block` – he`d position himself near the tower so that four creeps were on one side, walk around it, block all four creeps, and always get ahead.

Earlier, Shopify Rebellion coach Kanishka Sam `BuLba` Sosale also mentioned his first idols in DotA. According to him, even before starting his professional esports career, he watched matches played by Ivan `Vigoss` Shinkarev and Dmitry `LighTofHeaveN` Kupriyanov.

By Marcus Bellamy

Marcus Bellamy works the bustling streets of Birmingham, where he's built his reputation covering everything from grassroots athletics to professional boxing. His distinctive writing style combines statistical analysis with compelling narratives about local sports heroes.

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