Renowned Dota 2 professional player Carlo "Kuku" Palad is bringing his wealth of experience to Smart Omega Esports as the team's newest head coach.
The organization revealed the development through a video on Friday night, just a week after crashing out of The Nationals Season 2.
"We are proud to introduce the addition of Carlo 'Kuku' Palad to the Omega Esports roster roster as the Dota 2 team's coach!" the team said in the caption.
"Kuku is a well-known professional player in the international scene, having played on the prestigious "The International" multiple times and garnering numerous championship trophies himself."
Omega is bannered by Kuku's former teammate John Linuel "Teehee" Abanto (hard support/captain), Christian "Skadi" Abasolo (carry), Benhur "Benhur" Lawis (midlaner), Sandro "Luciano" Aguinaldo (offlaner) and Mark Jubert "Shanks" Redira (soft support).
"With his knowledge, experience and expertise in Dota 2, we believe that Kuku will be a great help for us to bounce back and reach the top!"
Kuku, then a midlaner, had his career breakout in the Dota 2 scene after leading Mineski's campaign in the Frankfurt Major five years ago.
He then transferred to TNC Pro Team that went on to become the first Filipino squad to qualify for The International since Mineski in the first edition in 2011.
Kuku, widely known as the "Filipino Huskar", and his TNC side pulled off arguably the biggest upset in TI history, taking down then two-time Major winner OG in the lower bracket in 2016. They landed on the 7th-8th spot and brought home over $500,000.
TNC participated in the next three iterations of TI, but an underwhelming 9th-12th place finish last year resulted in Kuku's exit.
Kuku moved to Geek Fam where he won back-to-back titles in the BTS Pro Series Season 2 and ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League together with fellow Filipino stars Polo "Raven" Fausto and Karl "Karl" Jayme (popularly known as Santino).
The 24-year-old pro, who experienced taking the offlane and hard support positions, is currently leading a rag-tag team named Among Us along with Filipino midlaner Abed "Abed" Yusop.
After finishing third in the BTS Pro Series 3, Among Us is now at the upper bracket finals against Thai team Motivade.Trust Gaming in the Dota Summit 13 Online: Southeast Asia.