miCKe

Player Information

Name:

Michael Vu

Nationality:

Sweden

Born:

July 26, 1999 (age 26)

Region:

Europe

Years Active (Player):

2016 - Present

Roles:

Carry
Captain

Team:

Team Liquid

Alternate IDs:

m'ICKe, m`iCKe, m1CKe

Approx. Total Winnings:

$2,223,334

Signature Hero:

Links

History

2015-10-05 — 2015-12-??	Sync eSports
2016-08-16 — 2016-10-??	Team Doge
2016-10-?? — 2017-02-27	SOLIDUDES
2017-02-27 — 2017-04-05	Prodota Gaming
2017-08-05 — 2017-10-03	Tuho
2017-11-29 — 2019-03-20	Alliance
2019-03-20 — 2019-05-03	[A](Inactive)
2019-05-03 — 2019-09-26	Alliance
2019-10-02 — Present	Team Liquid

Recent Matches

Liquid	3:0 (Bo5)	OG
February 14, 2026 - 14:00 CET BLAST Slam VI

Liquid	3:2 (Bo5)	Falcons
February 13, 2026 - 14:00 CET BLAST Slam VI

Liquid	2:0 (Bo3)	GL
February 8, 2026 - 17:45 CET BLAST Slam VI

Liquid	1:0 (Bo1)	HEROIC
February 5, 2026 - 18:50 CET BLAST Slam VI

Liquid	1:0 (Bo1)	GL
February 5, 2026 - 14:05 CET BLAST Slam VI

Upcoming Tournaments

BLAST Slam VI
ONGOING! Feb 03–15

DreamLeague Season 28
Feb 16 – Mar 01

Upcoming Matches

Show countdown

Feb 15 - 16:30 CET

BLAST Slam VI - Playoffs-GF

Liquid

NAVI

Feb 17 - 12:00 CET

DreamLeague S28 - February 17-A-February 17-A

Liquid

Yandex

Feb 17 - 17:00 CET

DreamLeague S28 - February 17-A-February 17-A

Liquid

YkBros

Feb 18 - 12:00 CET

DreamLeague S28 - February 18-A-February 18-A

Liquid

PARI

Feb 18 - 17:00 CET

DreamLeague S28 - February 18-A-February 18-A

Liquid

Aurora

Michael "miCKe" Vu (born July 26, 1999) is a Swedish player who is currently playing for Team Liquid. He is a former Heroes of Newerth star who switched to Dota 2 in 2015. In 2017, he joined Alliance, a team mostly made up of former Heroes of Newerth players, and later joined Team Liquid. With Team Liquid, he has played in both the carry and mid roles, but is best-known for being a carry, a role in which he won The International 2024 in.

Biography

Heroes of Newerth

miCKe was born to parents in Vietnam, and has basic mastery of Vietnamese.^[1] He played Heroes of Newerth professionally until 2015, predominantly for Sync eSports in core roles. Towards the end of his stint in Heroes of Newerth, future teammate Insania believed miCKe was the best player in Heroes of Newerth.^[2]

Early Dota 2 career

In 2016, he joined Team Doge, a team of former Heroes of Newerth professionals, playing as a midlaner. After shuffling between teams such as Prodota Gaming, he stood-in for high-profile team Ninjas in Pyjamas for qojqva, before joining Tuho. During this initial year in Dota 2, he built a respectable profile for a player who was new to Dota 2 (albeit coming from a similar game), such as fourth in Mr. Cat Invitational Europe and second in Dota 2 Champions League Season 12.

Alliance

In 2018, he joined Alliance, playing in the midlane alongside former Heroes of Newerth players Boxi, Insania and Taiga, as well as legendary carry Loda. Loda later stepped down to become Alliance's coach, with qojqva as his replacement, and miCKe shuffling to the carry role with qojqva taking mid, although the two would switch roles on occasion. Alliance managed to establish themselves as a contender team, but major tournaments were a struggle to qualify to. In The International 2018 Europe Qualifier, the team placed a disappointing 5th-8th, failing to make it out of the Group Stage.

Despite the setback, Alliance continued to grind, and eventually began to dominate the Tier 3 circuit, including four straight tournament wins in joinDOTA League Season 13 Europe, Rivalry.gg_Rumble, X-Bet.co Rampage Series #2 and Sunday ES.BET Invitational #2. Alliance finally made a breakthrough in qualifying for The Kuala Lumpur Major, although a strong Group Stage was followed by a poor Playoff performance, as Alliance finished 9th-12th.

In March 2019, miCKe suffered from a recurring wrist injury,^[3] and was temporarily-replaced by Madara. With Madara, the team qualified to OGA Dota PIT Minor 2019, but failed to qualify to MDL Disneyland Paris Major. miCKe returned to the main roster in Mapy, helping his team qualify to EPICENTER Major 2019, where Alliance placed in a respectable 5th-6th place, miCKe's best finish to date. Their performances also earned them qualification to The International 2019, miCKe's debut at The Intternational. Consistency had long been Alliance's issue, however, and a frustrating 1-6-1 Group Stage forced them to start in the Lower Bracket of the Playoffs, where they faced Royal Never Give Up.

During their match against Royal Never Give Up, an incident known as the "The Gyrocopter Incident" took place. miCKe and Insania were discussing the merits of Naga Siren and whether Royal Never Give Up played her or not. They then decided to ban Gyrocopter, but Insania, not looking at the timer, instead picked Gyrocopter (with the ban timer ticking out, and the "ban" button turning into a "pick" one). The pick even confused Royal Never Give Up, until they realized that Alliance actually intended to ban the hero. miCKe offered to play Gyrocopter as a carry anyway, and Alliance managed to scavenge a meaningful response to the pick. The match itself was rather even, but Monet's Anti-Mage was simply too strong and outcarried Gyrocopter, leading to Alliance's eventual loss.

Despite the disappointment, miCKe's performances, were impressive enough (by Fantasy Points) to earn him a spot on the The International 2019: All-Star Match, which his team won.

Becoming a top-tier midlaner

After The International 2019, Team Liquid's roster departed to form their own organization, Team Nigma. To replace them, Team Liquid acquired the Alliance roster, later joined by coach Blitz. Team Liquid's initial performances were rough, especially for their fans, who were used to seeing top-tier performances whose core roster had won The International 2017. Nevertheless, the team persisted, gradually improving to become a strong team in Western Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The region, however, was held hostage by an extremely dominant Team Secret, who won just about every tournament during this period, with multiple 3-0 wins in Grand Finals. miCKe and his team finally took their first Tier 1 tournament win in ESL One Germany 2020, beating Natus Vincere 3-1 in the Grand Final, making a full Lower Bracket run after being sent there by mudgolems.

With the return of the Dota Pro Circuit in 2021, Team Liquid reaffirmed their status as one of the stronger teams in the region, although international performances were far worse, with 9th-12th in ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021, and 13th in WePlay AniMajor. Disappointingly, the team failed to qualify for The International 2021, losing to Team Nigma in the Western Europe Qualifier.

In the aftermath of The International 2021, Team Liquid reshuffled their team. miCKe returned to his old midlane role, with MATUMBAMAN replacing him as carry, and qojqva departing the active roster to become a streamer. Taiga also left the team, and zai replaced him, with Boxi moving to support. Despite the role change, miCKe proved to be an adept midlaner, including outstanding performances against Tundra Esports and Team Secret in the first Tour of the new Dota Pro Circuit season. Team Liquid maintained their status as one of the strongest teams in Western Europe, but once again, international performances were more disappointing, costing them an invite to The International 2022. Further struggles meant that they were eliminated early from the Western Europe Qualifier, but secured a reprieve in the Last Chance Qualifier.

The Last Chance Qualifier gave Team Liquid a chance to rectify some of the minor issues that they had struggled with. miCKe was excellent during the Last Chance Qualifier, with miCKe showing most adeptness in taking more farm from the midlane, sometimes becoming a secondary carry alongside MATUMBAMAN, but also improving his effectiveness as a tempo setter. Team Liquid started in the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs, before being sent to the Lower Bracket by Virtus.pro. Team Liquid managed to fight their way through to the Lower Bracket Final, where they faced Virtus.pro once again. Virtus.pro, however, had struggled greatly against Team Secret in the Upper Bracket Final, and this seemed to affect their mentality against Team Liquid. miCKe ended the series deathless, leading his team to a comfortable 2-0 victory and qualification to The International 2022.

Thanks to the practice offered by the Last Chance Qualifier, both themselves and fellow qualifier Team Secret showed far more cohesion than most teams at The International 2022, with both teams finishing second in the Group Stage. In the Upper Bracket, however, Team Liquid were sent to the Lower Bracket immediately by Team Aster, before fighting their way through the Lower Bracket to meet Team Aster again, but this time gaining revenge on them. Team Secret, however, eliminated them in the next phase, meaning Team Liquid finished 3rd.

Switching to carry

After The International 2022, MATUMBAMAN retired, and miCKe switched back to the carry role. He was replaced by Team Secret's Nisha in the midlane, creating a roster that on paper, was arguably the strongest in Western Europe. Within Western Europe, this was the case, with two first-placed finishes in the Regional Leagues. Internationally, Team Liquid also improved markedly — although gaining an unwanted "second-placed curse", with second at the Lima Major, Berlin Major, and Bali Major, as well as in DreamLeague Season 19 and Riyadh Masters 2023 (punctuated by severe regressions in form during DreamLeague Season 20 (15th-16th) and DreamLeague Season 21 (9th-10th)).

By this point, however, it was clear that miCKe was not only one of the best midlaners in the world, but also one of the best carries in the world, with the team just lacking that clinical edge to call themselves the best. However, The International 2023 proved to be a relative disappointment, as they finished 5th-6th.

The International glory

After The International 2023, zai retired from professional play, and he was replaced by 33. 33 brought a new dimension to Team Liquid's overall strategy, although with the end of the Dota Pro Circuit, Team Liquid could no longer rely on Western European dominance as a fallback. Tournament wins proved to be just as elusive, with Team Falcons taking over from Gaimin Gladiators as the dominant team, superior in teamfight execution and meta understanding. The team managed to secure a tournament win in Elite League Season 2, albeit with many top teams choosing to skip the event or participate in Clavision: Snow Ruyi.

In The International 2024, Team Liquid were expected to do well, but likely lose once again due to their mental block at winning tournaments. In the Group Stage, Team Liquid finished second with a 4-2 score, ominously behind Team Spirit with 6-0. They then beat BetBoom Team to secure a spot in the Upper Bracket, beating Xtreme Gaming and Cloud9 with relative ease in 2-0 scorelines. In the Upper Bracket Final, they faced Gaimin Gladiators, who had inflicted much grief on them in the past, but Team Liquid managed to flip expectations with a comfortable 2-0 win, with miCKe playing two excellent Windranger matches.

In the Grand Final, they once again met Gaimin Gladiators, with fans wondering if Team Liquid could finally break their second-placed curse. Team Liquid did so in decisive style, beating Gaimin Gladiators 3-0, with miCKe playing Nature's Prophet in all three matches, with Gaimin Gladiators simply unable to resist against miCKe's global teamfight presence and Team Liquid's map movement. This secured miCKe's first win at The International.

Assuming the captaincy

After The International 2024, 33 left Team Liquid to form his own team (with Tundra Esports), and was replaced by SabeRLight-. As a result, this left a leadership void in the team, which miCKe filled, albeit reluctantly (by coach Blitz).^[4]

Trivia

Reached 10,000 MMR on April 27, 2020.^[5]
As of September 2020, miCKe's career high for kills in a single game is 31. He achieved this feat while playing for Alliance as Morphling against OG in Game 3 of the EPICENTER 2019 European Qualifier Lower Bracket Final.

Achievements

Date	Place	Tier		Result	Prize

2025-04-27	1st	Tier 1	PGL Wallachia Season 4	3 : 2	$300,000
2025-03-16	1st	Tier 1	PGL Wallachia Season 3	3 : 1	$300,000
2024-09-15	1st	Tier 1	The International 2024	3 : 0	$1,249,445
2024-08-04	1st	Tier 2	Elite League Season 2	3 : 2	$240,000
2024-07-21	2nd	Tier 1	Riyadh Masters 2024	0 : 3	$800,000
2024-02-16	2nd	Tier 1	BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024	0 : 3	$200,000
2023-07-30	2nd	Tier 1	Riyadh Masters 2023	1 : 3	$2,500,000
2023-04-23	2nd	Tier 1	DreamLeague Season 19	2 : 3	$175,000
2022-10-30	3rd	Tier 1	The International 2022	1 : 2	$1,703,810
2020-11-01	1st	Tier 1	ESL One Germany 2020	3 : 1	$150,000
Extended list of results