SUNSfan

From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki
This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now.
[e][h]SUNSfan
Player Information
Name:
Shannon Scotten
Nationality:
Born:
August 14, 1985 (age 40)
Region:
North America North America
Years Active (Player):
Player has no results.
Role:
Links
History
2015-08-24 — 2017-04-06 DC(Org)
Upcoming Tournaments
No Upcoming Tournaments

Shannon "SUNSfan" Scotten (born August 14, 1985) is a caster and content creator working at DotaCinema and MoonduckTV. He was the co-founder of Digital Chaos.

Biography

[edit]

Shannon "SUNSfan" Scotten is a well-recognized figure in the Dota 2 esports community, known primarily for his commentary and casting talents. His nickname derives from the fact that he is a self proclaimed die-hard Phoenix Suns fan.

Professional Gaming Career
Before diving into the Dota 2 scene, SUNSfan was a professional player in the early days of Counter-Strike. Post his Counter-Strike career, he played a lesser-known mod named Firearms​ where he won championships in the Cyber Athletic League. He also played competitive Battlefield 2 and CS:Source.

Heroes of Newerth
SUNSfan's casting began with Heroes of Newerth where he created a popular trio called GLHF, which included his personal friends XNCD and Reaves. Their whimsical banter and storytelling soon caught the attention of many, culminating in his association with Honcast - the game's official commentating studio.

DotaCinema
SUNSfan became popular in Dota 2 in large part from his Youtube channel DotaCinema, which grew to have as many as 1.4 million subscribers. He originally started as the voice of their "Hero Spotlights", but quickly expanded his content creation to include iconic shows like "Fails of the Week" and "Top Plays". SUNSfan was instrumental in embedding DotaCinema within the Dota 2 workshop, resulting in the creation of numerous in-game cosmetics.

Dota 2 Casting and Paneling
His journey as a Dota caster started most prominently with his self-created Captains Draft series of tournaments. His long-time casting partner is SyndereN, where together they are known for their friendly banter and witty commentary. While initially known for his humorous casting style, SUNSfan has grown to become one of the most popular casters in Dota.

Tournament Organization
SUNSfan, along with syndereN, Sajedene, and DotaCinema, pioneered the Captains Draft tournament format in Dota 2. Captains Draft 2.0, which started with a $50,000 prize pool, quickly ballooned to over $276k thanks to community funding. It remains one of the highest funded third-party tournaments in the history of the western scene. Captains Draft 4.0, a LAN event in Washington D.C. with over 2000 people in attendance, remains the first and only Valve sponsored event to be played in a different game mode than the traditional Captains Mode.

Digital Chaos
In 2015, SUNSfan founded an esports organization, Digital Chaos (now Chaos Esports Club) with Sajedene. Based out of North America, they placed 2nd at The International 2016 ($20,770,460 USD prize pool) and 1st at ESL One Genting 2017. He left in 2017 with no official reason given.

Moonduck Studios
In 2015, SUNSfan also co-founded Moonduck Studios, a remote casting studio composed of a collection of popular talent in the Dota scene. Throughout the years they have created many memorable online and in-person tournaments such as Midas Mode, Captains Draft, and Elimination Mode.

Game Design and Development
SUNSfan has been deeply involved in game design within the Dota 2 community. He was the design lead for Path of Guardians, a custom game in Dota 2 with over 150,000 subscribers. He then teamed up with Jenkins to create Ability Arena, an autobattler in Dota 2 with over 400,000 subscribers. He's also currently working on a standalone version of Ability Arena in Unity.

Dota 2 Tooltips Extension
In collaboration with bukka, SUNSfan unveiled the Dota 2 Tooltips Extension for Twitch in 2021. This community-centric initiative empowers viewers to delve deeper into in-game nuances during live streams, allowing them to hover over spells and items. It swiftly rose to prominence, becoming Twitch's #1 most-utilized gaming extension and securing its spot in the official TI stream.

Podcast
SUNSfan co-hosts a podcast named 'We Say Things' alongside syndereN, with over 200 episodes to date, where they discuss the weekly topics of Dota and the broader esports landscape.

Trivia

[edit]
  • On June 9, 2014, SUNSfan and Sajedene were robbed at gunpoint. The moment was caught on Sajedene's stream, which allowed multiple viewers and friends to inform the police of the incident. The two were later rescued a few hours after the robbery.[1]
  • Due to Digital Chaos managing to attend multiple premier tournaments in 2015 because another team lost their spot, the community made the term of "Sunsfanning", which implied that Sunsfan sabotaged the other team to allow DC to participate.
  • He is half Persian.[2]
  • He has a very mild case of Tourette's Syndrome.[3]
  • In 2022, SUNSfan made a mysterious statement that he had some bad news that would be revealed at a later date, but could not give details. SUNSfan never revealed this bad news, leading to the community fervently speculating what SUNSfan was going to warn them about. "Is this what SUNSfan warned us about?" became a popular meme, where many pieces of bad news, including those that were clearly not able to be predicted back in 2022, were claimed to be what SUNSfan's warning was about.

Notable Events as Broadcast Talent

[edit]
DateTierTournamentPositionPartner List
2025-09-14Tier 1The International 2025The International 2025Caster
2025-07-19Tier 1Esports World Cup 2025Esports World Cup 2025Esports World Cup 2025Caster
2024-09-15Tier 1The International 2024The International 2024Commentator/Analyst
2023-10-29Tier 1The International 2023The International 2023Commentator/Analyst
2023-07-30Tier 1Riyadh Masters 2023Riyadh Masters 2023Commentators
2022-10-30Tier 1The International 2022The International 2022Commentator/Analyst
2021-10-17Tier 1The International 2021The International 2021Commentator
2018-06-10Tier 1China Dota2 SupermajorChina Dota2 SupermajorAnalyst
2015-02-09Tier 1Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015Dota 2 Asia Championships 2015Commentator
2014-07-21Tier 1The International 2014The International 2014Commentator
About achievementsBroadcasts from any Tournament

Additional Content

[edit]

Interviews

[edit]
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • Show All

Miscellaneous

[edit]

Spotlights

[edit]
2023

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ https://youtu.be/-0X5GYkF_vo
  2. ↑ https://twitter.com/SUNSfanTV/status/546407342816772097?s=17
  3. ↑ https://youtu.be/Gnnvum0Qd-M?t=2561
Retrieved from "https://liquipedia.net/dota2/index.php?title=SUNSfan&oldid=2268847"