Carabaos and Comebacks: The Making of SDzyz

“Lumaki po ako sa farm,” Shemaiah Danel Chu, aka SDzyz, began. (“I grew up in a farm.”)

He was not talking about in-game farming as the jungler for TNC Pro Team. 

“Totoo po talaga, lumaki po ako sa farm noong bata po ako. Mahilig ako sumama sa mga namamastol ng mga kalabaw na pangsaka. Sumasama po ako sa mga batang iyon. 

(“It’s real, I grew up in a farm when I was a kid. I used to play with the carabao herders. I would play with them.”)

SDzyz is the only son among four siblings. Born in Angeles, Pampanga on April 15, 2003, the talented jungler is the second youngest in the family. As the only boy in the family, his childhood was animated with the outdoors as his playground and carabaos as his “pets.”

Life was bliss. 

Ever since he was four years old, SDzyz would spend his afternoons playing in the stream and the ponds near the farms. His family were not farmers, but they lived near the farmlands being cultivated by the Aetas. 

“Ang nilalaro ko lang po noon ay kung ano yung nasa nature. Nakikita ko po yung mga kalabaw na dumadaan, namamangha po ako, gusto ko po silang sakyan,” said SDzyz. 

(“I used to play with anything you would see in nature. I would see the carabaos passing by, and I would be amazed, I wanted to ride them.”)

“Tapos sa barangay po namin, marami po ng Aeta, naging kaibigan ko po sila. Sumasama po ako sa kanila mamastol ng kalabaw. Pinapaliguan namin yung kalabaw sa sapa, pinapakain po namin. Ganoon po.”

(“In our town, there were many Aetas, we became friends. I would join them as they took care of their carabaos. We would bathe them in the ponds and feed them.”)

Away from the pull of technology and video games, SDzyz would lose track of time outdoors. Innocence was feeling the billowing breeze in the tall grass, watching ants march in a line, getting soiled and smelling like the sun. 

“One time po, 10 p.m. na po ng gabi, nasa sapa pa po ako noon, naghahanap po ako ng gagamba,” recalled SDzyz. 

(“One time, I stayed out until 10 p.m. I was at the pond looking for spiders.”)

“Akala po ng mama ko kung ano na po nangyari sa akin. Pala-gala po ako doon noong bata ako, iyon lang po ginagawa ko.”

(“My mother was worried sick, she thought something happened to me. I always roamed outside when I was a kid.”)

But the family’s rustic life changed when they moved to the city in San Fernando, Pampanga. SDzyz was 10 years old. 

It was a drastic change for the little boy who was in love with carabaos and rice paddies. In the city, he discovered there was such a thing as a computer. 

At first, he was playing games on Facebook, and then his friends introduced him to PC games when they got bored of Farmville. 

“Tinuruan po nila ako ng ibang games sa Frozen Throne. Natuto din po ako mag Counter-Strike, tapos after ng mga PC games, sa Leage of Legends po ako natagal, three to four years,” SDzyz told ALL-STAR.

(“They taught me other games such as Frozen Throne. I also learned to play Counter-Strike, and then other PC games like League of Legends, I played that for three to four years.”)

Five years later at 15 years old, he would be introduced to Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. 

“Wala po akong phone noon,” said SDzyz. 

He saw his classmates playing MLBB during lunch break, and he realized it was a compact and easy game to play. The map was smaller and the game took faster to finish. And it could be played on any phone. 

“Hiniram ko po yung phone ng mama ko, yung phone na iyon 2GB RAM lang.”

(“I borrowed my mother’s phone, it was a 2GB-RAM phone.”)

It was on this low-end phone that SDzyz ranked up in the game, eventually becoming so good that he would be matched in ranked games with FlapTzy. It was 2018. 

“At that time, gusto ko po maging pro player kasi doon na po nagsimula yung pagiging fanboy ko po sa MPL. Season 3 pa lang po noon sa MPL.”

(“At that time, I wanted to become a pro player because that was the time I became a huge fan of the MPL. It was Season 3 in the MPL.”)

But his mother opposed the idea of her son focusing on esports. It was a time when esports was not yet recognized as a viable career for anyone. 

She started throwing her full support behind SDzyz after he won two major tournaments in the province. 

For two consecutive days, SDzyz and his amateur team bagged two championships in Pampanga, the first was in SM with a grand prize of P50,000, which the team split in five ways. 

“Sa dalawang araw na tournaments, ang total na nakuha ko po ay P20,000. Sobrang laki po noon, never pa nga po ako nakahawak ng P20,000 noon sa buong buhay ko,” said SDzyz. 

(“From the two tournaments, I received P20,000. That was such a huge amount for me, I’ve never even held P20,000 in my life before.”)

And his first splurge? 

“Sobrang saya ko po. Una pong ginawa ko, pinaayos ko po yung ngipin ko. Nagpa-braces po ako agad.”

(“I was so happy. The first thing I did was to have my teeth fixed. I went to have my braces on.”)

But the best part was his mother seeing esports as a future for her son. 

“Syempre yung mama ko, tuwang tuwa. Doon na po nagstart yung pagsuporta ni mama sa akin. Nakita niyang may sense naman po yung ginagawa ko, sinuportahan niya po talaga ako,” said SDzyz. 

(“Of course my mom was very happy. That’s when she started supporting me in esports. She saw that what I was going was sensible, so she fully supported me.”)

After that, she allowed him to travel to Manila to chase his esports dream. 

SDzyz became one of the top players in the province of Pampanga, and a few aspiring competitive players took notice. 

It was Peter Bryce Lozano, aka Basic, who noticed him. He invited SDzyz to form a team for the MPL qualifiers. 

“Nangti-trip-trip lang po kami noon, eh. Nakapasok po kami sa Qualifers, tinalo po namin sa finals noon, sina Escalera, Yasuwo, Ignite Esports. Sila po kalaban namin.”

(“We were just fooling around. We made it to the Qualifiers, and we beat players Escalera and Yasuwo from Ignite Esports in the finals.”)

SDzyz spent five seasons in TNC. In Season 9, TNC placed third in the MPL before the team suffered successive bottom finishes from Season 10 onward. After Season 10, SDzyz moved abroad to play for other countries, and then he came back  to the Philippines to play for TNC once again for Season 14. 

SDzyz opens up about the TNC’s hardest heartbreak

TNC was one of the strongest teams in MPL Philippines during Season 9, finishing third place after RSG PH and Smart Omega. But a patch update and one season later, they were bottom finishers. 

“Season 9, maganda po yung run namin, tapos noong Season 10, nag top 8 po kami,” SDzyz told ALL-STAR. 

“From top seed, naging top 8 kami.”

Even though that was four seasons and two years ago, the pain lingered in SDzyz. His voice grew quieter, with a subtle crack in his tone that betrayed the sadness he tried to hide because of the memory that resurfaced. 

“That time, sobrang confident  sa laro namin. Nasira lang nung nag update sa patch yung MLBB. Ang tagal po namin nag-practice, tapos biglang nag-update po yung MLBB, nag-iba po yung meta. Hindi po kami nakapag-adjust agad. Kung ano yung ginagawa namin nung nag-practice kami, iyon pa rin yung ginagawa namin sa MPL.”

(“We were so confident with our strategy. But we messed up when the new patch for MLBB was released. Everything we practiced for went to waste, the meta changed. We were not able to adjust quickly. We still used our old strategy from the old patch in the MPL.”)

TNC became a victim of desperation in Season 10, it overheated. SDzyz was pained remembering it all. 

“Season 10 was so draining for us because we kept losing. Our mindset at the time was hard work, hard work, and there was no rest,” said SDzyz. 

“Paggising, laro agad. Tapos parang wala pong pahinga. Doon po ako na-drain ng sobra, tapos Monday to Sunday po yung practice namin, wala pong pahinga. Wala pong day off kahit isang araw po. Yung scrims po namin, from 12 p.m. hanggang 12 midnight po minsan. Twelve hours, tuloy-tuloy.”

(“We would immediately play after waking up. That’s how I got drained to the fullest, and then our practices were from Monday to Sunday, no rest. No dayoffs. Our scrims were from 12 noon to 12 midnight. Twelve hours straight.”)

In Season 11, SDzyz decided not to play because his mental health was being affected by the team’s stringent and rigorous training. Bashers also got into his head. 

To get a fresh start, SDzyz went to Cambodia and became teammates with Hatred, another Filipino MLBB player who used to play for Onic PH in Season 9. There, his new team reached the playoffs but was eventually eliminated. To get his mind off things, SDzyz came home to the Philippines and rested for one season. 

“Doon po na-reset yung gigil ko sa laro,” he told ALL-STAR. “Doon din po na-reset yung mental health ko, feeling ko po buo ulit ako.”

(“That’s how my passion was reignited. My mental health was reset, I felt like I’m whole again.”)

TNC tried to recruit SDzyz again in Season 13 for a jungler role but the offer was last-minute so he couldn’t join the team. SDzyz had already committed to Team Secret in Malaysia. There, TS reached the finals of the MPL qualifiers but did not win. 

Now, SDzyz is one of the most well-traveled pro players in MLBB because he has played for several countries in Southeast Asia and even played in the Middle East. One lesson he learned from his journey through different esports regions was being strong alone.

“Ang natutuhan ko po ay maging independent sa sarili. Doon po sa abroad, hindi gaanong maasikaso sa mga players, hindi ko langpo alam sa ibang teams,” said SDzyz. “Ang hirap po ng buhay doon lalo na kapag hindi mo kasama ang pamilya mo.”

As SDzyz looks back on his journey as an esports pro player, he remembers his time with TNC in MPL Philippines Season 9.

“Hindi ko malilimutan yung nag top three po kami sa MPL. Sobrang close na po namin para mag qualify sa MSC noon pero kinapos po kami,” said SDzyz. 

(“I can never forget when we finished third place in the MPL in Season 9. We nearly qualified for the MSC, it was so close.”)

At that time, TNC defeated Smart Omega 3-0 in the regular season, but Omega proved to be a dark horse in the playoffs, cleaning up the lower bracket and eventually eliminating TNC in the bronze medal match. RSG Philippines took the championship while Omega settled for silver, the two teams represented the Philippines in the MSC. 

SDzyz cried for two days.

“Iyon po ang biggest dream ko na hindi ko pa po natutupad hanggang ngayon, ang makapag-international tournament. Hindi ko po malilimutan ang Season 9 namin.”

(“That’s my biggest dream that I have yet to achieve, to represent the country in an international tournament. I will never forget our Season 9.”)

Now that he’s back, SDzyz prays the heartbreak of Season 10 will not happen again. Even better, that TNC finally redeems itself and the glory it missed in Season 9.

“This is our chance to redeem our names in the MPL.”