Akashi had been with Talon since November 2023 while pieliedie joined the squad in January this year.
Talon Esports Dota 2 announced on Monday (November 18) that they have parted ways with Filipino carry player Eljohn “Akashi” Andales and Swedish coach johan “pieliedie” åström as the team heads into a rebuild for the upcoming 2025 season.
Akashi and pieliedie were instrumental in helping Talon to qualify for The International 2024 (TI 2024) in September, where they finished in 13th-16th place. However, their exit from the squad comes after a string of disappointing results for Talon in October and November. The team finished 11th-12th in BetBoom Dacha Belgrade and 9th-10th in DreamLeague Season 24 in October- and only finished fourth in the Southeast Asian qualifier for ESL One Bangkok 2024 this month.
Akashi joined Talon in November 2023 alongside Chung “Ws” Wei Shen, Tri “Jhocam” Kuncoro, and Pang “ponyo” Sze Xuan as the organisation’s 2023 roster left to join Aurora. Talon continued tweaking its roster in the coming months, with Ng “ChYuaN” Kee Chyuan joining in December 2023 and pieliedie taking up a coaching position in January this year.
In June, Talon parted ways with ChYuan and replaced him with Rafli “Mikoto” Rahman ahead of TI 2024’s regional qualifiers. Following the conclusion of TI 2024, ponyo left the squad and Carlo “Kuku” Palad was tapped as a stand-in before fully joining the roster in October.
During Akashi and pieliedie’s tenures with the squad, Talon’s only tournament wins came in lower tier tournaments like in the EPL World Series: SEA Season 1 in December 2023 and the RES Regional Series: SEA #1 in February this year. While they also won a handful of regional qualifiers for top-tier tournaments, they didn’t quite measure up to international competition.
Talon’s best performances this year included a 9th-10th place finish in ESL One Birmingham 2024 in April, a 7th-8th place finish in the Clavision: Snow Ruyi Invitational in August, and another 9th-10th place outing in DreamLeague Season 2024 in October.
