Remembering Dunoo, the 'Lakad Matatag' man of Dota 2

There are only a handful of games out there that can provide an opportune field for innovation and skillful play like Dota 2 does.

Irrespective of brackets, Dota 2 is a tug of war, both cerebral and emotional. Naturally, the professional tier of Dota 2 gameplay is fraught with frantic nail-biting.

The Dota 2 community is blessed with a host of talented casters who can express this complexity in so many words. For better or worse, the lion's share of tier-1 coverage is Anglocentric.

Most players only know the who's who of Dota 2 panelists from the English coverage. However, people who follow their local Dota 2 scene more religiously are more keenly aware of the sprawling circles of Dota 2 casting in regional languages.

On August 27, 2021, the South-East Asian Dota 2 scene lost one of its biggest assets with the untimely passing of Aldrin Paulo Pangan, better known by his in-game alias "Dunoo".

Aldrin Paulo Dunoo Pangan carried us to 2 Aegis and kept our mental high during every game we played. Rest in peace, legend.

— OG (@OGesports) August 27, 2021

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Dunnoo's legendary shoutcasting, the epitome of the lively Tagalag Dota 2 casting culture

As part and parcel of a passionate community, it is common for casters to be emotionally invested in the spectacular and tense matches. Many remember the iconic examples of this in big-league tournaments, like when Austin "Capitalist" Walsh crushed a plastic bottle in excitement during a Mineski vs Team Spirit match-up in The International 2019.

Casters losing their cool to become one with the game's chaotic nature, only makes the gameplay highlight reels all the more memorable.

No one has championed this form as well as Filipino casters have. The point of shoutcasting is often to accentuate the important gameplay moments. With Dunoo, it was rather the very flavor of his casting. The entertainment value of his electrified hypecasting often made it into chat wheel voicelines.

His style may not have been as heavy on the analytical insight people come to expect from visionaries like Kurtis "Aui_2000" Lang, but it was the purest form of Dota 2 that can be expressed through commentary. After all, what tame narration can fully represent something that is equal parts mania and mettle?

We will not hear more of Dunoo's voice, but what we have already heard of him will be time-honoured as a staple of Dota 2 culture.

Dunoo's popularity outside SEA skyrocketed in 2018, when pearls of hypecasting lines like "Echo slamma jamma" and "The next level play" became chat wheel dialogs in the Battle Pass. Off of a Fnatic vs Team Secret match-up in ESL One Katowice Major, where Dunoo and Marion "Lon" Marcelo were the Tagalog casters for the PH stream.

The same match was also the source of the now immortalized catchphrase "Lakad Matatag, Normalin Normalin", coined by the duo.

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Dunoo's COVID woes

On the morning of August 27, Dunoo passed away after two weeks of struggle against COVID-19 symptoms. Reportedly he had been unsuccessful in securing admittance to a medical facility, and was thus bed-ridden at home.

On August 25, he had posted on Facebook that he was sleepless and feeling breathless due to excessive coughing. The post continued:

"... it has been days since I got some sleep. I hope all of this will be over soon."

While his loss is a heavy hit to the Filipino Dota 2 community, his legacy will inspire his fellow Tagalog casters even more to embrace the unique and energetic casting style - something which the gift of Dunno's voice popularized in the wider world.