Deshan “Demigod” Thathsara is a player that needs no introduction. A prominent figure in the Overwatch community Demigod(Demi) started off with playing COD4 for Xiphos Esports in 2016. During this time Demi also tried his luck at other games like Dota2 and Mortal Kombat competitively. A few months later he left.Unhappy with the Xiphos management, namely the lack of communication with players Demi took his talents to Noob Alliance. It was around this time that Overwatch was released into open beta. His stint in Noob Alliance lasted for around four years.

Demi’s time in Noob Alliance as Overwatch wing leader was spent primarily in grooming younger players for the competitive arena and formed approximately 10-15 teams. His responsibilities included organizing tournaments, allocating referees and hosting streams.

His sudden departure to Phoenix GaminG left many in confusion and disbelief. Phoenix is considered to be  Noob Alliance’s biggest rivals not only in the Overwatch community but also in the race for the coveted Best Clan award.

The following is an extract from our interview with Demigod:

Q: What was your motivation behind this move?

A: When I was at Noob Alliance, I gave it my all to make the overwatch wing strong. I don’t know about the current state, but it was one of the strongest wings at Noob Alliance.

I left because of a certain player at Noob alliance. He was appointed as a wing leader for overwatch even though he didn’t contribute anything towards the growth of overwatch at Noob Alliance. All he did was undermine my work .Assigning players positions and moving them up in the hierarchy just because they won’t leave the clan will not work if they don’t have any passion for the clan itself. The person who has it will stay no matter what happens within the clan including this both ups and down they might encounter along the way.

The clan couldn’t do anything about it because he was a player for an overwatch team and a COD team. So, it got to a point where staying in the clan was not a logical thing to do. It was too much stress for me because I have my own life to deal with. In the end I made the decision which was to leave the clan. If cyanide and Gerald were more involved when this was happening this could have been different.

Q:Why Phoenix GaminG? What made it so appealing given the history between the two clans?

A: I’m not a person who stays in a clan for money or titles. This is what phoenix offered me;
“You will be joining as a member and form an overwatch team and you will be captain for that team. Once you put a solid foundation then you can decide  whether you will be going as a wing leader or in the direction of our social media or streaming platform. When you build trust and friendship then you can choose which side you  want to go. People will not be blocking your growth or be a problem for you for sure”

This is more than enough for me to join them. If they offer me a role or position which suits my personality or skill set I’ll be more than happy to take it if not I’m happy to be a part of the phoenix  community

After all, “මාළුවා නහින්නේ කට හින්දා xD “

We reached out to the two clans to get their take on this move and this is what they had to say:

Noob Alliance  

Demigod was a key factor in building our Overwatch wing from the ground up, we would even go as far as saying he was a key factor in building the entire Overwatch community in Sri Lanka. These are facts that no one can deny. While it’s sad to see him leave our organization due to conflicts, we have no doubts that he would excel in Phoenix Gaming – bringing their Overwatch wing to new heights, as he did with ours. Our future in Overwatch is uncertain at this point, with other key teams leaving, we have not yet decided on what direction we will be heading.

 

Phoenix GaminG

Demigod has been a popular figure in the Overwatch scene and we believe that he was the backbone of the Overwatch wing in nA. Our Overwatch wing has always been a close competitor with nA. All credits go to our skilled and dedicated players and  management. When demigod left nA due to his personal reasons, despite the fact that we already had a solid Overwatch wing, we considered to recruit demigod since we knew of his potential and the additional value that he could bring into PnX to grow the clan as a whole. He decided to join us without any hesitation since he wanted to be in a place where his efforts are recognized and valued. This has always been the case in a majority of our recruitments. Players want to join us simply because of the unique style of management that we maintain and we guess that is the unique selling point of Phoenix GaminG. We hope that demigod will be a valuable addition and we as a clan will be able  to cater at our best for demigod to grow his career in the future