Jesse Vainikka (born May 7, 1992), better known as JerAx, is a retired Finnish professional ''

Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve Corporation, Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created Mod (video gaming), mod for Blizzard Entertainment's ''War ...

'' player known for his playstyle with the hero Earth Spirit. He began his esports career in ''

Heroes of Newerth ''Heroes of Newerth'' (''HoN'') was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game originally developed by S2 Games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The game idea was derived from the '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' custom ...

'' before transitioning to ''Dota 2'', where he had back-to-back victories at The International 2018 and

The International 2019 The International 2019 (TI9) was the ninth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament followed a year-long series of awarding qualifying poin ...

with OG. Jesse's professional career includes various roles and teams. After his success with OG, he briefly retired from competitive play but made a return to the scene as the captain of

Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty (series), Call of Duty'', ''Counter-Strike ...

. He then joined

Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. They signed their first professional players with the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty''. In 2012, Team Liquid acq ...

as a coach in mid-2022.

Career

Jesse began his career with the Finnish team Rat in the dark in 2013. Over the years, he became part of several international teams, including 5Jungz, Team Tinker,

and OG. His achievements include being the first player to participate in four consecutive Dota 2 Major finals—

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

and

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

with Team Liquid, and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

with OG. Jesse's career took off in 2015 when he joined 5jungz, a roster that later became Team Liquid. In 2016, he joined ''OG'', where he won two Valve Majors and two The International titles, achieving historic success with the team. In 2018, he became the highest-earning individual player in esports, earning in prize money from ''Dota 2'' championships. In an interview with esports journalist Duncan "Thorin" Shields, Jesse clarified that he left Team Liquid by choice due to his declining mental health. He cited stress, near burnout, low self-esteem and difficult living conditions as reasons for his departure. In 2020, Jesse auctioned his old gaming chair, which had the Team Liquid logo, to benefit the charity

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

. The auction, conducted in collaboration with the Finnish talk show Valavuori Live, resulted in a sum of , surpassing the auction prices of signed jerseys from renowned football players

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

and

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

. On December 9, 2022, Jesse announced his retirement from professional Dota 2, saying that his passion for the game was lost. He returned briefly in 2021 for a six-month tenure with

(EG). He came out of retirement and joined Evil Geniuses for his return to competitive play in the

Dota Pro Circuit The Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) was the professional league used in ''Dota 2'', a competitive five-on-five video game. Active between 2017 and 2023, the DPC was organized by the game's developer, Valve and consisted of seasonal "Major" tournaments and ...

. In a post-match interview, Jesse mentioned his past experiences with Evil Geniuses' coach, Kanishka Sam "BuLba" Sosale and his admiration for teammates Andreas Franck "Cr1t-" Nielsen and Artour " Arteezy" Babaev made him join EG. He later moved into a coaching role with Team Liquid. During his time with Team Liquid, the team faced a turbulent season but managed to qualify for The International 11 (TI11) through the Last Chance Qualifier and achieved a third-place finish at the event. He left Team Liquid in December 2022.

References

{{reflist OG (esports) players Dota players Finnish esports players Living people Evil Geniuses players Team Liquid players 1992 births