Peter ppd Dager is a 26-year-old cyber athlete that hails from Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the esports world, he is better known by his nickname ‘ppd’ actively playing for Optic Gaming, taking on the role of captain, calling the shots and supporting his dota 2 team.
Ppd is quite the outspoken gamer, who was often called the Salt King because of his saltiness towards other esports athletes. Peter pulled his best performances playing Alchemist. His signature Dota 2 characters were Vengeful Spirit, Treant Protector and Abaddon helping his unit win the match.
Where it all began:
His interest in gaming started in his early school days when Peter got a Super Mario video game, N64 as a Christmas present. After high school, ppd became more committed to gaming, starting his esports career with Heroes of Newerth, under the original alias ‘peterpandam’. To improve and be a better player he competed with his older brother and a friend who most of the time beat him.
Following the footsteps of many HoN players at the time, ppd transitioned to play Dota 2 towards the end of 2013. Acquiring the skills to be a better gamer, he joined teams like Stayfree and Super Strong Dinosaurs together with his teammate, Zai.
The Team:
Through his gaming experience with Evil Geniuses, ppd helped his dota 2 squad beat renowned teams such as Cloud 9, Team Liquid, Natus Vincere, Virtus.Pro and Newbee. A lot of EG’s achievements were accomplished thanks to Peter’s leadership skills of motivation to drive his unit to win esports competitions.
Ppd resigned from CEO of EG, forming a new esports team called The Dire in September 2017. The lineup was eventually acquired by Optic Gaming whose Dota roster actively consists of ppd as captain, Pajkatt, Zai, 33 and CC&C.
Competitions & Winnings:
Some of the recent esports tournaments that Peter and his current team, Optic have participated in include the qualifying matches of ESL One Katowice 2018, GESC: Indonesia Minor, The Bucharest Major and StarLadder i-League Invitational. The latest major events that Dager has taken part in were the Dota Summit 8 and ROG Masters 2017.
Peter’s great success was at The International 2015 competing for Evil Geniuses at the time. The top dota team reached the grand finals against CDEC to win the match with an unbeatable record 3-1, taking home a staggering $6.6 million cash prize.
The second accomplishment in Dager’s gaming career was at The International 2016. At the time, he was competing for Evil Geniuses, where they lost to Wings Gaming in the Upper Bracket finals. The squad moved down to the Losers Brackets, where EG lost to Digital Chaos with a score of 1-2, to finish in third place, proudly claiming their winning prize of a stunning $2.1 million.