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Boxi

From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki
[e][h]Team LiquidTeam Liquid Boxi
Player Information
Name:
Samuel Svahn
Nationality:
Born:
April 10, 1998 (age 28)
Region:
Europe Europe
Years Active (Player):
2016 - Present
Approx. Total Winnings:
$2,364,215
Signature Hero:
Tusk Rubick Clockwerk
Links
History
2016-??-?? — 2017-11-29 Evil Corporation
2017-11-29 — 2019-09-26 Alliance
2019-10-02 — 2021-04-23 Team Liquid
2021-04-23 — 2021-06-08 Liquid(Inactive)
2021-06-08 — Present Team Liquid
Recent Matches
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(Bo3)
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May 29, 2026 - 13:25 CEST
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Upcoming Tournaments
The_International/2026
TI2026
The_International/2026
Tier 1
Aug 13–23

Samuel "Boxi" Svahn (born April 10, 1998) is a Swedish player who is currently playing for Team Liquid. A former Heroes of Newerth star who won HonTour World Finals 2015, Boxi began his career as an offlaner for Alliance, eventually moving to a support role with Team Liquid and becoming one of the best supports in the scene. With Team Liquid, he won The International in 2024, despite significant personal loss and health issues in previous years.

Biography

[edit]

Early life and Heroes of Newerth

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Boxi was born in Uppsala, Sweden. One day, while being babysat by his older brother, the two went to a LAN cafe with some of his brother's friends, to play Counter-Strike: Source. The young Boxi did not know anything about the game, including how to open doors (F), and his brother and his friends found it a waste of time to help him. He then asked a staff member instead, and also noticed other people playing a different game, Dota 2, and asked the staff about this too. Unfortunately, by asking so many questions, Boxi believed he accidentally "ratted out" his brother and his friends for going over their time at the cafe, and they were kicked out, annoying them.[1]

Boxi eventually played Dota 2 during the beta key era. He believes the first hero he played was Razor, and he abandoned the game, believing it had input lag and found it unenjoyable.[2]

When Heroes of Newerth was released, Boxi quickly became good at the game, frequently beating his brother, to the extent that his brother refused to play against him any further. Boxi would make fake accounts to get around this. His interest in Heroes of Newerth grew, especially after becoming aware of players such as zai participating in tournaments that could earn a decent amount of money. He continued to play Heroes of Newerth, often neglecting his studies, but winning money in small tournaments, and rising through the scene. At only sixteen, Boxi took part in the HonTour Season 3 Finals 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand, winning the tournament with Bad Monkey Gaming.[3]

Entering Dota 2 with Alliance

[edit]

Around this time, Heroes of Newerth had begun to die down, and several players jumped ship to Dota 2. He was brought into the Dota 2 scene by miCKe and Insania; at the time, Insania considered Boxi to be the second-best player in Heroes of Newerth, after miCKe.[4] The three were picked up by Alliance (with Boxi reprising his offlane role), joining Taiga and legendary captain Loda, later replaced by qojqva with Loda moving to coach. Alliance, however, failed to qualify for The International 2018.

Despite the setback, Alliance continued to grow, although success eluded Boxi. The team proved capable at winning the likes of joinDOTA League Season 13 Europe, and qualifying for The Kuala Lumpur Major and ESL One Hamburg 2018, but they struggled to secure results against the strongest teams, despite qualifying.

Alliance's consistent performances earned them a direct invite to The International 2019. Dotabuff considered them to be one of the dark horses due to their unusual hero pools and willingness to play off-meta heroes and strategies.[5] However, Alliance's old problems returned, unable to close out many of their series, ending the Group Stage with a 1-6-1 score and sending them to the Lower Bracket against Royal Never Give Up. The match was infamous for the "Gyrocopter Incident", where captain Insania picked Gyrocopter instead of banning it after running out of time. Although Alliance rallied impressively with the unfavourable pick, Monet's Anti-Mage was not adequately addressed, and Royal Never Give up eventually eliminated Alliance from the tournament.

Joining Team Liquid and personal struggles

[edit]

The team was later acquired by Team Liquid, which Boxi considered to be a large step up in terms of accomplishment.[4] However, around this time, Boxi's mother was diagnosed with cancer, and this affected Boxi mentally, with him frequently arguing with Insania and coach Blitz. Things came to a head during a Summit tournament,[note 1] where Insania confronted him directly and asked him why he was being lazy, and Boxi bluntly told him the truth. His mother was later declared cancer-free, but went into remission during the COVID-19 pandemic. Boxi's mother passed away during DPC WEU 2021 Season 2: Upper Division, with SumaiL standing-in for him and qojqva moving to Boxi's offlane position, and Team Liquid granted a waiver in terms of number of substitutes. Team Liquid also qualified to the WePlay Animajor, where SumaiL continued to stand-in.[3]

After a period of mourning, Boxi returned to the team. Blitz felt that the team had built up a healthy culture by that point, and the team decided that they would play with Boxi, "even if he's ass." Despite Boxi putting much effort into his performances as a means to take the pressure off recent events, Team Liquid failed to qualify for The International 2021, with significant fan blowback, calling for Boxi to be kicked from the team. Boxi himself considered retiring at this point, having made so many sacrifices, but eventually decided that he would never want to have that feeling ever again.[3]

Shifting to support

[edit]

In the aftermath of The International 2021, the team reshuffled. Boxi moved to support to accommodate zai, with Taiga departing the team. MATUMBAMAN also joined, with miCKe moving to the midlane and qojqva departing the active roster to become a streamer for Team Liquid. Boxi's transition to support was rough, although Team Liquid performed well in the Dota Pro Circuit that year. Outside of the Dota Pro Circuit, however, things were much more mixed, with finishes such as 9th-12th at the Arlington Major. In the Western European Qualifier to The International 2022, Team Liquid were eliminated by Team Secret in 3rd place, although granted a reprive by qualifying to the Last Chance Qualifier instead. Team Liquid proved to be one of the strongest teams at the qualifier, going 8-2 in the Group Stage, but were sent to the Lower Bracket by Virtus.pro. Virtus.pro, however, were themselves sent to the Lower Bracket by Team Secret in disappointing fashion, and Team Liquid fought their way to the Lower Bracket Final in a rematch. Mentally, however, the loss to Team Secret seemed to have affected Virtus.pro, with Team Liquid securing an easy, if not anti-climatic, 2-0 win to secure the last spot to The International 2022.

Going through the Last Chance Qualifiers had a key advantage for Team Liquid, with the extra play as practice. Team Liquid and Team Secret looked very sharp in the Group Stages, with both teams placing second in their Group. Team Liquid, however, were sent to the Lower Bracket immediately by Team Aster, before clawing their way through the Lower Bracket, beating Entity, OG, and Thunder Awaken, and getting revenge on Team Aster. However, they were eliminated by Team Secret in a stompy series to finish in 3rd place. All the teams at the event, however, were at the mercy of Tundra Esports' mastery of the meta, who beat Team Secret 3-0 in the Grand Finals.

Consolidation amidst health problems

[edit]

After The International 2022, MATUMBAMAN retired, and miCKe returned to the carry role, and Nisha joining as his replacement in mid. Team Liquid began the new season strongly, finishing with a 7-0 score in Tour 1, dropping only two games all Tour. However, around this point, stomach issues — which he had had since young — began to return for Boxi. During the Lima Major, the issue escalated into a medical emergency, and he was diagnosed with gastrointestinal bleeding. He was rushed home on a plane, with coach Jabbz standing-in for him in the Upper Bracket Final against Gaimin Gladiators, which they lost 0-2. In the Lower Bracket Final against Talon Esports, Team Liquid bounced back strongly to win 2-0, with a chaotic and spirited performance by Jabbz on Riki and Clockwerk. In the Grand Final against Gaimin Gladiators, however, their opponents proved to be several notches better, and won convincingly 3-0.[4]

As a result of his health issues, he once again debated retiring, although he was torn because of his desire to win The International. He eventually chose to continue competing and cited his mother as his inspiration for wanting to continue to play, as she had been very interested his success and always wanted the best for him.[4]

During the season, Team Liquid developed an unwanted statistic of persistent second-placed finishes at major tournaments, finishing second in the Lima, Berlin and Bali Majors, as well as in DreamLeague Season 19 and Riyadh Masters 2023. Despite this dubious honor, it at least meant that Team Liquid was consistently one of the strongest teams in the world and were invited to The International 2023, with Boxi finally affirming himself as one of the best supports in the world. The International 2023 turned out to be a relative disappointment, however, as they finished 5th-6th, being eliminated by Gaimin Gladiators.

The International glory

[edit]

The following season, the Dota Pro Circuit was abolished, transitioning the scene to multiple large third-party tournaments. In this new model, Team Liquid fell down a rung in the pecking order, not even finishing second in most events (although this was retained in BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 and Riyadh Masters 2024). Although Boxi was by this point a highly-established support, the team were simply a step behind the likes of Team Falcons and Team Spirit all season. The team did, however, manage to secure a win in Elite League Season 2, albeit with several other major teams choosing to skip the event or attend Clavision: Snow Ruyi instead.

Around this time, Boxi developed further health issues, which included sensitivity in his eyes. As a result, he now frequently wears sunglasses while playing.[6]

Although lacking in success, Team Liquid's consistency as a top-6 team at the very least earned them an invite to The International 2024. Team Liquid started with a strong second-placed finish in their group, then beat BetBoom Team to secure a spot in the Upper Bracket. They faced few issues dispatching Xtreme Gaming and Cloud9 in ruthless 2-0 victories before running into Gaimin Gladiators, who had caused several of those unwarranted second places in the past; most expected Gaimin Gladiators to overcome Team Liquid yet again. However, this was absolutely not the case, with Team Liquid outclassing Gaimin Gladiators in a 2-0 win. Gaimin Gladiators overcame Tundra Esports in the Lower Bracket Final, setting up a juicy rematch. The rematch proved to be just as dominant for Team Liquid, with Boxi shining on his signature Tusk in game 2 of a 3-0 win, breaking their second-placed curse for good, and securing the Aegis for Team Liquid.

Slacks: It's been a long time coming; a year of adversity, through health problems, to the lows, and the highs, but you have finally earned it here today — quite an incredible year. How does it feel to go through all of that, to finally be a TI champion?
Boxi: It feels really good to finally win a LAN, win a big LAN; it's my first Dota victory which is like a tier 1 tournament according to Liquipedia, so it's good to start with a big one. It's been a few tough years for me personally, and I'm really happy to have a lot of my family here watching and supporting. To all my friends supporting at home, and to our fans, I want to give many thanks for giving me the strength to continue, and to keep trying with everything that I have.
Slacks interviewing Boxi after he won The International 2024 ([7])

Statistics

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  • Boxi is the all time leader in premium/professional matches played as Marci (38 matches and 19 wins), although Ari leads in matches played as Marci (32 matches and 20 wins).
  • Boxi's career high for kills in a single game is 23. He achieved this feat while playing for Team Liquid as Axe in Game 2 of their Group Stage series against Ascomanni during the MDL Chengdu Major European Qualifier.
  • Had the highest average assists per game (17.30) at the Lima Major 2023 prior to his early departure from the tournament due to a medical emergency.

Stats from datdota as of as of 08-Mar-2025

Achievements

[edit]
  • As Player
  • Awards
  • Show All
DatePlaceTierTournamentTeamResultPrize
2026-02-151stTier 1BLAST SLAM VIBLAST SLAM VIBLAST SLAM VI
3 : 1
$300,000
2025-04-271stTier 1PGL Wallachia Season 4PGL Wallachia Season 4
3 : 2
$300,000
2025-03-161stTier 1PGL Wallachia Season 3PGL Wallachia Season 3
3 : 1
$300,000
2024-09-151stTier 1The International 2024The International 2024
3 : 0
$1,249,445
2024-08-041stTier 2Elite League Season 2Elite League Season 2Elite League Season 2
3 : 2
$240,000
2024-07-212ndTier 1Riyadh Masters 2024Riyadh Masters 2024Riyadh Masters 2024
0 : 3
$800,000
2024-02-162ndTier 1BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024
0 : 3
$200,000
2023-07-302ndTier 1Riyadh Masters 2023Riyadh Masters 2023
1 : 3
$2,500,000
2022-10-303rdTier 1The International 2022The International 2022
1 : 2
$1,703,810
2020-11-011stTier 1ESL One Germany 2020ESL One Germany 2020
3 : 1
$150,000
Extended list of results
DateTierTournamentAwardTeamPrize
2023
2023-07-30Tier 1Riyadh Masters 2023Riyadh Masters 2023MVP (4th Place)
$2,500

Additional Content

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Interviews

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  • 2025
  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2020
  • Show All

Miscellaneous

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Spotlights

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  • 2025
  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • Show All

Highlights

[edit]
2024
[edit]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Either DOTA Summit 12 or DOTA Summit 13 Online: Europe & CIS.

References

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  1. ↑ PGL (2025-04-24). "DOTA Memories - How did you find out about DOTA? - PGL Wallachia Season 4".
  2. ↑ PGL (2025-04-25). "DOTA Memories - First game and First hero [PGL Wallachia Season 4]".
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Team Liquid (2023-10-09). "Boxi's story and why he's going to win TI".
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Team Liquid (2020-11-16). "From Bedroom to The International Stage: iNSaNiA | Honda x Team Liquid Presents: Origins | Episode 3".
  5. ↑ KawaiiSocks (2019-07-22). "The International Preview: Europe". Dotabuff.
  6. ↑ Руслан Керимов (2024-11-02). "Интервью с Boxi на BB Dacha – о здоровье, идеальной мете и поражениях Liquid [Interview with Boxi at BB Dacha – about health, perfect meta and Liquid defeats]" (in Russia Russian). Кибер.
  7. ↑ Valve (2024-09-15). "The International 2024 - Finals".
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