Singaporean in-game leader Abigail “Kohaibi” Kong was the last remaining member of Team SMG’s original 2022 Game Changers roster.
SINGAPORE – Abigail “Kohaibi” Kong and Team SMG have gone their separate ways following the end of her contract.
The Singaporean tactician, who was crowned the Best APAC Game Changers Player of 2023 by The VALO2ASIA Awards, also announced that she is open to joining a new team “that would allow me to continue to grow as a player”, with a preference for the Sentinel or Duelist roles but also adaptable to others.
Kohaibi had been on the team’s books the longest since she was the primary building block of SMG’s entrance into the Game Changers ecosystem and the sole piece remaining from the original Singaporean-Thai roster formed in early 2022.
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During her time under the Team SMG banner, Kohaibi steered the team through four main events in the Open stage and secured qualification into the Elite stage during the 2022 season, but it was not until the following season, with a major overhaul centered around Kohaibi, that they achieved deeper runs.
The addition of the Filipino power trio—Alexandria “Alexy” Francisco, Camille “Kamiyu” Enriquez and Kelly “shirazi” Jaudian—quickly transformed SMG into a regional powerhouse, and the rest is history. After Ryona “Tarathiel” Tan stepped down due to other commitments, Team SMG brought in Odella “enerii” Abraham to further bolster their firepower for Open 2.
Her leadership and firepower contributed to winning all three Opens and the Elite stage in the 2023 season, heralding a new era of dominance as the Queens of APAC succeeding Alter Ego Celeste. Despite her responsibilities as the in-game leader, Kohaibi often takes the lead on the scoreboard and even ended last year’s VCT Game Changers APAC Elite as the tournament’s highest performer boasting a 1.47 VLR rating and maintaining an average combat score of 263.1.
Having secured qualification for the 2023 VCT Game Changers Championship via the Elite stage, Team SMG went on to impress in Berlin, culminating in an impressive fourth-place finish for their international debut with victories against Evil Geniuses GC and KRU BLAZE but narrowly falling short in closely contested matches against eventual finalists G2 Gozen and Team Liquid Brazil, concluding with a 1-2 scoreline on both occasions.
With Kohaibi no longer part of the team, the future of Team SMG hangs in uncertainty, as the organization has not yet announced its plans for the upcoming 2024 Game Changers SEA season.
Team SMG are now:
- 🇵🇭 Kelly “shirazi” Jaudian
- 🇵🇭 Alexandria “Alexy” Francisco
- 🇵🇭 Camille “Kamiyu” Enriquez
- 🇮🇩 Odella “enerii” Abraham
- 🇸🇬 Kenneth “Colbat” Ho (Coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of Adela Sznajder/Riot Games
