BOOM Esports sign Armel and Jabz to Dota 2 roster

BOOM Esports announced the signing of Armel “Armel” Tabios and Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong, who officially joined the Indonesian Dota 2 esports team after a short stint as stand-ins.

BOOM Esports are back in full force as of this Sunday, when they acquired the services of Jabz and Armel, with the duo filling up the voids left behind by the departures of Mc “Mac” Villanueva and Saieful “Fbz” Ilham in March.

Two former Aurora Gaming players joined BOOM Esports on March 15 as stand-ins for FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 and DreamLeague Season 26 South-east Asian closed qualifiers, where they helped the team to mixed results.

Jabz is now officially part of the wolfpack!

Please give a warm welcome to our newest Dota 2 member #HungryBeast pic.twitter.com/4E8lEpPpLa

— BOOM Esports (@boomesportsid) April 20, 2025

BOOM’s run through FISSURE Universe: Episode 4 ended prematurely, as they crashed out of the Swiss stage with losses to Team Spirit, PARIVISION, and Team Falcons.

However, they showed some signs of life with a 2-0 sweep of the eventual champions, BetBoom Team.

In the second tournament with the two stand-ins, BOOM looked much better and qualified for DreamLeague Season 26 with wins against Team Nimister, Ivory, and The MongolZ.

Jabz and Arnel, who left a positive mark across the eight games played with their new team and played a key role in BOOM’s 2-0 sweep of MongolZ in the finals of DreamLeague Season 26 qualifiers.

By joining BOOM Esports, the Filipino midlaner Armel will have a chance for a fresh start after a year-long hiatus from the tier-one scene.

Meanwhile, Jabz will have another chance to prove his worth after getting removed from Aurora Gaming’s lineup in January, when Aurora ditched their South-east Asian roster in favour of an Eastern European squad.

The drastic roster change follows BOOM Esports’ shaky showings since the start of the new season, having failed to win a single tournament and coming up short in a few South-east Asian qualifiers for major events.

Notably, they lost to Talon Esports in the finals of DreamLeague Season 25, PGL Wallachia Season 3, and PGL Wallachia Season 4 qualifiers.

Moreover, the team failed to deliver at DreamLeague Season 25, with a 0-4-3 record in the group stage.

Jabz and Armel will debut as full-time BOOM Esports players in DreamLeague Season 26, set to start on May 19.

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