| Nickname: | Jerax |
| Country: | Finland |
| Top 3 Heroes: | IO, Rubick, and Earth Shaker |
| Real Name: | Jesse Vainikka |
| Born: | 1992 |
Jesse “Jerax” Vainikka is a finish Dota 2 professional, who won the Dota 2 International 2018 and 2019 with team OG.He already made $6.469.000 E-Sport Dota 2 earnings until autumn 2019.
About Topson:
Jerax’s Strength:As a good support player in Dota 2 you need to have perfect timings and global control over the map. Jerax is realizing this with his professional game tools.
Jerax’s Dota 2 Player Profile
Jerax already made his name in Heroes of Newerth (HON) just like Notail. Jerax was a Hon Pro and official member of the professional clans “Dirty Minds” and “KD-Gaming”. After his HON career Jerax joined the Finnish military navy and finished it.
Afterward, he started playing Dota 2, it was time for something special… In 2018 and 2019 he won the Dota 2 International world masters with team OG. These two tournaments alone gave him an income of + $5.370.867. In total Jerax made $6.469.000 through professional Dota 2 gaming by now (after the TI9). How far will he go? Read his full story below.
How old is Jerax?
Jesse “Jerax” Vainikka is born in 1992 in Finland and when he participated at the TI8 he was 26 and at the TI9 he was 27 years old. He has a huge game experience and Jerax is showing that in each pro match.
What are Jerax’s best Dota 2 Heroes?
Position 4 can have a high impact on the game, but it depends on the individual playstyle. With some heroes Jerax can decide a lot, his Earth Shaker is known to be a game decider and at the ESL Katowice, people created a meme and said Earthshaker will be renamed to Jerax. 😉 
His Rubick and IO beside other great heroes are also famous and respected in the scene.
Jerax’s Social Channels:
| Channel | Name | Follower | Link |
| Dotabuff | OG.JerAx | – | Jerax’s Dotabuff Profile |
| Twitch | Jeraxai | 30k+ | twitch.tv/jeraxai |
| @iamJERAX | 100k+ | twitter.com/iamjerax | |
| iamjerax | 75k+ | Jerax Instagram Account |
Interview with Dota 2 Pro Jerax at the TI9:
In this interview, Kaci “Kaci” Aitchison is trying to get some statements from Jerax, but he is too relaxed and down to earth.
Jerax’s E-Sport Dota 2 Story: The Rise of the Support
Jerax Aka Jenne Vainikka is one of the best support players in the whole Dota community. But how he reaches to this instinct? Let us get into the flashback. As we know Jerax started his professional gaming career in Heroes of Newerth where he already played along with some prominent players, Era, and SingSing, which also became pro Dota players.
When Jerax came back from the Finnish navy all of his friends switched from Heroes of Newerth to Dota. Maybe it was in Jerax fate that he was meant for Dota: Jerax had a good grip in heroes of Newerth. Therefore it was not that hard for him to adapt Dota because the gameplay concept is almost the same. After coming back from the navy, Jerax started his on and off time practice of Dota 2. He started playing the support role and became popular in no time. It was time for him to join a professional team to boost his skills to the next level.
Jera joined the first professional Dota 2 Team in 2013:
In 2013, Jerax joined his first professional Dota 2 team called, Rat in the dark. He was playing pos 4 for them.
After playing for months, SingSing (an old friend of him) approached Jerax and offered him to join his team, QPAD Red Pandas. At first, Jerax joined the team as a trialist. Later on, SingSing announced Jerax as a full member of Red Pandas.
Jerax learned a lot of things from his old friend, SingSing. Moreover, they got the chance to play with competitive teams. Playing with competitive teams improved the strategies and gameplay of Jerax a lot.
Jerax moved to a Finnish Dota Pro Team in 2014:
After playing for a while with Team Red Pandas, Jerax decided to leave them in n 2014. He joined a new Finnish team called as 4 Anchors + Sea Captain. Why he did that? Because this team had some fantastic Dota 2 players and playing with them will increase the exposure of Jerax and it was a step up.
4 Anchors had one of the most prominent players, MATUMBAMAN and Buugi along with Trixi and Vaalix. In this new time, Jerax decided to stick with his pos 4 roles. Later on, Jerax became the drafter of the team. A captain has a vital role in the team because 80% of the game is dependent on excellent drafting.
However, in the start, everything was going perfect, but over time Jerax started facing some internal clashes. Therefore he left the team in January 2015. He left the team, but he was taking all the skills with him. In Dota the most critical thing is skills.
Jerax long Road before having any Success in professional Dota 2 Teams:
After leaving the Red Pandas, Jerax joined the Team Tinker. However, the team was not that good, filled up with arrogance and no cooperation. It was a complete disappointment for Jerax. Therefore he left the Team tinker on March 6th. After leaving the Team Tinker, Jerax immediately got an offer from a Korean team MVP HOT6ix. 
Something is better than nothing; Jerax accepted the offer and joined the team.
In no time the team became prominent in South East Asia because they won the MPGL Season 7. It ultimately led the team to The International 2015. After giving an epic performance and collaboration in the MPGL season 7, MVP HOT6ix failed hard in the TI5. The team was knocked in the first round by Invictus Gaming and ended up at the last place in their bracket.
After the shameful defeat, Jerax did not want to stay in the team. Therefore he left the MVP HOT6ix and temporarily joined the 5jungz. Later on, the 5jungz was invited to the ESL One New York 2015. The team did well, and Jerax gave a fantastic performance all over the tournament.
in 2015 Jerax joined the Dota 2 Team Liquid:
The epic performance of Jerax in the ELS ONE New York 2015 came in the sight of the Team Liquid. Team Liquid offered Jerax to join them. It was a big moment for Jerax, and he could not leave it. So, he joined Team Liquid. After joining Team Liquid, The Defense Season 5 tournament was about to start. Team Liquid won the tournament and Jerax showed his skill to the world. A new Support lord is here. 2015 ended up very well for Jerax.
Jerax continued with his epic gameplay and became two-time runner up in the Frankfurt and Manila Majors. Later on, Jerax won his first Epicenter in 2016. It was time for the main event. The International 2016 was standing ahead. Unfortunately, in the post TI6 shuffle, Jerax was not selected. Therefore he left Team Liquid and Joined the Team Fanatic. In TI6, the team ended up at position 7-8th.
Jerax was playing as a temporary player in the Team Fanatic. Therefore, after TI6, he had to find a new team.
Jerax finally joined Team OG in 2017:
After Team Fanatic, Jerax had to search a new team. At that time, Notail was also creating a new team. So, Jerax got the change to join team OG. It was the best decision he ever made…
Jerax won many tournaments along with OG including The Kiev Major 2017. Later on, he ended up at the 7-8th position in the TI7. After the Ti7, Fly and S4 betrayed OG/Notail and joined Team EG. 
OG was completely destroyed because later on, Miracle also left the team.
However, Jerax did not leave OG because he had trust in his captain Notail. Later on, Team OG won the TI8 and Jerax got the title of world’s best Earth Spirit. Moreover, Jerax has played 700+ games with Earth Spirit, and the win-rate is above 71%.
After winning the Ti8, OG won more tournaments and showed their skills to the whole world.
Team OG was able to win the second TI in a row: The TI9 Domination
The International 2019 was near, and OG was ready to retake the Aegis of Champion. Jerax showed some epic skills along with his teammates, and OG became the first team to reach the Grand Final. Later on, OG won the TI9 and became the only team to win two consecutive International Tournaments.
E-Sport Earnings: Jerax’s Dota 2 Prize Money and Income
After winning The International 2018, OG again won The International 2019 as well. However, this time the prize pool was way beyond imagination. After the epic win, Jerax became the second-highest e-sport earner in the world. Yeah! Below his Captain Notail. The total approximate earning of Jerax is $6,465,590.22 from 63 Tournaments until autumn 2019.
He is on the second place worldwide and in his country Finnland he is on the first position:
Top 10 Dota 2 with the highest Prize Pool for Jerax’s Team
| Place | Tournament | Earning |
| 1st | The International 2019 | $15.5 Million |
| 5-6th | MDL Disneyland® Paris Major | $60,000 |
| 1st | The International 2018 | $11,234,200 |
| 1st | MDL MACAU | $130,000 |
| 7-8th | The International 2017 | $617,198 |
| 1st | The Keiv Major 2017 | $1,000,000 |
| 1st | The Boston Major 2016 | $1,000,000 |
| 7-8th | The International 2016 | $519,262 |
| 2nd | The Manila Major 2016 | $405,000 |
| 2nd | The Shanghai Major 2016 | $405,000 |
Current Situation of Jerax – What is he doing right now?
After the TI9 Jerax said, all of them are on vacation and having a good time with family and friends.
He said it’s possible that there will be some changes in the OG team soon, but it’s not clear yet what will happen and if Jerax will stay. He loves the team but they have to rethink everything to be as strong as possible.
But we can be sure that Jerax will show mind-blowing games in the future!
Meanwhile Jerax launched his own Website:
Jerax launched his website in 2018. He added various features on his website to interact with his fans, such as a Q&A area. You can ask any question to Jerax, and he will reply to it as soon as possible. Moreover, if you are a true Jerax fan you can buy his merchandize.
