Michael “Imaqtpie” Santana’s brand can be summed up in three words: he doesn’t care.
Imaqtpie has built a huge following out of his ability to not take gaming too seriously, while still being one of League of Legends’ highest rank players and top influencers.
A combination of god-tier skills as a player, combined with his infectious personality and sense of humour keep his viewers coming back for more. Nerd stereotypes that hold other pros down are Imaqtpie’s shield and sword, and the self-awareness that typifies his humor adds a layer of intelligence to his humour that makes him truly unique in the live streaming scene.
His League of Legends career started in 2011, around the time the LCS was being set up. He was recruited to join Rock Solid as an AD carry, and helped them nab 4th place at the National ESL League in 2011 and were picked up by Dignitas.
Imaqtpie won the IGN Premier League Season 3 with Dignitas, beating out some of the best teams on the League of Legends eSports circuit. Dignitas then went on to place in the 3rd IEM Kiev, with Imaqtpie being credited as being a major factor in Dignitas’ ability to nab that ranking.
Imaqtpie really proved his mettle during the season 3 NA LCS, regularly seen on camera cheering up his team, boosting morale, and executing mind-blowing plays. They finished the spring season with a 16 victories out of 21 games. Their final 7 games were less successful though, losing 6 of 7 matches and ending up locked out of the finals.
2014 saw the peak of Imaqtpie’s prowess as a League of Legends pro, being paired with KiwiKid in the bottom lane, placing 4th overall in the season.
October 2014 saw Imaqtpie announce that he wouldn’t be renewing his contract with Dignitas, taking his combination of competitive energy and channelling it all into his Twitch stream. This is where his greatest asset, his personality, really began to work for him.
Summer 2017 joined Delta Fox for the NA Challenger series of old-guard League of Legend pros who had transitioned to streamers, and unfortunately didn’t manage to score a single victory in the tournament.
It’s been years since Imaqtpie left Dignitas, but this hasn’t dulled his skills. He regularly goes head to head against current top League of Legends eAthletes, and wins a lot more matches than he loses.
He’s one of the most successful League of Legends pros-turned-streamer so far, and it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down anytime soon. He often partners with Riot games, the developers behind League of Legends, being paid to play new heroes on his stream when they’re released.
Imaqtpie currently has over 2.5 million followers on Twitch, and has clocked more than 113 million hours watched, averaging over 8,000 views per hour and seeing over 1.3 million hours watched each month in the first half of 2019. He’s one of the few people considered to be Twitch royalty.
Much of Imaqtpie’s career as a professional League of Legends player was listed above, however it bears repeating that Imaqtpie was an absolutely phenomenal eAthlete. He was one of team Dignitas’ only mainstays through years of turbulent roster changes, and some attribute his stalwart commitment to be one of the main reasons that Team Dignitas were able to grow and build a presence within the League of Legends eSports scene at all.
Imaqtpie’s net worth is estimated to be near $3 million. He has multiple revenue streams, earning money from Twitch, YouTube, and brand deals.
As far as income from Twitch goes , it’s estimated that his subscribers (who number almost three and a half thousand) earn him around $10,000 a month (or just over $120,000 a year). It’s also estimated that his Twitch Ad revenue adds up to a similar amount.
Donations and cheers are harder to track, but Imaqtpie streams for 9 hours a day, to an average of around 8,000 viewers per hour. It would be realistic to estimate that he probably earns somewhere close to an additional $18,000 a month (or around $215,000 a year) in donations and cheers.
Imaqtpie also has a Youtube channel with just over 1.7 million subscribers, and is estimated to earn between $10-18k a month ($100-180k a year) in ad revenue from YouTube.
In addition, Imaqtpie earns money off of brand deals, product placements, and appearances, though we currently have no way of estimating how much he earns from that as he does not release this data to the public.
Imaqtpie is mostly known for one game: League of Legends.
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While Imqtpie no longer competes in pro and premiere tournament events, Team Dignitas is still alive and well. To find the best live eSports betting operators to bet on Pro and Premier league League of Legends events take a look at our operators page.
And if betting on non-tournament live streams is more your thing, consider taking a look at Unikrn, an operator that provides odds betting on Twitch streams.