Daniel “DTwo” Ikuta was born in 1986 in New York, but grew up near Anaheim, California. One of Daniel’s first loves was tennis, which he took up at the age of three, dreaming of becoming a professional tennis player. He also started learning how to play the piano and cello at the ages of five and eight, respectively, though the cello would become a much more serious endeavor for him throughout high school and college. Of course, video games were always fun for Daniel, and as he graduated from Super Nintendo to more advanced consoles, they would become an escape from the pressures of competing in tennis tournaments, performing with orchestras, and studying for tests.
Daniel always had an affinity and proficiency for Math, scoring a 5 on the AP Calculus BC exam his junior year in high school and an 800 on the Math portion of the SAT. He would later attend Occidental College and major in Physics while minoring in both Math and Asian Studies. After graduating in 2008, Daniel participated in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, teaching English in southern Japan before moving north to focus on tennis. His last-ditch effort to realize his childhood dream of being a professional tennis player falling short, Daniel took up coaching tennis part-time.
Daniel’s first strategy-based computer game (depending on how you feel about Oregon Trail) was Starcraft, which he learned by watching his older brother play. He would play Starcraft (and later Brood War and Warcraft 3) when he could, though his other activities afforded little time. Starcraft 2 would finally be released while he was teaching in Japan, and Daniel immediately downloaded it to play on his underperforming laptop. Starcraft 2 was definitely a lot of fun, but watching professional players also piqued his interest. Thinking about the game was just as fun as playing.
Tuning in to famed Starcraft commentator Artosis’ stream one day, Daniel found him playing a curious card game which immediately appealed to Daniel’s fondness for logic-based problem solving. In fact, all of the Starcraft players and commentators he followed were playing Hearthstone that day. His job at the time being part-time, Daniel had some leeway to begin checking out the popular Hearthstone streams. Before he even had a beta key, Daniel already had a solid grasp of the game and had put together an article for ihearthu.com. Upon receiving his key, he immediately achieved the rank of three-star Master, and, responding to an offer for a spot on a team, became one of ihearthu’s (formerly DKMR) first members.
In September of 2014, Daniel quit his job coaching tennis to focus more on Hearthstone, and the decision immediately paid dividends, propelling him to a Battle of the Best win and a semifinal finish at the World Championships.
