DOTA 2 - Fall Season Competitions

[sclpls]

Figured I'd start a new thread since the other DOTA thread is theoretically about the post-TI roster shuffle.

 

I watched (monkey) business play against EG at the MLG tournament. EG definitely looked better compared to their ESL One performance, but that's a really easy bar to leap. They looked convincing the first game, but unfortunately their other games they looked pretty weak. I think they big problem they had in those games is Universe not getting to play his signature heroes, and Fear continues to look unimpressive as a support. Early aggression and push continues to look really strong versus EG who have two of the greediest players in the game.

 

Did anyone watch VP vs LGD?

[ewokskick]

It seems like EG are getting better as the tournament goes, which is always their way.  I feel like CDEC and EG were in a similar position where both teams had something to prove.  So far I think they did.  EG having to play Monkey Business, LGD, and VP is a total murderers row.  It sort of feels like Secret were gifted and easy advance, but MVP looked okay against C9.

 

Overall, Monkey Business have been the most impressive team to me.  They seemed to run 5 man push strategies every game, though.   Usually as a tournament goes on you need to show some strategic diversity. It'll be cool to see what else they have cooked up.

[sclpls]

Yeah I would have to agree Secret have had an easy time of it this tournament. Despite getting completely shut down by CDEC they were able to make it through their stage by dunking on MVP twice in a row. While MVP looked fine against C9 it seemed like Secret definitely had that team figured out.

 

Monkey Business seem to have about 3 different strats, broadly speaking, with one of them involving the rather easily banned out Tiny + Wisp combo. Watching their game 1 against Secret (which just wrapped up as I'm posting this) their draft looked a little one dimensional compared to Secret's. Hoping they can make the needed adjustments going into game 2 so we can get a better series.

 

EG definitely are looking better and better as the tournament has progressed, which is pretty standard for that team anyway. CDEC should definitely be a good test to see where they are really at.

[ewokskick]

EG will have to keep improving if they want to win this tournament.  For now, I really feel like CDEC are the favorites.  Secret look great so far today, though their pocket Meepo strat has always looked good.  Should be a fun day.

 

Edit: Game 2 was great.  Cr1t is so impressive.  I remember him as "the honorary North American" in NEL.  Glad to see him land on a top tier team.

[sclpls]

Yeah I really like the Cr1t and Fly support duo they work really well together.

 

My prediction is that EG vs CDEC will be fairly close, but I think CDEC have an edge here just because the new EG lineup seems to have less capacity to pull out cheese strats that would threaten CDEC from playing the kind of game they want to play.

[ewokskick]

Secret are really showing how OP the meepo is right now.  It's a huge advantage for them that w33 is so amazing on it.

[sclpls]

w33 has played fantastic this tournament. He's gotten a lot of criticism (not undeseveredly) about having a limited hero pool, but his signature heroes have always been so on point.

 

And game 3 of the grand finals is why I'll always basically be a fan of whatever team Puppey is on. Some teams you can figure out and draft around, but he is always gonna have some ace up his sleeve, in this case the last pick Chen.

[Dewar]

So I heard that Valve was switching to 2 (or was it 4?) majors a year, each with a compendium and such. Is that going on right now, or have they announced which tournaments they've selected for that?

[Twig]

Four a year, right now it's the fall major, presumably followed by the winter, then spring, then summer. Summer would be the international, then they'd start over.

 

Compendium is available, but they're not doing a growing prize pool anymore (assuming they won't for winter or spring, either, but who knows if they will for TI6). The prize pool is a flat 3 million. Produced by ESL.

 

http://blog.dota2.com/2015/09/announcing-the-frankfurt-major/

[Dewar]

Interesting. It's a shame that happens during hell week at work, but maybe I'll be able to tune in occasionally at least.

[sclpls]

You can always watch replays too, unless I'm mistaken I believe you'll be able to watch in the client even if you don't have the compendium. I'm sure people will have opinions about what matches are worth watching.

 

They announced all the casters and analysts for the Frankfurt Majors today and... not a single woman on the list! They usually have Sheever on the analyst panel as a token. I know e-sports in general has a problem with women being represented in the scene, but this feels unusually bad.

[Jutranjo]

BTS's got a new commentator, Llama, she sounded pretty good

 

 

But I haven't seen her at any live events. I don't even know of any other women casters/analysts in the scene besides her and Sheever who wouldn't have this as their first live event. It's not like there's more than maybe 5 people that aren't on the list of invited people but that could have potentially been invited. At least, based on previous Valve decisions.

 

Oh, I just remembered, there's Soe from Joindota as well.

 

There's this tho

 

http://www.tv6.se/esport/akke/discussion-about-the-hostpanelcasting-invites

[ewokskick]

Llama is currently one their community casters I think.  So she is hired by the studio for fill in some games.  She really only been doing this for awhile.  She's kind of like lyrical gangster in that way.  I hope she keeps improving.  I felt like she and Lyrical were going to be the next casters people know.  I hope that turns out to be the case.

 

Akke from Alliance weighed in on the issue and it is pretty great.  Makes me want to root for them: http://www.tv6.se/esport/akke/discussion-about-the-hostpanelcasting-invites

[Twig]

Akke's post is really good.

 

Also saw this post on GAF which normally their Dota 2 thread is a trainwreck full of shitposters (and me I also shitpost) and jerks (that's not me tho! maybe)

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=184477004&postcount=10240

I guess the worst part of this whole gender representation thing is that the same communities complain about all-Chinese finals for DOTA or all-Japanese finals for SF or all-Korean finals for LoL/SC2 because they "can't relate to those players", and therefore don't really mind that "worse" teams are able to qualify for major events because it gives them an NA/Euro team to root for.

 

Or that for the last 5 years reddit has incessantly complained about the "old boys club" of esports since it seems like nepotism matters more than talent or qualifications when it comes to being successful in the industry, and how it makes it difficult for new talent to get noticed even when they're more motivated than established personalities. 

 

I mean, we've already established that representation matters and this industry isn't a meritocracy, why does it become different when it's about gender?

 

I thought it was fuckin' on point.

[ewokskick]

Pretty on point.  When they say they want regional diversity, a lot of them really just mean they want white dudes doing well.

[sclpls]

Yeah that's a great post. Also Akke rules.

[ewokskick]

Majors are going.  The client had a huge patch making it really easy to see the bracket and tournament info in the client.  I've only been able to watch one game, but the set-up is great.  Hopefully I can catch some more.

[Reyturner]

Alliance is back!

In the losers bracket

[sclpls]

They did fine against Cloud9! No real surprise there, the new C9 lineup has looked pretty underwhelming so far.

 

Looks like a decent number of teams are getting cheesed with 5th pick Huskar strats so that's something drafters are gonna have to be careful about going forward.

 

So far the most impressive game I have seen has been that VG comeback game against Vega in the group stages. But I've missed most of the games because of the time zone being what it is most of these matches are happening while I'm asleep.

[Jutranjo]

I had trouble finding VODs since the twitch channel doesn't even have all the broadcasts up, this channel seems to have all the games uploaded, no idea if it's official. It's all spoiled, no fake game 3 uploads, if you care about that https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6vQmbHIu4Ksd4U0EIAVbrg/videos

[sclpls]

So what do people think about the teams? Any reevaluations?

 

I was never sold on EHOME as a team, but after their games against Vega I was pretty impressed with their play. I still don't think they'll be top 3, but they at least definitely look like the belong in the tournament.

[sclpls]

Okay, so game 1 of VG vs Secret is a must watch I think. Starts off kinda slow, but by the half hour mark suddenly we start seeing some of the most amazing plays.