Monthly Archives: September 2013

Former DT*club looking to re-form, seeking sponsors

The last we heard of DT*club, who once placed third at ACE League in 2012, was that some of their former members would be part of the then-new team RisingStars in early 2013. Now, DreamyU, known as a high level pub player and on and off involved in the Chinese pro scene, has shared that they have enough old DT*club players playing together that they wish to re-form the team and looking for sponsors.

Along with DreamyU, it is fair to assume that former RStars players Air and Super are involved as well, as they were DT*club players prior to joining up with (and subsequently leaving) RStars.

Anyone interested should contact the team via QQ: 365880588, or can contact me at Dotaland through the usual means and I can get in touch with the prospective team.

 

Titan.kyxy interview with Replays.Net: I never attack move anymore

This interview was conducted in a mix of English and Chinese, apparently. Replays.Net posted the Chinese version. Short-ish interview in which kyxy talks about TI3, the Aegis incident, what he’ll do with his prize money, etc…

Replays.Net: Hello, kyxy, welcome to this interview with RN.
Titan.kyxy: Hello everyone

RN: Why don’t you start off by sharing with everyone the origins of your nickname!
kyxy: Ky is my name — Kang Yang, and xy was my ID in Dota 1. I combined them together for Dota 2.

RN: How long have you played Dota 2? How did you get into the professional scene?
kyxy: I’ve played for nearly three years. I had gone with MUFC to compete in TI1, but we lost. I got in by playing lots of local events in Malaysia.

RN: We all know that at TI3, Orange achieved an admirable third place finish, yet still ended up disbanding, to the surprise of many. What do you think the main reasons behind this were?
kyxy: Mushi had already decided prior to TI3 that he would be moving to China after the tournament ended. The remaining four of us still remained as a team, and after TI3, Titan invited us to join. Their conditions were superior to those of Orange’s, so we went.

RN: Chinese media have been reporting that Titan’s salaries are twice that of Orange’s, can you confirm?
kyxk: Sorry, this is not something we can disclose.

RN: Your performances at TI3 were outstanding. But that one incident denying the Aegis had everyone wondering “what if”, can you talk a bit about that moment?
kyxy: Ugh, I was moving to get closer to Roshan so I could tank as Windrunner, then I saw that Roshan was almost dead, so I used A-click in order to avoid accidentally taking the Aegis myself, and just like that, the Aegis went byebye. Ever since then, no matter what the situation has been, I no longer use attack move.

RN: This must’ve been a huge hit for you? How did you deal with it?kyxy: A huge hit, I could only think, even though top 3 is a great result already, we could’ve made it to top 2 if there hadn’t been such a mistake.

RN: Did your teammates blame you?
kyxy: My teammates did not blame me. They felt that we win together, and we lose together, so no one blamed me. But I still felt terrible inside, making an error that shouldn’t have happened.

RN: Then let’s talk about some less heavy things. What do you plan on doing with your prize money from TI3?
kyxy: I will give a portion of it to my mom, then keep some to spend myself, and save the rest away. Because I don’t really know how to use all that money, so I’ll just put it in the bank and save it.

RN: Housing is very expensive in China, what about in Malaysia? Any plans to use the money to buy a place?
kyxy: It’s also very expensive in Malaysia. I don’t even know the details but all I know is that housing in Malaysia is quite pricey as well.

RN: How will your roles be allocated with your new team, Titan?
kyxy: We’re still in the building process. I should still be playing the 2 role. Because we have three people who all used to play support, so we might have Ohaiyo take on the 1 position, and then move someone to the 3.

RN: Have you begun official practices?
kyxy: We need to wait until we move into the new team house next month before we can officially begin.

RN: How many times have you visited China, what left you the deepest impression?
kyxy: The deepest impression still has to be us playing against iG, and I caught five in my ult as Magnus!

RN: 6.79 should be coming soon, what changes are you looking forward to the most?
kyxy: Timbersaw’s ultimate should have its cooldown increased a bit!

RN: Last word for your Chinese fans?
kyxy: Thank you for the interview, and shoutout to our sponsor Titan Gaming. More importantly, thank you to my fans in China, I promise that I will never make that Aegis mistake again ^_^. 😛 haha

Source: http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20130925/1853827.html

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Fengyunzhibo Dota 2 Open, with over 77k RMB (12.5k USD) in prize money for new teams and casters

Recently announced: Beginning in October of this year, Fengyunzhibo will be holding an open tournament that gives a chance for aspiring competitive teams and new casters alike to participate in an open format tournament. The organizers promise a fresh format, open participation opportunities for amateur teams and casters, and an impressive prize pool. Signups are currently open from now until October 7, with preliminary stage competition set to begin on October 18.

Prizes:
Grand Champions: 50,000 RMB, Runners up: 10,000 RMB, Third place: 8,000 RMB
Preliminary winners: 3,000 RMB
Fan voting All-star team: 3,000 RMB
Best caster: 1,500 RMB, Second place: 1,000 RMB, Third place: 800 RMB

Sources: Fengyunzhibo – http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201309/152745.html

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Behind the scenes of 2013’s Chinese shuffle: ACE, processes, and transfer fees

According to this report from Replays.net, this is how transfers have been standardized under the ACE Alliance in Chinese Dota 2. The latter half of the article reveals the transfer fees and related details of some of this year’s biggest moves.

If Team B wishes to buy Team A’s player C, then B must first approach A and confirm whether the player is available for transfer. If A agrees, only then is B allowed to approach the player C. If player C is open and willing, then Team B can lay out their transfer conditions and offer. If player C does not agree to these terms, then he will remain at his current club; if player C agrees, then all three parties, A, B, and C need to communicate with ACE via email and receive their confirmation. In the ensuing days, the involved parties need to come to the ACE offices in order to sort out paperwork and related processes, and then they are allowed to make official announcements regarding the news. If the new team and their new player decides to use existing contracts, then they perform a trade of contracts while at ACE. If they decide to sign a new contract, then the new contract will be signed and backup files stored with ACE. In the case later on that a party fails to uphold their end of a contract, then ACE will be abe to lay penalties according to existing policies.

Below are images from the transfer of KingJ from TongFu to RisingStars:

RisingStars manager CC signing

TongFu manager CuZn signing

KingJ signing

In addition, Replays.net also received information regarding the details of this year’s transfers, as below:

TongFu <–> RisingStars

1. KingJ transfers from TongFu to RisingStars
2. XTT is part of the transfer terms, and joins TongFu from Rstars, his contract is exchanged for KingJ’s
3. RStars and TongFu respectively pay to XTT and KingJ their owed prize moneys and promotional fees

TongFu <–> iG #1

1. Banana transfers from TongFu to iG
2. TongFu pays to banana all owed prize moneys and promotional fees
3. iG pays TongFu a transfer fee totaling 100,000 RMB for the rights to banana

TongFu <–> iG #2

1. iG and TongFu agree to collaborate on themed promotional product(s)
2. iG pays TongFu a transfer fee totaling 110,000 RMB for the rights to Hao
3. Zhou is part of the transfer terms, and joins TongFu from iG, his contract is exchanged for Hao’s
4. iG and TongFu respectively pay to Zhou and Hao their owed prize moneys and promotional fees

VG <–> RisingStars

1. CTY transfers from VG to RStars
2. RStars pays VG a transfer fee totaling 45,000 RMB for the rights to CTY
3. VG pays CTY’s August salary and previous promotional fees

LGD <–> RisingStars

1. xiaotuji’s contract is exchanged for Sylar’s
2. xiaotuji is traded for Sylar, each player’s official transfer fee consists of the other player’s transfer rights (Dotaland note: they were essentially traded 1 for 1)
3. LGD is to pay Sylar his promotional fees for China Joy, as well as DSL prize money

 

It is easy to see from all this, that the ACE Alliance has a certain amount of influence watching over transfers and related activities, helping clubs and players maintain their rights in the process. The current scene seems to allow both player trades as well as straight cash purchases of transfer rights, akin to something of a mix between what is commonly seen in the sports of basketball and soccer (football). If a new club is willing to spend millions and buy out an entire team, what is to stop them? Additionally, it was not hard to see during this reshuffle from the weibo posts of various team managers that, despite this structure, things were still very chaotic. We hope that ACE can make further improvements to the details and processes.

Source: http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20130917/1852014.html

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Interview with CuZn: TongFu manager talks new roster, potential new squads, and more

In this interview with CuZn, the TongFu manager reflects on recent changes, and talks about the future for the club.

SGamer: Thank you CuZn for this interview with SGamer.com. Now that TongFu’s new roster has been confirmed, are you finally able to breathe a sigh of relief?
TongFu.CuZn: Yes indeed, I can finally breathe easily now, and it feels great to relax.

SG: Following TI3, did you expect to see such huge changes come to your team?
CuZn: I did think of it, because there are always changes following big tournaments!

SG: Were there some ‘transactions’ being discussed already during your time in Seattle, then?
CuZn: During the time I was only focused on the matches, didn’t pay much attention to things outside of that. But I do know that there have been some foreign players expressing desire to come to China to compete, but I feel that communication and cultural differences is a huge issue there.

SG: Recently, TongFu players have become hot commodities. What preparations did the club have in case of a worst-case scenario?
CuZn: A complete restructuring along with a creation of a feeder/secondary team.

SG: What if this team that you’d personally helped build completely fell apart, did you consider giving up your career as an esports club manager as a whole?
CuZn: Yes, there were definitely thoughts regarding that. But as long as there is a player willing to stay, then I will continue my work.

SG: Was Hao’s departure a surprise to you?
CuZn: No, this was within my expectations. Hao’s performances this year have been excellent, and the scene has a relative lack of carry players, so having teams coming to ask about him is to be expected. Plus, it’s possible for any change to happen after an International.

SG: Hao, in a weibo post of his, stated that he would be playing with an added TongFu label on the end of his ID even though he’s joined iG now. Were the tears flowing for you after learning of this gesture?
CuZn: Nah, but I did feel that he’s grown to be more and more professional. He knows what he wants to do nowadays. TongFu is our club’s name as well as our sponsor, and TongFu Porridge has released products specific to each of our players. 🙂

SG: What are you going to do with those bowls of porridge that have Hao and Banana on them?
CuZn: We’ll just sell them through our T-mall store, or give them away in events. Our T-mall is at tongushipin.tmall.com, we welcome everyone. 🙂

SG: In this big reshuffle, what kind of role has the ACE Alliance played?
CuZn: A supervisory role. Just as Efeng says, without the Alliance, there would have been quite a few teams that get poached to the point of dissolution.

SG: How do you rate Zhou and Hao as players?
CuZn: Born in the same year, Zhou’s personality is more stable and steady, suitable for being captain. Hao is more aggressive and impulsive, suited for making big plays. In terms of results, Zhou has more than Hao I think, but Zhou’s form this year has been fairly low. Hao on the other hand, via his own hard work as well as his team’s growth, has been able to improve and even largely escape his old label of ‘feeder Hao’. The two players both have room to improve, so we’ll have to see what happens in this next year!

SG: A team’s captain seems to be very important, who was your team’s captain before? Has Zhou been confirmed as the new captain now?
CuZn: The captain before was actually banana. After banana left, we held a team meeting, and confirmed Zhou as the new captain, and the main drafter for us.

SG: ZSMJ’s transition to the 4 role has been fairly recent, do you feel that he will be able to fulfill the needs of this role?
CuZn: Yes he can, he is a very focused, very hard-working player, and we have a lot of confidence in him successfully playing the 4 role in our team.

SG: Whose idea was it to pick up ZSMJ?
CuZn: We made a list of all players who currently are able to play the 4 position, and then this was the result of a collective discussion.

SG: How do you rate this new roster?
CuZn: We’ll still have to see how they gel together. Their current level of play I think can only be given 70 out of 100, but there was some training today, and the results weren’t bad!

SG: Apart from winning TI4, what other goals are there for the next year? For example forming a youth squad to go play the NSL in Korea?
CuZn: Of course there are other goals, such as winning the ACE League, or defending our DSL title. This next year we might have three different squads. As for which team gets sent to play in the NSL in Korea, this needs to be kept a secret for now. After the big reshuffle this year, we’ve realized the increasing importance of having sub/feeder-teams, so we will definitely be creating a youth squad.

SG: How will you guys go about selecting players for the other two squads, then?
CuZn: We’ll have our coaching staff filter the choices. We’ve already got some new players in our sights.

SG: Apart from sydm, who else is part of the coaching team?
CuZn: Kabu, Gx, and one of Zhou’s friends. Of course there’s me too!

SG: Do you feel that coaches are a necessity to Dota 2 teams nowadays?
CuZn: I feel that it’s something you cannot lack, because coachs can arrange schedules, scrims, they can monitor the players and help them grow, thus allowing the players to focus on practice and competing.

SG: What do you think is the greatest challenge currently facing your club’s Dota 2 team?
CuZn: Lack of talent. Whether in terms of management or players, there is an acute lack. Because Dota 2 in China still lacks accessibility, the playerbase is still relatively small, so it’s very hard to find people. Many sponsors aren’t that interested in Dota 2, and so from a club’s point of view it is difficult to find additional investment.

SG: Do you think that things will improve once Dota 2 truly opens up to the masses?
CuZn: More or less, yes it will improve. Lots of loyal Dota fans will be able to play this excellent esports product, and as the playerbase grows, lower level tournaments increase in number, and thus more new competitors and sponsors will appear. I do believe that the future will be better!

SG: As a club, do you guys prefer league-format or cup-format tournaments, and why?
CuZn: It’s definitely the league format. Stable and reliable scheduling as well as publicity, this is good for both the players and the fans, and the regularity of the league format allows the club to plan things more easily.

SG: Okay, go ahead and say something to cap off this interview then!
CuZn: TongFu 3.0 awaits your support!

Source: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201309/152606.html

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RattleSnake announces new roster with new faces

Source: http://1.t.qq.com/p/t/264917064309858

“After TI3, our club has made some roster changes. Former members LaNm and Kabu have left the Dota 2 division, and we wish them luck in their future development. In their place, promising newcomer, Chinese high-level pub player All Beauty Must Die (Xu Ziyang), in addition to talented Malaysian Johnny (of Chains Stack fame from earlier in 2013) have joined, while Jo is our new Dota 2 team manager. Thank you to all our fans’ support, we will repay your faith in the form of improved results!”

New RattleSnake roster:

Luo
Icy
Sag
All Beauty Must Die
Johnny

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Hao thanks TongFu and his former teammates in his own way

Original: http://p.t.qq.com/longweibo/index.php?lid=9380436762343814791

Last night during the Sina Supernova Cup, you may have seen Hao’s ID as such: iG.Hao.同福. This was Hao’s first official appearance as a member of iG. Afterwards, Hao made a statement explaining it.

“I’d been at TongFu for over a year, and had been fighting alongside Mu since before then, starting at PanDa. In this time, we finally achieved the big title that we’d been wanting all along, yet in the end we still end up parting ways like this. Many things in life are difficult, and many things might only be understood by yourself; other people might not understand, it may only be clear in your own heart. So, in leaving, I am very reluctant to thus part with these brothers of mine. To show my thanks for TongFu’s care and help for me in the past year, I’ve already communicated with my new club: in the next half year’s time, I will have TongFu as part of my ID. Of course, I will fight to give my all for iG, and this marks a new starting point for everyone. My allies of yesterday, let us now meet on the battlefield!”

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Summary of the 2013 Chinese shuffle – as of Sept 5

For everyone trying to keep track at home, but are having trouble… here’s a rough collection of the main newsworthy events in 2013’s Chinese shuffle and relevant source links. From top to bottom, the order goes from the most recent to the earliest. Items that are mostly at the moment unsourced rumors will be in italics.

– LGD confirms RStars.xiaotuji as their new carry, Sylar to RisingStars

This rounds out LGD’s lineup once more, and the situation bears similarity to when LGD first brought Sylar on — xiaotuji is another promising relatively new player to the scene. Can LGD repeat history and become dominant once again? Sylar on the other hand replaces xiaotuji in RisingStars — can Rstars continue their upward trajectory?

– DK announces new all-star lineup

BurNIng remains as carry, Mushi joins as solo mid, iceiceice as offlaner, with Dai/MMY and LaNm on support — this is said to be the role specification of the new star-studded DK lineup. On a sidenote, DK’s manager Farseer would like to state that the so-called ‘dream team’ that had been rumored earlier is not actually DK: “it has nothing to do with us, please don’t call us the dream team.”

– XDD and xiaotuji of RisingStars both leave, said to be joining ‘top teams’

The Rstars owner talks about both of them leaving. The big rumor regarding xiaotuji is that he is LGD’s new carry player.

– Zhou rumored to be changing his mind on going to TongFu

Zhou publicly flames Efeng, part of the management at iG, for “being two-faced, your words are worth nothing”. Speculation is that this is referring to the fact that prior to Zhou leaving iG and going to TongFu, he was promised that iG would not try to recruit other TongFu members away, but after Zhou left, iG made one or more approaches for TongFu player(s). TongFu’s manager Cuzn looks to be meeting these new developments with a mixture of surprise and dismay.

– Zhou leaves iG, joins TongFu, while Hao goes to iG

Zhou leaves iG, Hao comes to iG. The two players essentially switch places on their respective teams. Additionally, some sort of ‘strategic partnership’ has been formed between the two clubs as a result of this transaction. It is also said that KingJ and Mu are both leaving TongFu, and possibly Banana too. The split of Hao and Mu is a saddening one.

– rOtk and Super to VG, ZSMJ and CTY out of VG

ROtk and Super quickly find a new home with VG. At the same time, ZSMJ and CTY are said to have left VG, with VG stating that they made every effort to get ZSMJ to stay, whether as a coach or otherwise. ZSMJ himself has said that he will continue playing… but not with VG, apparently.

– Kabu (and LaNm) leave RattleSnake

Kabu reveals that he’s left RattleSnake. In his farewell post on Weibo, he tagged Luo, Icy, and Sag, but not LaNm, indirectly further confirming the latter also no longer being part of RSnake, something that had been rumored since after TI3. LaNm would go on to join DK.

– Mushi leaves Orange, eye on China

Mushi announces that he’s left Orange, with his goal being none other than China. He would go on to join DK.

– LGD statement on Sylar situation

LGD attempts to address the beyond-awkward situation with their now-former carry, but Sylar responds in his own way (his responses have since been deleted), basically refuting their claims and refusing to reconsider.

– DK statement on rOtk situation

DK’s manager Farseer tries to clear the air regarding the huge changes that left only BurNIng in the team. ROtk seems to be understanding, and ultimately caps off a bittersweet ending by wishing everyone well…

– rOtk kicked from DK, unwillingly; Super and others out too

In which rOtk outlines why he felt unfairly treated, in a fiery, empassioned statement. The rest of the DK players seem to be just as shocked, and respond in their own individual ways. A few days later, DK confirms that only BurNIng remains in their roster. MMY would return to DK as a member afterwards.

– Sylar leaves LGD.cn of his own accord

“I’ve left the team,” with this statement, LGD is short a carry player, and what a carry Sylar was for the team.

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