Category Archives: News

CDEC gets 70,000 RMB in prizes as the CDEC “Midnight Snack Cup” launches

It looks like CDEC is making big moves, perhaps partially funded by the ticket sales through Dota client. For more information on CDEC and what they’re doing in Dota 2, check here.

Starting on June 23, and ending the week of November 3, every Sunday evening (China time) at 20:00, CDEC will, from its weekly top 20 rankings of participating players, invite 8 professional players to be joined with 2 non-professional players, to take part in a weekly “Midnight Snack Cup” series. Each Sunday night in this “Midnight Snack Cup” series, two BO1s will be played, with the winning side of each BO1 getting 1000 RMB to split between themselves, meaning there will be 2000 RMB in prizes each week for 20 weeks. (20 weeks x 2 games, 1000 RMB for victor of each game = 40 games, total prize for winners at 40,000 RMB)

Additional individual prizes for players will be handed out twice over the 20 week period. The “Most Stable Performance Prize” will go to the professional player with the highest number of wins, and will be awarded 10,000 RMB. The “Best Newcomer Prize” will go to the non-professional player with the most wins, and will be awarded 5000 RMB. Both of these prizes will, as mentioned before, be handed out once at week 10, and once at week 20, for a total of individual player prizes amounting to 30,000 RMB.

This means that for CDEC competition, in the 20 weeks between June 23 and November 3 this year, there will be 70,000 RMB (11,400 USD) in prize money handed out to the best participants, professional and non-professional alike, in both team format and individual format.

For CDEC streams, English and Chinese, check their stream page at http://live.vpgame.cn/

Sources: https://www.facebook.com/VPGAMECDEC/posts/541640935896281 – http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20130623/1825189.html

More details on the Chinese National Esports Tournament

Last week, it was reported on Chinese national news that Dota 2 would be part of an upcoming Chinese nation-wide esports tournament. Now we have more details emerging…

The announced nation-wide esports tournament will be held by Zhejiang Daily Newspaper in conjunction with renowned esports broadcaster and media company Gamefy. There will be events held later this year as well as an all-new league to begin next year. For the events to be held this year, online regional qualifiers will begin by the end of June, and there will be post-season offline finals.

Amongst all this news, the fact that everything will be simulcast live across various digital platforms — including negotiations for live feeds to broadcast television, as well as official Chinese Administration of Sport support (with further details of national team selection to come later on), are highlights so far. Specifically, it has been revealed that next year’s league format competition will occur under the patronage of the Administration of Sport, with the goal to build grassroots structures in regional sporting agencies as well.

It would seem that Dota 2, being the headline game in all this, has unprecedented governmental support in China…

Source: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201306/151041.html

Dota 2 on Chinese main nightly news broadcast

After Dota 2 and TI2 made it onto mainstream Chinese evening news last year, yesterday we saw Dota 2 and an upcoming ‘National Esports Tournament’ reported in on an even greater stage, the Xinwen Lianbo (新闻联播), the official Chinese government-sanctioned nightly news broadcast that reaches every television in the country.

Worth noting:

  • Dota 2 is specifically mentioned by name, and in-game footage of the game was shown live to an audience of hundreds of millions
  • An esports national team will be selected from the results of this tournament
  • No other game was specifically mentioned by name

Watch the broadcast here: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTcxMTgxNjcy.html

Translation of the Dota 2-specific portion of the broadcast: “In five days, a National Esports Tournament, held by Zhejiang Daily Corporation, will incorporate competition in five different internationally-recognized games, including Dota 2. From across China, some 180 schools and over 200 clubs/societies will have teams participating. Over the course of 300 matches, which will be streamed live, there will be an estimated 3 million spectators across all competition. This will be the largest scale esports competition to be held domestically within the past five years. And through this competition, there will also be a selection for a Chinese national esports team to take part in further international competition.”

Additional ECL 2013 details: offline dates, solo tournament, stream

We’ve learned a few more details regarding the ECL 2013 edition, as follows…

Offline finals: July 10 – 14 in Beijing

Additionally, it has been announced that the ECL 2013 will include in the offline portion, a solo mid 1v1 tournament, with participants being selected via fan voting. The winner of this solo tournament will receive an additional prize of 10000 RMB (1630 USD), making this one of — if not the biggest — prizes for a solo tournament yet.

The Chinese Fengyunzhibo stream can be found at: http://www.fengyunzhibo.com/tv/ecl-43n84q3s.htm

Royal Club forms new Dota 2 squad; interview with Royal support player 5400

Chinese organization Royal Club is back on the Dota scene with an all-new Dota 2 squad!

Jiezoumowang 节奏魔王 (Dota ladder player, carry)
SN (former solo player for LW, hard working, has experience playing in G-League, solo mid)
Xiaosi 小思 (former 3 position player for LEO, 3 position)
Yimi 一米 (Dota 2 pubstar status, famous semi-pro player, 4 position)
5400 (drafter, 5 position)

Their first appearance was in the ECL against TongFu on June 3. How will this all-new team fare in upcoming months?

Interview with Royal.5400: http://dota2.17173.com/news/06062013/151939941.shtml

17173: 5400, hello! I think this should be your first official interview~ Can you start off by introducing your teammates to us?
5400: Our players are as follows: Jiezoumowang (Ren Yangwei) as carry, SN (Shi Heng) as the 2, xiaosi (Dong Huanxiao) as the 3, yimi (Long Zhan) as the 4, and myself, 5400 (Yang Huaining) in the 5.

17173: Alright~ How long have you guys been training together? Where is your team based?
5400: About two months. Our team is based in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, in a place that no one knows of. XD

17173: We’ve heard that your team base is some 2000 square meters in size? How many club staff and players call the base home?
5400: Indeed, the base is very large. We’ve even got a gym! Currently there are three other game squads along with our Dota 2 squad based here. In addition to management, plus our cook, we have around 30 people in total based in the house.

17173: Wow! It sounds like your club is going big? Yet your manager told me that the team house only has two bathrooms, so is there a long line for the bathrooms every morning?
5400: Nah! Even though two bathrooms is a bit lacking, our timings for getting up in the morning aren’t all the same. In the early morning there actually aren’t any people using the bathrooms, everyone’s still sleeping~ But we do have people who can shower for over an hour, that’s a bit tough to deal with!!

17173: Your team’s average age might not even be 18 years of age, obviously you’re a very young team. From your own point of view, compared to the currently established powerhouse teams right now, what are your team’s strengths and weaknesses?
5400: Our strength you’ve already mentioned: we’re young! When all those oldtimers have retired, then the world is ours… wahahaha. As for weaknesses, it is a lack of experience and a need for more teamwork, because after all we’ve only been together a short period of time, and need work in that respect.

17173: You guys have a showmatch scheduled with RisingStars. Tell us a bit about your impressions of RisingStars!
5400: Lately we’ve scrimmed with them a bit. They give me an impression that they’ve reached significant heights in terms of individual and team execution, and they’re constantly improving as well. Even though they didn’t manage to get to TI3, they’re still continuously growing and learning in the DSL, and their attitudes are gradully maturing as well! Where they are now is the direction we want to work towards.

17173: On an upcoming show aimed at giving non-professional newcomers a stage to shine, we’ve heard that you’ll have friends participating!
5400: I heard too! I wish them good luck; there will be many strong participants there. Perhaps in the future, we’ll even see high quality players and even teams emerge from this show.

17173： Thank you to 5400 for the answers, and we hope that Royal Club continues to grow improve, along with all their players!
5400: Thanks! Thank you to our supporters!

 

For.Love rumored to be making changes

For.Love’s hanci posted yesterday on his weibo: “The time to leave has come” — this comes after poor performances by For.Love in the Dota Super League, as well as failure to achieve a spot at the upcoming International 2013 in Seattle.

CZ, who had joined For.Love recently as a standin, is also said to be leaving the team, thus resulting in For.Love lacking players for two positions.

Fan comments lean towards agreeing that hanci was a weak link in the team and his departure is no loss, while CZ showed promise and For.Love should try to retain him.

Source: http://dota2.uuu9.com/201306/445064.shtml

iG lose 3-43 to LGD.cn in their G-1 Season 5 LAN finals debut; zhou’s thoughts on the defeat

In iG’s debut match against LGD.cn at the LAN finals for G-1 Season 5, iG unexpectedly lost by an enormous score disparity of 3-43. Here is what iG’s carry player zhou had to say…

http://t.qq.com/p/t/306103032964039

“Recently iG has been in poor form, and I must bear a large part of the responsibility. Thank you to all the fans who continue supporting us through our poor form, we will not fall like this. Even if we have to fight back from the bottom, we will be back one step at a time!”

LGD offering one (Chinese) fan a chance to accompany them to TI3

This year, LGD is offering fans the chance to submit entries in a bid to be chosen as the one lucky fan who will travel with their squad(s) to Seattle later this summer and accompany the team as they compete at TI3. All expenditures, including airfare and accommodations in Seattle, will be covered for the lucky winner. In addition, a number of other fans will also win secondary prizes varying in impressiveness. Sadly for international fans, this event is for Chinese citizens only. If you meet this requirement, the details for entering are below. For everyone else, let us welcome our Chinese visitors to Seattle in the summer, and celebrate the fact that LGD Gaming is giving a Chinese fan the chance to come all the way across the Pacific Ocean to the year’s greatest event!

Send email to lgdgaming@vpgame.cc with your personal details (such as name, age, contact info, address) in a way that describes your “Heart’s path as an LGD fan”, the email’s subject line being 【TI3之路】. There is no word limit, but originality will be required. The deadline for submissions is May 31 at 21:00 Beijing time.

From the entries, LGD will choose a selection of high quality submissions, and put them up for an open vote, to take place between June 1 to 5. The winner here will be invited to meet LGD face to face, where details will be fleshed out. First prize is a full paid trip to TI3, autographed team spring and summer uniforms, LGD memorabilia, as well as the chance to get a taste of the food and LGD hot sauce provided at the LGD team house! Second place gets a full set of Razer gear, plus an autographed summer team uniform. Third place will receive RAM provided by Kingston HyperX, and fourth through tenth place receive LGD memorabilia, badges, keychains, posters, etc.

Additional details: http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20130515/1810116.html

LongDD back to LGD.cn as coach

Original: http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20130514/1809913.html

Earlier, LongDD mentioned on his own YY streaming channel that he might be going back to LGD.cn as a coach. A bit after that, he posted on his weibo…

“Lots of friends have shown interest in my going back to LGD. Friends need help, so I’ll do what I can. After their bootcamp, I will go back to doing my own thing, but for now I hope to be able to help LGD achieve a satisfactory result. Thank you to the care and interest shown by all my friends, and the support you’ve given all along, thank you!”

Players such as xiao8 and Sc/DD are seen replying to his post, welcoming him as coach.

LGD’s official explanation for longDD’s departure

Earlier in the day, LGD posted an official explanation for the whole situation revolving around longDD’s departure on their official weibo account.

Direct link to post: http://t.qq.com/p/t/199469041082504

Translated:

1. LongDD, after leaving TongFu, contacted our players directly, strongly requesting a chance to tryout for our team. He expressed his desire to train hard and play hard.
2. At that time we had DD/Sc needing to leave the team for his surgery, so we agreed to longDD’s tryout request.
3. When he first came to us, longDD’s performances left as all fairly satisfied, and after some discussion, the decision was made for DD/Sc to transition to broadcaster upon his return from surgery, and the announcement was made that longDD had become an official member.
4. After announcing him as an official member, we felt that longDD lost his original drive and diligence, and slowly began to let personal problems leak out. After multiple occasions of communication and discussion, there weren’t any changes for the better, and his attitude remained less enthusiastic than at first. After speaking with him, he decided to retire, and even though we attempted to keep him around by giving him a different position with the team, he expressed a desire to return home for a break, so we respected his choice.
5. Due to various big competitions looming on the horizon, we had also considered trying out other players as a replacement (but had not made any direct approaches to anyone).
7. At the same time, our old member, DD/Sc, wished to return to the team, to help weather the transition, so we announced his official return.
Other: After receiving invites to TI3, the five of us were aware of the weight of everything here, and also that roster changes may not be made lightly. We respect Valve’s decision, and we hope to continue towards our goals via our own hard work, and apologize for the consternation this has brought upon everyone.

Is it all worth it? Fans are split on the issue. Is the announcement fair? Big-name Chinese commentator, retired pro player, DC, doesn’t seem to think so: http://t.qq.com/p/t/191197114681110  — he has expressed his opinion that although roster changes are normal, the wording of the explanation is unfair to longDD.

Is this the end of the matter, and will the waves calm now that everyone seems to have gotten a word in? As often the case with these matters, the whole truth may never be completely known, but we wish smooth sailing to all those involved, and certainly hope to see TI2’s third place finishers back at TI3… one way or the other.