Category Archives: Chinese Dota

TongFu team interview after Round 9 WPC-ACE 2013 match against DK

TongFu takes a well-earned 2-0 victory over the previously-undefeated DK in WPC-ACE League. TongFu talks about their new tactics in 6.79…

Q: Here we’re on-stage for an interview with TongFu. First question is for Zhou-god: last time I asked you if you guys had any confidence in encountering DK. Today you got a 2-0 result, are you satisfied?
Zhou: I can count it as satisfied. Last interview, I had said it, we have a chance to win over DK, even though DK is very strong.

Q: We know that in the first game, you guys last picked Pugna, what thoughts went into this choice?
Zhou: In the draft, the process was a bit of a gamble. We actually weren’t planning on picking Pugna in the first game, but they banned all our wanted heroes, so we ended up with Pugna.

Q: Okay, let’s ask Mu the next question: [in the first game] you used Pugna. It feels like Pugna hasn’t been seen in quite a while, and you definitely haven’t played him in a long time. So what were your considerations going into the game when you were given the hero?
Mu: Having picked Pugna, we were mainly going to be pushing. Try to get an early game advantage in laning, and avoid their tri-lane. Pressure towers. Pugna as a hero is one that I haven’t used in a long time, none in practices, so that was the first time trying the hero (in competitive).

Q: You guys built many Necrobooks, let’s ask Xtt: your Nature’s Prophet built Necrobook quite early on, and while the rest of your team were pushing as four, you and your Necrobook pushed bottom. Was this a tactic that was solidified as a mid-game decision for your team, to endlessly push, going as far as dying to trade for high ground?
Xtt: With our lineup, we could only play this way. It was safer this way. If we went head-on, they (DK) still had the potential to turn it around.

Q: Alright, next question for ZSMJ: in the second game, your Enchanctress earned MVP recognition. You got a great start early on, helped push towers efficiently, and even had an amazing Aegis steal. What inspired you to be so bold in pushing yourself in to steal the Aegis?
ZSMJ: That kind of thing is definitely a gamble — if you have the nerves for it then you’re bold enough to try it, and if you try it, then there’s a chance of success.

Q: Okay. Let’s ask Sansheng a question then. Both games you guys picked pushing lineups, so it could be said that your team is one step ahead currently in your understanding of version 6.79. Perhaps you feel that pushing is the new trend in the metagame. How have your team’s practices and brainstorming been these past few days?
Sansheng: It was just an attempt at trying something. As for pushing, really, Zhou tends to prefer pushing lineups. As for systems, we can play a good variety, and this pushing one is one we’ve just begun trying. We could be able to execute it better in the future.

Q: Let’s ask Zhou-god one last question: with the arrival of 6.79, it would seem that the balance of power has shifted a bit. In your 2-0 over DK, it would seem that you guys have a more advanced understanding of the version, so do you think that the new version has reset things for teams so that they’re all on the same starting line again? Or did you feel that your team simply was ahead in understanding today?
Zhou: I think it’s not necessarily about the version. The heroes we used all didn’t see huge changes. It was just that in the previous version, we weren’t daring enough to try them. But with this new version, we’re willing to try anything out. And in practices, we’ve had excellent results with these heroes, so ultimately we used them.

Alright. Big congratulations to TongFu here, successfully taking DK down and breaking their undefeated streak.

Original vod at: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjI1Mzc2OTUy.html

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UUU9’s Players Pantheon interview series: DK.BurNIng

Pretty cool interview of BurNIng from a few days ago, part of a “Players Pantheon” series from UUU9.com…

BurNIng at a glance:

Name: Xu Zhilei
ID: BurNIng
Birthdate: Feb 16, 1988
Horoscope: Aquarius
Hometown: Tongling, Anhui Province
Nicknames: B-god, Xu-lardar, Xu-Nessaj, Prof Xu
Past teams: 7L, KS.cn, CH, EHOME
Fav heroes: Weaver, Anti-mage
Fav actor: Wentworth Earl Miller
Fav band: Linkin Park
Fav movie: Batman

UUU9: Hello, today we have the honor of interviewing DK’s BurNIng. Say hi to everyone first.
DK.BurNIng: Hello everyone, I am DK’s captain BurNIng.

UUU9: For WPC this time, DK has come from Yunnan all the way to Shanghai. Anything that has needed getting used to for your team?
BurNIng: Only a little bit when we first arrived in Shanghai. We first just checked into a random convenience hotel. And then the training facilities provided here had limits on time, we could only train until 9pm whereas our normal routine would be until 2-3am. But now all these things have been resolved.

UUU9: Oh. Regarding the recently concluded Starladder season, NaVi won 3-2 over Alliance. Did you guys follow this tournament at all, what did you think of the two teams?
BurNIng: I watched the entire tournament live via streams. The two teams felt very close in terms of ability, NaVi gave me the feeling that they spent a lot of time in analyzing Alliance. Their playstyle and drafts were very focused on countering Alliance, so they were able to take the win.

UUU9: If you guys were to face them in a match, what chances do DK have to win?
BurNIng: At the moment I think maybe 30-40% chance. But with further improvements from practice, our chances will rise.

UUU9: Let’s talk about your new teammates. Iceiceice always gives people the feeling of a jokester, does he have a serious side in real life?
BurNIng: When he first came to DK, my impression from him was that he is a player that truly loves Dota. He’s very hard working, we started off when he first came by playing lots of pubs and watching lots of replays.

UUU9: How do you guys normally address him? Cousin (iceiceice once joked that it was his cousin playing for him in a particularly feed-worthy game)? iceiceice?
BurNIng: Usually either ‘cousin’ or ‘ice’.

UUU9: LaNm and iceiceice often show off their affection for each other publicly, what is their relationship?
BurNIng: They are just normal teammates O_O… It’s just iceiceice’s love for being flamboyant on camera, I think.

UUU9: In your eyes, what kind of player is Mushi?
BurNIng: The impression that Mushi gives me is dedicated and humble, and has a great thirst for winning. I think he’s a very good person.

UUU9: DK’s recent form has been excellent, and we’ve heard that you guys have been hard at work training daily. Some fans have suggested that you guys reaching such heights right now might mean that you peak too early and drop in bigger engagements, what do you think?
BurNIng: I feel that form is something that you maintain, you don’t really suddently lose all your form in one day. Form is the result of training and practice, so as long as we can continue on with our effectiveness in training, form is not a problem.

UUU9: All of DK can be considered veteran players, what is your secret to keeping your performances going?
BurNIng: There isn’t really a secret, it’s just staying interested and dedicated.

UUU9: In recent matches, Elder Titan has been either picked or banned almost always. Can B-god share with us some thoughts on this hero’s strengths and weaknesses?
BurNIng: This hero can be said to be the hottest hero in this version (6.78). His main feature his powerful teamfights, as well as his ability to defend towers. He’s good offlane as well as solo mid, has strong laning, doesn’t lose 1v1, and can get a lot of farm for himself in a 1v3 as well. I feel he’s just a very strong hero.

UUU9: Foreign players like to alternate second and third skills, while Chinese players prefer alternating the first and second skills, which do you think is better?
BurNIng: Originally the Chinese style was first and second skills alternating, but recently under a European influence, Chinese players have been going for the second and third skills as well. I feel it’s not bad, but requires more crowd-control from teammates. The aura is really very imba.

UUU9: In the recent DK vs HGT WPC-ACE match, iceiceice’s level 5 ET never got a level of Stomp, and he ended up getting killed over and over, what did you think of this?
BurNIng: I think he was a bit careless. Leveling Stomp or not makes no difference, getting caught meant death regardless.

UUU9: Apart from WPC-ACE, we have G-League, D2L, MLG all starting or about to come, does DK have any big goals set for winning these?
BurNIng: Our goal is of course to win these titles, and we will continue working in training to keep our form going.

UUU9: What do you think of the two newcomer teams in WPC-ACE League — HGT and TongFu 2nd team? What advice would you share with them?
BurNIng: Their ability is quite decent, but there’s still some space between them and professional teams. I’ve watched a few of their replays, and HGT has even taken a win over a pro team. They do pretty well in early game, but towards mid and late game they have a lack of experience. Every professional player undergoes a similar process. Without experience in these situations, they don’t know what to do with an advantage and end up losing. So they need more practice and experience before they’ll be able to see some results.

UUU9: In DK’s games, you guys sometimes move your farm priority down a bit. Has this taken some adjusting to for you?
BurNIng: In forming this team, I’d already established this for myself, if I took this new team and tried to play the same way as before then the results might be even worse than before, so I decided that I should play a bit more aggressively and offensively. Share farm and resources a bit more evenly, not just focus everything on my own hero. This was the way to making the breakthrough, and from current results it would seem that it’s going decently.

UUU9: In the past it was always BurNIng plus 4 protectors. Ever since Mushi and iceiceice joined, your team’s style has changed, so how would you describe your current system?
BurNIng: Our system now is basically: Attack, overwhelm, multi-core.

UUU9: Watching you in the past there was always the feeling that your play was very steady and reliable. Nowadays, it would seem that you’ve gotten more ‘floaty’, what do you think?
BurNIng: I think this has a lot to do with the hero I’m on, and I’ve also been trying to make adjustments myself. I don’t think it’s ‘floaty’, more that it’s type of change.

UUU9: How do you think resources should be shared to supports?
BurNIng: Usually it would depend on the hero. If I don’t need farm or levels that much at a certain time, then I let supports get some to catch up on core items and levels, and then I return to lane afterwards.

UUU9: In WPC-ACE, DK has yet to taste defeat. Many people are guessing at which team will be the one to break your streak, so who do you think is the hardest team for you to face?
BurNIng: Many teams are very strong. VG fought us very hard and it was very close before we made a comeback, iG against us was also a comeback for us. There isn’t as large of a gap between Chinese team as some may think, a lot of things are down to form and execution.

UUU9: Outside of training, what things do you like to do?
BurNIng: Watch some movies, listen to music. I still prefer to stay at home more.

UUU9: When was the last time you visited back home?
BurNIng: After TI3 I went home for a half month break.

UUU9: Now with training and competitions all packed in your schedule, it must be pretty tiring, how many days each month do you have to spend with your girlfriend?
BurNIng: It’s hard to even get a few games of pubs with her every week, much less have time to meet up. Sometimes I feel sorry to her.

UUU9: We saw on weibo your profession of love towards her, so surely she can understand you. Alright, thank you to BurNIng for this interview with us, and we hope DK can continue achieving good results in the future. Anything to say to fans?
BurNIng: Hi UUU9 fans, I am DK’s BurNIng, I want to thank all our fans for their support of DK, and for following DK’s matches. We will strive to continue working hard, and play well in every game and bring exciting performances to repay you all.

Source: http://dota.uuu9.com/zsd/burning/

CDEC nationwide league starting up

Some 20000 RMB in total prizes, and a nice-looking format for those looking to get competitive.

Signups currently open for teams: http://www.vpgame.com/egl.html (signup process guide here)

Phases:

Oct 18 – Oct 24: Signups, teams may have 3-6 players
Oct 25 – Nov 3: First scoring phase (free matchmaking within CDEC — as long as THREE or more players from a registered team are on the same side, the results of the game will count towards the team’s CDEC rankings. If players play solo in CDEC, then their results will count towards their individual rankings.)
Nov 4 – Nov 7: Team roster adjustment period (Team captains may kick or recruit players, but may not remove their registered vice-captain. During this period, individual players ranked within top 20 may be featured with bios and replays. At the end of this period, teams without at least 5 players will be seen as null.)Nov 8 – Nov 17: Second scoring phase (free matchmaking within CDEC — as long as FIVE or more players from a registered team are on the same side, the results of the game will count towards the team’s CDEC rankings. If players play solo in CDEC, then their results will count towards their individual rankings.)

Prizes:

1st place team: 10000 RMB (EGL-CDEC regional finals qualified)
2nd place team: 5000 RMB (EGL-CDEC regional finals qualified)
3rd place team: 2000 RMB
4th place team: 1000 RMB
5th place team: 500 RMB

1st place individual: 500 RMB
2nd place individual: 300 RMB
3rd place individual: 200 RMB

Most CDEC games played: 500 RMB

links: 1 – 2 – 3

Chinese Social Summary: Oct 10 — 16, 2013

Link to previous issue (Oct 1-9)

Helping you cyber-stalk your favorite based-in-China Dota 2 pros and personalities, DOTALAND brings a random, semi-curated selection of posts from various publicly-accessed Weibo accounts over the past few days. What are people eating, doing, saying?

This is a new thing and I make no guarantees of: quality, consistency, or overall usefulness. Is this cool, want more, is it weird, useless? Let DOTALAND know: twitter.com/Dotaland

Sorted by player name, alphabetically. Begins with link, followed by translation of post text. Presence of pictures will be noted if available.

DD, Faith, and rOtk

Talk about NaVi vs Alliance:

rOtk: “Awaiting the big NaVi Alliance clash is akin to waiting for the World Cup Final. Are there any fellow fans eagerly anticipating this with me, I’ve got snacks and seating ready and waiting!”
Faith: “NaVi braindead fanboy reporting in!”
rOtk: “NaVi is great for a reason! I feel that in the third game, Alliance should not have let Batrider through, they would’ve had much stronger push and gank.”
Faith: “Felt that S4’s Storm was a bit weak, if his Storm was on Dendi’s level then things would’ve been closer”
DD: “You’re not talking down on my S4?”

ddc

Dislikes the season: “Hated winter is almost here again ~annoying~”

ddc, with Zhou’s response

Looking for a way: “Asking for ways to win pubs!! No matter how I play, I lose.”
Zhou’s response: “I’ll queue with you, steady wins!”

Faith

Offlane advice for rOtk: “You could learn Bulldog’s Clockwerk using flares to block neutral spawns”

IceFrog

New addition to his family (with pics): “Today I got a puppy! What should we name him?”

iceiceice

His idol (with pic): “My idol.”

LaNm

Team composition: “Every team needs a fatty!”

rOtk

Noob: “It’s a disaster! Lost seven straight after the break, how to stop? Too noob, too noob, looks like we’re not suited for going on break :|”

Sansheng

Caught DD (with pics): “Each time caught is 200” (Last week, DD said that anyone finding him eating late at night is entitled to 200 RMB)

 

Social China Summary: Oct 1-9, 2013

Helping you cyber-stalk your favorite based-in-China Dota 2 pros and personalities, DOTALAND brings a random, semi-curated selection of posts from various publicly-accessed Weibo accounts over the past few days. What are people eating, doing, saying?

This is a new thing and I make no guarantees of: quality, consistency, or overall usefulness. Is this cool, want more, is it weird, useless? Let DOTALAND know: twitter.com/Dotaland

Sorted by player name, alphabetically. Begins with link, followed by translation of post text. Presence of pictures will be noted if available.

ChuaN

What he’s been up to (pics within) — “Holidays are over, thank you to this group of brothers. Now it’s time to gather my pathetic self back together, and take big steps towards my dream!”

DD

No eating late at night — “Whoever catches me eating late at night again, I will pay 200 RMB each time! Please supervise me”

LaNm

Pickup basketball — “Anyone for basketball around 10 in the morning? Usually one to two hours, Mushi and I are looking for a group.” (DD responded saying he’d play football/soccer, KingJ said ping pong, rOtk said it’s far while someone else said that rOtk is bad at basketball anyway, but they agreed that they should organize a game together sometime)

#Dedication — In response to someone asking if he’d do more commentating: “I’m dedicating my all to my professional competitive career, no plans to split my focus. Will only consider commentating again after I retire.”

LongDD

As a commentator 1 — “Commentating is so much fun, hope that I can gradually overcome nerves, and be like I am when streaming on YY, at ease.”

As a commentator 2 — “Going home tomorrow. Thank you WPC for giving me this opportunity to learn and show myself. WPC is great, I hope to have the chance to come back again in the future.”

Mushi

After DK vs iG (DK 2-0 iG) — “Thank you everyone for your well wishes, in the end we held! I still did not do my best, so I must work hard to analyze!”

rOtk

First commentary experience — After commentating DK vs iG: “I speak what I see. I definitely had no intentions of purposely speaking ill of DK, it was simply that I’m not a great commentator. I will improve in the future. I was truly trying to objectively analyze the two teams’ styles — DK tends towards farming, iG tends towards fighting, and thus I felt that DK would face high pressure. But congrats to DK.”

Sansheng

Quitting smoking — “I want to quit smoking!! Please everyone supervise me!!” (Zhou’s response to Sansheng, not the most encouraging: “If you are able to quit smoking, then I can quit eating!”)

Sylar

Pub problems (with pic) — “Today’s results have been unbelievable (literal translation: sky-shattering in a bad way)!” (spoiler: pros aren’t immune to loss streaks either)

xiao8

Bad habit for a commentator to have — “It’s about time to fix that habit of using profanity”

YYF

After DK vs iG (DK 2-0 iG) — “Due to a serious mistake on my part, we lost today. I’ve never hated myself as much. For my performances today, I can only use four words to describe: I’m so damn noob!”

ZSMJ

Gift from Zhou (it’s an awesome Medusa figurine, pic within) — “How’s this Medusa from Zhou-god?”

WPC-ACE 2013 interview with RStars.Sylar and LGD.xiao8

This post-match interview came after RisingStars and LGD.cn fought out to a 1-1 draw in the WPC-ACE League 2013. Former LGD carry, current RStars player Sylar, and LGD captain xiao8 were the ones chosen for the interview… An interesting choice, given the way Sylar departed from LGD.

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WPC-ACE 2013’s “Esports Life Series”: Half an hour with Team DK

In this, Team DK fields questions about their careers, life goals, and more. Interaction with fans in the live audience, funny and candid moments, all within this half hour production from WPC-ACE 2013. View in full on Youtube for best effect!

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Mushi interview: Mushi talks Orange, MLG, DK

In this interview with UUU9.com, Mushi is asked about Orange, his joining of DK, and thoughts on DK’s participation at the upcoming and highly hyped MLG in November.

U9: Hello Mushi, thank you for doing this interview with UUU9.com. Previously at TI3, Orange achieved a relatively successful result, so what made you decide to leave your old teammates and come to China?
Mushi: Prior to TI3 I’d already thought about moving to China to compete, but before that could happen I needed to complete my journey with Orange at TI3.

U9: What changes has joining DK brought for you on an individual level?
Mushi: This is a very hard working team, every day it’s laning practice, or replay analysis. Competition is fierce nowadays, so we must do our best.

U9: Your old teammates at Orange have now joined new organization Titan, and the new organization is providing much improved terms of contract. Anything you’d like to say to your old teammates now?
Mushi: I hope they can participate in many events, and bring more excitement to viewers and fans. And win lots too 😛

U9: Let’s talk about your new teammates, one sentence to describe each of them?
Mushi: It’s only been a month for me, let’s leave the juicy reveals for a later date.

U9: Which of your DK teammates have been the most different from what your expectations?
Mushi: They’re all largely as I’d imagined them to be.

U9: Have you been able to get used to life in China? Because of WPC-ACE, your team will be in Shanghai for a long period of time, what kinds of things do you guys like doing outside of practice and matches?
Mushi: Apart from the food, I’ve been fine with everything else. Outside of practice and matches, I haven’t had much else I really liked doing. Mostly spend my time chatting with friends and fans, that’s about it~

U9: Older versions of Mushi have been known to be rather rash in decision-making, sometimes resulting in mistakes. As a result, some Chinese fans had labeled you in the past as “our international friend” (due to Mushi throwing games against Chinese teams). Yet, your improvements this year have been noticed by all, so what is it that has enabled you to make this change?
Mushi: Never stop learning, and always maintain calm.

U9: Following TI3, Chinese teams have all made adjustments. Currently, who do you think will be DK’s biggest rivals?
Mushi: If we perform well, we can defeat anyone. If we don’t perform well, then anyone can defeat us. Haha~

U9: “Such a chaotic scene” at one point was the unofficial label for the Chinese scene, what are your thoughts on this?
Mushi: Every team and every scene is a mess behind the curtains, it’s just that people don’t hear about it. It’s all within the norm.

U9: To join the Chinese scene and come to China to compete, what are your goals and requirements for yourself?
Mushi: Learn the good things, avoid the bad things. Work hard in practice, win lots of events.

U9: Foreign sites have revealed that originally WPC-ACE would restrict teams from partaking in other events. DK’s participation at MLG must’ve come as a result of lots of work, can you confirm?
Mushi: Ehm, I don’t really know about this. After joining DK, I’ve only focused on doing my job as a player.

U9: What are your goals for MLG?
Mushi: My personal goals are to win everything that is winnable, and if it is not winnable, then to learn and grow from competing against other foreign players there.

U9: DK will be the only team from China at MLG, what was it that brought you guys to participate in this event?
Mushi: Because there will be all the other strong Western teams present there.

U9: How has the teamwork and communication been at DK so far? What are things you guys still need to work on?
Mushi: It’s gone decently, but there’s still plenty to improve. Hard to speak about more details.

U9: Who is captain for DK right now? Who does the drafts? If there are disagreements, whose word helps most?
Mushi: BurNIng is captain, we all draft together, and if there are disagreements we discuss it together in order to get on the same page.

U9: Thank you Mushi for doing this interview with UUU9.com. We hope that you can achieve great results with DK. Any words for fans?
Mushi: Thank you UUU9, and thank you to all those who support me for all the motivation that you’ve given me.

Source: http://dota2.uuu9.com/201309/454317.shtml

Follow DOTALAND for instant updates: twitter.com/Dotaland

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.