Chinese social summary — Chinese New Year edition

Link to previous issue: Dec 29 — Jan 10

Everyone’s home celebrating and stuff so there’s actually not much… Took a selection of Chinese New Year wishes and some other random stuff.

rOtK

Basketball (with pics): “Since going on break I’ve been practicing hard for 10 days now, after the break you’re all done!” [mentioned ChuaN, LaNm, Mushi, fy, and Yao in his challenge]

IceFrog

Dog and invoker: “Every time an Invoker uses Chaos Meteor, my dog barks”
Chinese New Year customs (with pics): “My girlfriend decorated my room, and gave me a red packet, telling me to put the packet beneath my pillow. But why does the packet need to go under your pillow?”
Chinese New Year wishes: “Happy Year of the Horse everyone, good luck and success to all!”

Ferrari_430

New year and travels (with pic): “Gone home for the year. Results in the past year haven’t been that satisfying, hope the new year brings better tidings. PS: The Wuhan airport doesn’t even have any checks in place for luggage, what if someone accidentally or purposely took someone else’s?”

ChuaN

Kyxy should get this in his cosmetic item set: “Kyxy WR Aegis”

ZSMJ

New Year wishes and item set: “Happy New Year all! I’ve got a Storm Spirit set made for me, go help and click like, don’t leave me with no new clothes to wear in the new year! Remember to like and comment and all of the pieces and favorite! Love you all, and I wish you all riches and happiness.”

Fy

New Year party (with pic): [At the VG Chinese New Year party,] Fy, for an iPhone 5s downed an entire cup of baijiu, what a man, good job!

xiao8

Mahjong (with pics): “Dragged my luggage with me to come play mahjong, I’m a charity gambler”
G-League thoughts: “Even though it was a 3-0, but I feel Chinese events are more fun to watch than foreign events”

Ruru

LGD’s Chinese New Year party (with pics): “Happy year-end party! Hope that 2014 is a wonderful year!”

ddc

Terrorblade: “TB is indeed the hardest late game carry.”

Zhou

TongFu porridge (with pic): “New year gifts”

Sansheng

Chinese New Year: “I wish everyone happy new year, success in your goals and results in your endeavors!!”

Faith

Chinese New Year: “Happy New Year to all. Good health, joyousness, and I hope every day can be filled with laughter, hahahaha~”

Mushi

Chinese New Year: “Happy new year! I wish everyone great luck in the year of the horse! Smooth sailing, and to get everything you want”

Bonus ZSMJ gif: 460

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D2L S4 in my view

Prefacing note: Big thank you to the fans in Vegas who helped out in various ways. Getting food for the teams, helping me out, etc. You guys are great. On that note, same goes for the fans at MLG Columbus last year, who I don’t think I thanked enough either. Thank you. Thanks to all the passionate fans that come out to these events to show support in each of your unique ways. Thank you to D2L and EG for the event in Vegas here and letting me be a part. Below is D2L S4 in my view.

It was another early morning flight out of Seattle for D2L in Las Vegas. A quick two hour flight meant that I’d arrive in Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport before noon on Jan 6. Upon arriving at the hotel we’d all been booked at for the event, Harrah’s across the street from Caesar’s Palace, the first thing I saw was all of VG checking in at the front desk. I’d been in contact with their manager JaL beforehand, so I went up to him, introduced myself, and made sure they weren’t having any problems with anything. We chatted a bit about their stay in Vegas so far — they had arrived a day earlier on their own expense in order to be better prepared.

After we got everything checked in, I got a call from the VG manager saying they were gonna go out for lunch, asking if I wanted to come along. With nothing else going on for the time being, and needing to make sure we got VG to the venue at Caesar’s around 3pm for their sponsor interviews (the one where rOtK told someone to kiss his ass), I decided to tag along. Some Chinese fans who had made their way out to Vegas graciously took us to a Yunnan Chinese restaurant a few minutes away by car, and we had a pretty tasty lunch there.

Lunch with VG

While eating, another completely different group of dudes came into the restaurant to eat, and upon entering, one of them muttered, “Aren’t those Dota pros?? What are they doing here?” To which his friend deduced, “They must be here for a competition!” When we went to get the check for our table, we were told that it had been paid already, with the waitress gesturing towards the back of the room where these guys had earlier gone to sit down. This was after the Chinese fans who took us to this restaurant in the first place were insisting on paying for us all in the first place, and the various camps of fans joked that they were competing for the players’ love at this point. Anyway, Sylar looks to rOtK and suggests that they should send someone over to thank this other group of fans. ROtK agrees, tries to get Sylar to come along, ultimately failing in doing so (Sylar seems to be satisfied at having suggested it), and goes over on his own to meet and greet and pause for a few photos with the fans.

Everyone

Shortly afterwards, we leave the restaurant and hang around outside for a bit, with the players mingling with the fans and taking a few group photos. I should note here that all of VG were very gracious and approachable with fans. I might be ruining Sylar’s quiet badass image but he’s a nice kid that isn’t afraid to make a joke here and there, and he smiled more than anyone would’ve imagined him to be capable of (if all you see of him is on streams). I’ve liked Sylar since first meeting him at TI3, really, I think he’s misunderstood sometimes. Fy was exchanging cigarettes with a fan (Chinese smokes), rOtK chatting about local attractions, and Super and Fenrir both casually hanging out. 3pm approaches, and loathe as I am to break up what has turned into a pretty relaxed hangout, I herd everyone back onto their respective vehicles, the destination being the Emperor’s Ballroom at Caesar’s Palace.

Hanging out

Caesar’s Palace is freaking huge — most everything in Vegas is freaking huge — and once my vehicle arrives, I know we’ve made a mistake in not clarifying exactly which part of Caesar’s we should gather at. The manager, my girlfriend, and I disembark only to see zero trace of any of the VG players. They could be anywhere, and the only one of them that has local phone service is the manager. We split up in three ways to look for them, and in some dash of luck, everyone is rounded up within minutes. After a fun (as would be seen later), and pretty short and painless, interview session, I make sure VG know their schedule for the next day (room opens at 9AM for early practice, first match at 12PM), they head back to the hotel. Later that night, we would run into all of VG again at the McDonald’s next door, as word got around that this McDonald’s was one of the only places nearby with free wifi. ROtK made plans to go see a David Copperfield show, which it seemed he enjoyed, but the rest of his teammates declined the opportunity.

“Kiss my ass”

During the rest of the afternoon on Monday, EG’s Jay Todorow and I have been trying to figure out the time we should go pick up LGD at the airport. Apparently no one had their exact flight info, and some of what we did have ended up being incorrect. Earlier in the morning, I had seen a Weibo post from ddc saying that they’d been delayed six hours in Shanghai, which meant they would ostensibly be at least six hours late getting into Vegas as well. In the end, I confirmed their flight information by way of snooping Yao’s Weibo, where he had posted a boarding pass, and by confirming this information with LGD’s boss Ruru. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to all, the earliest post I’d seen from ddc regarding the six hour delay was the one with the real information we needed — LGD had been delayed taking off in Shanghai, which meant that they were to miss their connecting flight, which meant that there never was any chance of Jay and me finding them at the airport on the two occasions we went and tried. Eventually, I got in touch with a local contact whom LGD had contracted to help with the team. After much waiting and checking on statuses, we were told that LGD would be taking ground transport from Los Angeles to Vegas due to them not being able to be on the original flight out of Shanghai, with an ETA of around 5AM on Tuesday morning. Crazy, but it actually worked. Big thanks to ReborN, the LGD contact for Vegas, for helping me handle this situation and for all the work he did in helping LGD.

820 and LGD in the house

The next morning, I headed over to the venue around 10am and caught up with VG on the way, who were making their way over a few hours early in order to get set up and warmup before their match against Alliance at noon. The machines provided for the event seemed to have just been used at another event in China, and some of them were loaded with random Chinese software that caused compatability issues all through the event. Additionally, there was no shortage of crashes, lockups, and lag spikes, which hopefully is an explanation for the too many pauses that occurred during the two days. VG get setup, and around noon LGD shows up at the venue to watch the match and get ready for their later match against Fnatic. Accompanying the LGD squad is none other than legendary captain and heart of 2010 EHOME, 820 himself. In the LGD interviews later on, I would get 820 to answer a question as a part of LGD here. Xiao8, as has always been, took the lead for his team in arranging the interviews. Upon first seeing me at the venue, DD waved happily, and I waved back. For the rest of LGD’s interviews, they were professional and down to earth, as has been the norm for this old school team.

Interviewing with xiao8 and Yao

After VG’s match, LGD were up, so I helped them get setup just as I helped VG. Once LGD were on stage, I went and sat next to 820 for a brief while and chatted randomly with him for a bit. Asked about him returning to the scene, his words were, “There’s not really any chance of me coming back as a player, I never said I would, that must’ve been something some editor made up somewhere. It’s definitely possible for me to continue being a coach, but no guarantees yet which team it will be in the future.” We chatted a little bit more about the drafts and games as LGD played, but I was soon called away on some other duty. 820 is a chill, approachable person who isn’t afraid to chatter, very down to earth guy.

While LGD were playing, Twitch.tv’s Eleine came and asked me to invite VG to a dinner paid for by her, so I did, and VG decided they would go back and take a nap so as to be more awake in the evening. Only Fenrir stayed behind, watching the LGD vs Fnatic match. By the time LGD were done playing, I was leaving the venue as no more Chinese teams would be involved for the night, yet Fenrir was still staying behind. I guess he wanted to watch Fnatic vs Alliance as well, and he didn’t come for dinner, instead just going straight to bed afterwards.

Dinner was originally scheduled for 8pm, but got pushed back to 9:30pm due to everyone being passed the hell out and me not being able to get anyone up until then. By then, the original planned destination of Caesar’s Palace buffet was closing up, so we just went to the buffet in Harrah’s. Out of VG, only rOtK seemed to eat much. He looked at my clam chowder and asked what it was, then resolved to go get a bowl of it for himself as well. The rest of the players just sat around after one plate of food and chatted. Sylar ate all of a few pieces of fruit, and then announced that he’d go straight back to sleep after dinner.

The atmosphere was lighthearted and laid back, and we slowly meandered from one topic to another. We asked rOtK if he knew about what ‘DK’ stood for, and he said he had no idea, though theories were thrown out, including ‘Dota Kings’, ‘Donkey Kong’, ‘Dragon Knight’, and ‘Da kuan’ (pinyin for rich guy). We prodded fun at Super, who had just turned 21, and on his first day in Vegas had spent over $300 gambling only to have lost it “within two minutes”. I joked that it was a birthday gift to himself, and we all laughed. Super elaborated, “Manager and I went to the gambling floor and we observed for over half an hour trying to find an easy table (blackjack). We singled out one that we felt was the most noob, I went in, and came out two minutes later $300 poorer.” At one point, Sylar noticed that rOtK and I were amongst the last ones eating, and noted the fact. I said to him, “I haven’t really eaten all day, not even breakfast,” and he was like, “Wow, that bad?” with a look of compassion. Like I said, Sylar’s a good kid.

We wrap up at dinner and the players head back up to their rooms. ROtK and the VG manager take up our offer to come up to the executive suite which Twitch.tv’s Eleine has rented out for the event, one of the only places within the hotel that has wifi, and they come up to get their fix of internet for a while. We chat a bit more about random things, amongst which is the current meta-trend on the Chinese servers. “Alchemist, Slark, Earth Spirit, Doom, and Broodmother,” they explain, are the most imba heroes that are seen in every single game. Looks about the same elsewhere too, I guess. ROtK is playing some games on his iPad, including Clash of Clans, if there’s anyone out there that plays that game (I know it’s popular).

VG’s rOtK and manager JaL hanging out after dinner

The next day it’s LGD vs VG in the upper bracket finals. VG gets knocked down while LGD continues looking strong, and everyone is surprised that Fnatic has taken out Alliance. In the words of Fenrir regarding the last game in Fnatic vs Alliance, “Don’t even know how to lose, yet Alliance lost”. Of course he went on to add, “We have those games too, where we think we don’t even know how we can possibly lose, then we lose anyway.” The day is strewn with technical issues as lag, update problems, hardware issues, and more abound. Between doing interviews (both on stage for the event and off stage for Kingston), helping resolve technical issues, and running after players to make sure they’re on time, I don’t eat nor rest much for the entire day.

View of the stage

In the end, VG crash out at the hands of a Fnatic team that no one rated highly, yet noticeably grew in stature with the event. VG quietly filter out to the side room, where they sit in contemplation for a good half hour, then they all come back into the venue to watch LGD play against Fnatic in the Finals. ROtK sits next to 820, and on and off through the games, they chat about what’s happening on screen. Sylar and Super go back to bantering about things, Fy mostly sticks to his phone screen, while Fenrir eventually heads backstage to get on a computer back there and chat and watch the games himself. During one of the finals games, I corner him in this setting and we have a really nice chat just about random things. Life, what brought us to this spot at this point in time, EMS One, etc. “It’s been really nice having you here this time, in Poland for EMS One it felt as if we were on a different planet. It was like we were back in the Stone Age, we could only communicate by hand gestures,” he offered, after I explained to him why I’d be here and how someone like me might be fluent in both Chinese and English. EMS One was his first time overseas, and Vegas was his first time in the US. “Keep qualifying for international events and you’ll eventually learn plenty of English too!” I suggested cheerfully. He chuckled. He told me about how their team owner gets really happy whenever they win anything, and after their successive first place finishes in the Sina Cup 2 and EMS One, they were all given bonuses and gifts, but their third place finish here might mean they get less Chinese New Year bonuses.

VG watching as LGD fight in the Finals against Fnatic

On stage, LGD are playing the Finals against Fnatic. During this event, between every game, they went off-stage with their coach 820 to discuss tactics and approaches. After this first loss against Fnatic, 820 is forcefully stating his thoughts, “Just take each game one at a time, don’t worry about anything else!” He addresses each player individually, giving them a sentence or two on what he wants them to improve or focus on in the next game. “Xiaotuji, you’re a more fighting-focused carry, remember that for next game!” he says to the carry, then he reiterates to the whole team, “Fnatic are indeed aggressive, but that doesn’t mean you can shrink back in the face of it! You need to increase your own tempo, dictate the pace!” Xiao8 answers this with a shout, “Let’s go! Anyone that still feels drowsy, go splash some water on your face and let’s do it!” LGD head back on stage, 820 shouts one last time at them from below the stage, “Get excited! Get into it!” and as the horns sound across the speaker system, first xiao8, then Yao, answer back, both to their coach and to themselves “Let’s do this! Add oil!” Yao and xiao8 are making calls, shouting, and just generally moving their team along. The rest is history, as LGD takes the series 3-1.

LGD win

The ‘gg’ comes scrolling across the screen, and the LGD team huddles on stage for a quick team celebration. One of them shouts to go grab the coach, 820, and the six of them, ever so briefly, and perhaps for the last time ever, do a team hug. Then, also as a team, shoulder to shoulder, they bow to the live crowd in appreciation, and begin to pack their gear up. After the award ceremony, the team seems a bit muted (though LGD are generally a more reserved group). Twitch’s Eleine offers to buy them dinner as well, but after some debate, they decline and say they’re heading back to the hotel to rest. We end up finding them at the hotel cafe downstairs, and Eleine buys their tab anyway. As LGD are leaving, they find out their tab has been paid for, and they all come back to our table. Yao is saying “How can we accept this kindness, this is too much.” It’s okay, we explain, Eleine wants to do this. They all look at us, and soundly voice their appreciation. Xiao8 looks straight at us in his unique fashion and says the most determined “Thank you!!” I’ve ever heard from anyone.

LGD return victorious…

It’s nearing 2am at this time and after saying our goodbyes with LGD, the rest of us head back up to Eleine’s room for an afterparty of sorts. Everyone shows up, DeMoN, Fnatic, Aui, Merlini, Ayesee, even Alex Garfield. By this point I’m too drained to do anything much but listen. Thundertoss of SC2 fame has come along too, he’s a cool dude, along with a few other esports friends that we’ve picked up. Fnatic are some funny guys and Aui seems like fun to hang around with. Speaking of Aui, the Chinese scene thinks he’s pretty good. Anyway, it was nice seeing everyone again even though I’m 99% occupied with the Chinese teams during these events, one day I’ll do better with really getting to know the Western players and personalities, etc.

That was that for the D2L S4 Finals in Vegas. VG would head back to China on their own after scheduling an additional half day to spend recreationally in Vegas. The next morning as I’m leaving the hotel, I come across LGD waiting outside the lobby to head to the airport as well. Taking the opportunity, I go to them to say my goodbyes one last time. Yao looks at me goofily and says “Good morning!” enthusiastically, a greeting which I return to him and the team probably even more goofily. I make sure with them that all is okay, that they’re ready to head home, then I turn to leave for my own ride… but not before I turn back again. I sit down briefly next to xiao8; I look at him and he looks at me… “You’re leaving?” His reply, eyes unwavering, “Yes.” I’m not sure he hasn’t misinterpreted my question as asking whether they’re leaving Vegas at that moment, so I ask again, “You’re going to a new team?” This time his gaze shifts a bit, but his voice remains steady and straight, and even louder and more determinedly responds, “Yes!”

Blurry morning goodbyes

I pause for half a second, then I reach over and hug him, “Thank you. And good luck.” Standing up, I repeat the gesture, a light hug and a wish for them, with each of the other LGD players. Yao offers his thanks, and ddc offers to give me an Ursa micro-plushie, which I turn down and ask him to keep for himself. Lastly, I put a hand on 820’s shoulder, “Bye!” and that was that.

Out of the three events I’ve been involved with backstage, TI3, MLG, and D2L… D2L has been the only one where the players I’m helping have won the event. Even if for different reasons, this last bit means that D2L may be another bittersweet memory……

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Chinese Social Summary: Dec 29, 2013 — Jan 10, 2014

Link to previous issue: Dec 10 — Dec 28, 2013

Lots of stuff… New Year wishes, WPC-ACE responses, D2L responses… Translations of Chinese pros and personalities public Weibo posts and responses.
Description of ‘add oil’ here.

LaNm

Feed MMY: “Captain Duck hasn’t been given enough food, has become unhappy”
Regarding his WPC-ACE Finals keyboard smash: “No need to be concerned about my keyboard, lost a few keycaps, which will be returned to me after event cleanup for me to keep as a memory. In some future offline event, I’ll give them away to DK fans.”

xiao8

Regarding LGD’s WPC-ACE semifinal loss: “I’ll take all the blame. Sick and feverish for many days, and it’s affected our training. Sorry I’ve let down those friends who support us. On another note, would also like to wish everyone an early Happy New Year.”

DD’s response to xiao8: “Our captain persevered through sickness and still insists on taking the blame, this is too much, the blame cannot be yours.”

Watching DK vs iG at WPC-ACE Finals: “This…..”
A perfect ending with D2L S4 (with pics): “Thank you to my teammates, a perfect ending. 2014 will see a new beginning. It’s been more than three years with LGD, our Dream five forever.

820’s response to xiao8: “Add oil in the new place”
KingJ’s response to xiao8: “An end is another beginning”

Yao

New Year: “Another year has passed just like that. Ups and downs, joys and sorrows, in the end it feels like it’s just me alone with all of this, so tiring. There have been some negative emotions, I hope for understanding. Happy New Year to all, and good luck for the next year.”
D2L S4 win (with pic): “happy ending…”

rOtK

New Year and WPC-ACE: “Thank you to sydm for his best efforts in WPC-ACE, the matches are over for us so let’s not talk about that anymore. Tonight is New Year’s Eve, and I hope you all take some time to spend with family. To those I love, and those that love me, Happy New Year :)”
Entertainment in Vegas (with pics): “David Copperfield! Flashy, cool magic, the price of entry worth it.”
D2L S4 loss: “Things couldn’t always go so well for us playing overseas, but it was unexpected that we would lose in this manner. We played too ugly, sorry to everyone. Good luck to LGD in the finals, I hope for a good result.”

MMY

WPC-ACE Finals win: “We’ve completed a miracle, thank you to my teammates!”

820 response to MMY: “Awesome :)”

BurNIng

WPC-ACE Finals win: “This has been the most exhilirating match I’ve ever played!! Thank you to my amazing teammates!!”

Zhou response to BurNIng: “Never would have thought, a miracle has happened.”

Wishes for Super and VG: “Happy birthday (to Super)! Add oil for D2L!”

Black

DK winning: “Thanks to DK I can leave China happily 🙂 so happy!!”
LGD winning: “LGD DID IT!!!! wohoooooooooooooooooooooooo good job guys!!!”

820

Before D2L Finals: “The title we must bring back to China, we will do our best!”
After D2L Finals: “Mission accomplished, nice”

ddc response to 820: “A great coach of China!”
DD response to 820: “A 1-in-100 year rarity of an excellent coach”

ChuaN

On iG’s side for WPC-ACE: “I hope iG can win the title, add oil!!!”

Mushi

WPC-ACE Finals win: “Haven’t posted in a while! This post is to thank those who have believed in me all along, as well as to my family for staying with me! And my teammates for their hard work! We will work even harder in 2014! Thank you.”

Faith

Loss in WPC-ACE Finals: “We were indeed not as strong as our opponents. But what really makes me feel bad is the fact that 430 played through sickness for the entire day, he doesn’t even sound right anymore. And we still lost in the end.”
Talking about Alliance losing to Fnatic at D2L: “The patch changed so much :O”

YYF

Loss in WPC-ACE Finals: “We still aren’t working hard enough, let’s keep at it. We let our fans down again. Ferrari_430’s play today was excellent despite his sickness, but sadly we still lost. We will absolutely redeem ourselves in the future!!!”

DC

Watching DK and LaNm win: “At first, upon seeing LaNm slam his keyboard, I felt like it was funny, it was an act of excitement in a moment of impossible comeback. Afterwards, watching LaNm’s heartfelt shouts over and over on repeat, I somehow began to feel sad. Just as this match will go down in history, LaNm’s career has been filled with twists and turns. In comparison, 430, who came of age in the scene at the same time as LaNm, has had a relatively smoother experience in contrast. It’s been four years, truly hasn’t been easy for you. Old friend, fight on with all your battle scars!

ZSMJ

Comedian ZSMJ (with very good pics): “Going out with the girlfriend, a coat caught her eye. Upon seeing the price tag, she exclaimed in despair to me, “So expensive, it costs 3800”. I reply, “3800? It’s just the price of a Relic. Buy it! Wait seven minutes for me!” She threw me a look, and then, and then … there was no more~~~~ T_T”

Fenrir

D2L loss: “I wanted to be able to have a nice New Year but it’s so hard ~”

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Chinese Social Summary: Nov 15 — Nov 26, 2013

Link to previous issue: Nov 1 — 13, 2013

Translations of random snippets from Chinese Dota 2 scene social media… for fun and light reading, etc. This issue includes some posts regarding the MLG Columbus Championship held over Nov 22-24. I also probably missed a few interesting ones from right before and during MLG.

My MLG writeup will be coming in the following days, stay tuned.

ChuaN and DeMoN

Let’s make a team!!: DeMoN posts this at ChuaN, but ChuaN’s response, “RETIRED”, and thus our hopes for a new international super team withered.

Faith

Diretide Roshan coordination: “Through farming Roshan, we improve our teamwork :D”

Fenrir

Relationship with CTY (with pics): “Public display of affection”

iceiceice

This is iceiceice with a puppy (with pic): “iceiceice’s son”

rOtk, Faith, and ddc

Response to G-League group draws:
rOtk: “What a nice draw Haitao (Chinese caster with G-League) has given us, oh well, we can only get in and go!”
Faith: “It’s gonna be bloody :o”
ddc: “Holy shit it’s gonna be bloody”

Xtt

Farming Roshan for weight loss:”I’ve lost 2.5 kg while farming Roshan”

MLG Columbus 2013 posts

BurNIng after losing final group stage game: “Don’t think any team would purposefully try to face NaVi in the elimination stage? Losing to Speed was our own problem, banpick and laning we all didn’t do well, and my own play was very weak as well, with lots of low-level mistakes. As for tomorrow’s matches I can only say: Let’s do this!”

rOtk watching DK vs NaVi: “NAVI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” “Worth staying up all night to watch, 1-1 is a new series. Hope DK comes through next game, this game XBOCT was too scary”
Of course, random people accused rOtk of being jealous of DK, to which he responded that he was purely expressing excitement at a good game, and later on predicted that DK would win the finals 2-0.

Black is a huge DK fan (of course): multiple posts consolidated in one link

xiao8’s prediction for finals: “DK 2-1 takes the title!”

BurNIng after finals: “Champion is not my fate.”
KingJ response to BurNIng: “It’s not that bad, don’t get pessimistic”

KingJ to MMY: “I know you’re really sad… don’t cry!! At worst, just start over again!!!” (MMY re-posted and responded “Yeah”)

Mushi: “The title passes me by. For someone like myself who has never been in a finals before, I can only say thank you to my teammates for bringing me into the MLG Finals. Let’s get back and continue working hard.”

LaNm: “Once again, one step away from champions. In the latter two games of the finals, I’d run out of stamina and my thoughts were a mess. Dota nowadays, unlike in the past, is truly difficult to just win all the way on the back of strong momentum. Tactics are more varied, laning and other elements can all determine the early game. With an early game advantage, snowballing farm with Midases, without a very resilient and flexible lineup it’s very hard to come back. I will focus on working on stamina, it is so important to be able to remain clear-headed. Sorry to my teammates, I tried my best.
DC (retired pro player, current caster) response to LaNm: “The scheduling we can talk about in private, but stamina is indeed something that wouldn’t hurt to look more at. Think about me, look at MMY, and you’ll have plenty of motivation to get out and exercise!”

Zhou: “eesama………..”

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Chinese Social Summary, Nov 1 — 13, 2013

Link to previous issue: Oct 17 – 31

Translations of random snippets from Chinese Dota 2 scene social media… for fun and light reading, etc.

ChuaN

Praise for BTS: “BTS stream not bad, kudos.”
Is a NaVi fan: “NAVI NAVI NAVI”

ddc

Important question: “Asking for a friend, if he fell asleep and missed his girlfriend’s calls, several of them, is he dead meat?!”

IceFrog

Has a Sina Weibo account too, now: http://weibo.com/icefrogcn

KingJ

KingJ’s missed hook (with pic): “OMG”
xiao8 and MMY’s responses: “Your fault!”

(it was also KingJ’s birthday this week)

Mushi

Dad’s birthday wishes: “Lost today to VG. Today was my dad’s birthday, ever year I would take some time on family birthdays to go eat together, but today I wasn’t able to spend time with family to celebrate the occasion. My dad didn’t blame me, in fact his wish was for me to win these games today, but not only have I let down fans I’ve also let down my dad… I’m sorry~ I wish my dad health, happy birthday~~

Sansheng and xiao8

Getting friendly: After xiao8 posted about their undefeated winning run through NEST, Sansheng responded “Director 8 so good, I want to have your babies [flirty face]”

Sag

Exhausting event schedule (NEST): “Played so much that my spinal discs are protruding…”

Yao

Getting fit (with pic): “Life is about fitness, not late night snacks! Time for situps, xiao8, ddc, take your time eating, I’ll be at home.”
Stamina for event (NEST): “Really time to start training stamina for esports in this day and age.”Champs of NEST: “Champions, our first big offline event after our roster changes. Everyone worked very hard, especially Rabbit xiaotuji, with his first career title. The road ahead is still lengthy, brothers let us continue facing our challenges!”

Zhou

About his trashtalking at offline (NEST): “Been a while since my last offline event, I wanted to shout and get our team’s spirit flowing. Usually in these kinds of events if you lose in spirit then things become much more difficult, in the group stages our loss to VG came from just this reason. But anyway, today’s taunts might have been a bit much, so if I offended anyone I want to say sorry here :D”

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)

 

Some iG and LGD player reactions to G-1, Alliance, and their own performances

LGD

xiao8: Opportunity always goes to those who prepare for it. Alliance’s performances were outstanding, so their title is well-deserved. Thank you to longDD who has stuck with us as we made our transitions, and thank you to G-1 for the chance to learn and grow, I wish all the best to G-1.

DDC: GG. We were lacking, and must continue to work hard. Chinese Dota teams must all work hard now! Alliance is truly too strong.

DD/Sc: (suggesting that Chinese teams are having trouble keeping up due to a lack of domestic competition) I hadn’t played Dota 2 in three months yet only trained for half a month and was still able to keep up with other Chinese teams, this can only mean that there is a lack of domestic events.

Yao: We still ended up losing, congrats to Alliance. We still have many weaknesses, but we did manage to rediscover ourselves in this process. We have no regrets this time, isn’t Dota all about sharing exhilirating and tearful moments with good friends? Now it’s time to give it our all, and fight our way back to Seattle!

Sylar: G-1 was excellently done, and I hope there will be another season, add oil.

iG

Ferrari_430: Can’t fall asleep (we don’t know exactly why 430 is losing sleep, however)

YYF: We ended up doing the best that we could, let’s try harder and not leave any regrets with our next efforts. Our fate is still in our own hands.

Faith (before being eliminated from G-1): Let’s add oil brothers, I feel that our greatest enemy is not others, but ourselves! Hope that we can find ourselves tomorrow!

Faith (after): No matter how many times one falls, the most important thing is to be able to get back up! Let’s add oil together!

ChuaN (after tough losses on the first day of G-1): What happen???

ChuaN (after being eliminated): Back to the team base, didn’t expect that it would be in this manner in which we depart from the G-1 stage. I’m very thankful and very sorry to all those who’ve supported us, from our club’s staff to our fans, to those who came to the event to cheer us on live. We lost. Not much else to say. I hope LGD or DK can take the title.

Zhou (after tough losses on the first day of G-1): 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!

Zhou (after being eliminated): This hurdle is one that we absolutely will overcome.

 

Early TI2 interview with LGD.DDC

Note: This is from midway through the preliminaries. But it has some random interesting questions too. Part of my catchup translation coverage of TI2 from the past few days!

Source: http://dota2.replays.net/page/20120829/1722638.html

BBC (interviewer, Chinese commentator): Congrats on going undefeated so far in three days, let’s talk a bit about your last match vs Mouz.

DDC: Before the match, we already felt that Mouz only knew how to use Anti-mage, so we thought it should be easy to counter, give him no farm and we basically win. In the actual match they did in fact use Anti-mage, and then they did indeed lose to us.

BBC: Summarize your performances for us.

DDC: I give the team full marks on performance, and I’m pretty happy with my own as well.

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