Tag Archives: LGD

17173 series: G-1 2012 bits and pieces (1)

Dotaland note: This is a mini-series from a 17173 writer, documenting bits and pieces of the events and happenings leading up to the G-1 League and Dota2 this year. This particular one shows a bit of the general buildup a few months prior to G-1 League 2012 starting.

Original: http://dota2.17173.com/news/11142012/092601975.shtml

September 19, two months before G-1

The Drums of War in Autumn

The second time I heard from Pikachu (Pikaxiu, Chinese commentator) was a month after the original. The ripples of the battle in Seattle had yet to settle, and he was already brewing up China’s first own Dota2 competition.

The International 2, was a competition, but more so it was like Valve holding a massive forum to recruit followers across the world to their cause, akin to the way Steve Jobs might hold an Apple event. And I had also been infected with the emotions fueling all this, so when I discussed things with Pikachu, I took the stance of a braindead fanboy and was a furious proponent of Dota2. Yet, considering the reality of the current situation, from the lower player and viewer base, to the incomplete transition of teams participating in the scene, to the question of Dota2’s official Chinese partner… holding a Dota2 competition was going to have significant challenges.

Objectively speaking, neither Dota2 nor TI2 are or were perfect. It was just that Valve’s unprecedented effort and dedication would quickly win over what was originally a comparatively unsupported and tough Dota1 scene, and ultimately let these original Dota1 players finally find a sense of safety, or maybe it was a sense of belonging. This convinced millions of Dota believers to transfer their faith to the Valve camp. Viewing things from this perspective, the 1.5M dollar prize pool was a worthy expenditure for Valve.

After confirming the G-1 League’s structure, the most pressing issue at hand was of course which teams would participate. Even though ForLove had recently announced their intentions to get into Dota2, their lack of offline training and teamwork showed, their players did not have enough experience with Dota2. The results in the preliminaries showed this: neither ForLove nor Noah’s Ark have matched their Dota1 skills in Dota2.

As for WE and EHOME, they had both lost players and were in a state of roster limbo after TI2, so they would be unavailable in the near term. Add in DT, Tyloo, and Royal Club, these ACE clubs declined to participate for one reason or another, and all that was left were iG, LGD, DK, and TongFu these four representatives recently returned from Seattle.

As a result, we had to invite foreign teams. Luckily, the Singapore server has always been acceptable for the entire greater Asia area in terms of delay and ping. And so, in a bit of a hectic and random fashion, this iteration of the G-1 League became half of an international competition in itself. At this time, coincidentally, it was also nearly a full year from the last international Dota competition held in China — WDC.

At the time, Pikachu was doing another 17173 event called UGT, so his energies were a bit stretched. On the other hand, I was not unfamiliar with the foreign scene and Dota2, and I’d say my English was adequate for the job, so Pikachu gave me the job of communicating with foreign teams.

Realizing that I could personally be involved in China’s first Dota2 competition, I can’t help but feel the chemicals in my body reacting, leaving me with an excitement that reminds me of that bit of poetry from one of our textbooks back in school: “In the depths of a dream, thoughts return to a camp ringing with the sounds of warhorns. The warriors are well fed, the music evocative of a majestic morale. This is an autumn display of military might on the battlefield.”

G-1 League LAN Finals begin tonight: LGD vs iG, DK vs Orange

Just a quick reminder… through Saturday November 17 and Sunday November 18, the G-1 League’s LAN Finals will take place. Matches happen at 13:30 and 18:30 China time (0:30 EST / 6:30 CET, and 5:30 EST / 11:30 CET).

The matchups will be LGD vs iG and DK vs Orange!

Streams at: http://media.17173.com/dota/g1/ – http://tl.twitch.tv/beyondthesummit

xiao8 interview with Sgamer: “Our recent losses came from fluctuations in the team … iG has no weakness”

Original: http://dota.sgamer.com/201211/news-detail-154953.html

SGamer: Thank you for this interview. Earlier there were reports saying you guys had moved your team headquarters from Tianjin to Hangzhou because you had switched sponsors?

xiao8: We haven’t changed sponsors, it’s just that internet in Southern China is a bit better. And also because we were forming our Int team, so having everyone together would make things easier to manage.

SG: LGD has always been seen as a favorite to win in any competition, yet you have lost in the finals of consecutive competitions recently, will there be any roster changes as a result?

xiao8: I don’t think so, lately the main reason behind our losses has been the fact that we’ve been making changes to positions within the team. After the ACE League, DD said he wanted to try playing the 3 position, but then after a bit of that he went back to his support role. Competition schedules have been very dense recently, and so we haven’t had much time to get used to the changes back and forth, and thus we haven’t found our team rhythm and as a result have been losing more.

SG: Were the original changes made to accommodate just whomever brought it up? Or were the changes a result of everyone feeling that they wanted some adjustments?

xiao8: It stemmed from individual requests for a position change and we all discussed it together. After all, if someone doesn’t want to play a certain position, they certainly aren’t going to be able to play it well.

SG: Because of the competitions you are now in, you guys probably don’t play much original DotA anymore, right? In your free time do you still go back to DotA and group up with friends to play some?

xiao8: Once in a while I’ll still go play solo or with a few friends on ladder.

SG: Regarding your newest teammates, how do you usually communicate with them?

xiao8: English!

SG: How come it seems like there’s quite a bit of pride in your tone of voice here… which of you has the best English?

xiao8: Right now, Yao’s English is best, although the club is already looking for tutors to help us with our English, so I think in the future the one with the best English skills will definitely be me!

SG: How do your two teams normally train?

xiao8: Pretty much whenever everyone’s here, we just train. And we just yell at each other, except sometimes no one knows what is being yelled. We usually play the “Cola Cup”, which is one Best of 3, whoever loses goes and buys two cases of Coca-cola …

SG: So your side wins pretty much 100% of the time, right?

xiao8: No, they’re quite good, in training we lose some and we win some.

SG: After TI2, IceFrog pushed through a large amount of changes in updates, do you feel that the updates in the last month have affected the pace of the game?

xiao8: I feel that right now, the fast tempo of games is just temporary, because an appropriate way to play this update version hasn’t been found yet.

SG: What are your thoughts on potential changes to the ban/pick phase?

xiao8: Don’t think it’ll really affect much, in the end everything depends on a team’s overall ability.

SG: Training with LGD.int, have you been inspired in any way? It seems like current Chinese team strategies have all stagnated somewhat.

xiao8: A bit, but right now more of the focus in training has been on getting them acclimated to Chinese teams’ playing styles.

SG: What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese teams versus European/American teams?

xiao8: Strengths are we are more professional and more focused; weaknesses I’m not sure, maybe the fact that they have better mentalities, I feel that they perhaps find more enjoyment out of the game.

SG: What is your assessment of DK now that they’ve made their roster changes?

xiao8: Their lineup has grown a lot stronger, so it’s a stronger DK

SG: Why do you say so? Because a lot of people have been questioning 357 and Dai’s skill.

xiao8: Dai and 357 are excellent 4 and 5 position players, from technique and mechanics to teamwork and experience, they’re top tier.

SG: Currently iG is undoubtedly China’s strongest team, and also probably your biggest adversary, have you guys figured out any weaknesses of theirs?

xiao8: No. They don’t have any significant weaknesses, so you can only rely on the ban/pick phase or excellent in-game performance to beat them.

SG: Are you all currently making the adjustments to pick up your form for the upcoming G-League and G-1 League?

xiao8: We’re still adjusting right now, and whether our form is good can only be known after we actually play…

SG: Due to the original DotA still getting updates, the majority of players in China still stick to it. Yet most competitions have shifted to Dota2, and as a result in China we see an awkward situation where DotA has lots of players but no competitions, and Dota2 has lots of competitions but no players. Will this kind of a situation affect Dota2’s overall growth?

xiao8: Whether it’ll affect anything I’m not sure myself, but I feel that once Dota2 is open domestically, the players will gradually come.

SG: In the end, anything you’d like to say to bring a close to this interview?

xiao8: Thank you to our sponsors LaoGanDie Hot Sauce, Taobao, Razer, and to all the fans supporting us, thank you.

Sgamer interview with LGD’s new Misery and Pajkatt

Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201211/147714_6.html

Dotaland note: From the link above, the interview was done in English so the original English interview is available directly on Sgamer. 🙂 In case you’re too lazy for that, the interview is reposted below as well, but note that this is not translated by me, it is the original from Sgamer.

 

Q:Hello MiSeRy and Pajkatt ,Thanks for accepting DOTA2.SGamer.CoM’s interview. First of all, say something to your fans?
Misery:Ni hao to all my chinese fans! Im very happy for your support!
Pajkatt:Hello fans, we appreciate your support very much!

Q:How many times have you been China? Are you accustomed to the life and environment here?
Misery:This is my 4th time in China and I love it every time. I am already used to the culture, food, people etc and Im always having a great time here.
Pajkatt:This is my second time in China, last time we were here for one and a half month and now we have been in Hangzhou for 2 weeks, so I feel quite accustomed to most things.

Q:LGD clan base just moved to Hangzhou,there’s an old Chinese saying,” In heaven there is paradise/ On earth, Suzhou and Hangzhou”. How do you feel here?
Misery:haha, ofcourse there is a chinese saying *smiles* I havent seen that much of hangzhou, only the area around the LGD base, but I know there is some amazing nature here, and Im looking forward to exploring hangzhou more in the future. I can say that the air here is way better than in beijing and other cities, so thats very cool!
Pajkatt:I really like Hangzhou, it’s a very nice city and our base is also very good. On top of that we have an awesome teamleader (Nicholas) and the other LGD team is very friendly.

Q:Can you tell curious players when LGD think of forming an international team? And how do you get in touch with them?
Misery:After TI2, pajkatt and I wanted to take dota 2 to the next level, and the only way to do that is to play in China because the skill level and seriousness is much higher here. So we basically wrote some of our contacts in china, and ended up talking to LGD.Rurutia and in the end  it made everything possible.
Pajkatt:I started speaking to LGD after TI2 because I was intrested in playing DotA in China, because I feel that the scene is much stronger and more professional here.

Q:Several members of LGD.int are very well-known solo, carry position players, what will the role distribution look like in the team? Will someone have to make a transition to play support?
Misery:I know we had a lot of people critisizing the team because of the roles of the players in the team, but PJ and I spent a lot of time thinking about the roster, and we are confident in our players capabilities to play their roles to its fullest potential! PJ will take the role as 1, G will play 2, Brax playing 3, I – MiSeRy will play 4 and 1437 is gonna take hard support as 5. Personally I wanted to transition to support role, as I did last year for EG, its a role im comfortable with and also a role that is very hard to play.
Pajkatt:With chinese terms, the roles of our team will be me on 1, God on 2, Brax on 3, Misery on 4 and 1437 on 5. This means Misery will switch from 2 to 4, but he is a very talented player and he is already doing a very good job at it.

Q:Team manager RURU said you would stay in Chinese for a long time for training when your team formed. Is it your desire? Or it has been considered when the team was formed?
Misery:Yea, the plan has from the beginning been to move to china and play from here, the team was formed after, it was a bit difficult to find the right players, because its a big commitment to move to china for a year or more, but it worked out in the end!
Pajkatt:It is my/our desire to stay here for a long time and make sure we dont waste this great opportunity and staying together with one team for a long time will help your teamplay a lot.

Q:Do you think staying in China would contirbute to your improvement of skills and competitive atmosphere of all? After all both of you got trained and took part in competition before when you are in EG, but didn’t get good results.
Misery:playing as a european team in china is always hard in the beginning, but with a lot of practise and talented players, you will reach the chinese level eventually. Last year we only stayed 1,5 months and didnt practise as much as we wanted, also we had some problems with the team, Playmate had to go home cause of visa issues. This time we will have a lot of time to practise and perfect the teamplay, strategies and positioning.
Pajkatt:I think staying in China will most certainly make us a stronger team, last time me and Misery were here, we may not have gotten good results, but we both developed a lot as players.

Q:Some insiders say LGD forming international team is to join hand with LGD.int and imprve strenth and chance of winning million dollar in TI3, is that ture?
Misery:I dont know anything about that, Its definitely not for TI3 alone. First of all theres almost a year to the next International, and we dont know much about the tournament at all. Second, I believe we will be good training partners with LGD.cn, and with time we should be the best DotA2 club in china! My focus is now, and always the next tournament, ofcourse TI3 is huge, but in my eyes every tournament is important!
Pajkatt:Having two teams living under the same roof and who can also practice with eachother all the time is very beneficial for both teams, you can try out strategies that no other teams will know about and practice is almost always available.

Q:Team LGD.cn successfully entered grand finals,however, they lost their champions as they defeated by Na’Vi and iG, which is their biggest regret in 2012. What do you think of LGD’s faith?
Misery:I think the top 3 of TI2 was very close, it could have been anyone of those 3 that could win the tournament. LGD.cn is a very talented team and they should just stick together and keep playing, they will win in the future.
Pajkatt:Going into TI2 I felt that LGD was the strongest team, as we had practiced against them online and never won…I was surprised that they didn’t win and I think they were unfortunate, but both iG and Na’Vi played very well during the final day of TI2.
I think LGD.int and LGD.cn will help each other and hopefully become two very strong teams!

Q:What is the difference between them and iG or Na’Vi?
Misery:Mainly their playstyles, LGD is probably the more passive team of those 3, where as IG recently has been showing a lot of agression within the new patch. NaVi is just NaVi, and they will always be a unique team with a unique playstyle.
Pajkatt:The way I see it, the difference between LGD and iG or Na’Vi is that their playstyle can be easier to read, but harder to deal with. In TI2 up until final day, everyone knew how LGD drafted but no one managed to stop them anyway.

Q:Now you are training with LGD together. Do you think it would contribute to you strategy communicating and all strenghs improvement?
Misery:Definitely. We just started practising seriously yesterday, as 1437 recently arrived in china. I can see that we are improving from every game.
Pajkatt:Yes ,I belive it will.

Q:Chinese teams are still strong in TI2, and five team all entered final eight, even 3 team entered final four. Some foreign players say  Chinese professional would “destroy” DOTA2 as they did on DotA. Do you agree with it?
Misery:Yea I kind of agree with it, I dont think theres any potential left in europe besides NaVi, a few good players, but no teams that can play up with the chinese. European DotA now, is too much about streaming random public games and boosting your own personal fanbase, instead of practising with your team and generally focusing on the team.
Pajkatt:I think it’s not about chinese, european, american or SEA, it’s about the professionalism that exists in the chinese dota scene. Hopefully we will be able to prove that a team consisting of players of differenet nationalities combined with the dicsipline of chinese teams can compete with the best.

Q:Are you still playing DotA? What is the biggest difference between DotA and DOTA2 do you think?
Misery:I have only played a few dota 1 games the last year, the main difference is that dota 2 is much much easier to play, all the new features and hotkeys etc in dota 2 as well as the engine itself, makes the game very easy to play for new players. Ofcourse this doesn’t matter too much on the highest level, since its the same for everyone, but from my point of view this is the biggest difference. Some heroes are much stronger in dota 2 than in DotA 1, and the drafting is more interesting in dota 2, it feels like you can use almost any hero in DotA 2, where as in dota 1, you will get punished much harder if you try to pick outside the box.
Pajkatt:I played a couple of DotA games since I got to china, but we will not participate in any DotA tournaments so now there is no reason for me to play DotA. I think the biggest difference is how the game looks and feels, it takes some time to get used to switching to DotA or DotA 2 if you played one of them and decided to switch.

Q:As DotA map version continual updating, Chinese still remains a large numbers of DotA players, but most competitions has change to DOTA2. So the DotA has many players but no ompetitions, and DOTA2 has many competitions and no players. If this embarrassing situation would effect the tntegral development of DOTA?
Misery:I think with time everyone will start playing DotA 2, I heard the problem is the lack of beta keys in china and the fact that dota 2 is running on steam. Now it might be a problem, but in half a year or something, it should be fine. Im sure Valve is aware of the problem and they are working 24/7 to make everything better.
Pajkatt:I think within one year close to everyone will be playing DotA 2 rather than DotA, it’s more viewer friendly and after playing it now for more than a year I feel that it’s a better game than DotA.

Q:You took part in SMM for EG last year, but encountered very bad thing. This year’s competition is still DotA, and do you plan to participate it?
Misery:yea, I dont think we will participate SMM, not because of what happened last year, but mainly because it is DotA 1, and our main purpose in china is to focus on DotA 2. Initially it was the plan to go to SMM, but I doubt we will go.
Pajkatt:We wont participate in this years SMM.

Q:Previously Team DK has clearly indicated that they would transit to DOTA2 after WCG and no more participate DotA competition. What do you think of their decision?
Misery:I think its a good decision, both for them and the dota 2 scene in china in general. DotA 2 is the future, and everyone should know.
Pajkatt:I think it’s a wise decision, there will be more and more DotA 2 tournaments and less and less DotA tournaments.

Q:The WCG grand finals will be held in China this year. Both DotA and DOTA2 are WCG Competitions. Although DOTA2 hasn’t open beta, but  it has favoured by many large-scale events, do you know the reason behind? Do you plan to participate WCG?
Misery:I would love to participate in WCG china, I dont know much about it really, but I hope we can play it.
Pajkatt:DotA 2 is easier to watch than DotA thus favoured by large-scale events. Unfortunately we won’t parcitpate in WCG.

Q:In lastest version, many unpopular heroes got enhancement and became more violent. Do you think it is good for game developing more exciting and eyes catching?
Misery:Yea , I think most of the changes are really good and it will definitely mix up the hero pool a bit, which is always interesting. I think a lot of the fans are happy about seeing some new heroes come into play from time to time, and the updates help this to come true.
Pajkatt:I think the latest versions buffs and nerfs were necessary and interesting, I expect many new heroes to be played the upcoming months.

Q:Thanks for your time. Anything to shoutout?
Misery:My pleasure! shoutout to our sponsors, LGD, Razer and Taobao, shoutout to all our fans and supportes and shoutout to LGD rurutia for making LGD.Int possible as well as our awesome manager LGD-Nicholas!!
Pajkatt:Shoutout to our sponsors, LGD, Taobao, Razer,to our fans, teamleader Nicholas and to my family and friends in Sweden.

Gamefy Cribs: iG, NA, LGD team houses overview

Dotaland notes: Chinese gaming channel Gamefy visits iG, Noah’s Ark, and LGD team houses.Video link below.

iG has just moved to a new base in an apartment in Shanghai, where they have a dedicated internet line that is vastly improved over what they had in Shanghai. According to Zhou, Faith grinds his teeth in his sleep and likes to eat at night. ChuaN’s cell phone holder is a gift from a Thai friend. Zhou has a lucky Buddha that he brings with him. IG typically trains from 5pm to 9pm every day, and they go to bed around 1-2am.

Noah’s Ark’s training base is their team owner and sponsor’s internet cafe, also in Shanghai. Their goal is top 3 in every competition once they get the hang of Dota2. They all like spicy food, so they often go to the restaurant next door for dinner, where their captain makes the order for everyone too. Last scene of the NA section is them getting taxis to a competition that night.

LGD’s new base is in Hangzhou. Two floor house, Yao gets one of the two single rooms. Yao enjoys reading and is currently reading more adult novels, in the past he enjoyed romance novels aimed at teenaged girls…

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDY4MjY3MjY0.html

17173 interview with iG.Faith: “LGD was better in the past, G-1 offline matches will be even more intense, Dendi is very funny”

Original: http://dota2.17173.com/news/10262012/113800655.shtml

Dotaland note: 17173, organizers of the G-1 League currently ongoing, has this interview with iG.Faith. Good insight into iG and perspectives of things from a top tier pro.

In the G-1 League group stages, team iG has shown an enormous display of skill and ability in consecutive wins over MUFC and LGD. On this, we interviewed iG.Faith, and learned more about iG’s latest developments.

G-1: Hello Faith, thank you for doing this interview with G-1 Champions League. In yesterday’s key match against LGD, your team was able to take the win 2-0, which surprised some people. Can you comment on the match a bit?

iG.Faith: Both games revolved around a high pressure in-your-face team ganking strategy led by Bounty Hunter and Night Stalker. Yet in both games, the opponent lacked any kind of crowd control team fight ability, so they ended up losing fights over and over as they tried to defend their towers.

G-1: This match received extreme amounts of attention, so with iG being able to take the win so easily, what were your first reactions, and does this give you more confidence for your upcoming matches?

iG.Faith: Both games revolved around teamfighting so to pull it off successfully left us feeling very satisfied. Of course we will gain confidence from this, but we also will not underestimate any opponent.

G-1: Can you tell us why iG is so strong right now? Has the TI2 title really triggered a chemical reaction within the team? If you had lost in the Finals against NaVi, would your current mentality, confidence, and form be any different?

iG.Faith: I think we’re close-knit as a team, trust each other, and we are quite all-around. The TI2 title gives us motivation, as well as pressure to perform. If we had truly lost back then, we would still need to rely on our own ability to adjust ourselves and the team as a whole, because in the end we still believe that we are a talented team.

G-1: Can you evaluate the current LGD? It seems like xiao8’s position is shifting towards a support role. In your match with them yesterday, what do you think was different about them compared to in Seattle?

iG.Faith: I felt they weren’t as good as they used to be, perhaps because they’re changing roles. In comparison, it’s still LGD of the past that’s a bit stronger, in Seattle every match with them left us feeling drained.

G-1: Talk a bit about your thoughts on the new DK and TongFu rosters, or how do you view 357, Dai, longDD, Veronica (new TongFu member)?

iG.Faith: DK should need less time to learn to play with each other, after all 357 and Dai are veterans and will have a comparatively easier time blending into a new team. As for Veronica and longDD, what they’ll need to do first is find and confirm their role with their new team.

G-1: You guys will soon be participating in the WCG Dota competition, and afterwards there is the SMM Dota competition, so you continue to be busy on two fronts. What are your thoughts on future ACE and G-league competitions then?

iG.Faith: If we compete in Dota1 then we will practice Dota1, if we compete in Dota2 then we will practice in Dota2. I think in the future Dota2 will become the mainstream.

G-1: Apparently iG’s team headquarters has moved to Shanghai, can you reveal the specific reasoning for this? Compared to Beijing, how is the new environment, what is your favorite aspect, or what do you miss from Beijing?

iG.Faith: The main thing is that Shanghai’s internet service is better, so we decided to move to Shanghai. In terms of environment it’s also quite a bit better than Beijing. It’s still got to be the improved internet in Shanghai that satisfies me most though, this way we can practice better, and perform better in online competitions.

G-1: LGD has built an international team. If iG were to really create an iG.int, which international players would you recommend to your manager?

iG.Faith: This is something I’ve never thought about, we players are only responsible for playing Dota well, win championships; other issues are up to the club’s management to handle. Although in Seattle I gained a strong impression of Dendi, he is very lively and funny.

G-1: Apart from this iteration of the G-1 League maintaining its easygoing, fun, style, the actual competition has made big breakthroughs in terms of participants, format, and prize money. Which of these has given you the biggest impression?

iG.Faith: This time G-1 will have an offline portion, so in comparison to the past the matches will be even more intense.

G-1: There was an interesting sidenote from yesterday’s match with LGD, you guys failed to join the room 10 minutes early and as a result lost 20 seconds from your ban/pick timer, what is your opinion on this relatively strict ruling? If you have any other suggestions for the G-1 League, we will strive to improve.

iG.Faith: Don’t really have anything, I feel it’s all pretty good. At the time YYF was watching replays to analyze, and ended up forgetting the time for a while, the resulting punishment I feel isn’t inappropriate.

G-1: Thank you Faith for doing this interview with us, is there anything else you’d like to say to everyone?

iG.Faith: Thank you to the club for the nurturing you’ve given us, thank you to everyone for your support, in the future we will continue to do our best to bring exciting matches for all.

WCG2012 China region online prelims matchups revealed

Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201210/147462.html

partial translation

The qualifiers for WCG 2012 China region will be played online.

Competition format: Best of 1 for all matches before top 8, Best of 3 for top 8

Competition time: Round of 16: Oct 21, Remaining rounds: November 5-11

Top two teams will qualify for WCG2012 World Finals. WCG China will pay all expenses for top team, and second place team will qualify but must choose to pay their own expenses.

Match time will be 18:30-21:00 (Chinese time), Round of 8 and beyond will all be livestreamed, and all Round of 8 participants will receive a set of WCG2012 China competitors’ apparel.

brackets below. Note that iG and NA (Noah’s Ark) have received byes into the next round. LGD, DK, and TongFu are also represented.

LGD.international officially confirmed

Original: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201210/147425.html

partial translation, paraphrased

Long story short, LGD.int has been officially confirmed via LGD’s Weibo account. The members will be Pajkatt, Misery, GoD, 1437, and Brax.

Speaking with LGD’s manager Ruru immediately after the fact, she revealed that the international squad will arrive in China by month’s end, and they will stay in China long-term for training and everyday life.

In comparison to Chinese players, European and American players tend to play with more excitement in their game, and are more likely to have more flexible and versatile strategies. However, they also tend to lack professionalism, and team discipline is often lacking, which result in Euro/NA teams being on a lower overall skill level compared to Chinese teams. So, when we put European and North American players in China to train offline, thus combining the steady Chinese style with their enthusiasm, what will the result be? With both Chinese and international squads, will LGD stand at the top of next year’s International? Let us wait and see~

LGD International team truly taking shape?

Dotaland note: After various rumors floating around on reddit and on Chinese sites, figured I’d put something up. What could LGD be doing? Are they really forming an international squad to go with their dominant Chinese squad?

Original: http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20121015/1736164.html

LGD’s DDC has appeared in the Dota2 interface for LGD.int.

Additionally, Misery and Pajkatt have appeared as well, and in addition to rumors of God joining, it is perhaps true that LGD is forming an international squad. The fact that their manager RuRu’s name appears in both these screenshots must mean something — even though she had previously announced that LGD would make no changes to existing players, that does not rule out the possibility of forming a whole new squad in addition.