This interview was conducted in a mix of English and Chinese, apparently. Replays.Net posted the Chinese version. Short-ish interview in which kyxy talks about TI3, the Aegis incident, what he’ll do with his prize money, etc…
Replays.Net: Hello, kyxy, welcome to this interview with RN. Titan.kyxy: Hello everyone
RN: Why don’t you start off by sharing with everyone the origins of your nickname! kyxy: Ky is my name — Kang Yang, and xy was my ID in Dota 1. I combined them together for Dota 2.
RN: How long have you played Dota 2? How did you get into the professional scene? kyxy: I’ve played for nearly three years. I had gone with MUFC to compete in TI1, but we lost. I got in by playing lots of local events in Malaysia.
RN: We all know that at TI3, Orange achieved an admirable third place finish, yet still ended up disbanding, to the surprise of many. What do you think the main reasons behind this were? kyxy: Mushi had already decided prior to TI3 that he would be moving to China after the tournament ended. The remaining four of us still remained as a team, and after TI3, Titan invited us to join. Their conditions were superior to those of Orange’s, so we went.
RN: Chinese media have been reporting that Titan’s salaries are twice that of Orange’s, can you confirm? kyxk: Sorry, this is not something we can disclose.
RN: Your performances at TI3 were outstanding. But that one incident denying the Aegis had everyone wondering “what if”, can you talk a bit about that moment? kyxy: Ugh, I was moving to get closer to Roshan so I could tank as Windrunner, then I saw that Roshan was almost dead, so I used A-click in order to avoid accidentally taking the Aegis myself, and just like that, the Aegis went byebye. Ever since then, no matter what the situation has been, I no longer use attack move.
RN: This must’ve been a huge hit for you? How did you deal with it?kyxy: A huge hit, I could only think, even though top 3 is a great result already, we could’ve made it to top 2 if there hadn’t been such a mistake.
RN: Did your teammates blame you? kyxy: My teammates did not blame me. They felt that we win together, and we lose together, so no one blamed me. But I still felt terrible inside, making an error that shouldn’t have happened.
RN: Then let’s talk about some less heavy things. What do you plan on doing with your prize money from TI3? kyxy: I will give a portion of it to my mom, then keep some to spend myself, and save the rest away. Because I don’t really know how to use all that money, so I’ll just put it in the bank and save it.
RN: Housing is very expensive in China, what about in Malaysia? Any plans to use the money to buy a place? kyxy: It’s also very expensive in Malaysia. I don’t even know the details but all I know is that housing in Malaysia is quite pricey as well.
RN: How will your roles be allocated with your new team, Titan? kyxy: We’re still in the building process. I should still be playing the 2 role. Because we have three people who all used to play support, so we might have Ohaiyo take on the 1 position, and then move someone to the 3.
RN: Have you begun official practices? kyxy: We need to wait until we move into the new team house next month before we can officially begin.
RN: How many times have you visited China, what left you the deepest impression? kyxy: The deepest impression still has to be us playing against iG, and I caught five in my ult as Magnus!
RN: 6.79 should be coming soon, what changes are you looking forward to the most? kyxy: Timbersaw’s ultimate should have its cooldown increased a bit!
RN: Last word for your Chinese fans? kyxy: Thank you for the interview, and shoutout to our sponsor Titan Gaming. More importantly, thank you to my fans in China, I promise that I will never make that Aegis mistake again ^_^. 😛 haha
This is part 1 of “The International 3 from my view”. Stay tuned for part 2, describing thoughts and events from the elimination stages at Benaroya Hall, in the next day or two!
This is a semi-diary, semi post-competition gathering of thoughts and recollections, from group stages at the Westin Bellevue to the elimination stages at Benaroya Hall. I’ve tried to focus on giving a view into what the players are like, as well as some of the casual, random events that happened that I saw or was a part of, that can serve to bring behind-the-scenes stuff closer to normal fans. It’s a long read but worth it, I think, if you’re a fan at all of Chinese teams and players. I’ve not only written about Chinese teams and players, however, and there’s some other stuff too.
I have to apologize in advance, because I am not the type of fan to take a lot of pictures with players, or to really intrude at all. I’ll chat with them if they make themselves available, and offer myself up to assist if it looks like someone needs it, but that’s about it — no autographs, no photos, basically nothing else. So, apart from my words and descriptions, I generally lack stuff to share with fellow fans. Hopefully you’re up for some reading, because there are a lot of words below!
Day by day recollections
7/31/2013 to 8/1/2013 – pre group stage prep time
My first day involved was July 31. Met Hippovic, who showed me around. Then I just hung around at the Westin Bellevue while teams did their photo shoots and promotional stuff. Met various players.
The next morning, Puppey sat down at the table during breakfast where Erik Johnson and I were sitting, and Puppey talked briefly with Erik Johnson about the infamous all-chat incident between xiao8 and Dendi… Then after breakfast, they had me translate for the players’ meeting that outlined some rules, expectations, and a general idea of how the event would go. That went… okay. I am not good in front of large groups of people. A camera is different because even though there are lots of people on the other end, I don’t actually see them.
At the players’ meeting. So much talent in one room.
Later on during the day, Dendi sat down next to a fellow translator, Tracy, and began watching her play, as she was playing a pub match on a laptop. Tracy dismisses this, thinking it was Mouz Black, who had been hanging out with us earlier. Then I tell her to look over, and then she’s like, “omg it’s Dendi”. And Dendi sits there with an innocent look on his face. Then she got a kill, made another nice play, and both were met with Dendi getting up and dancing about nearby. Shortly afterwards, the meeting room internet at the Westin cut out (as it often did), Tracy got an abandon, and Dendi strolled off to entertain (or be entertained) elsewhere.
Coach Dendi
Speaking of Mouz Black, who had made fast friends with a couple of us: We had taught him a few phrases in Chinese. He wanted to meet some of the LGD people, including LGD’s manager Ruru, but was apparently too shy to do so on his own. We taught him how to ask for a team jersey in Chinese (since he wanted an LGD set), and later on I taught him how to say the name of his favorite hero, Anti-mage, in Chinese. Much later on, some other Chinese kids must’ve taught him some not so savory words, because by the last day of the main event at Benaroya Hall, he was slinging them around until we told him that he should save it for when he really hates someone or something. Below, Black is saying 我想要一套队服, which means “I would like a team uniform”.
8/2/2013 – Group stage first day (Wild card)
RattleSnake: LaNm is one of my favorite players. He was the one that I chose as my favorite player in my compendium. He’s a funny guy, brilliant player, and casually approachable in person. After their wild card win, I waited behind with Kabu, who was waiting for the rest of his team to go to the players’ dinner. I knew where the dinner was, they didn’t, so I wanted to make sure people weren’t getting lost on the way (these players had missed the Valve-led delegation over earlier). Incidentally, Quantic were also late and so I told them to follow us too. Was that a bit awkward? Maybe… Quantic looked a bit low energy and hardly ever appeared downstairs for the rest of the group stages afterwards…
Anyway, I tell LaNm, “When I saw you guys pick Storm Spirit, I knew you’d already won. LaNm responds curiously, “Why? I think it was because they didn’t have much in terms of disables.” But my opinion was simpler, “I just think you’re awesome on Storm, haha.” And he grinned.
RattleSnake team interview after Wild Card win
iG: Ferrari_430 was up to play the solo mid matches, so during the players’ dinner at El Gaucho, Erik Johnson grabbed me over to translate to get his picks for heroes, and to make sure he knew the rules. He hadn’t checked the rules before and was surprised that runes were allowed. This revelation in part caused him to change his initial pick from Lone Druid to Templar Assassin. He was sitting with his team and chatted a bit with them before deciding on his hero picks. Ferrari is a really friendly person in a really unassuming manner. I already admired his play and style, and after meeting him, I like him as a person too.
After his and Mu’s first solo match, the TA match, which took over 40 minutes, they looked to me to ask if they could simply do the SF match next. When told that SF had to be third game, they decided to do Shadow Demon instead (whereas originally it was going to be OD as second match) to save some time. When I went downstairs to grab some water for 430 and Mu, I ran into XBOCT at the bar. He was seated, looked over to me, said “I like you”. I don’t think he really knew who I was then (or if he even really knows, now), but his friendliness had me asking him which of the Dota-themed drinks he’d had. He looks at the drinks menu and starts pointing. “All of them?” I ask. “Yes,” is his reply. Cool guy.
During Mu’s solo match against Ferrari, Hao stood behind his chair for much of the time, joking and making suggestions. Hao even brought Mu a drink of some sort. He had two of the same drink, one for himself, one he gave to Mu. Aww. TongFu’s players seem to be the friendliest with each other (this is not to say that the other teams aren’t all quite friendly with each other). While the Ferrari and Mu match went on, several other matches came and went. Iceiceice versus s4 was funny in that iceiceice giggled whenever something happened, especially whenever he used his coal.
The solo mid competition room at El Gaucho. Ferrari_430 vs Mu, Mushi vs xiao8
8/4/2013 – Group stage day 3
DK: rOtK is just as fierce in person and out of game as he is in-game (and at LAN events). He also seems like a very sincere person, and he’s got an amazing sense of humor and quick wit, more than once causing uproarious laughter in the Chinese section of the viewing lounge at Westin. He wears his heart on his sleeve, a rare specimen amongst your average Chinese player.
Here we see DK’s rOtk, in green, animatedly discussing something with the other players
iG: The iG players tend to be more quiet, though YYF can really talk, and talks quite fast, when he has something to talk about. Ferrari is very thorough whenever you ask him about something; in the mini-series with Soe where we asked players for their ID and what it came from, Ferrari_430 was by far the most thorough in explaining. He also likes to hold the mic himself when he’s talking (he was the only player with this preference). I’m not sure why his part was cut out from the final player ID video that was posted online, though. But his ID is pretty self-explanatory anyway: he likes that car, and the name of it was what he went with when registering himself on a gaming platform in the past, and it stuck.
Speaking of player IDs, I wish we could’ve gotten more, especially more of the Chinese players, but unfortunately it was not to be. In the final two days, I did some interviews with Perfect World, helping to translate Chinese questions to Western players, then translating their answers back. Additionally, I worked on the final versions of all the subtitles for team intro clips that they played before each team’s first appearance at Benaroya Hall this year. That took a while, because I needed to fix up the translations, the grammar, and then the timing of the subtitles as well. A lot of fun seeing my work up on the big stage later on, though. Anyway, player IDs. The teams and players were in and out as well, playing matches, going out for dinner, etc. Maybe there’ll be more chances in the future for this.
The player ID vid, as posted, is below. Whenever I’m not on camera, I was the one running the camera! ;P The Orange players were all so polite, and seemed a little bit shocked that anyone would want to ask them anything.
LGD: I think it was on this day that xiao8 was recognized in the lobby of the Westin Bellevue by a visiting group of Chinese tourists. An older Chinese man and his wife are walking out of the elevators while xiao8, his friend, and a few of us are waiting to go up, and the man turns around, peers at xiao8 and goes, “Aren’t you that guy on the TV? The dating show? Were the scenes in the show real or staged? Xiao8? …You’re here to compete!” Xiao8 confirms that the show and its result were not staged, and then just nods a bit, not sure how to respond. The man and his wife grin widely and wish him luck as we walk into the elevator. In the elevator, I remark that he’s a superstar now. Xiao8 smiles lightly in a way that suggests he doesn’t necessarily embrace it, and goes back to whatever he was doing on his phone.
I don’t remember which exact day this is from, but here is xiao8 with two bananas during the group stages. Sorry it’s blurry, camera derped
8/5/2013 – Group stage final day
RattleSnake: LaNm needs glasses. He had trouble seeing the screen while watching matches on the screens in the players’ lounge at Westin and constantly had to squint. So I told him to go get some glasses. “Yeah, it’s indeed time to get glasses,” he replied.
You can sort of see LaNm straining himself to get a clear view of the screen from where he’s sitting. He’s leaning forward with his arms folded underneath his head in the center of the picture.
As seen in some of the panoramic photos so far, the teams and players mostly mix pretty freely. There’s a pretty clear divide between Western and Eastern, and then within that there’s another less clear divide between Chinese and SEA, and between Russian and non-Russian. But by and large, the players are friendly and cordial with each other, and most every player is willing to meet and get to know another player. A rare few players have the talent of slipping almost seemlessly between all the different groups (though they still have their own preferences). The Chinese teams seem to especially be friendly with one another, and when they weren’t competing, there would be intermingling to the degree that, to an untrained eye, you wouldn’t be able to pick out which players were on which teams at all.
Also, Black^ and Bulba partook in an activity they called ‘Ghost Ship’, in which they would ambush unsuspecting fellow players, pick them up, then put them down unceremoniously whilst shouting “ghost ship!!!” I saw them do this to two or three different people, and I don’t think anyone much enjoyed it. I am also wondering if they meant ‘Torrent’, as in Kunkka’s Torrent, which gushes someone up then drops them down.
LGD.cn and Dignitas played a tiebreaker, a close one. Afterwards, the two teams seemed to be pretty cheerful, even gathering together briefly to chat a bit.
After the tiebreaker: Aui_2000, DD, xiao8’s back, Yao, Waytosexy, Sneyking, Universe, Sylar
TongFu: I’d earlier offered to help the Chinese teams arrange for some Chinese delivery from a local Sichuanese Chinese restaurant located in Bellevue. On the last day of group stages, after everyone had finished playing their matches, there was some time, and TongFu’s manager CuZn came to get my help. We got some menus printed out and I had them go around and mark down what they wanted, then we ordered the food. They got nearly $200 of food, and TongFu’s manager paid for it. When it all arrived, it came in a large cardboard box, and word spread quickly amongst the Chinese teams. Pretty soon, members of every team were gathered in a big circle around a table, eating. Quite a happy sight. With the normal hotel food, the Chinese players would hardly ever look excited about the food, nor would they rush to it. In contrast, this time, they all rushed over eagerly. These players are amongst the best in the world, but in the end they’re all kids and young adults, far away from home, and I was truly happy to be able to bring them a little bit of that comfort…
The players descended upon the delivery Chinese food like… hungry Chinese players
Throughout the group stages, there was an on-going joke amongst the Chinese players that whenever someone stepped out for a smoke break, the Chinese team currently playing would lose. Hao in particular would come back inside after a break outside, and exclaim, “What? Lost again???” This is another reason to not smoke, kids. It was just a joke, but later on in the group stages I did hear comments at least once or twice about waiting to go smoke until after the game had ended. Haha. Either way, the Chinese teams in general seemed pretty loose and relaxed, joking amongst each other, chatting about the games going on and other things. It was cool to see the players in a more casual environment.
In the afternoon, with the group stages finished, there were Valve tours scheduled. A group of 13 of us got stuck in the elevator going up for nearly an hour. Amongst us were Black and Synderen from Mouz. Both of them can be pretty funny. The PC Games reporter that was stuck with us in there was also a funny dude. I think they contributed to keeping morale high in there. It took an hour of rising temperatures in the elevator, and a call to the fire department after the original elevator tech never showed up, for us to finally escape. When we ended the Valve tour, Synderen and I both, on two separate occasions, actually joked to one of the Valve people that “some of the guys got stuck in another elevator”, which brought a momentary look of shock and worry. Sorry to the Valve lady, it was probably not the best joke to make again given the earlier events.
Stuck in the elevator
They did give us some extra stuff in our goodie bags at the end of the tour. It was probably worth getting stuck in the elevator. I won’t bother posting pictures from Valve offices because, well, I didn’t bother taking any, and other people have posted plenty of pictures already anyway.
All in all, the group stage at Westin Bellevue was quite an intimate, low-key kind of event. Players would just sit and hang out in the lounge with the games on screen for hours on end. Food would come and go, Valve admins would come in and shout for the next team up, the team that just finished would come back in and sit down and grab some food and drinks… It would be such a huge contrast to the high pressure, high energy atmosphere at Benaroya Hall and the elimination stages.
This was part 1 of “The International 3 from my view”. Stay tuned for part 2, describing thoughts and events from the elimination stages at Benaroya Hall, in the next few days!
A quick preview of the groups and teams in the upcoming Dota 2 Super League…
The Dota 2 Super League (DSL) begins on May 10 in Shanghai, with 10 powerhouse teams congregating for a showdown via group stages, playoffs, elimination, and finals, for the chance at over 1 million RMB in prize money.
Group A sees a relatively larger gap in ability. Apart from it being expected that iG will top the group, all the other spots are up for grabs amongst the other teams.
1. iG: TI2 champions, widely recognized as the best team in the world currently, they’ve successfully dominated just about every major event in 2012 and 2013. Every position in the team is played at a world-class level. For iG, the only question is whether anyone else has the power in them to take them down, and challenge them for first in the group.
Star players: all of iG
2. LGD.cn: Third place at TI2, managed to defeat iG in G-1. However, they’ve undergone a series of changes lately, with LongDD leaving not long after joining, which highlights an element of instability within LGD.cn. Can LGD.cn show us a new face along with their recent changes?
Star players: xiao8, Sylar
3. Vici Gaming: A new team not long formed, yet the presence in their team of one of the three big carries of yesteryear, ZSMJ, brings a major talking point for viewers and competitors alike. Can VG achieve a top 3 finish in this group with such time-honored talent? And as a former LGD player, ZSMJ, who had once brought so much glory to his old team, will be looking to prove himself against them now. By his side, newcomer Cty is another point of interest to look forward to.
Star players: ZSMJ, Cty
4. TongFu: A team that seems to match the level of their opponents, strong when facing strong, weak when facing weak, they possess Hao and Mu, two top tier Chinese players, yet have been in terrible form recently. After switching out two players, can they re-discover their touch?
Star players: Hao, Mu
5. ForLove: One of the best of the second tier Chinese teams, ForLove has some history behind them, yet have always stuttered a bit when it came to results. They have fairly plentiful experience, yet haven’t found their own rhythm in making a breakthrough somewhere. Similar to TongFu, they’re appearing here after making rostre changes, and whether the changes will make the difference for them remains to be seen.
Star players: you, hanci
Group B sees a much closer spread in terms of team ability. Just who advances and who falls might come unpredictably. New teams in here may have new styles of play, DK itches to redeem themselves, and interest will be high in seeing whether LGD.int and Orange can break through in the Chinese scene.
1. DK: Predicting DK as first place here, isn’t necessarily because they are clear favorites in terms of ability in the group, but more because their past performances demand this kind of high expectation for them. They have the world’s greatest carry player, the Anti-Mage himself, BurNIng. They have trash talk king xB/rOtk, and they have Super, 357, and MMY, players who have won countless championships before. DK’s results in the past year have been poor, yet anyone who overlooks them does so at their own peril, because their experience and determination here will not be lacking — as long as they execute well, winning everything is not a dream
Star players: BurNIng, xB/rOtk
2. LGD.int: Runners up in the G-League 2012 Season 2, a team formed of players from five different countries. They train together with LGD.cn in Hangzhou, combining the light grace of European Dota with the steadiness of Chinese Dota, and this gives them more than enough to compete in group b. They’re the ‘foreigners’ Chinese team’.
Star players: God, Misery
3. Orange: The only true foreign team present here, representing the top of SEA Dota. Their star player and the heart of the team, Mushi, has been known for a long time with his stylish play and flashy antics. In the recent G-1 qualifiers, he led Orange to next offline stage, proving that they can stand amongst the best that China has to offer. As the sole truly non-Chinese team, can they make it all the way?
Star player: Mushi
4. RisingStars: Another new team, formed recently by former members of DT.Club and Noah’s Ark. They’ve got undeniable personal and team skill, but are lacking in match experience and adaptability. Their style tends to be over-aggressive, so a matchup with them in it is guaranteed to be exciting to watch. They also often bring out innovative tactics, and are a very imaginative team.
Star players: Super, Mofi
5. RattleSnake: A new team of old players, all of their members have rich experience. Their captain, Luo, is recognized as a master of strategy, and often brings unexpected picks and tactics. This team has been recognized as having great dark horse potential in the group.
Star players: Luo, LaNm
G-1 Phase 3 is set to begin on March 27, with the LGD derby between their int and cn squads leading off. In anticipation, we interviewed LGD.cn’s Director 8, xiao8, to learn more about how they’ve been doing lately!
The groups for Phase 3 of G-1 have begun. Malaysian powerhouse Orange has been grouped with three strong Chinese teams, and it remains to be seen whether Mushi can lead his team out of the surround. Let us see here what Mushi has to share with us all.
Powerhouse iG finally makes their appearance at Season 5 of the G-1 Champions League. We got an interview with iG support player Faith, who shared with us some of iG’s training and talked about his thoughts on this season’s G-1. Take a look below!
In this interview with LGD’s Dota manager Nic (Chinese ID: Chaorenwa), he gives us an overview of the Int squad players, what they do in their spare time, how he got where he is today, and more. Read on below to take a step into the world of LGD!
This has been revealed to be an April Fools’ by Kent, but nonetheless, it had our wheels churning thinking about where Mushi might go if he were to move to China…
No huge news post or anything, just a tidbit about Mushi…
In a post on weibo (t.qq), Chinese commentator Kent revealed that Mushi wants to move to China to play, and if any team is interested, to please contact him. What does this mean for Orange? Will a Chinese team in need of a flashy and obviously talented solo mid player pick Mushi up?
Dotaland note: Felix菜刀刃 helped 17173 organize and plan the G-1 League earlier this year, China’s first Dota2 tournament. These bits and pieces are a series of his reflections and musings on the lead up to the event, the event itself, and surrounding tales. Dotaland translated an earlier entry here.
The fourth iteration of the G-1 League was also China’s first Dota2 competition. It was a first for simultaneous English and Chinese casts, and received high praise and support from Valve and IceFrog, and various foreign gaming media sites fought to get coverage of the event. It’s not exaggeration to say, then, that in terms of Dota’s development domestically, this G-1 League held milestone meaning.
This series documents from my own point of view snippets of the experience from planning and preparation all the way to the ultimate LAN finals, and everything in between, hopefully to bring a more complete and realistic perspective of the G-1 League. And the other hope is to acknowledge and give thanks to the hard work and dedication to esports, given by so many people.
November 17, day one of offline finals
The two days before competition resumed, our various finals teams had already gotten to Fuzhou to participate in the creation of a music video (Dotaland note: this video was the G-1 League theme song, performed by players). And because they had to play in the GEST final, Orange could only make it a day later, landing near midnight, thus missing out on the music video. Pikaxiu and other staff stayed up till 4 in the morning tweaking settings on the computers to be used in the finals, ultimately managing to stabilize pings around 60ms. It could be said that everything was progressing in a clockwork fashion.
The finals venue was an indoor recording studio; the lighting, sound, and stage effects were all excellent, the only drawback was its limitations on viewer capacity. Last year’s G-1 finals were held in Shanghai in partnership with NeoTV. What this meant was that this was 17173’s first time doing this on their own, and relatively speaking, they lacked a bit of experience on the matter. According to Pikaxiu, in comparison with the goals he had set prior, he could only give this event 60 points out of 100, but taking into consideration 17173’s current abilities, that can be raised to an 80.
The second day’s atmosphere was charged and full of energy. Every inch of the venue apart from the stage area was packed with viewers. 2009 and Crystal (SJQ/laoshu) were at the complete mercy of scores of smartphones and their cameras. Our media section was squeezed off to a corner, where we had relied a flaky wireless internet connection. Despite the roughshod accomodations, all the media people there were still very passionate in their work. Especially worth mentioning here is 178.com’s Marbo, who used a handycam to record the entire G-1 music video, thus allowing fans a sneak peak of a ‘ripped’ version of it.
That night’s semi-finals saw LGD facing off against iG, and we saw Magnus. We saw his imba dodging ability, where facing even a three-man gank, Yao would still be able to escape safely. In the end iG seemed a bit clueless in front of LGD’s aggression, and without making much of a resistance they surrendered. Thinking about it, this result shouldn’t be too strange — iG had just finished WCG China matches, and had been busy with a campus tour, so they as a team would still be in an adjustment stage and thus a lack of form could be expected. What was commendable was the fact that despite this, their attititudes remained upbeat. In interviews and from the way they acted after their losses, a sense of professionalism and respect could be seen from them. I guess ever since their experiences in Seattle, they’ve grown a lot. And not long after this, they took the win at the WCG World Finals, displaying once again their aura of kingliness…
In the other matchup between DK and Orange, things were much tighter. Because at the time the two teams were using different internet connections at the venue, their ping was different. Orange had up to 200 plus ping, while DK seemingly only had around 100 ping. In the first game Orange were swept away with little argument, then in the second game when they figured out this issue, over two hours were spent on trying to fix it. At the last after the problem was just barely dealt with, another hour went by as the match went back and forth, culminating in a sad loss for Orange. As for the differing pings between the two teams, it was hypothesized that Orange’s line was shared with a neighboring office. The tests and setup prior to the matches had happened in the middle of the night, yet the matches themselves occurred during peak usage hours, so the high ping only presented itself then. This was something that we as organizers missed. In the end Orange were very patient, and didn’t have that many complaints.
After the day’s matches, a group of friends in the media went out to eat, and bumped into Orange’s players eating at a street-side stall. ChuaN, with friends from Malaysia, we could see that he was truly happy at the time. Old friends from the same places, meeting with tears in their eyes… couldn’t imagine them fighting each other to the death, right?
November 18, second day of G-1 League offline finals
Don’t know why, but the more exciting an offline event is, the more I remember of the bits and pieces outside of the matches. On the 18th the things I remember most were the tense atmosphere, the occasional yells; these are things that no replay would ever capture.
Mushi’s Outworld Destroyer towering like a god, figuratively putting an exclamation point on his professional career. After this competition he missed out on WCG and G-league alike, the rumors being that he had switched to LoL… The final was LGD against DK, and B-god sadly failed to save society. After the match he and his girlfriend quickly left the venue, skipping even the awards ceremony. DK manager Farseer’s expression as he stood in for him on stage was unpleasant to say the least; the last time Farseer had been like this would have to go back to 2011’s first G-League when DK lost 0-3, the opponent at the time I think was also LGD. And on the other end of the stage, after DK put out GG, xiao8 rushed off the stage and hugged team lead Nicho in a release of long-held emotion. In the end, where there are winners there will always be losers, and the stage of esports will not see any perpetual winners.
And so G-1 came to an end. Even though I have no intentions of singing praises and talking things up, but still reflecting back on our achievement here is very satisfying. In the esports world, apart from players, commentators, there are another group of people — competition organizers and planners. They are the staff that set up the night before, and when everything is over, it’s also them that clean up. Even though they may present a cheerful face, their responsibility is still heavy, and their work often goes unknown by everyone else.
The “My First Person View” G-1 League theme song released afterwards had many little emotions and moving parts. The lyrics and directing were done by Yaoyao. Post production was done by Pibao, with Pikaxiu the producer. The strengths of the G-1 staff team is that they’re full of creativity, and full of energy. If there is a good idea, they will go all the way to try to make it reality. Many things look hard to accomplish, but as long as there is a determination to go along with needed ability, then the chances of it happening are good. This is perhaps another layer of the meaning behind ‘compete to your heart’s desire’.
Yaoyao is leaving 17173 after this G-1 League, so let’s commemorate everything, including the end of this series, with the lyrics to “My First Person View“.
Just a quick update… LGD and LGD.int both play today in the GEST Dota competition, hosted by our friends at Dotatalk… LGD.int is up first (live now) against Orange, LGD.cn will go against MUFC later in the day.
Q: Hello Dendi, thank you for accepting 178’s interview. This is your first time visiting Kunshan right? What first impressions do you have of this city?
Dendi: Hello. To be honest, I don’t yet have much of an impression, because I came here directly after getting off the plane.
Q: Then how do you feel about the atmosphere of the event here?
Dendi: Very nice, although it feels like there are relatively few people. But Chinese viewers are very passionate.
Q: Previously we heard that the Ukrainian team’s travel visas encountered some issues, can you explain what happened?
Dendi: Ok, because we were coming directly after playing at Dreamhack, schedules were very cramped, so at the airport when we spoke with the customs officer we were told that our visas had problems. After hearing that, we begged them and asked them in every way, and finally the second day they allowed us to go.
Q: Has this mishap affected you guys at all, are you tired at all? Does it affect your form?
Dendi: No, not at all. Conversely, we actually got quite a bit of rest time during the day that we spent waiting, we passed it quite luxuriously, so there aren’t any problems.
Q: The Ukrainian team this time is pieced together with players from different teams, how do you feel about the team’s ability level? How is your teamwork coming along, did you engage in any special training for WCG?
Dendi: These players and I go back quite far, and players like goblin are long-time veterans, lots of experience, so their ability is absolutely solid. The only thing we lack is team understanding, because time has been quite tight so we never had any previous practice. We’ll have to learn as we compete; let’s see if there will be good results.
Q: Actually, you have practiced! Just now at the Dota2 expo booth here, weren’t you guys grouped up in a match?
Dendi: Haha, that was just for fun.
Q: Then tell us about your Void just now… why did you build Arcane boots and two Blades of Attack?
Dendi: Playing pubs is just for fun, so I built whatever I felt like building, plus Void does really have mana problems!!
Q: In your latest match in WCG, your team easily defeated a Mongolian team, talk a bit about that match.
Dendi: It was alright, but the internet at the live event really is horrid. The screen was stuttering back and forth, this really affects our performance.
Q: In your group, there are two other powerhouses in Orange and DK, do you think you have a good chance at advancing from the group?
Dendi: I can’t really say, we can only try our best, and beat at least one of DK or Orange.
Q: At this WCG, which team do you think will take the title?
Dendi: DK or iG I think, Orange has a chance too. Of course we are good as well *laughs*
Q: Is this your first time participating in a WCG World Finals? What are your thoughts on Dota2’s first appearance as an official competition?
Dendi: I’m very excited, after all WCG is an old-school big name competition. As for Dota2 being added in, I can only say one thing: it’s cool!!!
Q: Next up we’re gonna head into gossip hour. Your style and personality has won quite a bit of fame and following, and a lot of Chinese girls like you a lot, did you know this?
Dendi: Haha, I didn’t know
Q: Well then, do you like China’s girls? Any considerations of finding yourself a Chinese girlfriend?
Dendi: It’s possible, Chinese girls are quite nice, for example there are many hotties right here at this venue, haha.
Q: Alright, I can only say I wish you good luck then. Thank you Dendi for the interview, we hope you will bring us more exciting play.
Dendi: Thank you. Nihao, wo ai ni (spoken in Chinese by Dendi here, means Hello, I love you)
(Dotaland note: written by a fan on Sgamer forums, chosen by Sgamer editors as the post G-1 summary. Personally I think the writer didn’t give LGD enough credit, and was too easy on iG, but it’s decently written anyway. I translate, you readers make your own conclusions! 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving weekend to those who celebrate, and happy Dreamhack to all!)
1. iG
Riding a wave of strong recent results, including a whole string of convincing victories in the group stages that left them top of their group, an easy 2-0 win over Orange in the next phase – no disrespect meant to Orange here – no one could deny that iG were the favorites in the eyes of all viewers. But yet, iG’s greatest strength turned out to be their greatest weakness too. They thought that no matter what, as long as they played well they would be able to overrun their opponents, and failed to realize that inherent problems within themselves had gradually been developing:
First of all are their team compositions, iG’s two matches against LGD as well as their last matchup with Orange fully displayed this issue. And really this is a problem that had already been seen in the online preliminaries. First off it was an iG strategy centered around Zhou-god’s Death Prophet plus two melee heroes, and the main reason behind the loss in this match was due to the fact that the melee heroes never developed well. Whenever Zhou was in trouble, the two melee heroes were unable to support him in either escaping or outputting damage, so their being present was no different from simply feeding. Next game it was against LGD’s carry-less lineup, and in the face of a strongly fed Night Stalker there was no corresponding damage output, leading to a quick defeat in the second game. And then versus Orange, with a non-carry lineup resulting in a relatively low damage lineup, added to problems in team execution, Orange successfully overcame iG’s early advantage to win.
The next issue is overconfidence. In the deciding game against Orange this was very apparent, after picks had been decided, execution was very well done at the start and they were able to quickly take both of Orange’s bottom lane towers. But then they thought that after they had acquired an advantage, they could sit back and play safely, resulting in a stagnant style of play that ultimately allowed Mushi — who was playing with sickness — to farm out key items and then rapidly turn the tide and finally leave iG to wallow in an unfamiliar losers’ position.
Conclusion: Chinese teams have always relied mainly on their technical and tactical superiority over foreign teams, but even from group stage matches such as against Orange it could be seen that the gap is small. Especially evidenced in Orange’s 4v5 teamfight win in the last match, it can be said that iG’s former advantages in laning are virtually nonexistent now, and so once the technical and tactical gap has been closed, it is completely normal to lose some.
Hopes: Even though iG this time placed last out in the offline finals, it cannot be denied that in terms of player caliber as well as overall team ability they are still top amongst Chinese teams, and they are showing very solid team understandings and teamwork in general. As long as they utilize training well, summarize experiences from losses, and get away from losses, and further develop those new heroes they’ve picked up in recent matches and hone their multi-core strategy, it won’t be hard for them to once against stand at the top of the world!
2. Orange
As the only non-Chinese team at G-1, Orange is lucky. Due to a lack of deep understanding of them, I won’t get detailed with them, and I’ll summarize this: Overall technical and tactical skills are on a lower level than Chinese teams, and any advantages gained in early laning and mid-game small teamfights is quickly worn away and lost later on to cause a loss. However, after making it to the offline finals, even though they still showed similar problems against DK, they had made noticeable improvements by the time they played iG. Their blue-collar players (aka support players) aren’t flashy, but get to work and do their roles well, their key players greatly increased their stability, even though their loss in the second game was due to missing small details.
Yet, in the third game in the match against iG, some excellent control and execution allowed the team ample time to build up and farm up, in particular the 4v5 teamfight win under a tower was pretty. In the end Mushi completed his key items, got a 3-kill in mid, and in the process led Orange to complete one of the bigger stories of this G-1 — defeating iG to allow Orange to take 3rd place overall.
3. DK
After the finals, DK’s BurNing has been under huge pressure. At first I, like the commentators and everyone else, also felt that key problems fell on B-god, but after reviewing other vods of the match, it could be said that I’ve gained a more complete understanding of everything. Before the finals this time, DK had already received widespread support and seen as the most likely to be the ones to knock iG off their horses in an inevitable joust. And DK’s performances since the group stages showed a very high level of ability, in spite of the fact that they had only played to a 1-1 draw with Orange and defeated LGD in a close 2-1. Yet, the fact remained that DK’s five players each have immense talents, and that in addition to their stable performances had garnered large amounts of confidence in DK from fans. Then why were they disposed of in the Finals by 2-0, here are my thoughts:
Teamwork: DK’s teamwork has been shown to be lacking since the group stages, and in the high-skill Finals match this was something that was even more apparent. In the first game, with an advantage from laning, the trouble came when LGD went to gank Rubick and ended up winning 4 kills for the price of 1, with the problem being DK’s players arriving at the scene one by one resulting in disjointed usage of skills that led to an inability to maximize damage potential. Perhaps people will think that this was simply due to teleport delay times, but if the players at the time had realized this earlier and teleported in an orderly fashion, LGD may not have been able to leave the fight with such an advantage. Later on at the last Roshan fight, Enigma’s Blink ult failed, which caused Sven to lack the needed environment for following up with his DPS, which resulted in everyone else having trouble following up at all… which directly led to the 1 for 2 teamfight loss there. And this was the ultimate reason DK lost mid lane completely in that game.
As for the last ten minutes of the second game, the miscommunication between B-god and two of their players, plus mis-positioning by three players in mid, these were all amongst the things that displayed DK’s problems with teamwork.
B-god: DK’s team is undoubtedly centered on B-god. Even though B-god is a very high caliber player, in this match, it can only be said that he performed okay. In various scenarios where he would usually demonstrate his value to the team, he fell short — such as going out of sync with his team after building Armlet in the first game, poor decision making of when to fight and when to farm, and inappropriate timing for entering teamfights resulting in a loss of DPS. In the second game when stumbling across enemy Luna in his own jungle, he did not decisively ult to grab the kill. And then it was not having a teleport scroll at key times; these were all things that B-god should take responsibility for, things that he should look to do better on. Even though his last-gasp steal of the Aegis was a good idea, if there had not been the problems earlier on, the last-gasp scenario then would have never happened.
Conclusion: DK’s core issue is obviously the issue of teamwork. Players not being in sync with each other, uncoordinated leadership, lack of cohesion, poor positioning, these are all the biggest taboos for teams in Dota, yet they have all manifested in the veteran team of DK! The overall drop of team performance has also in some ways limited individual player performances, so their loss in the end should not be that surprising. On the other hand they are still running with a new roster after recent changes, so a lack of teamwork and understanding can be expected as well. B-god as the team’s core lacked any outstanding plays, to the point that it could be said he was distinctly average. This can be attributed to a lack of battlefield awareness or even a drop in ability, yet the real reason is something we may not find. Lastly it is the issue of mentality, perhaps some of the team and individual problems could be due to increased pressure and expectations brought about by the LAN environment, where live fans and friends (and in Burning’s case, girlfriend) were present, so it could be useful to focus on improving tolerance for pressure in these environments for future matches!
Hopes: Teamwork and understanding is the biggest of the big issues! Only if the team can come together cohesively can the team’s overall ability be truly displayed. If B-god can successfully become a part of this team, I believe that issues such as being out of sync, bad TPs, and bad supporting can all be problems of the past! And lastly I hope all the fans and Dota lovers out there can, for the good of China’s Dota scene, give an extra bit of support for what is one of our own teams, full of our own star players, and keep a bit of the accusations and flaming back. Our Dota scene will certainly get better and better!
4. LGD
As the most low-key Chinese team in this G-1 League, it can be said that LGD has laid low, taking losses to ultimately win. Group stages, elimination stages, they repeated lost to iG and DK, leading to a face-off against iG first in the finals phase; these all piled the pressure on LGD. Yet it was just this massive pressure on LGD that finally forced them into a complete unit, a impregnable unit. First against iG, Luna’s aura showed that they were full of vitality, yet it was LGD’s own players that first gave up first blood, then second blood… causing LGD to go into pressure mode. Their captain’s timely adjustments then led the team back, step by step, from the edge of the cliff of defeat. So the match between iG and LGD became the most widely discussed and praised amongst our foreign commentators, in the first game every teamfight, gank, LGD’s execution was superhuman. Yet iG’s trademark resilience became the thing that helped this drastically changed LGD the most: when pushing the tier 2 tower at top, it was xiao8’s decisive initiate on the defiant Death Prophet before she was able to activate her ult that sealed the fates of iG and LGD in this competition.
Overall conclusions: Lack of lategame power. At the beginning of the first game versus iG, LGD’s performances were certainly exemplary, yet it was as if the entire team wore masks of madness — after every wildly successful gank there would be a period of quiet. So iG would utilize these periods to push towers, and in fact gained an economic advantage from this. In the second game this was also fairly apparent. Even though in the widespread fighting LGD took an advantage, they didn’t push this advantage more later in the game and left room for their opponents to operate. Versus DK, if the first game Enigma’s Blink ult succeeded, in the second game if that fateful ten minutes of DK fail never occurred, if two supports had retreated back to defend the high ground and Magnus never got three people in his ult… then LGD’s winning results may not have been as certain.
Player and team ability: LGD’s overall ability is probably third out of the top Chinese teams, and in reality, the performances of LGD players in this competition was above their ability level, hence superhuman for them. Xiao8’s rise after role change, Yao’s Magnus landing multiple huge crowd controls accurately, lively and dynamic support plays, and steady play from Sylar the carry. But whether all of this can continue is key to whether LGD can continue posting good results. Also, LGD’s overall depth feels to be lacking, all their activities are as an entire team, resulting in their entire team needing regen after each fight, which means they lack the ability to make things happen after each fight.
Hopes: LGD won this competition fair and square by way of excellent individual and team performances, but they still have some problems such as a lack of creativity and flexibility in individual ability and team tactics. The hope is that these things are addressed in training in the future.
DOTALAND.net 