I haven’t played dota in months. I don’t plan on being active
I may look like a mid player, but for best results, pick me to play support Jakiro. I like Warlock, or Dazzle in the right game, too. I wouldn’t mind playing mid, but I should be the weakest core of a tri-core, then.
I don’t know how to play any new heroes. Monkey King, Void Spirit, Snapfire, etc. I might be willing to figure out Rooftrellen’s new abilities, if I’m supporting. I do know Phoenix and Winter Wyvern, but my laning is weak.
I probably wouldn’t be too bad on off-lane. I don’t play Mars, but I know Underlord. I heard he has a new ultimate though?
I would enjoy playing carry, but it probably won’t be out-standing.
If you put me on 4, expect to get more of a 2nd 5 support. I’m also not that good at heroes like Tusk.
No matter what, I’m unlikely to feed. I would describe my natural playstyle as “cautiously opportunistic.”
You know how when people need a stand-in, they try to get the best possible player they can without breaking the rules? These are the players they get.
AR (oof) is indubitably still immortal skill-level. Kende is a baller. With kizugate 2.0, they even managed to get Meepwned’s team, who was a strong contender, to disband before playoffs.
By the way, Kizu should, in my opinion, never be allowed to stand-in. His rigged badge level is such an “open secret” it should be called “open rigging.”
Fatty Boom Booms
Vaulted to a high ranking, with a victory over me in the 8th week. Every game they win is a mid-show.
I think if they play Thugpotato, ahsent is good enough to prevent a snowball.
Goldman Sax
I think what chiefly separates the good-players-who-aren’t-successful from the good players with success, is the latter are authoritarians with clear ideas about how to win. Confidence is a must, cockiness is a plus.
(Please note that being an authoritarian without clarity and without skill, doesn’t work.)
I think Stars’ pool of ideas is a bit wider and deeper than most in rd2l. I wonder though, if when things get chaotic and don’t work, there isn’t an amount of copium. I eagerly anticipate the rematch vs. oof.
Capitalist Comrades
I don’t think OFF is a leader-type, but when needs must, he seems to do alright. Playing the hand you’re dealt is gentlemanly.
Looking forward to more of
4 da bois
Myco was last season’s winner. While the team this season may not be the main characters, it seems like the side-plot was interesting nonetheless. See you in battle.
Mongolians are smart, funny, and cool
I’m not really into potatoes, but Thugpotato seems cute for one.
I remember BODMAS used to do some research paper every week. Sad no content the season I’m playing 😦
ti4silver
The mmr on this team seems low, but you’ve been doing decently. It’s nice that you get to play a close seed in the first round. Hype.
PMA till we LOL
Don’t LeT NErd wni a PlayOFF GAME!! xd
Banana Bonanza
Probably one of the stronger 8-8 teams(?) Looks like somewhere along the way, Festival switched from mid to safe-lane. Would be interesting to get the scoop on that.
There is Always Hope
So if you expected to be the 2nd best team, then ending up 11th is a disappointment, right? So who’s the problem? XD
There seems to be some grudge-match vibes with peenix vs. OFF. If you lose, blame peenix, but if you win, peenix gets the credit. Deal?
Coahre’s Grief Picks :3
Nice to see Lapsed sneak in, courtesy of a disband (what bros). Always sucks to have the same record, and miss on tie-break. Also sucks to be on outsider-drafted team which then sucks.
One benefit of having byes for the top seeds, is that you can avoid some uber-stomps, like 1st vs 16th. 12th/11th vs. 6th seems possible! Good luck.
When the topic of male waifu tier list came up, someone confidently said that Sven would easily be first. I disagree. A charged rogue might be fun to have a one night stand with, but a long term relationship is bound to end in tears. Sven has too much baggage. Have you read his lore?
#4 Omniknight
While a paladin sounds like a suitable romance, Omniknight strikes me as puritanical and chauvinistic. Probably insufferable, the type of husband you imagine paired with a nagging shrew. Either that, or some Amish.
#3 Chen, the Holy Knight
I sense that Chen is like Invoker but for people with a God-fetish. The aura of mystique; a man of persuasion. A life with a God-man would be a great romance.
#2 Chaos Knight
Don’t we all dream of having a wild streak? Leaving everything behind and starting anew? I think Chaos Knight would be perfect to fulfill that fantasy. A life of chaotic, unpredictable, exuberance. The life we can’t have in real life and seek from rpgs and fantasy shows. (Anyone playing New World?)
#1 Dragon Knight
Of all the knights, Davion is the only one that gives us a sense of chivalry. For old-fashioned romantics who still long for things like honor, integrity, etc. Just as snuggly as Sven, but his polar opposite in character. Some will be attracted to Sven’s complexity (complexes), due to their own characters — that’s the role of fate. But for me, the Dragon Knight is the best choice. Plus, he’s a dragon, hello. Hello?
Subtitle: How playing dota can be compared to an addiction
You are spending more Time, Energy, and Attention on dota than you intend to. It is affecting your other commitments. Even when you are doing something else, you think about dota.
You crave the feeling of the high (from winning), more than the entire experience of playing. You need more and more to feel the same high, and the higher you get, the less rewarding it is.
When there is a lack of ‘content’, you feel unsatisfied. An ennui sets in until you either get more content or get high. But the effect is only temporary, and you soon return to your baseline state of agitation and depression.
Instead of being a ‘producer’ of your content, you seek contentment from outside sources.
I hadn’t had any prior interaction with Trav2s. When he came into PST-S all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, acting like some koreaboo, I thought this new admin was going to be more of the same.
However, he quickly got to work, instituting reform and community-organizing. I think everyone can recognize that this admin is at least doing things and not just adminning in name only.
So it makes me sad to see that those derailing his efforts are other “admins” and their besties. In my decades of gaming, I’ve seen this and other kinds of corrupt behavior time and again. It saddens and disenchants the soul.
So here’s to Trav2s! Lead, follow, or at least don’t be in the way.
Bonus story, to wish everyone a cheerful season 22:
The Oak And The Reeds
A very large Oak was uprooted by the wind, and thrown across a stream. It fell among some Reeds, which it thus addressed: “I wonder how you, who are so light and weak, are not entirely crushed by these strong winds.” They replied, “You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and escape.”
In season 18, I baited FierySnake, saying I would draft him. I didn’t think he’d take it at face value. I actually drafted lilith/h. At the time, I thought lilith was the strongest offlaner in the pool, and I also wanted a timbersaw player (7mad had just won TI? with mek timbersaw). My next pick was Mags, based on draft value.
I think I accidentally offended FierySnake, and he’s been kind of cold to me since then. In a way, he got revenge on me by standing in as offlane during the week 0 scrim this season. Having now played seasons with lilith (S18) and Mags (S20), I’ve sort of completed my “Monte Carlo tree search,” and I think I can say I’d go with FierySnake.
FierySnake I’m sorry !!! Come back to me !!!
On Draft Prep
I spent more time on draft prep. this season than ever before. Within a few weeks after the season started, 3 of us had dropped medals (one was me though. I blame the core/support merger).
So when high mmr players were passed over and it got to me, I was under some obligation to take them, from a game-theoretic perspective. In the final round, drafting 6th or 7th to last, I also was left without much choice.
It unexpectedly bugged me. All my life, I’ve tried to act in a just and fair way. Being on the side of “righteousness” was to me the most justifiable course before God.
So I know not everyone is going to like me, and I don’t mind. But I thought reasonable people would at least think of me as a reasonable person.
So when someone felt that strongly about me, it kind of bugged me. I decided I needed to reprogram myself:
Compassion is greater than justice/”being right.” I don’t have to always force people to my way. Turning the other cheek/Getting the short end can be a blessing (吃虧是福). Just let it go when you’re being treated unjustly, and don’t be too petty.
After we were knocked out, a teammate messaged me to tell me he “really really really didn’t enjoy playing with me.”
Watcha gonna do.
I wanted a Hufflepuff Harem
…and ended up with 2 Ravenclaws (Mags and Krenn) and 2 Slytherins (730 and big retard). If I play next season, I MUST have some Hufflepuffs.
As it happened, I immediately got a chance to practice my reprogramming. There was a bit of toxicity on this team, and also some strong opinions, and if I didn’t go into it with the right attitude I’m sure it would’ve been suffering. I think my teammates might’ve suffered, but as for me, I came out relatively unscathed.
On cohesion and friction
People talk about team “chemistry” and “cohesion”, but I think a more useful way of looking at it might be from the negative side–how much “friction” there is. Friction is the opposite of things running smoothly.
When there is toxicity, this creates friction. When people insist on playing according to their own understanding, this creates friction.
So when looking at a team, rather than talk about cohesion, it might be better to start from a baseline of no friction (perfect hivemind), and say how much deviation there is.
Hufflepuffs in general come with the least friction, and that’s why I like them.
Most people are NPCs
Generally, I believe you can think of people as NPCs:
– Their behaviors and responses are more or less fixed – How you interact with them determines their responses and storyline – Your relationship with them is not complex enough for them to have complex thoughts about you
In an RPG, if an NPC does something, is there any sense in getting angry? It would be ridiculous. Likewise, it should be ridiculous to get worked up about people, unless getting angry can accomplish something.
It’s also helpful to remember that DotA is just a side quest.
On 730
In our first games, I made some joking comments about half his hero pool being banned out by 2 bans. I regret making them, because they planted an insidious seed in our team dynamic when we were first getting to know each other. I’ve been trying to remove sarcasm from my behavior, and this is just another reminder. Almost nothing good comes from sarcasm, even if it’s amusing for a moment, and many bad things can come from it.
So to 730, I apologize for any poor comments I made, and I hope you can let them go and not carry them.
730 had some ownage games, and most of the games we won, he carried.
Mags
Mags has been on my radar a long time. His natural tendency as an offlaner is to treat himself as a core (and not a utility support). I also think this is correct play–for the early stage of the game. As a value proposition, I still think you can’t do much better, especially as he’s dropped to Legend for next season.
The main reason I was wary in the past seasons is that Mags flames his teammates a lot in public. But this season, I figured my robot training had progressed enough to handle that. Plus I just asked him to tone his captain-flaming down, and he did, so that was easy.
He’s not even really toxic, if you’re using toxic in the bad-mannered, team-contagion sense. Calling Mags toxic is a little like calling a woman ugly for having a resting bitch face.
By the way, Mags and Papi made playoffs this season, just saying.
Big Retard
A rare example where you can ask a player what he’s good at and wants to play, and then he’s actually good at it and it works. Pretty chill. Would draft again (again).
Krenn
Krenn has a bit of an absurdist sense of humor.
I think big retard found Krenn to be amusing too. Sometimes it’s just good to laugh.
Let’s see how things turned out. I’m not going to talk about everyone.
Why not wait until after week 8?
The results of week 8 shouldn’t matter that much, when we’re looking at how a team fared in the season as a whole. I just feel like doing it now, and there’s a lull in content.
Burgeoning PhoneThrone.zone – weird last round dive, so no, unless there’s something rigged going on.
They’re 6-8, and face Newbycakes (staylin, neku, predict) this week. They actually overperformed my expectation. Pattern is probably legitimately good or value.
toth – don’t really know them, not expecting much. ban clock.
Big surprise, as they’re 10-4. I remember cali girl was on my radar for the draft as a value player. According to fspoon, everyone on the team is value for their badge.
TheMantis – The top two mmrs prefer playing support. Not a good sign.
The support players ended up being fine playing mid or whatever. I’ve always looked down on core only players who can’t play 5 support well: if you can’t do the basics, can you really be a good player?
Now it’s not true that playing 5 well means you can play core, but there are no truly good cores who can’t play support, in my opinion.
Vuvuzela Virtuoso Hans Rudolph – Awkward role distribution.
They did a little better than expected. Vuvu buzzed off mid.
dooby moogey vs. ChowMains. I said both these teams would be above average, and they’re 7-7 and facing this week.
mid or courier adventure – ink curse, despite the high mmr average. Expecting drama of some sort.
disappointing lack of drama
Hidden Fist – not feeling it, good luck skater
They’re 8-6 and facing StonedSpirit. On one hand, they’re doing better than I expected. On the other hand, they seem to be having minor ‘issues.’ I think the two takeaways are thus: never count out a veteran captain; and some people just always have “issues.” The baseline for these people is different from more neutral people.
I think these are the ones I missed the mark on. I did abstain from reviewing a few teams though.
Overall, when I made a prediction, I think my impressions were accurate. I was only really off on toth.
Itachi’s and ForTheSwarm’s teams both did a little better than expected. My hypothesis is the Eli plants were actually all pretty good. Rather than plant a bunch of mmr assassins in the draft, he planted a bunch of value players.
In the past I didn’t really talk about drafting. #1, I saw no reason to reveal my thought process, especially since #2, I don’t really care what most people think about me (and don’t need to convince anyone of my ability). #3, I’m also not a type of person who enjoys indiscriminately “discussing” things with every random person. I pick and choose who I like to discuss things with.
I still see no reason to reveal how I think, but it may be fun to talk a little bit about drafting without divulging too much. I’m also not sure how much longer I’ll be playing dota, so there’s not much reason left to “save” things anyway.
In this case study, I’ll look at how I approached drafting against ChowMains last week.
I always look at a team’s past matches. I try to get a general sense of what they played, if they played it well, and maybe how they think. For example, I dug up their week 0 match against Moca. They let through Moca’s prided TA, intending to counter it. There are certain players, the fewer heroes they play, the more fiercely proud of those heroes they get. I think it blinds them and they can’t see balance objectively. Other players take a more holistic approach to hero selection and counter-craft. This draft suggested to me that ChowMains might be the latter type of player.
Against Waifu in week 3, they banned Naga Siren in the 2nd phase in both games. Now out of laziness, I didn’t go look at Waifu’s team to see if there was a particular reason. If you were more dedicated, you could do that. But it planted an idea in my head that ChowMains might respect the Naga, and if I wanted her, I might need to take her phase 1. (As it turned out, I got her in Phase 2.) I also recall comments ChowMains made in previous seasons about Naga pickers. If you have a good memory and pay attention, random information people give may end up being useful.
By the way, I often like to ask in discord about certain players, or certain heroes, to see what people say. It’s not that I’m genuinely asking for my own learning, but I’m asking Socratically to see what other people think. Sometimes people will also mention that someone plays a certain hero, which wouldn’t necessarily show up on their dotabuff. The point is that if you keep your ears to the ground, you can learn a lot.
I also look at every player’s dotabuff, especially their heroes from the last 3 months, and 6 months. Not only am I looking for the absolute number of games played, but if there are any heroes that have a high winrate. I find this tack useful in deciding bans and formulating draft plans, but sometimes it will miss things. For example, last season I gave 4leks DP, but apparently many people in RD2L knew that 4leks was known for his DP. It didn’t show up in my dotabuff research.
Let’s take a look at 659’s 6 months hero history. He’s mostly been playing TA with a good winrate. OD is respectable, and though he’s been playing Lina, he hasn’t been winning.
So with that information, I could make some choices. I decided not to ban TA, because I think I can counter her. OD they had already lost with in a previous week, and so I also leaned against respecting it. Lina, even though I thought it likely that they would pick her, I decided to let through on the basis of the low winrate.
This is just one example. I made other ban decisions using the above method, even banning heroes that they haven’t pulled out yet this season. Out of respect for ChowMains’s team, I won’t spell everything out here. The reader can do his own supplementary research.
Lone druid was on my mind for this match, as ChowMains has been playing it, and he crushed with it in week 3. I could justify banning it, but ChowMains is a flexible player and I might not get much out of the ban. Asking in discord, the LD pick also seemed to be more reactionary and not so much an auto-grab. I was also reluctant to ban LD because my own team plays the hero.
So deciding not to ban it, I had to keep it in mind, and potentially take it myself (thus blocking it). Now obviously if you decide to let a hero through, you better have some plans in mind to deal with it.
It’s hard, at this point, to talk much about the draft without revealing some trade secrets. So I’ll decline to talk about the specific picks, and go back to speaking about generalities.
After losing game 1, I tend to just ban out the problem heroes and make the opponent play something else in game 2. I always remember TI4 where VG lost to the same thing 3 games in a row in the final. This is arrogance and stubbornness. It’s easy to think you know what went wrong, and keep disrespecting the opponent. But more often than not, there is something missing in your understanding that you haven’t realized yet. I think it’s better to just psychologically reset, and make the opponent play something else in game 2. And remember, you may be able to improve something in game 2 (to better counter what they did in game 1), but don’t think your opponent can’t improve too!.
There’s a lot more I could say about drafting, but that’s enough for today.
This blog is dedicated to Charkhil, avid reader (or at least avid blog-asker-forer).
In Flatland, Edwin A. Abbott satirizes the Victorian social class system as a humorous backdrop for a discussion of dimensionality. It imagines a world in which there is width and length, but no height. A sphere or cone, to a flatlander, would appear as a circle. A pyramid would be a square.
Flatland has become an allegory in popular culture to describe situations where you cannot see the big picture because of a limited horizon. It has long been on my reading list, and I finally got around to it. Here are some thoughts:
As a philosophical/theoretical discussion, the book doesn’t add tremendously to what you could get from just reading wikipedia.
It’s short and pleasing to read, in that old school way, similar to Lost Horizon.
It combines wit and math, again in that old school way, such as in To Mock a Mocking Bird, a combinatory logic puzzle book which was a favorite of my youth.
It introduces the basic concept of calculus. For example, if you trace a point you get a line. If you trace the line in another dimension, you get a square, etc. I wonder if non-math people would appreciate this description.
The transformation of the 2-dimensional main character is first from a state of “not knowing that you do not know” to the intermediary state of “knowing there is something you do not know, but you don’t know it.”
The main character encounters a “lineland” of one-dimension. By seeing the blindness of someone else, he is later able to contemplate his own blindness, and extrapolate to dimensions beyond. I really appreciate that the story includes both a 1-dimensional lineland, and an extrapolation beyond 3-dimensions. I think that a lot of people, though they have some clarity where they are at, fail to contemplate the peaks which still lay beyond them.
I wouldn’t indiscriminately recommend Flatland to everyone (because I don’t think everyone would appreciate it), but if any of these topics interest you, then do pick it up. It’s a short read.
__
On to DotA. I’ll just give some thoughts, and the reader can add his own.
A DotA team is one unit, and should play as such. Even though there are 5 players and 5 heroes, they should ideally form one cohesive entity. It’s akin to the RTS games where one player controls tens of units, but they are all working towards one ultimate objective.
Yes?
Then therefore, any discussion of what an individual should be doing, or what an individual needs, must always remain within the context of the team. It does not make sense to talk about the individual’s game without referring back to the team’s game.
Catchy. If not witty, it’s at least on the spectrum. Not a fan of pepes but this one works in a somewhat surreal way. 7/10
aw skeet skeet god damn (♀Gh☼st♀) No logo. The name at least has some individuality. 5/10
Boomer Removers (Danny)
What annoys me about jackbox is how funny people think penis jokes are, or other quips of similar nature. They’re not that funny and they’re not that clever. 3/10
Breakfast Tacos (StonedSpirit)
It’s unexpected (robots like that), and makes me smile. It’s to the point, and appetizing. Is it a name you’d keep for eternity? No. But as a seasonal entrée, it works great. 7/10
Cheek Clappers (Ana is back)
I’ll give you a point for the alliteration, and a point for the themed picture. 4/10
Burg Blarg Blam (Burgeoning PhoneThrone.zone)
Interesting picture. We’re tired of the name. 2/10
Corona Disposal Crew (wgod)
Solid effort. Name by itself is passable, but doesn’t bring any joy. I think using current events is okay. 5/10
DOGS (dooby moogey)
Not best in show, but they’re just happy to be here. 4/10
Dont Fuck With MILT (velvelvel)
Was this the best on your shortlist?
Every Villain Is Lemons (ForTheSwarm)
“Every Villain Is Lemons (otherwise known as E.V.I.L.) is a short-lived gang of evildoers, consisting of Man Ray, the Dirty Bubble and Barnacle Man that serve the main antagonistic faction in the SpongeBob SqaurePants episode “Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEYmltgHFco I made an effort to understand it. I feel like it’s some 7-8 year old humor. 2/10
Get your wish (Elidoto2)
I guess it’s from a song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SZEDBFPpgw Cool logo, although it’s probably just lifted from the web. The name/song probably means something more to the person who chose it. It also sort of works as a cheesy “real team name”, like “wisdom nerve victory.” 4/10
Hedgehogs in Hogwarts (Cuzi)
I think a team in another division did a hedgehogs team name too. It’s probably an inside “thing” that I’m not privy to, so I’ll blindly add a point for that depth. The logo is cute. 6/10
I CARE EVEN WHITE (Newbycakes)
Highschool C-student humor. The name comes out bizarrely amusing, so I’ll be generous. 3/10
Is it legal for my ass to bet this fat?! (NO!)
It was hilarious for 15 minutes. I was tired of it yesterday, not to speak of the end of the season. 3/10
Itachi and the four dwarves (itachi)
I’m assuming this is a snow white reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White. If it’s not, then I’m just out of the loop. If it is, then I don’t get the implication. 3/10
Jakou is on one of these accounts (polo)
A moment of stimulation for a weary world. 5/10
Just The Tip (Polo5885)
I’m not personally amused, but it’s well done. 7/10
Modelo Virus (spidez)
Is there a statement here? Is it an endorsement of Modelo? I’m personally a Pacifico fan. 6/10
Monkagolians (UltraGunner)
Name is great, logo tries. 8/10
Narte (After)Parte (Ar)
Eh for effort. 3/10
Pog Players Only (mck)
Okay. 3/10
Pokimane’s Simp Army (sssst)
Simpleton 2/10
Poor Kids Who Are Just As Bright & Talented As White Kids (Vuvuzela Virtuoso Hans Rudolph)
I like the Biden picture more than the name. 4/10
Quarantine Thotties (Gracious Papi)
Worth a passing grade 5/10
Respect All Women (Sugoi-Chan)
If you read the name first, and then open the picture, I thought it was a riot. A great sense of humor, lost on people who think penis jokes are funny. 9/10
Right Leg of The Forbidden One (bsvhsvj)
Blessed in a cursed way. 7/10
Search “9/11” on DeviantArt (TheMantis)
I searched it, was disappointed. I’m not sure what I was supposed to find. 1/10
team poo poo (ChowMains)
The name is pretty poo poo, but the logo is unintentionally artistic in that 80’s photo-collage way. 4/10
The MainlanderS (Diaspora)
I don’t really get it. I’m also pretty sure neither anbokr or GSKW has anything to do with Chinese. If you take the name and logo on their own, without attempting to get it, they still sort of work anyway, so 5/10
Toth’s Thots (toth)
Judged on merits, the name and logo work, but it’s still kind of meh. 6/10
Wah, Wah Never Changes (Mediocre/Mason)
Explanation? I somehow like it less after looking it up. 3/10
ZEUS ULT NOW (Skater_x7)
The style of this team name is kind of not keeping with the times. But it’s well done, and the logo is quality. 7/10
Public Notice 