CONTENTS E-Sports: Newbee Team profile
E-Sports: hyhy's team: The return ofthe old guard.
Fan Art: Interview with Cottonwings
Game Analysis: Ten Sexy Tips to Improve Your Support Play
Game Analysis: Creep Equilibrium
Fan Content:DotA 2 Horoscope for June 3
4 11 15 16 21 22 24 26 29 32 39 42
Game Analysis Ten Sexy Tips Game Analysis Creep Equilibrium Game Analysis Orb Walking Game Analysis Supporting in SQ Fan Content Flying Courier Fan Content Interview cottonwings
Fan Content Ancient Horoscope Fan Content Fan Fiction Book Club Fan Content Fan Art Gallery E-Sports
Team Profile Newbee
E-Sports White Fries Gaming Magazine Team Profiles
Sexy Tips to Improve Your Support Play Around two years ago, I wrote a then, but the crux ofthe matter is
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well-received article on how to make money as a support. That was during the heady days of 6.80 when: TPs cost 135 gold, couriers cost 150 gold and the flying upgrade cost 220, smoke cost 100 gold, wand had a 150 gold recipe, there were no bounty runes, observer and sentry wards didn’t stack, you could uphill miss them, and Pit Lord wasn’t released. Oh wait. There have been plenty other support oriented changes since
life has gotten far easier for five positions since those dark days. So I figured, why not remaster that guide to keep up with the times? I also figured I should change the title to be more fittingas a magazine submission. Many of the tips I gave in the previous article are evergreen, but I have some updated knowledge that I’d like to share with the class. This is how I started off last time and, damn it, I’ll do it again. There have been a massive number of map changes made over the past two years and nearly all of them have yielded cute new ward spots. As a result, the usage of more ‘creative’ warding spots have dropped off a little bit in lower level games since these new cliffs are just too strong not to use.
1Don’t stare at the cliff when you’re warding
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Never stand in this position when you’re warding. Besides making it blatantly obvious where you’re placing your ward, you’re also setting yourself up for Mirana arrows, Pudge hooks, and plenty of other spells. So how should you be warding? By shift-queuing, of course. Target the ward, then shift+right click somewhere else
along the same path. This makes your warding motion practically seamless from normal movement. It seems like a small gesture, but it’s surprisingly effective at masking your warding locations. If you want to step it up a notch, intentionally stare at cliffs and don’t ward them for next level mind jukes.
2 Smoke deceit every day
Smoke is secretly a support’s best friend in lower level games. They’re cheap as duck™ and the stock never gets touched because teams seem to only use them 50 minutes in when they’re two raxes down and want to go for a hail mary. Selfish smokes serve two purposes for supports.
First, they’re sleeper-amazing when putting up wards. You can sneak deep into enemy territory without risking walking into vision under smoke. Super useful when warding behind towers or in enemy jungles. The fact that using items while in smoke doesn’t break the invis is just gravy. Ifyou don’t have the cash to drop on sentry wards to verify that a spot you’re about to ward is free from enemy vision, just smoke over there and place the ward. You can’t guarantee that the area doesn’t already have a sentry there, but the odds of a smokeplaced-ward getting countered are
much lower. As you get into higher and higher level games you’ll get better at using smokes with the team as an excuse to place deep wards. The second perk is the free 15% bonus movespeed for 35 seconds while Concealed. If you have a Drum and you use the active, you get a total of 18%+ movespeed, and that only lasts for 6 seconds. Obviously this is also valuable when warding, but the main reason I love selfishly smoking on supports in the fountain is because when you respawn and want to get back to lane, you should really... 5
4 Buy before
3 Avoid TPing
out of the fountain every time
you die
When you TP to a lane early game as a core, you’re thinking, “Can I get ~2 last hits that I wouldn’t have gotten if I hadn’t TP’d?” When you TP to a lane as a support, you need to think, “WHY IS THIS BOUNTY HUNTER LITERALLY FOLLOWING ME 24/7 DOESN’T HE HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO WHY IS ORB OF VENOM SLOW SO STRONG" Will my team be safe for the next 60 seconds or will I get a kill in this lane in the next 30 seconds?” As tempting as it can be, supports need to resist the urge to reflexively TP to a tower immediately after respawning. Walking back to lane may take a while, but if there’s no urgent need for your services, you’re better off keeping the cooldown fresh for when you are needed somewhere else.
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Last time I wrote this, TP scrolls were 135 gold. 135 gold! Now they’re 50. This kind of currency deflation is going to catch up with the Dota economy eventually, but right now just let the good times roll. Passive/Periodic gold comes out to 100 unreliable gold every minute. Gold lost on death is 3x your hero level and will only take out of your unreliable gold pool. So unless you’re feeding relentlessly, you probably made at least two TPs worth of gold that will be lost when you die. Make a habit of looking at the bottom of your screen to check your Quick Buy (also make a habit of using Quick Buy) and your gold when you think you’re about to die. If you can’t cash out on a component of an item you need, buy two or three TPs while that Lifestealer is pawing away at you. To me that still feels like a lot of gold since my support instincts were battle hardened in ‘nam 6.7X, but really, that’s less than two minutes of being alive in terms ofpassive gold. I also highly recommend supports get familiar with using appended Quick Buy which was introduced in Spring Cleaning 2016. If you Ctrl+Shift click on an item in the shop, it’ll quietly linger on the side of your Quick Buy panel without overwriting anything you put on Quick Buy. Wards, Smoke, Flying Courier, and Tome of Knowledge are all good candidates to shove in there.
5 Buy Generic
The past few patches have introduced a bevy of knock-off counterparts to old support item standbys. Back in the day, a five position’s first major item was a trail of tears towards one of three items: Force, Eul’s, or Mek. If you were constantly dying on the way to those items, too bad, stack Bracers and sip some juice in the corner. Now, instead of actually really buffing support heroes, IceFrog has taken the complicated route of adding more early game item choices. Welcome to the Wal-Mart age. Getting blown up by magic nukes or need some mana regen? Buy Infused Raindrops. Cloak used to be the RC Cola to Glimmer Cape’s Coke, but it only reallyworks ifyou have raw HP to back it up. Sure Cloak leads to bigger items, but those are for supports who aren’t clipping coupons. Want to help push, but can’t afford a Basi for some reason? Blight Stone’s Lesser Corruption works on towers. I wouldn’t ever recommend skipping Boots in place of Wind Lace, but the item still has its place in the early game survivability entourage if you’re against enemies who are easily kited. Lastly, if you’re one of those Phoenix or Ancient Apparition type heroes who dropped 2k on Midas who did literally nothing with the +30 AS, raid your team’s Tomes of Knowledge. Mango for regen and emergency mana, Faerie Fire for emergency HP, you no longer have to Sisyphus your way to a major item. Buy stopgap items that keep you alive so you can... 7
6 Stick around for kills
Two years later and players still understand the assist system about as well as they understand AA’s ult tooltip. 6.87c brought some attention to the math, but most people were just like, “Well these numbers are smaller than the other numbers... so it must be... a nerf... to assist gold.” It was. But assists are still the easiest way for supports to earn cash money.
These are the mechanics governing assists:
1. Every allied hero within a 1300 radius of a kill will receive a portion ofassist gold (and experience). 2. The value of gold awarded for a kill assist is calculated from a very complicated equation that factors: a. Number ofassisting heroes in the radius b. The dying hero’s level c. The dying hero’s net worth d. The teams’ net worth differential 3. The scoreboard assist counter will only go up if you did something to the dead hero. 4. The scoreboard assist counter means absolutely nothing other than helping you make your way to the Dotabuff Top 100 Dazzles with padded KDA stats. When you’re getting ganked and you narrowly escape, don’t run back to base immediately. Besides the possibility that you may be able to toss out one more stun or nuke, you are awarded with reliable gold if the target dies just for standing around. And if you see someone else getting ganked… Many players seem baffled at the concept ofusing TPs pre-10 minutes for anything besides TPing immediately back to lane after dying. You know what everybody expects? Pudge leaving mid on an even numbered minute. You know what nobody expects? A level 4 Lion showing up out of nowhere even though he was Rotate early just in a different lane. That’s a free kill. You know what else nobody expects? TP reactions on early tower dives. That’s a free double kill. With cheap items like Wind Lace, Blight Stone, Orb of Venom, and Mango, early support rotations are more lethal than ever before.
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8Check enemy items often
This is something every role should do, but supports are the first line of defense. You see carry players only really alt-click enemy items after they die discovering them. Support players are supposed to announce these pickups before that happens. Why I think it’s especially important on support players is because you get a lot of information by clicking on enemies at all stages of the game. The most useful application is to trackward usage. Click on an enemy and see an observer or sentry ward in their inventory? Okay, they haven’t placed it yet. Keep clicking on them every time they exit and re-enter fog. If they suddenly don’t have it anymore, well now things are very obvious. The other reason is that you can better preempt enemy plans. See a Shadow Amulet in Slark’s inventory? Better buy Dust and Sentries now. See a smoke in a support’s inventory? Be extra cognizant of missing heroes. See 10 stick charges on someone? This guy’s probably going to play aggressive. See a Blink Dagger on... anyone? Back the hell up because squishy supports are the #1 victim ofBlink Dagger reveals.
9 Tailor your build
Not only have the past few patches introduced lots of early game items, but the mid/late game repertoire has expanded significantly as well. Here are some support pickups that are roughly around the 2k gold mark: Blink Dagger, Hand of Midas, Aether Lens, Veil of Discord, Ghost Scepter, Drum of Endurance, Force Staff, Glimmer Cape, Mekansm, Vladmir’s Offering. Now, you’re probably going to build one, maybe two, of these items in any given game. When 6.86 dropped, Aether Lens and Glimmer Cape were the choice seemingly 99% of the time, but 6.87 has since leveled the playing field a bit more. Don’t just build ‘whatever you always build,’ think about what fits the game best. Which team has more physical and magical damage? Is your team more early game or late game oriented? Do you need to play defensive or are you playing offensive? 9
The 3k gold range is equally decisive: Solar Crest, Eul’s Scepter, Pipe of Insight, Crimson Guard, Rod of Atos, Diffusal Blade. All of these items are useful in a specific context, but none ofthem are really one-size-fits-all-games.
10 Single pull Has your relationship with your one position gotten stale?
Blow his mind and spice up your sexy laning phase by single pulling the sexy small camp in the first sexy 60 seconds. It’ll drive your carry crazy.
Hire me DotaCosmo, I’ve got hundreds ofthese. tsunami643 beautiful loving writer @cosmopolitan 10
CREEP EQUILIBRIUM: Not Just for Supports In the lower tiers of Dota 2, it is believed that the control over creep equilibrium is the supports’ job. Self-righteous carries claim to have lost the lane simply because their supports never pulled the lane for them. Whilst the supports play a crucial role in the creep equilibrium, the carries can also play their part in ensuring that the creeps are in an ideal position to zone out the enemy offlaner and farm safely.
Why is the creep equilibrium so important?
Creep equilibrium, or where the creeps are in the lane at any point in time, can determine the outcome of the laning stage. If the creeps are sitting close to any one tower, the players on that team are in an advantageous position. A creep equilibrium close to the safelane tower means that the offlaner on the other team is at high risk of being killed, as he is further away from his own tower. If, however, the creeps are close to the tower of the offlaner, the safelane carry on the other team puts himself at a similar risk. If the creeps are pushed towards the offlaner’s tower, it becomes much more difficult for the supports to zone said offlaner, and the kill potential on them decreases. Thus, the safelane carry and his supports should put every effort into keeping the creeps as close to their tower as possible, without letting the creeps fall into tower range. Whilst this guide was written from the perspective of a safe-lane carry, almost all of these
Why is having the creeps killed by the tower a bad thing?
There are two primary reasons why it’s detrimental to have creeps killed by a tower. Firstly, in the early stages of the game, heroes will not have much attack damage to work with, and towers are likely to kill the very creeps that the carry is trying to harvest every scrap of gold from. Secondly, the tower kills creeps at a much faster rate than a normal creep wave. As a result, pulling creeps under tower will cause the creep equilibrium to shift further away from the tower than it was previously. This will give the offlaner space to farm and make farming said creeps more risky as the safelane carry. 11
So, what can I do to control the creep equilibrium?
Use the tower range indicator option.
Found in the Options Menu under settings, using this feature will allow you to see the exact range and target of the tower when pressing and holding the ALT key. Whilst most players have a general sense of where the tower range is, miscalculating this can push the creep wave under tower range and cause the lane to suffer.
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Keep the number and health of creeps as equal as possible. If there are more creeps in one wave, that wave will, all things left untended, push the lane. In order to combat this, you need to try and keep everything as equal as possible. With each wave the two waves should have an equal number of each kind of creep, and these creeps should have equal health. If your creeps are healthier or more numerous than theirs, you will be more actively attacking your own creeps to equalize the difference. If their creeps are healthier than yours, you will autoattack their creeps to bring them down a notch. This becomes trickier when the enemy uses their own abilities or attacks to influence the creep equilibrium. Be sure to counteract any spells or attacks that they use with spells or attacks ofyour own. This is especially important with regards to ranged creeps. Ifyour wave has two ranged creeps and theirs only has one, it becomes harder to last hit, and the situation can quickly sour your laning. With careful maintenance of the creep numbers and health pools, the equilibrium will remain in the same area when the new creep waves arrive.
But what if my supports are pulling?
If your supports are doing a good job of pulling for you, the situation changes. Now, because your supports are essentially removing every second wave, you have to make your single creep wave last for two enemy creep waves. This will mean auto-attacking their wave so it dies faster and, if necessary, using AoE abilities to clear out the wave. You will want to try and time it so that the creep waves die at the same time your new creep wave arrives . 13
If the creep wave is pushing under your tower, aggro the creeps away and out of tower range.
If, for some reason, the creep wave is going to be drawn under your tower, be sure to use your own body to stop them. Draw aggro by attacking a creep or A-clicking the enemy hero, and keep the creeps out of tower range (which can be seen by turning on the range indicator as mentioned in tip 1). You will likely take some damage from this, but it will be worth it to keep your farm safe. These three, simple tips will make you less reliant on your supports for the maintenance ofcreep equilibrium. While this is most important during the laning stage, using these principles later on in the game can allow you to farm more safely, especially with the new armour bonuses provided by towers. Hopefully, you will now be better able to keep the creeps safely nestled close to your tower. Go out there and use this knowledge to win your laning stages more often!
By
PizzaDog 14
Mechanics in a Nutshell:
Orb Walking
Unique attack modifiers were once known as orb effects in the wc3 days of dota. These are essentially unique effects added to right clicks (currently, these modifiers do not stack unless expressed within the information box of the item or ability). There is a certain mechanic that results from these orb effects existing which is called orb walking. Essentially, whenever a hero possesses an ability, such as
clinx's searing arrows, which changes its attacks you can utilize that ability instead of attacking normally to avoid creep aggro. Remember to manually cast as avoiding creep aggro only works when a spell is casted (due to the way creep aggro works. Creeps only care about right clicks). Auto casting these abilities will aggro creeps. This is extremely helpful when laning as you will never be able to upset the creep equilibrium while harassing your opposing laner.
The other portion of orb walking involves canceling backswing. Backswing is essentially the delay between the point of damage of an attack or ability (there are abilities with backswing and abilities without backswing) and another queued command being performed. This essentially means that attacks have a very small cooldown in between themselves. The most efficient way to deal damage while attacking an enemy is to cancel this backswing which is also known as orb walking. To cancel the backswing all you have to do is utilize your attack and then move in the same direction or to the same area as your opponent. This allows for a generally higher dps as you will get in more right clicks utilizing this method. However, sometimes it is more effective to just auto attack due to attack speed. Look at your scenario. If your attack speed is high enough, then orb walking can be significantly less effective than just letting your attacks go uninterrupted.
By HappyMeal
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Supporting in Solo Queue Becoming a Conscious Dota Player Undoubtedly some of you have already read numerous guides on supporting in solo queue. Hopefully this guide can not only reiterate some points made in other guides, but also present new playstyle patterns that are helpful. This guide isn’t going to go into depth on things like warding, stacking, birding courier, etc. It is intended for players that have a general understanding of Dota terminology, and are not confused by terms such as lane equilibrium or blocking. This guide will be relatively long, but will focus strictly on the first 10 minutes ofgameplay. Following general rules can be helpful, but recognizing when exceptions occur will be what sets
you apart from others in your bracket, thus making you climb. A quick example is always carry a tp to countergank, but clearly don’t tp in if it will have no effect. These scenarios can be hard to judge, so that’s what I’m going to focus on in this article – preventing bad scenarios from occurring and practicing evaluating scenarios (via youtube). Before we begin, I’d like to mention I do not cover trilaning. Never trilane in solo queue. Ever. Even if you have arrived at the logic of “but man trilaning looks really strong here!”, assume the logic is wrong. There’s always a better option in this meta.
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Minutes 0-4
Minutes 0-4 are the most crucial minutes in the game for you. You need to become a laning god, wherein all of your decisions are near optimal and you’re maximizing your gains and minimizing the enemy offlaner’s gains. There are two general paths you can take as support - roaming or laning.
as it provides huge damage boosts (multiplicatively stacks with seal) to you and your team. Roaming is hard to talk about. The absolute best thing you can do is pick any front page game that’s 6k+ average, and find a BH or Doom game. See what they do in the early part ofthe game, and copy it. Roaming hero list in Best
Roaming
As a roamer your job is pretty clear cut. Be as disruptive as possible, show up to lanes that need help and have kill potential, and take runes. Ifyou do not do all 3 ofthese things in minutes 0-4, you’ve failed, period. Picking up runes can literally get you a kill that would be otherwise impossible. If needed, set a looping 2 minute alarm that says “rune spawning in 20 seconds” and start it at 20 sec before 0. A bounty hunter with a haste or a dd is among the scariest things to play against in this period oftime. A hero I particularly enjoy playing as a roamer is Skywrath. Since you’d be picking this after your laning support has been squared away, you’re free to buy null talisman+courier. Your job is then to spam the ever living fuck out of your Q on the enemy mid hero. Out of mana? Go die to ancients, and come back. Warning: Do not die to bounty or another counter roaming hero! Don’t trade hits unless you’re 100% sure it’s safe. Just spam your Q! I usually rush veil immediately after boots and stick,
Laning
I’m really going to focus on this section. It’s extremely important – more important than becoming an effective roamer. The first step is deciding which hero to pick. In this meta, you should shy away from weak laning supports. There’s always going to be a roamer, jungler, or dual lane on your team, so you need to be as powerful as possible as early as possible. I almost always pick Lion, WD, or Skywrath depending on what the team needs. These heroes allow you to have very strong presence in lane via damage output. You’re perfectly fine to pick another strong laner, such as Ogre or Dazzle, as long as you stay true to the theory. Your philosophy should be about minimizing losses early by playing your lane as perfectly as possible.
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So you’ve picked your hero. It’s a strong early fighter. The first thing I do is sprint to my safelane jungle entrance, and try to block the offlaner from warding. I also almost always ward the lane, then secure rune, etc. These steps should be almost concrete, as in never changing. What’s your first move now? Seriously, stop reading and think about it. If you said anything other than something involving the enemy ranged creep, you’re wrong. That is your #1 priority at this point in the game. Offlaners will usually block their creeps in such a way that their ranged creep is the front creep, thus making it die first and consequently pulling the lane back towards them. If this happens, you can straight up lose the lane versus
fast level 3 with boots, you’re screwed… providing you didn’t hard counter their hero with your picks. What you need to do is simply run into lane, and stand there. Let the archer attack you, from range, so that their melee creeps run in front of the archer. Here are the before and after pictures for what I am describing.
At this point, the lane should be a little bit further back than depicted in the pictures due to your safelaner blocking. Now you have a decision to make. If you are vs a difficult dual lane, immediately check your small camp to see if it’s blocked. If not, stack it and pull it, allowing your carry to get solo xp. If so, zone the offlaner as much as possible. If your carry loses creep equilibrium, pull the big camp at :53, diagonally, to the next incoming wave. Use a tango if you are dire. Do not stack the small camp then pull, as you some offlaners. Some examples are need to equalize the lane again heroes like Timbersaw, Slardar, or ASAP at this point. Beastmaster. If these heroes hit a 18
Closing Notes Kills can be relatively difficult in this period of the lane. Your carry likely does low damage, and any kill attempt you go for has a high probability of ruining your lane equilibrium via creep agro or aoe spell damage. That being said, openings do happen, but you need to be extremely quick to jump on these. Punish offlaners heavily for running up and being out of position… but ifthey are passive, settle for starvation! Go for runes whenever possible. Sometimes it’s not feasible to leave the lane for the rune, but most ofthe time it is. Super important! So in essence, pulling, zoning, and rune control. Nothing new here, right? Fair enough, but people still fail horribly at it! Pulling the lane, and pulling at the correct time, are two different things.
Minutes 4-10
Start to look for kills on their offlaner. Hide in the trees on the side, ready to tp and countergank. You’re accomplishing two goals at once by doing this.
At this point, it’s night time. I would be willing to argue this is the most important time of the game, and this is the period in the game where you should be focused on using gold and xp difference you built to find kills. Get active guys. Finish up your brown boots if you need to, buy a tp, and another ward. Put the ward mid lane. Sometimes it is okay to stay in lane and continue pulling and defending your safelaner, but usually you want to
Camp behind your mid ready to countergank.
Converge on their safelane, put a ward, and look for more kills/take the tower asap. This is usually towards the end of night time (6:30+) once you’re offlaner has hit level 6, and after their lane ward has expired
Smoke gank mid with your roamer.
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Deciding which route to take can be tricky. If you haven’t found at least a couple of free kills in this time frame, you’ve usually failed your role. The general logic for deciding which bullet to pursue is this: Analyze their offlaner’s playstyle habits. Is he passive? Is he aggressive? If he likes to disappear and go jungle, don’t waste your time. Aggressive players tend to feed, and passive players tend to be ineffective early game. Stick around if he’s aggressive. The best offlaners strike the perfect balance between these two poles.
“Simulate” the damage of a gank in your head. You’re lion, and your mid is dragon knight vs an invoker. Encourage your roamer to come with you to gank him, because you know there’s not enough damage otherwise. Ask your mid to setup the kill by initiating. Judge your offlaner’s success. Did he win his lane? Hell yeah, head up there and find another kill. I just picked up the 6 minute rune. It’s a haste/invis/dd! Destroy whoever is out ofposition.
So now that we have the theory, click this, and let’s see some examples.
The best part about the examples I showed is it took me less than 20 minutes to assemble them. The patterns are there, almost every game. It’s the same stuff guys. Believe it or not, I wrote this guide before going and finding these examples, knowing I’d find it with minimal effort. Good luck in your games, and feel free to message me on the subreddit (/u/Miseryy, no I’m not the pro player)!
By
Mis 20
Interview with cottonwings
cottonwings is one of the most talented artists out there, publishing content and engaging with the community and the Workshop with amazing sets, artwork and outstanding talent, here today being interviewed in Feeder’s Digest: Feeder’s Digest
So, cottonwings, what’s your name? Age and where are you from? cottonwings Real name is Macy Phoo, going to be 25 this year and I'm from Malaysia. Feeder’s Digest I see that you have several projects going on in the workshop (And by the way, they are amazing! I love the Resolute Seafarer). How long have you played Dota 2? and which is your favorite hero? cottonwings Thank you! I started playing Dota 2 since 2012 when Ogre Magi was added - my other half introduced me to the gameplay and I enjoy it very much. In terms of character, my favorites are Kunkka, Templar Assassin and Enchantress. Some of my preferred heroes to play include Zeus, Disruptor, Slark and Vengeful Spirit. Feeder’s Digest How it's working with Valve Workshop? cottonwings I got a free dinner at TI5. Feeder’s Digest Amazing! Was it good? cottonwings Absolutely, a great time talking with some ofthe official Valve artists. And there's food! Feeder’s Digest I see that you are pretty present in the Dota 2 scene, what do you most like in the community? cottonwings I love how passionate the community is in making fun content, be it montage videos or fanart. We're a tight-knit circle so it's not a surprise to see collabs between your favourite content creators. Of course this will not last without the support from fans. Give them some more love everyone! Feeder’s Digest So I think that's it cottonwings. Wanna say some motivation words for the future artists? cottonwings I love y'all :) 23
Ancient Horoscope
Fan Fiction Book Club
Steet fighter VS Dota 2 A good piece ofart makes you question the work. A great piece ofart makes you
question yourself. A masterpiece makes you question reality. By these criteria, Steet fighter VS Dota2 is a good great masterpiece. The first sentence (“The countdown had started the players were spawning in; Slark Dazzel walked to their respective lanes before realising that they had no clue who they were against?”) artistically manipulates punctuation (or lack thereof) to establish the piece’s tenor. Missing commas create a slapdash slipstream of chronology, emulating the experience of spawning into a foreign, yet familiar reality to fight an unknown foe. Furthermore, the question mark at the end is the author’s tip-off, a wink to the reader, almost as if to say, “Is this what’s happening? Is any of this real?” Cleverly acknowledging the doubled layers of fiction (a story about a match which never happened in a virtual battlefield), the author’s invitation to interrogate the veracity of the narration from the work’s inception carries through the entire piece - the first clue in a trail of breadcrumbs that runs into the depths of the psyche. The second paragraph begins, “As the minions started to fight Slark got cocky, He started pushing a tad too hard and was getting way to fishy.” The author’s deliberate word choice is nothing short of subtle brilliance, hinting at Slark’s latent, repressed sexuality. Associating Slark fighting with “cocky” establishes a narrative of struggle around his sexual urges - both the struggle to adhere to Nightcrawler gender norms by exercising his physical prowess, and the struggle to express his sexual frustration by resorting to violence. Immediately after this, the author introduces “Cammy from streetfighter and Chun li”. Continuing the theme of conflating sexuality and violence (perhaps a commentary on American culture?), Cammy dives “into [Slark’s] legs snapping his shin bone into 87 pieces before upercutting him in the jaw with her foot[...]” a line riddled with two glaring details: the shin, and 87 pieces. 26
Why the shin was chosen is fairly simple, and frankly elementary compared to the mystery behind 87. According to Google Translate, “Shin” is Japanese for “Truth” - clearly indicating that the meaning behind 87 is the key to understanding Steet fighter VS Dota2. So what significance could 87 hold? The atomic symbol for Francium, a highly radioactive element. The sum ofthe squares ofthe first four primes. Michael Jordan’s birth year, 1987. The answer is none ofthe above - and yet, in a way, all ofthem. Francium has never been viewed in bulk, but is assumed to be highly reflective. Therefore, the meaning behind 87 remains difficult to reveal, but is illustrative ofa critical truth. The sum of the squares of the first four primes... meaningless, until reinterpreted outside of its mathematical context: Squares, not only as in the mathematical expression, but also the shape, and primes, both as in “of the highest eminence or rank” and “first in order of time, existence, or development; earliest; primitive.” Before I explain the meaning behind the first four primes, I must expound upon the seemingly-random inclusion of Michael Jordan’s birth year. As we all know, Michael Jordan was a man that defined the intersection between culture and capitalism, sport and spending. And yet, the final station of his legacy is does not reflect his achievements or influence, but instead, his weeping, reddened eyes. Calling out to Shelley’s Ozymandias, the author reminds us: in light of this revelation, none of our previous achievements mean anything. The meaning of 87 signifies a new identity, and the death of the old self. The first three of the four primes are obviously the Holy Trinity of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. But the fourth remains an enigma, and as we are left to wrestle with the theological ramifications of a heretofore-unknown fourth member of the Holy Trinity, everything comes full circle. All of this culminates in the final revelation about 87. The true, or “shin” revelation.
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The fiction grapples with duality in countless facets, from the conflict between two sets of characters, to each game’s two representatives, all the way down to the struggle between Slark’s conscious and unconscious. Also, the game is called Dota 2. Starting with two, we apply three of the squares, like the Holy Trinity, to two. Two squared is eight, so we can rename 87 as (23)7, or 237. What is the final square?
A door. The door to Room 237, from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining - a film all
about sexual discovery and self-realization. Cammy didn’t just break Slark’s shin into 87 pieces - Cammy “broke” the truth to Slark about his true self. In case this seems like a slight stretch, the text immediately afterwards reads: “He noticed that although all he could taste was blood that her feet smelled really nice.” This is the turning point where Slark accepts not only the numerous injuries he sustains, but also, himself. After this, Chun-Li and Cammy kill Dazzle by snapping his neck, “spraying herself in purple blood or some shit,” leaving Slark “alone against these too large strong women with legs like Athena herself.” And even as he dies at the hands (feet?) of these two transfictional interlopers, he accepts his fate with grace and maturity, having finally understood himself: “There was a teleport coming in at the dires sides tier 1 but slark never got to find out who it was before he died in foot fetishy fun.” I applaud the author’s respect for the reader and exquisite understanding of intertextual relations. Connecting pop culture, theology, and classic art into a compelling narrative of a dying fish-man’s quest for selfunderstanding was fascinating, compelling, and bittersweet. For all ofthe above reasons, I award Steet fighter VS Dota2
10/10Mangoes We can only hope today’s authors take note of this important piece of work, and leverage it to advance modern literature beyond the petty quagmires of irony, sarcasm, and satire, which riddle today’s writings like a pox. 28
Fan Art Gallery June 2016
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Team Profile When you think of the greatest teams in Dota history, the old giants of the east are at the forefront ofthe discussion. It has only been a relatively recent development that western teams no longer fear Chinese teams, but have established themselves as premiers. Disappointment in Chinese performance at the last two majors sparked an emphatic earthquake in the scene. Not a single team was left untouched, for nothing less than a major upheaval would suffice to thrust China back into contention, with TI6, the true prize, looming on the horizon. And from the chaos, it appears a new beast (pun unashamedly intended) is ready to challenge for victory, forged like a diamond from the pressure to win.
Ne
ewbee
Pictures used are all owned by Newbee and used with their permission
After winning Ti4 in commanding fashion, Newbee came to best represent a perceived complacency and decay taking hold in the east. Gone was the fire in the belly, replaced by warm noodles and RPG’s. It is fitting then, that it is Newbee, though with only 2 TI winning members, that lead the charge.
By LodbrokDota
Qualifier Journey
And what a charge it has been! Newbee crushed the Manila qualifiers without dropping a game, seemingly favored by a Guardian Angel. They came to Moscow’s Epicenter with a 21 game win streak and stretched it to 29 before Frankfurt winners OG took one off them in a best of 3. Only Kuroky’s Liquid, who themselves must be favorites for Manila, could stop them over a best of5 in the grand finals. Newbee were a central figure in the recent shuffle, assembling a potent mix of experienced and fresh faces. As mentioned, only two players of Newbee’s TI winning squad feature, carry Hao and mid Mu.
PLAYER PROFILES
CARRY - Hao - Zhi Hao Chen
‘General’ Hao is captain ofNewbee, one of the most respected carries in the east, and has been for some time. Was with Newbee for TI4, but joined VG for the TI5 season, placing 4th. He stands out for his wide array of heroes and aggressive approach. You will be dived, and you will be killed. Be sure. Loda and Notail are decent comparisons, both with a wide pool and playmaking tendency. The key difference is that Loda and Notail often do it to make space for Bulldog and Miracle respectively, and while Hao sometimes does the same for Mu, he is generally playing the true carry. In this way, Hao is closer to Agressif, now of LGD, as one of the most proactive fighting carries in Dota.
Key Heroes: Gyro, Weaver, Spectre, Lone Druid
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Mid - Mu - Pan Zhang The only player to have stayed with Newbee since TI4, Mu has weathered the storm and emerged stronger than before. Equally capable on farming or tempocontrolling heroes, Mu has seen it all and can do it all. He is the rock of Newbee in game, and out.
Key Heroes: Dragon Knight, Alchemist, Queen ofPain, Invoker
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Offlane - Kpii - Damien Chok Kpii (kp) is a rare breed in China for two reasons. First, he is simply new blood. Second, he is Australian – few foreigners break into Chinese teams, and Kpii is the only Australian representative in any major team of any major region. He made his name in smaller teams, playing mostly mid, and got an opportunity with MVP. Phoenix last year, placing 7/8th at TI5. In this team, Kpii is a stable offlaner. He thrives on their aggressive style, and team fights well, though can very occasionally seem to be out of sync. It will be interesting to watch his development in Newbee, if he can raise his game from being a reliable performer in a team of champions, to grow into a star in his own right.
Key Heroes: Tidehunter, Beastmaster, Batrider, Doom
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Support - Kaka - Hu Kaka has been one of the few Chinese players whose stock has only been on the rise the last few years. He is a relatively new breakthrough player, famous for his 8k+ mmr (rare for a support). When EHOME were looked at as one of the favorites for Shanghai, much ofit was on the back ofKaka’s play. He enjoys a balanced supporting dynamic with Chuan, and excels especially with team fighters and playmakers.
Key Heroes: Phoenix, Io, Earth Spirit, Tusk
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Support - Chuan Hock Chuan Wong
Once the co face of IG, alongside Ferrari_430, and one of the most famous and loved players in the East, Chuan had fallen on hard times, his victory at TI2 a distant memory. Switching to Newbee seems to have awoken the Chuan of old. It could be his new environment, it could be a personal ambition reawakened, but whatever has spurred it, Chuan appears hungry for success.
Key Heroes: Lion, Enchantress, Disruptor, Rubick
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Team Style and Strategy
If you had to summarize the way that Newbee plays and describe their greatest qualities, it would have to be their teamwork, movement and versatility. When they seem to get the drafts they want, Newbee play as an embodiment of Hao’s personal style. It is aggressive, but controlled and directed. Take risks early if you can get an advantage, fight hard as a team come midgame, and take control of the map. A faster pace has been the direction of the last couple of patches, which suits Hao wonderfully. What enables Newbee to do this is their understanding of draft timings and picks, their elite execution, and teamwork. The way the team has melded into one so quickly is actually quite astonishing. Other teams usually take far longer to build the same level of coordination. Looking at you, Secret. In order of priority, Newbee draft to win fights, lanes, then control the map. They aren’t necessarily reliant on a blitzkrieg early game, though as a consequence of style they often enjoy them. Instead they like heroes who can survive lanes and contribute in the mid game fights, where they like to decide games. Lone Druid, Dragon Knight and Tidehunter are frequent core picks which illustrate this point. All are very difficult to shove out of a lane, while LD and Tide are easily able to rotate into the jungle ifyou commit
the resource. What they bring come midgame is strong teamfight and the ability to farm and take objectives rapidly. On the support side, Chuan’s Enchantress and Kaka’s Phoenix are good examples of how the team plays. Enchantress can win lanes or farm for mid/late depending on the game, while Phoenix can simultaneously zone the offlaner, sustain the carry and dominate team fights early and late. It’s a very well-crafted and balanced set of heroes, in whichever combination they choose. Newbee almost never get caught trying to be too greedy. Generally it’s a just atri core setup, with the supports sharing the duties, and only ifthe game permits will they try to transition Chuan or Kaka into a fourth core with Enchantress or Doom for example. The two games Newbee have looked most vulnerable were their game 1 losses against OG and Liquid. Chaun on Enchantress dominated Miracle-’s Invoker, but OG made space for him to catch up, and he split pushed exceptionally well in return, managing to take a barracks plus kills for nothing in a highlight play. Liquid were able to capitalize on a strong early game with the lightning pushing power of Mutumbaman’s Lycan, overwhelming Newbee before they could stabilize. Lycan was first phase banned for the rest of the series. The games give an indication that pushing and split pushing is the way to play into Newbee’s favoured strongman drafts.
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The other major factor for playing into Newbee has been in the warding wars. To consistently be making good trades through good movement, Newbee have been reliant on aggressive wards, favored deep in enemy territory. If Newbee can see the enemy, they are safe and may do as they please. If the enemy is missing from lanes and their deep wards, then Newbee knows something is amiss and can play accordingly. It’s an extremely effective strategy. It should then be no surprise other teams have wised up to Newbee’s plans. In game 1 of the Manila qualifier grand final Ehome’s veteran supports LaNm and Fenrir put on an extraordinary dewarding performance. No less than 6 wards were dispatched, many near immediately, in the first 14 minutes. Normally such warding dominance should result in a favorable early game and snowballing midgame, but it didn’t matter. Ehome couldn’t kill Newbee’s tanky heroes reliably, and Newbee played patiently before crushing in the important fights. At epicenter the western teams were well prepared, especially later in the tournament, but despite consistently dewarding it often wasn’t enough. Teams still couldn’t win fights. OG actually attempted to run a core Moonmeander Nighstalker against Newbee in their game 2 to lockdown the map. Unfortunately for OG they couldn’t muster the momentum to get it online early enough, nor to truly take advantage of it, though OG pressed Newbee very hard for the win. Liquid put a similar
importance on vision control and map mobility, featuring drafts with Zeus, Riki, Beastmaster, and Io. Reading this , one could easily develop the impression Newbee are a formulaic, predictable team, waiting to be found out sooner or later, but that would be misleading. Underneath macro strategies, the fundamental reason for their success has been in the little things. The small outplays, the map awareness, the coordination in fights, and moving on the map. It’s taking advantage of timings, exploiting cooldowns, but anticipating their opponents above all. They have even shown a willingness to take risks in drafts, throwing up unexpected picks, like carry Veno, support Nyx, and offlane QoP.
Conclusion
After Shanghai, some began to fear even for the long term competitiveness of China. So far Newbee have not only put those worries to rest, but their combination of old and new has rekindled the passion and inner fire crucial for competition. This is a team that holds the promise of greatness, and now carries with them the dreams oftheir nation.
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THE RETURN OF THE OLD GUARD
J
BY
AKASAKA
ust shy of twenty minutes and two lanes of barracks down, White Fries Gaming gave the GG call in a tight series against CDEC.A. It was a sobering result for the team headed by the veteran hyhy. In the months leading up to the open Chinese qualifiers for the Manila Major, his team had suffered considerable setbacks. An angry outburst from another veteran ZSMJ, in which he had yelled at the entire team for being lazy and incompetent before storming off into the night, had lost the team one oftheir star players. 41
White Fries Gaming
Although both players posted on Weibo that ZSMJ’s departure was nothing personal, there was a sour note about the whole affair. Words thrown out in anger were not so easily taken back, and more importantly, there was a gap that needed to be filled. Turning back to his roots, hyhy recruited fellow Singaporean poloson. Another player from the old days whom success had eluded, poloson had played on many notable Singaporean teams, including Scythe and First Departure. "I would like to clarify that ZSMJ's decision to leave the team was of his own, and that he insisted on it even though efforts were made to dissuade him from doing so." -hyhy
While poloson had been playing professionally, hyhy pursued a degree. His return to professional Dota 2 was marked by a move to China in a sudden announcement of the formation of “White Fries Gaming”, which would include hyhy as captain, along with ZSMJ (from TongFu and Newbee), Chisbug, ayo, and a new player, yChen. For those familiar with the Chinese scene, those names will no doubt ring a bell. Talented players who never really found their groove, they sought refuge in a lower profile team where the pressure was off and they could focus on refining their skills. In the team’s first scrims, they were crushed. And then they were crushed again, and again. They had the occasional draw. But for the
most part, they were losing badly. Chisbug would wake up early to study the team’s replays and picks alone. This cycle of losing went on for about a month. I thought through time we can improve, but at the moment this is not happening, and it probably won’t be happening for a while, which is why I decided to leave.” -ZSMJ
At some point, ZSMJ must have snapped. In his own words, he said, “From the time a team forms, their upper limit in potential is determined.” Thinking they could improve slowly, but disappointed at his teammates’ lack of effort, he let his anger stew for a while. Then, after a lost scrim hours before a tournament, he went berserk and shouted at everyone. He called them trash, he called them lazy, and God knows what else he said. Then he told them to find a substitute for the night and left the team house to calm himselfdown. That night, hyhy contacted poloson and asked him if he would sub in for ZSMJ, and he agreed. What happened next can only be called the result of miscommunication. Accusations were made, words were thrown around, but at the end of the day one thing was clear: ZSMJ was out, poloson was in. Whether ZSMJ was kicked or left of his own volition, well, nobody really knows. The fact of the matter is, White Fries Gaming were moving forward. 42
In the short time leading up to the Major open qualifiers, hyhy had to learn how to play the offlane role from scratch. It was a grueling process, and WFG bombed out in the first open qualifier, long before the round of 32. Fast forward to the second open qualifier, and things were looking up. They were in the semifinals facing a strong CDEC.A team, and potentially Newbee.Y after that. The first game was a simple domination. hyhy played Axe and, along with the rest of the team, closed the game out in 25 minutes. In the second game, things began to fall apart. WFG lost a 15k gold lead in a disappointing end to an hour long game. And the final blow was the sub20 minute loss in game three, the result of a disappointing Anti-Mage pick. It was reminiscent of TI1, where hyhy picked his signature Shadow Fiend against iceiceice’s advice and lost their knockout match. This time, it would be Anti-Mage that cost him his spot in the Major qualifiers.
Amidst pressure from the community for older players to retire, hyhy pushes on relentlessly. Like so many others, he remains hungry for the championship that has remained just that tiny bit out of reach. Haunted by what could have been, he plays on despite being on a team with one of the worst win rates. Nevertheless, every cloud is bordered by a silver lining. In the past few days, White Fries Gaming have been crushing their way through the StarLadder Chinese qualifiers. In their quest for success, they show no signs of stopping, and I for one wish them nothing but the best.
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Raigor
Credits
Head and organizer of the Magazine
Only started playing after TI4, but quickly fell in love with the game.
Pedro
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Sheepsticked
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I play Overwatch now.
Be the better Procrastinator
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Loves Dota 2 but barely play the game itself these days :(
Long-time shit, first-time shitposter
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Akasaka
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Just a lil boy tryna make it in the world of a game I barely play because it has better memes than anywhere else
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Writes for a living. Pays writers to write for him for a living. Stares at computer screens all day. Has a hot/cold relationship with DotA
Mis
Game Analysis Writer ŇŽou are what you eat
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Played Dota 1 terribly. Stopped. Played Dota 2 and loved it. Became slightly less terrible
msr-
Nilceps
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Lift long and prosper
LodbrokDota ESports Writer
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