DCcom unveiled: Bamboe and Muga talk about the switch

The comeback of several GoD players to the first official team of the likable commentary website DotACommentaries was well recieved among large parts of the European community. Since the breakup of the Dutch DotA squad, whose biggest achievements marked a top-eight placing in the ROCCAT GosuCup 3, SexyBamboe, Muga_Riptide and EvilsNear needed two months to return.

Together with ex members from SoulGaming and GoldenSpoon, team DotAcommentaries find themselves in solid shape already, after qualifying for the DotALicious tournament, which will reach its main phase soon. Due to the departure of former GoD captain and strategist DeadMage, it remains to be seen how the team will perform against European top tear teams.

DCcom are:
SexyBamboe (c)
Muga
EvilisNear
715
Laged
Jonecy

As the following chat shows, neither Bamboe nor Muga or DotaCommentaries content manager Luminous lost their sense of humour and showcase casually, that team chemistry and the new environment seem to be their biggest strength, while making clear that DCcom is set to compete in all upcoming online tournament.

Bamboe and Muga, nice to have you back in the Dota circuit. The good relationship between you and DC was clearly visible after Bamboe's first guest appearance on Nebu1a's DotA Daily show, but what’s the aspiration of DCcom? The departure of Koek and DeadMage can be counted as a decrease of potential in the team. Do you want to continue where you stopped with GoD or should I not even start comparing the teams?
SexyBamboe: Nah, you can’t really compare since we are all Dutch, real-life friends and always like hanging out together. But it’s quite similar, since we are also having fun with the new members that joined and enjoy playing every time.

Muga Riptide: I believe GoD was very focused. We had five players with the same mindset who speak the same language. The new team contains two Finns, one German and three Dutchies. Not only are we in it for the fun of it, we are mixed and have many different opinions.

Speaking of the new members 715, Laged and Jonecy, please tell us a bit about them and their competitive background in DotA, as they are not as popular as you yet.

SexyBamboe: Well about 715, I used to play with him and his mate 630 way back in normal Single Instant Games, where we met and liked playing together a lot. Then we kind of got separated for some time, where I hadn't seen them, until they reappeared in Soul Gaming. Shortly afterwards, we started to hang out and play a lot together again. About Laged and Jonecy, I met Laged in Dotainvite and started playing with him. As his team lacked players for clan wars a couple of times he asked me to hop in and play with them. That is also when I met Jonecy and started liking his play style. After a while, GoD disbanded and GS was having rough times. We started training and liked hanging out with each other; that is how DCcom started. (*smiles)

Muga Riptide: I personally met 715 after GoD disbanded; he was the one looking for a team with me. I played some practive games with him and we decided to look for a team together. Regarding their playstyles and personalities, 715 is a carry player, Laged and Jonecy are supporters. 715 has a very typical German voice; he is also a very happy person and is always there to troll and laugh with. Laged is the Maiden, do not underestimate this, as he is THE Finnish Maiden. He also has the most epic voice in the world. Jonecy needs no description; he is Jonecy.

Muga mentioned the different nationalities and the different mindsets, compared to the old GoD. Do you think that this circumstance can get DCcom in trouble, for instance when drafts dont work out, or do you rather see positive aspects in that, like when it comes to working out concepts through a wider range of ideas?

SexyBamboe: Well, I try to gather as many ideas as possible during the drafting stage, what worked out pretty well until now, since it leads to new ideas. That makes it more fun for me instead of playing the same heroes over and over again, but in the end its all about the captains decision, so my decision! (*laughs*)

Muga Riptide: The drafting is vastly different now. This is more attributed to the captain than the team, as Bamboe picks what he thinks is fun and what people want to play. DeadMage on the other hand was more focused on winning. Not that we/Bamboe get outpicked or anything, he is just more focused on having fun with the draft. I believe our play styles are clashing at the moment however. In GoD we had a clear line in the game and a clear game plan. Now, we don’t have an ingame captain at the moment and we play from experience, which at times leads to people going in and out of clashes without any real form of teamfight control.

Muga, on the drafting aspect, I remember one phrase very well from the last interview five months ago, which was: "DeadMage tends to outpick the opponents while they previously tended to outpick Bamboe."
Did he improve nontheless throughout the months?
SexyBamboe: that was so mean!

Muga Riptide: I think our play style improved around the picking and we gained a lot more experience through clan wars. DeadMage is in my opinion still the better drafter, though we have progressed as players, so the improvisation from Bamboe´s picks fit our current play style just fine.

Bamboe, what are your thoughts on the current DCcom drafts? How dominant are you when it comes to making decisions?

SexyBamboe: I try to be as less dominant as possible and give everybody a chance to make decisions alongside me, since in the end, it all comes down to team synergy and you have to stand behind your team all the way.

You managed to qualify for the DotaLicious main event. Besides that, where else will we see you? Are you getting a slot in Pick League Division 2 for instance?

Muga Riptide: We have the old GoD-slot in Division 2 and are registered for the BDL weekly tournament. We are also in for the upcoming Excello Cup and just won the Dota-tournament finals as well as the mentioned DotaLicious qualifier. Basically, we are planning to sign up for as much as possible really, not to mention Argh League etc.

SexyBamboe You might even see us on LANs if it works out really well.

You play under the banner of DotACommentaries. Does this imply any closer cooperation between team and website? Will we see you on their commentaries or shows more frequently for instance?

Luminous: In most commentaries, casters can only speculate what each team is thinking; however, it's now very feasible for DC casters to commentate alongside members of DCcom and get a fairly accurate outlook of the game. Questions such as "why did DCcom do this?" or "How does this fight effect the game" will have a more accurate answer than before and I believe that this will improve the overall qualities of our commentaries tremendously. In supporting our team, we're providing some basic needs such as a protected communication channel/forums and various special coverage of games. DCcom and the staff members of DC keep a professional yet close relationship and we get along quite well.
On a lighter note, DCcom also comes to stomp our inhouse players from time to time. It's a good chance for average Joes to play alongside these players and learn from them. And really, from personal experience, SexyBamboe's Tiny is really that sexy.

SexyBamboe: For me, I liked doing shoutcasts with my favorite bearded American Nebu1a and the co-casters. It would be cool to do them occasionally for fun and as a bonus, I sometimes even learn things. And you won’t believe this, I even met three girls! No joke. I didn't know they existed; a whole new world opened up.

Muga Riptide: I personally enjoy playing with the average Joes a lot. Just playing unranked games with voice and focusing on the choices a team makes ingame is what keeps DotA interesting. Being able to convey your thoughts into the game as well has its benefits, by being overall better understood.


So you do pick up things from the commentaries and still learn from them?
SexyBamboe At first I was like no way, never. But then I met the world class DotA player, GhettoLobster and well yeah if you read any of his blogs on GosuGamers and watched him play, you know what I mean. He is definitely the best DotA player I know by now. I still have nightmares when I sleep.

Muga Riptide We mainly learn from practice games and finnish DotA legend Deduksers. However the mentioned average Joes are great for honing skills beyond the average player skill, such as captaning and overall game insight. Our insights into the mechanics of DotA and choices of items do not really change from watching commentaries. We pick up things as versions change but other than that nothing pops to mind.
I'd like to add that most of us still enjoy watching commentaries, they are preferred over watching replays. The personality that the casters from DC add is a great pleasure to behold, even though not every caster adds value from a DotA perspective but more from personal experiences in life.

SexyBamboe I also check out commentaries, because since I don't watch replays, I’m curious what’s happening in the DotA scene and how teams perform, while having fun watching them. It’s always fun to hear what commentators have to say, even if it has nothing to do with the game.

All that appears very positive; however when we stay at the European scene, which mostly happens online and given the decrease of qualities that the live shows nowadays have, due to e.g. DDOS attacks; do you feel that DotA in Europe is in its final moments and less good comes out of it as time goes by?

Muga Riptide: I don't know how to answer that. Yes DDOS attacks occur a lot. However they have always been around, so I assume as time goes by nothing changes. The quality of the streams will continue around a certain flux. The DDOSing appears to be a normal distribution or Gaussian distribution. It peaks at times and we also experience that we won't hear from it for a certain amount of time. Which both might be acceptable values for a single standard. No research has been done on this front so no conclusions can be drawn.

SexyBamboe: From my perspective, I see European DotA growing, since there are so many new sponsors and new tournaments with bigger prize pools. I also see so many new good players everyday which I have never heard of. As for the DDOS attacks, we experienced it once if you remember our match against TR (ROCCAT GosuCup 3, first groupstage, Editors note), which was really annoying since the game was almost over and suddenly three of our teammates disconnected and I had to control three heroes while my mate controlled two, resulting in our loss. But all in all DotA will never die!

That said, you wouldn't mind too much if DOTA 2 was to be released later? Are you generally happy with where DotA is right now? What aspect about the professional scene would you like to see improved?

SexyBamboe: I just hope DOTA 2 to be everything that DotA is right now and more! The biggest thing I look forward to are new juke spots, since I’m a born juker and that’s what I love the most. About the current professional scene one word: Sponsors!

Muga Riptide: I actually expect DOTA 2 to be released later; it is Valve. Have they ever brought out a game that was released without at least three months delay? Regarding where DotA is right now, I am very happy about it. I found 6.69c one of the better versions and when 71b came out, I quit for about ten days, that is how horribly I hated the version. It is improving again from this point onwards however. I enjoy the massive buffs to melee carries in 72c, which are among my favourite types of heroes to play. In regards to what the professional scene misses is of course professional sponsorship. There are some, but too few who truly provide a salary and a budget to attend LAN's.

I hope your wishes come true and you achieve and accomplish your goals in the future. To round it off, please describe your teammates with three words only.
Muga Riptide
715: German, Numbers, Troll.
Laged: Maiden, Maiden, Maiden.
Jonecy: Notorious Finnish Viking.
EvilIsNear: Dutch Hater Focus.
Bamboe: Tiny (not the hero), Sexy, 5ienna's BF.

A big shoutout to Bli5ter]par[. He got us up when we were down. When our team was divided he was the one that got us back together, our thanks go out to him!

SexyBamboe
715: Gondar,Robin Hood(-aa),WannabeMid
Laged: Crystal Maiden, Alcholist, Hentai
Jonecy: Lina, Trollking, Jutila
EvilIsNear: Lich, Mentally-disabled, Ward king
Muga: Kunkka, Farmwhore, Smartass

Shoutout to my GF/Lover/SexToy Sienna, Tzar who is also my friend, GhettoLobster who taught me so much in so little time, Nebu1a for being the most awesome caster and www.Dota-Commentaries.com for sponsoring us. And greetings to all our fans of course!

Links
dotacommentaries.com - team homepage