From the game itself, to tournament dynamics and the way teams have dealt with the new challenges Valve brought in with the Majors format, the Dota 2 the community has seen it all during the last competitive year. And when I say competitive year I’m taking into account only the period starting after The International 5 to the present day.
Nearly one month after The International 5, Source 2 went live and the “Reborn” client name for it couldn’t be more prophetic for what was about to come. Despite having a new client and a hefty amount of patches to figure out throughout the year, what remains with us now, a week before The International 6 qualifiers are set to begin, are the three Majors, the tormented shuffle periods in between them and their impact on the professional scene.
For some, the roster lockdown came as a burden, for some it became a real life Drafting Stage while only a few took it like an incentive for creating something special, that will last and withstand all the challenges on the horizon. So, let’s rewind a bit and reflect on the day that started all the madness; August 15th 2015. A week after they lifted the TI 5 Aegis of the Immortals trophy above their heads, Evil Geniuses kicked Aui_2000 and brought back Arteezy from Team Secret. From there on, the player swaps between the two teams never stopped and in their race to achieve the best of the best rosters, both EG and Secret managed to do more harm than good. To add to this, even though they might have not foreseen it, they’ve also messed with the goals and ambitions of other teams.
i have been kicked from eg after winning ti. i actually hate people
— Aui 2000 (@Aui_2000) August 15, 2015
While it’s easy to flame Secret and EG for their choices, it’s also extremely hard to ignore how the two best drafters in the world started to treat their teammates as pieces of a puzzle and transported the Captain’s Mode draft stage to a new plane.
The three Majors boasting $3,000,000 prize pools each, run without any official confirmation from Valve on how they will influence the TI invites, suddenly became the main goal for most of the teams. The short-term commitment became real for Secret and Evil Geniuses, who in theory had their TI6 participation secured as defending Champions. However, the two Dota 2 giants seem to never be satisfied with their rosters and every transitional period from a Major to another was a time of drama related to them. At the same time, the Chinese scene had its fair share of messed-up situations, controversies and long trail of dramas, including the Shanghai Major epic fail.
But through all these tumultuous times a few teams stood firm and proved once more that Dota is not only about star studded line ups that look great on paper, but also a common vision and chemistry. Although it seems unfair not to discuss Alliance, NA’VI, Wings Gaming, MVP Phoenix and even compLexity (despite their not so good performance in Manila), two days after the Manila Major concluded, all the spotlights should be on OG and Team Liquid.
Both started their journey, in the post TI5 shuffle, from scratch, without sponsors, organizations and big promises. (monkey) Business and 5JuNGz or 'N0tail’s and Kuro’s stacks' as everyone was calling them at their first official matches, grinded their way to the top, chasing the final goal which was always The International 6. Both teams revealed their rosters on 28th of August last year and both transitioned to an organization in October. Apart from that natural step in their existence, they completely ignored the next two shuffle periods and instead of creating headlines that will last for weeks as transfer of the year, they focused on achieving what they had in mind from the very beginning.
Ironically, the 9k mmr prodigy Miracle- was offered the chance to enter the big scene at the same time by both Notail and Secret, after TI5. When Secret announced their version 3 roster with w33 and Misery, EternaLEnVy was asked on ask.fm why w33 over Miracle-. Ten months later his answer from back then is more relevant than ever: “Miracle chose notail for reasons we don't understand but oh well. When miracle started "thinking" about his decision I already went to w33ha right away. I rather play w/ someone who believes.”
Before answering the question, perhaps EE-sama should have remembered that both Notail and Fly were part of the first iteration of Team Secret and both were kicked a few days before Dota 2 Asia Championships, the first tournament outside Valve’s official events to have a $3m prize pool on the line. Perhaps that story alone was what made Miracle realize the difference between building a roster for an event or even a patch and creating a team.
For some really well-known reasons, EternaLEnVy’s answer struck a chord with me during the Frankfurt Major press conference. N0tail spoke his mind about the importance of friendship and trust between the members of a team, and during the winner's Interview after the Grand Finals at the Manila Major, Fly summarize it all with three words: “Friendship conquers all.”
title image source: ESL
