This is interesting. The second link not so much, though, but it's worth a listen for those who are interested.
I think it all can be summed up with this:
Quote:I'm not saying the contracts are great. I'm saying that it's great they are revealed. So apart from what's already been covered by LodA, Martinez and a mass of redditers, the transparency should also, in time, increase future e-sports contract quality.
MLG was very very interesting. Western power houses not getting 1st and 2nd place as usual is one of the biggest surprises. Na'Vi still placed in top 4, which is no surprise considering how well they do in almost every event; but Alliance not even making it to the playoffs just shows that other teams are catching up and they can't stop working/improving. The other big surprise for me was Sigma.int; I haven't watched their games because I had a headache when most of their games were played but I read that their draft was different and executed well. Also, DK. What a recovery from the slump they were having in eastern tournaments going undefeated through most of MLG. Na'Vi's semi finals were really fun to watch with all the rapiers and stuff but all of this pale in comparison to the hugest surprise in the event, Speed Gaming.
sG had no off laner, one stand in, a terrible trip for two of the players, terrible day 1, manager issues that just went from bad to worse just before the finals and still they managed to win the whole thing. Day 2 they went 5-0 and the upset was DK, which just played weird. As much as I wanted sG to win against DK I was expecting them to lose against the 7-0 DK. According to iceiceice it was more of a 'experimental draft' but Burning wasn't even close to playing weird, it was just bad. Messing up his boots, never selling those useless tranquils to get something better and then not using his BKB at all.
The finals were the best for me. Game 1 was great with them holding their base from DK's onslaught for so pineappleing long, even though Speed had little to no chances they made DK fight it out for 80 mins. Game 2 they just played so well. SingSing's Mirana is OP, Arteezy just went insane killing people with his Timbersaw despite his not so great start and Envy with a build I thought was weird going ham on everyone. Game 3 was also played insanely well by Speed but it also showed DK's flaws... in Burning. It wasn't the delayed Rapier but some of his BKB activation that lost them the game, imho. LaNm was DK's 'walking highlight' throughout the games with his refresher on Earth Shaker, his aegis steal (with Alchemist out of all heroes) his jukes... Regardless, I think DK style has changed for the better and even Burning is starting to adapt to his teammates. One can only hope they end up working it out because they can produce some of the most interesting/fun matches in both scenes.
All in all, I'm just happy for Speed and their first place in their second LAN event. I hope they also do great in G-League
"Shout out to Samantha"
"Does she want the...."
"She probably wants the oD now" lol
In other news, related to something I posted recently about Speed Gaming's manager posting player's contracts on facebook and everywhere; there seems to be issues with the manager and owner of the team. Nothing is really clear at the moment and I worry for the players. This was posted earlier by the manager, later on added 'proof' (which apparently I can't find now) but it just makes both owner and manager look bad (at least to me). Then reading reddit comments it all just gets worse knowing that the guy didn't even ask for permission to post the contracts, some of his shady 'actions' in the past, he wasn't there for the team and the worst of all: he posted all of this minutes away from MLG finals. I liked the idea of making contracts public because some of the points presented in Loda's blog as well as that other guy but even if he's not a shady person what he posted right before the finals is just a plantain move. I really really hope players do well in the future and don't get screwed by plantain managers/weird team owners.
Bit sad liquid didn't get further, but i'm still really happy about Na'vi vs Fnatic in the finals.
I like both teams so regardless of who wins i'll be really happy for the team.
Dreamleague finals are ON! http://www.twitch.tv/dreamleague
Fnatic looks in a REALLY good shape.
I suppose that after years of playing together, their team synergy had to improve some time.
Just one question, HOW THE pineapple IS PUPPEY 2ND MOST FARMED ON HIS TEAM(And in the entire game) AS A CRYSTAL MAIDEN, WHAT THE pomegranate. (Game one)
Just one question, HOW THE pineapple IS PUPPEY 2ND MOST FARMED ON HIS TEAM(And in the entire game) AS A CRYSTAL MAIDEN, WHAT THE pomegranate. (Game one)
Cap'n of the century
No seriously, that guy can predict plays waaaaay before the other team even think about them.
Fnatic failed like 3 or 4 ganks on him AS A CM.
Just one question, HOW THE pineapple IS PUPPEY 2ND MOST FARMED ON HIS TEAM(And in the entire game) AS A CRYSTAL MAIDEN, WHAT THE pomegranate. (Game one)
Midas and towers, mostly being in every fight/kill without dying.
I think Puppey has figured out that there's really enough gold on the map right now that traditional "farm priority" is really not entirely relevant when a eul's, sheep, bkb, whatever on your CM is gonna win you a teamfight when both carries are getting farmed anyhow.
HOLY pomegranate...
HOLY FUCKING pomegranate!
That last game man... THAT LAST GAME MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN
WHAT THE pineapple HAPPENED IN THERE????
[video=youtube;29bEfDzkbKo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29bEfDzkbKo[/video]
I still can't get over it
From 3:15:05
it will be remembered as "Darude the secret weapon of Na'Vi"
Been way behind on my Doto e-sports. So I watched the 3 game qualifier between Alliance and Rox.Kis for G-League from the JoinDota channel.
The first game was an utter stomp from Alliance, but then Rox.Kis delivered two stomps in a row. Wait what? Alliance felt like throwing those last two matches or something?
Will be slowly watchig more over the course of this week.