Jeremy Marre

Transcription

In August 2011 a tournament featuring the popular online strategy game Dota 2 was held in Cologne, Germany. It offered the largest prize pool to date attracting professional players from all over the world. Yes, it is actually confirmed. 1.6 million dollar prize pool! I'm double-checking to make sure they haven't changed any details since they told us last time. 1 million in US dollars for First Prize. That is for the winner. 1 million dollars for winning Dota! It's going to be huge. Dota2.com The tournament tab is up, too. Our website will actually change for the next 24 hours as well... The day I transformed into an adult was the day I started playing Dota. It's times like, when you go up on the stage, you represent your country for something. You get the prize. It's the amount of satisfaction and achievement that nothing else can give you. It's something I definitely don't regret ever doing. Gaming is simply the proudest thing in my life. It can be called "gamer," but for me, it's something different. One way to forget about pain is to do something that you will be in completely. So... computer games. For me, it was... everything. This is my career. I've chosen to do it for so long. Success in my eyes is always based on how other people see you. In the eyes of the public, it's up to them. It's important to be doing things that you love and you really appreciate. Because that's your passion, man. You should really work for your passions. Ok, guys, you have 7 minutes to set everything up and then we go. This is the first time I really wanted to take something seriously and do something good for my life. FREE TO PLAY 10 years ago, competitive gaming wasn't even really a thing. You would play for fun against your friends. Maybe you would play for a cup of coffee or whatever you wanted. When I started playing, we'd been fighting for 24 bottles of beer as a first place. I'm not joking. From there, though, online happened. And, all of a sudden, you weren't just trying to be the best on your block. Now you're trying to be the best in the world. And that opened up competitive gaming to a whole new landscape. And one of the games really leading the way is Dota. Dota is sort of a combination of football (or soccer for the Americans) and Chess. This is probably how I would try to explain Dota to someone who's not familiar with it. At least, that's what I did to my parents. Dota is a game of momentum. You as 5 players try and battle against the other 5 players for momentum. Every single player controls one unit. And the main objective of the game is to destroy the final enemy building which is called the "Ancient." Everything else that happens in the meantime is your amazing filler of a game. You could play 100 heroes in conjunction with 99 other heroes. It's just nonstop possibilities and it's so much fun. And you know, it's like the same map every single time but it literally never gets boring. I would say Dota is a way of life. When the prizes started coming I was like, well we have tournaments so obviously some people are going to come and say, "This is a great game. Let's play it. Like, let's put money in it." And it started progressing each year. Those at the top level, they just do like lots of calculations in their head. Something like "A Beautiful Mind" where you see like all kinds of things. And using all this information make your next move. I see it in a lot of ways similar to basketball. Just like a 5 on 5 game where you kind of have to work together and utilize each other's strengths and synergizing everything together. The teamwork, and the trust, and the sacrifice those are all true for every single team sport. Dota is a game that unites everybody. It doesn't matter what country you're from or race you are. It's kind of like a bond that is shared and when you're part of this tight-knit group of people. It's like having a second family. That's something you never let go. Everyone's searching for something. Fulfillment. Fame. Satisfaction. It gives you the ability to become someone else. A someone who is powerful. Who can take down 5 opponents. Express their creativity. Break the rules without actually getting arrested. All of these reasons are in there somewhere. The player himself might not even know. He might not even understand it himself. But it's there. Medford, Oregon Gaming fulfills my competitive need. I'm a very competitive person. When it comes to sports, I consider gaming a sport. So I use my competitiveness and I fuel it with Dota. So it fulfills that side of me completely. Fear's one of the best in America, if not the best. He has a lot of experience. He's one of the old hogs, basically. And he's generally just a calm guy. So, in my opinion, that's his strength. Really good basketball player. I remember my coaches watch him playing and just talk about picking him up the next year when he came in. Always had nothing but good things to say, but he wasn't picked on the team. The reason was, yeah, he just wasn't tall enough, I guess. So, I know that, yeah, he found the game. He got really devoted in that and stuff and just found something else that worked. I was your typical parent. "Clinton, you're spending too much time playing computer games." "You need to go to school." "You need to go to college." and he would tell me, "I want to be able to play games and get paid for it." Now he said this at a very young age before Dota ever came along. And I thought, well, you know, he's going to grow out of it. He's going to get sick and tired of sitting there in front of that computer and playing. Never did. Never did. Singapore In Singapore the families actually put a lot of stress on us in terms of our education. I would say it's been tough on me trying to juggle both studies and gaming at the same time. My grades have dropped for two years already. And my parents have treated the gaming as the cause of it. I mean there was this phrase that they used. They said, "Gaming will be the death of you one day." He's a great player and a great captain. I would say he's the top player in Singapore. Easily. My parents and my family, they don't actually speak much of my gaming career. They don't tell their friends and my other relatives that I'm actually that good at my games. All along they have only been bragging about my studies. Because I used to be an "A" student. Yeah, they go on and on. And... And it seemed like that was the only thing they could ever be proud of. Actually, there has only been one person that has always been very supportive of me gaming. And that was my ex-girlfriend, Huayan. She's from the female Dota team in Singapore. There are a lot of things that we share in life. So many things. In my case, it felt really good, you know, to have someone who truly appreciated what you did best. And loved you for it. She was aware of what I'm doing and what I'm passionate about. The breakup was her decision and I respected it. We'd been together for close to three years and ever since the breakup, I haven't gotten over it. I recall the last time she spoke to me she named me as a bastard so... *Laughter* We're not in contact anymore, yeah, but... life goes on. L'viv, Ukraine I'm from Ukraine. My nickname is Dendi. I finished my university, and I'm just playing computer games right now. He was doing music. He played the piano. He was doing dancing. At school, he had musical plays in which he played the main role. Audiences were always impressed by his artistic ability. When their kids' group was showing, Danil would always stand out. When we were growing up it wasn't a good time financially for our family. But my grandma helped us to get our first computer in 1997. Early, compared with other kids in Ukraine. We got visitors every day. The friends of my older brother used to come to visit us and we were playing games. And Danil, every time looked at what we do. Every time we would try to push him away but he would come back and look again. It was more prominent with him than with other kids. During all his conscious life we were trying to stop him from playing. We were hiding our computer cord everywhere in our apartment but he always found it. I always wanted to understand him better. Including that hobby, I wanted to understand him better. There were certain reasons. I'm not going to mention them now. I think somewhere deep inside he's a little bit sad. She stopped preventing him from playing Dota. She gave Dendi the freedom to choose what is the best for him and his life. Tournaments back then were really low prizes. And a lot of prize money didn't even get to the players. There's been a lot of scams with the managers and stuff like that. There were, like, some rumors that it's going to be $50,000 first place, and everyone was going, like, "Nah, it's not going to be like that." August 10, 2011 Watch the forums go nuts, guys. Watch the forums go nuts. It is actually confirmed. It is off the fricking hook. 1.6 million dollar prize pool! That is for the winner, 1 million dollars for winning Dota! Dota, the game I've played for 5 years now. Which I played for fun. For some food money or whatever, you know. Ok, it's actually getting big. It's the largest prize pool of any gaming competition to date. It just felt like the start of something big. Like a revolution. You know, we had everything we needed for the game to become big and respected as an E Sport. It would kind of like vindicate us. We're not just playing because we're addicted. There's a goal, a motive. That we can actually reach out and grab if we are good enough. Beijing, China Over in Asia, professional gamers are treated like rock stars. It's a viable career opportunity. They actually live in gamer houses. So it's set up to be a thing all year long. I think their approach to practice is that it's like a day job. The fan base is immense. It probably is as big as the whole western audience together. Or even more than that. So now you really have to play good. You really have to try hard. It's first place. It's go big or go home. The big teams get big money. But the 9th to 16th place earn nothing. And their salaries are not worth considering. While in sports, you have a salary that you can live on. With pro gaming, I think that's one of the toughest parts is living game to game. It's like living paycheck to paycheck. Like, I have to win. If I don't win, I don't get paid. That's a tough living for anybody. It doesn't matter what you're doing. When your child wants to be a professional gamer you don't have any history to look back on like other sports. I don't know anyone who's made a living at gaming. So it's kind of a scary thing when you see your kid putting their whole life into gaming and not college and not the traditional things. What if nothing comes of it? Regarding the age I think, yes, 25, 26 years. It's absolutely maximum for E Sports because 27, 28, 29, 30 your reaction time is lowering and you can't click so much, you know, as the kids do. A lot of financial responsibilities are laid upon me right now. Require me to be successful in something or have a job. So it's pretty critical that I am successful if I want to continue the gaming career. He's an "A-Star" student, you know? Because of this gaming, it pulled him right down. It's very sad for me. So here the bad one is Auntie. Auntie is the one that always comes here and nag, nag, nag, nag, nag. -Am I right? -It's tough being a gamer. Sorry? -Am I right? -I said, it's tough being a gamer. Huh, hy? Multi-millionaire. *Laughter* For gaming, huh? Sorry, you are not. Huh? What is your view? What is your plan? That is more important. I mean, we speak ourselves. We speak our frank opinion. This is your choice now. What do you want in life? That is more important. If I'm going to win this tournament my first thought would be... I will call my ex-girlfriend. Things got real bad between us and... but right now, for me, if I'm going to win this tournament, my first thought would be, yeah, I would call her. I would tell her about it and... I would want to share this moment with her... yeah. This tournament is going to be a moment in every gamer's life. Everything that you've been doing has been building up and is going to happen over one week. And then it's not one week anymore. It's one game. And then it's not that one game. it's that one moment in the game. And then that one moment in the game is where it's going to finish. And how's it going to finish? Are you going to be holding up a trophy? Or are you going to be the most disappointed that you've ever been? Cologne, Germany It's Tuesday. So one day before the event. We already have a lot of setup. We have a lot of computer setup right here. The whole booth construction pretty much finished. So five players per side. They can see each other through the glass. They can't hear each other. This booth is soundproofed up. Plus, the whole setup here if you look from above looks exactly like a Dota map. And this is the mid. This is where it all happens. A few teams have already arrived this morning. We had a lot of teams from Singapore. We have China. We had Malaysia coming in and Russia. And tomorrow it's finally happening. DAY 1 of 5 TEAMS WITH TWO OR MORE WINS ADVANCE TO THE WINNERS BRACKET We're here live at Gamescom 2011 in beautiful Cologne. It's the first day of the event. We've got some of the world's best teams here in Dota. And they're handing out a tournament prize of 1.6 million dollars! It is massive here. A tournament of 1.6 million dollars. That's the future of gaming. This is awesome! It's the first time we're going to see teams of this caliber assembled in one location. These guys are not just nameless faces. They're the best in the world. The bunch of teams we have here, there's a few teams that have individual skill that's unbelievable. And then there's a big group of other teams that have good individual skill, not top-notch, but who win through good strategy and team play. Fear is a great player, for example, but he is not comparable to good players in Asia. And that's nothing against Fear, because he's still an excellent player but he's not them. Over in Asia, they take gaming so much more seriously. Just to give you an example, the Korean soccer team were playing in the World Cup. To motivate the Korean soccer team to play better, they brought in Starcraft Brood War professional gamers into their locker room before they went out so that they got to meet what were their heroes. Shanghai, China In China, Dota is to the people there what Starcraft is to Korea. It's televised. The girls like their boyfriends to be Dota players. After a game, when they're walking around you can see fans running up to them asking them to sign on their shirts. It's like a real sport. The third time I was in China, I was playing with fans for two days. They made a video of me, filming me walking in some mountains and I had to say some sentences and stuff. And I was like, yeah, "In Dota, there's always a new mountain to climb." Stuff like this, you know. I walked up and down these stairs and started running and lifting some weights, just to compare this with Dota like some metaphor and stuff. Fuzhou, I am coming! E Sports in China is already a sport that is recognized by the General Administration of Sport. It is the same as tennis, ping pong, chess. The only thing is that it is not an Olympic sport. I will say that China teams are all great. Every player in the team is strong. You don't recognize China players as a player. You just recognize them as a whole team. You just fear the whole team. The Chinese teams that have come to this competition are scaring the shit out of everyone else. We had two of the top Chinese teams in our group. Online Kingdom has not been regarded as one of the favorites to win it. In fact, they were considered bottom four or just bottom eight for sure. This is our first time on LAN together. The team together has only been around for around 4-5 months so it's a relatively new team, and Pajkatt, our newest addition, playing Carry for us, he's only been on the team for three weeks now actually. We were really nervous going against a Chinese team especially the top Chinese teams. There are going to be players that choke handling this kind of pressure at such a young age. 1437, this is the first time he's ever been on LAN. It's not easy, like, this is a million dollar tournament. First time he's been on LAN. LAN (LOCAL AREA NETWORK) A TOURNAMENT WHERE ALL THE TEAMS COMPETE IN THE SAME LOCATION This stage. This prize money. This prestige. This is real competition. We tried to keep our cool together and we just played our game. ONLINE KINGDOM VS VIRUS ONLINE KINGDOM 1-0 ONLINE KINGDOM VS NIRVANA.CN ONLINE KINGDOM 2-0 We were super hyped. Everyone was surprised we were doing so good. Even we couldn't believe it. Online Kingdom dominating right now. ONLINE KINGDOM VS TYLOO ONLINE KINGDOM 3-0 After the match against TyLoo, everyone was very excited, you know. We just beat one of the teams that was actually favored to win the competition. So everyone's spirits were, like, "Oh, we may be actually able to do this, you know." Beating the Chinese teams, some people just, you know for fun, they started, "Ok, hey, it's OK.Nirvana.Int. They're the China slayers." DAY 2 of 5 DOUBLE-ELIMINATION BEGINS A few little bit surprises that we had yesterday. Quite a few upsets. OK.Nirvana.International managing to beat two Chinese teams in a row, beating out TyLoo and OK.Nirvana.CN. They're currently on a roll now. And Chinese teams are not unbeatable. But on the other hand, EHOME are just proving that they are the strongest of the four Chinese teams having a clean 3-0 record. They are the favorites to win the whole tournament. So they come in with the confidence that they've won so many championships already. It's always a little bit of national pride at stake. So, of course, they want to prove that Chinese Dota is still a little bit above the rest. EHOME is one of the oldest Chinese Dota organizations. They've always been at the top of competitive gaming. Most memorably at ESWC 2010. Before ESWC 2010, I thought, like, yeah ok, the Chinese, they're probably pretty good, but like how good can they be? And then we played EHOME who won that tournament without losing a single match. Like, they just crushed every team. 1st PLACE EHOME finished the year as the best team in the history of Dota. They were just like on a totally different level. Like, they had their manager sitting behind them. He was making their calls. He was running around with this little black book. And they were the first team I heard of who did that. The EHOME manager copying down the draft, doing the prep work. He was their coach. There was a great interview that was done. And it lined up all the top European captains who attended and the topic was EHOME. If you want to ever play good you don't need to invite Chinese teams because they are too strong. So EHOME won... What do you think of the Chinese guys? I never felt this outplayed in my entire life. It's unbelievable how good they are. Like, their timing, their discipline... They're really in control of the game, the whole game, and they keep this control all the time. This is really crazy to see, actually. It's because when we are at any international tournament, when all of the foreign team managers and team members see us, everyone will all yell out, "EHOME!" EHOME! EHOME! Do you know how spectacular that is? Actually, this is a story. It's a custom. Which is when everyone sees EHOME, they naturally think the king is entering. During this trip to The International, it's actually the same period as my exam periods. So I treated it as a sacrifice that I've made for the team and for myself. And I find that when it comes to pursuing your passions it's really up to you to decide if it's worth the... worth the sacrifice. SINGAPORE When they're having exams, they don't allow him to leave the school So I told him really I said, "Mind yourself." Setting out on a career in gaming is risky. It's very risky. Because the examinations actually clash with the competition and missing the exams without a proper explanation, the school didn't recognize the Dota competition as a valid reason. It's kind of breaking school rules. The school is very determined to stop him from pursuing his chance of going for this contest. So I think this has created a big stress for the family. Gives his mother very headache, you know? It's quite difficult for us to pull him out right now, I think. You know he's so adamant about it. So that's why when he told me he's going in August, I said, "Then how about your school exams?" "What are you going to do?" I think my mother, she was kind of at her limits, telling me about how much gaming has been weighing me down. That was really the talk when I really opened my heart and I... shared with her my passion for the game and how much I believed that my team actually has the potential to win, to be the best in the world. So we are stopping at nothing less than first. This is how I tried to put it across to my mom. By giving up so much to come here I have absolute confidence in my team that we will win. SCYTHE VS EHOME Alright the draft is under way. EHOME, they will select up their heroes. Scythe will start selecting theirs. Looking now at both the teams, it looks like EHOME they're fairly relaxed while Scythe, you know they're eager. They're all gathering around hyhy to pick. If you have a losing draft, you will lose the game. This is what I think of Dota. So it's really a lot on drafting. Drafting is where two captains will select what they want to play with. What heroes are selected and what heroes are taken out. You can select five heroes out of a pool of over a hundred. And can also remove four of those heroes. So four heroes you think your opponent will want to use, you can remove. Before any game, any match, we will decide our bans and picks according to which team we are fighting. Usually we would come up with a very impromptu strategy to try and fight their strat (strategy). You really have to spend a lot of time thinking of the draft. The draft actually decides a lot of the game itself. EHOME. They're a team with so much experience. They already know the way they want to roll this one out. The only thing that's really going to make it or break it for them is if they can get their execution right. In that particular match-up we felt that we needed something that could instill the fear in them. And Tiny looks to be the last pickup here from Scythe. A bit of an interesting pickup there by Scythe. It's going to start to change around their lanes completely now. With Tiny, it is good as a surprise strategy. If another team doesn't realize where he fits into the whole lineup, then you can really throw the opposition off balance. He's moving away, but no, hyhy, he'll just turn around and just pops the Lina. I want to point out right now that EHOME, they are not noobs (new to the game). This is just Scythe playing an amazing game. When you have such a huge audience and you know that everyone is at home watching the game... they have their hopes pinned on you and I feel that... there's so much at stake. And they should be able to clean it up right now. Tiny, he's gonna toss, he's gonna launch and he definitely gets the kill. We got 357 getting nailed out there. Nature's Prophet going to get the last hit in as well. It's the entire team down for EHOME. This is GG. This is now a double-rax, at least. And EHOME, they're going to disconnect. We have our first Winner's Bracket Finalist. Scythe will advance. EHOME will drop down into the Loser's Bracket, and Scythe will now finish up this game. SCYTHE WINS EHOME CALLS "GG" ("GOOD GAME") CONCEDING THE MATCH Yeah, the one million is... yeah, one million. That's a lot. It's going to make my time playing this game all worth it. Didn't think smoking would do me any good. When did you start smoking? Two years back. Two years back. Bad move. That seems to coincide with when you and your ex-girlfriend broke up. On bad terms... Seems like she's moved on already. Back then when she was playing the game it felt like we had something we shared. Yeah, but right now, it's like... I think she's following this event, but... probably... This event's big. I hope I will get to make that phone call. Finally I'll have something I'm proud of to tell her about. Finally. DAY 3 of 5 When you played the Russians and the Ukrainians, they were just the unpredictable teams. I had no idea what the Russians were thinking. That was their best weapon. Well, we're having fun. We're trying to relax. We're trying to scare our opponents. Mind games. Mind games. I turn off my brain in the way of being scared of someone. One of the things I really admire about him is how he hasn't really had an easy life but he's always so upbeat. He's always so cheerful. When he first came on the Dota scene, he looked like a 12-year-old boy. Everyone was just, like, "Who is this kid?" There's no way you can take this guy seriously. And then he would destroy you in games! I saw somewhere on the internet how he works with the keyboard. It really is mesmerizing. I think Danil benefited from his piano playing because his hands are absolutely amazing. He can make really good moves. His moves, I think are unique, and they might win you the game. But he wants to rely completely on skill. He wants, like, an enemy against him and he wants to kill him through skill, nothing more. He wants to win the game. His disadvantage is that he doesn't have patience. He wants to make those moves. He can get a little bit too silly in games. He will try new and different things. He will overextend in team fights because he believes he can get the kill. And his impatience can go too far and he might lose the game for us. INVICTUS GAMING VS NA'VI Oh, Nature's Prophet, he's going to go in. This should be the First Blood. They got the Sprout on Sansheng as well. There's probably going to be a double. Dendi's ulti, it hits! Dendi, Dendi, no, no. He's not...he cannot be. This is Dendi through and through. Starts with the Hex, goes to Cold Snap, he locks him in place! Weaver really close to death! Manages to Timelapse back out again. Dendi will TP (teleport) back to safety. So GG being called by iG. Na'Vi, they will take the game. NA'VI CLINCHES QUARTERFINALS Our Winners Bracket Finalists are going to be Na'Vi versus Scythe. Most teams that you see that have the most fan bases are full nationality. Our team is all spread out across the world. He does have it a little harder than us because he doesn't really have this human support that we do. Medford, Oregon The hardest thing that I've had to really deal with in my life is just trying to convince my family about my gaming career. It's really, really difficult especially when you start out slow but you know there's a future for something and you put a lot of time into it, and they keep telling you, "You should probably get a real job." I was born in the Los Angeles district in Lancaster, California. I lived there with my dad and my mom. Around 2 years old, my dad left my mom. He didn't really say anything. He just kind of... He just packed up and left. She's had to raise us both while going to law school at the same time. It wasn't real easy as far as just got out of law school, didn't have a job, had huge student loans to pay back. This job came up and so we moved here on our own. So I've been raising them by myself ever since. So this is a photo album that I made for Clinton. As he was growing up, I put pictures in it as we went along. My sons were both really active into sports and they wanted to do a lot so I had to limit them. They could choose two per season. That was maximum for me being able to get them to practice and go watch their games. That was tough. And Clinton sitting on Santa's lap - his brother Santa. My brother's more angry at my father for leaving than I am. He thinks about him. He gets upset. Compared to me, I just block him out and pretend he doesn't exist. Clinton already starting video games here. He was sitting at his house, you know, playing Dota. Doing it competitively, had a sponsored team and everything like that. But I think that's when it started getting on his mom's nerves. I have a crazy sleeping schedule. I'm on a European team so sometimes I have to stay up pretty ridiculous hours or wake up at ridiculous hours. So the standard day for me is not so standard. All the nights he'd be up and stuff, the dog would be up too with him and that would keep her awake most of the nights and this is kind of where the tension got pretty high. You know, this went on for years and it came to the point where I just told him I said, "You know what, you just need to go somewhere else." So I got kicked out of my house because of my gaming career, basically. When Clinton first moved in here, he was looking for a desk and there wasn't anything in the room. And I had a lot of stuff we were getting ready to take to the dump. And Clinton went out there and he came back in with this green desk. And he goes, "This is perfect!" So I didn't have a monitor, so I went to my friend and he had a spare CRT monitor. So I got that, and then, obviously, I have two books here to hunch that up so I can actually see the monitor. So it's kind of a ghetto setup. Even when I go to competitions, I don't think I play any differently on the nice setups compared to this one. Clinton's like the Rocky Balboa of Dota. He's definitely one of the first big US players and honestly, I didn't even know he was that big. In the North American scene, there weren't many good American players known back then. Everybody respected Fear. A lot of the people I knew, they quit the game. They moved on, stuff like that. But I stuck with it so I ended up being like one of the oldest players. With all his years of experience, and all his constant commitment to the game, he's really shown that he doesn't give up. Growing up without my father, I think in the end, not having someone there and teach me the guy side and having a father to help you up, I think that it's actually probably made me the person I am today. You know, I just make sure everything's running smoothly on the team. I kind of play, like, the father figure, I guess. As a captain, I guess he felt he had that responsibility as well. He was like pretty much my mentor. He did tell me one time, "Hey if you need someone to talk to," he would be here. So I kind of see him as a Dota brother. I've never had an ego thinking that I'm better than anyone else. I'm always there willing to help people who are new to the scene. And that's always been kind of my role in the game by just helping players get up for the most part. Fear actually broke me into the scene, you know. It's very hard to get yourself out there. I mean, back then, I was kind of like a fan boy of him. You know, watching his games and what-not. And he gave me a shot to play at a high level. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Fear. I can guarantee you that. ONLINE KINGDOM VS MUFC ELIMINATION MATCH Going into the match, we were all thinking, MUFC didn't do so well earlier, but... If we lost that game, we wouldn't win anything so... it was a high risk game. 36 minutes in, almost a 7,000 gold advantage in favor of MUFC Toward the end of the game, we made a couple of mistakes that put two heroes on the sideline for us. And they had all five still up and decided that they were going to go for our Throne (Ancient). They're probably just going to push for the base. They're going GG! They want to go for the GG! No Fortification anymore! We were really close to losing our Throne. It's below 20 percent HP And Online Kingdom, they are so close to getting eliminated from this tournament! We just needed to do something. Alright, I'm going to go on them! I'm going to initiate on them! So I ran in first and then they all went on me instead of focusing on the Throne, which is good. Again by Silvercross. Fear, he's trying to retreat. He turns into a pig. How the hell is he still alive?!! Go, go, go! Go, go! They push MUFC back! We made this huge comeback where we killed all of their heroes. You know, started pushing. Silvercross is down! Morphling! He's out of this! The Top Rax (barracks) will go! There is no way now that MUFC can come back! But it will be Online Kingdom eliminating MUFC! Our whole team just went crazy. Fear leading Online Kingdom to do the impossible. I've never seen anything like that. And stay tuned. We'll be back here with more exciting gameplay coming up. "ONLINE KINGDOM CELEBRATE MUFC DEFEAT" "SECURE 7th PLACE AT INTERNATIONAL" DAY 4 of 5 Scythe. They are the 2008 ESWC winners. One of the best Asian teams but we aren't afraid of them. We're gonna fight them. I don't know about my teammates, but I don't feel scared at all. I feel like I want to crush my enemy. That's how I feel. That's it. NA'VI VS SCYTHE Welcome to the Winners Bracket Final where Scythe goes up against Na'Vi. WINNER ADVANCES TO THE GRAND FINALS The winner gets a slot in the Grand Final. The crowds were all cheering for them. And their draft was very scary. We were, like, caught off by surprise. But, we were like, we've gotta win this, man. We've gotta win this and show them who's boss. Scythe has managed to take all the best players from Singapore and put them in their lineup. One million! Na'Vi, they look cool calm and collected. They know exactly what they gotta do. It all comes down to gameplay right now and I gotta say like, Na'Vi's lineup, it is not unbeatable. NA'VI GOES AFTER SCYTHE AGGRESSIVELY IN EARLY GAME Now they're gonna look for the initiation and possible kill. hy is gonna get caught. Now bottom lane. Held in place. Sven stunned. Sven will go down. LighTofHeaveN, he helped out but Ancient Apparition gets the last hit. Na'Vi are dominating this final. Now Na'Vi, they're gonna take the chance here. They're gonna go in for the GG. And GG is the call from hy first. Na'Vi are already off their computers. They're not even sticking around. They've got the GG. Na'Vi are into the Grand Finals and will play for the one million dollars. NA'VI GOES TO THE FINALS Scythe will go down. They will face the winner of the Loser's Bracket. ONE MORE LOSS AND SCYTHE IS ELIMINATED FROM THE TOURNAMENT We had just lost our confidence match against Na'Vi. It was actually quite a blow to us. The game was really the turning point for me because I actually learned that in life you can only trust in yourself, actually... not in the sense that you can't trust people but, yeah, like I said, the one who will never let you down is yourself. Medford, Oregon Within the gaming world... You know, it's like I'm following behind my mother's footsteps basically. She worked really hard to get where she is, and I kind of want to be the same way. I want to work hard for whatever I do. For me, I mean I've never really had a dad. So if I had any questions about anything the person I was most comfortable talking to was my mom. She definitely had the most influence on my life. When she comes home from work she's always anxious to bring up the subject how she won a big case. And I'm always proud of her when she wins these big cases because I know it means a lot to her. I mean, in the back of my head, I'm always, like, If I do well and if I win this tournament, I'll finally be able to prove that I'm getting something out of this. ONLINE KINGDOM IS FACING ELIMINATION And whoever wins this match will be facing up against EHOME, but whoever will lose it, is going to be eliminated already. Like, EHOME, they're looking really strong right now. We had the stronger late-game heroes, the better team fight. WINNER CLINCHES 6TH PLACE AND $35,000 Just all we had to do was just control the pushes. Now, Online Kingdom, they're split! The stun on Santa! The splash as well. They're gonna claim a Windrunner. Will they? Yes they do! It's 2-0 for Online Kingdom. Moscow 5, not the start they wanted. But Online Kingdom having an amazing start... We were so close to winning until some few mistakes that occurred in the late game. They might go right now. There's four heroes standing right next to each other. The timing is wrong! There's communication problems because we're an international team. So I think full-nationality teams have an advantage over most teams. Almost there! Big try! Fear's in trouble though. He's shackled and Lacoste is in. He casts his ulti as well. And it just fell apart from there. They just slowly beat us down. Eventually they just broke our base and took every single one of our raxes (barracks). This is really hurting Online Kingdom. They've lost three. Enigma pops. The team is wiped for Online Kingdom. The base will be taken and Moscow 5 will now play EHOME and advance in the tournament. Now, Online Kingdom, they are out. So much promise... It didn't happen in the end for Fear and the rest of Online Kingdom, ONLINE KINGDOM IS ELIMINATED TAKING HOME $25,000 and it will be Moscow 5 that will advance... I think everybody on the team was very emotional. I could only imagine how he was feeling. Some people take it more personally and they give everything to win. It was very satisfying knowing that we reached that Top 8, but he had better expectations for our team, and we'd come a long way and it's all thanks to Fear. If you don't go as far as you thought you were going to be, I guess you end up in tears or something. All of us are really disappointed, but... I guess that's just how it goes. When I get back home, I need to make a big decision in my life. Like, just the benefits of playing Dota professionally, how much I can make from it, and how much time I really need to put into it to be one hundred percent, so... The only way I would ever do that is if I move in with my teammates and have like a training house with them so I know for sure that we're all dedicated. I think things happen for a reason, and when things happen, you just do your best, and continue going forward with it. I mean, deep down inside, I know this career is going to work out for me in the end. As for the Chinese teams I hope and know that they're capable of coming out of the Losers Bracket. The top three teams are likely to be Na'Vi, Scythe, and a Chinese team... which I personally hope will be EHOME. Emotionally, I would hope that EHOME would win. Turning him into a pig! They need to get this kill. The stun! The Weaver Wave! It's a little piglet! And it's dead! Slardar! 820, he's almost dead! Burrow Strike! Epicenter! 357! It's a double-kill by the Weaver! EHOME, they'll lose FCB as well. Moscow 5, casualties of war. Holy Hell. In China, this game is a professional career. We are stressed because we have to win. If we don't win or we lose to foreign teams, Chinese fans will have doubt in us. Now Lion though is going to find him. Hexes him up. Finger's already started. There's the stun. Maelk in a lot of trouble. Really caught out of position. AA ulti will fly in but hits on nothing. Mania with the SK ultimate... The situation is China against the world. If we win the championship, it is what we are supposed to do. I tell them, if you are coming here, you are here for the first place. I will tell them every day, we must accomplish this. We must achieve this. Our tradition is anything other than the champion trophy we will not bring home. They will go ahead and trash it at the airport. Now PLT. Support Teleporting in. FCB gets the first stun. Misery over-commits on the top lane. GG! I can feel they really want to beat us, the foreign teams. PLT, he's had enough of this. FCB! What a time for a Frog! Misery will pop! But when they watch us play, they feel... that there is no way to beat us. Singapore This is where my dad works. For as long as I remember, he's doing the logistics for the company here. So it involves the shipping of the containers from one place to another. When I was younger, he used to work, like, 15 to 16 hours a day. He's pretty much given up on everything else in his life. He's always made it clear to me that I should focus on my life, focus on my studies so as to not follow in his footsteps. He doesn't want me to be slogging as hard as he is right now. But the chance to be the best in the world at something... you don't get it much in life. FINAL DAY THREE TEAMS REMAIN I heard my son say he's working at this, what, Dota. He spends a lot of time and he gets nothing. For me, it's very disappointing. Never goes to school. He wants to play computer. Then in the morning, sleep. Then computer until the next day morning. Then he sleeps. The whole day at least 15 hours at the computer a day. His life, my son's life is like that. For me, I hope for my son to study more. Not like me. I never studied. When I was young, I was also the same as Han Yong (hy), always spent a lot of time to play. But now I also regret, why I don't study. But now I'm hoping my son continues to study to get an education better than me. This is my hope. Having reached the final day of the tournament, Benedict has missed two exams and must repeat his last semester of school. His team is one win away from the Grand Finals. I want to win this badly. Are you ready for EHOME? We'll do whatever we can. For hy, I feel it was a great choice - a brilliant choice. Because he was considering that we could have won. It's an opportunity that you shouldn't miss out. So, get ready, sign in, log in, play around, test a little bit, and then join the lobby in about 4 minutes. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance. If you miss it, it might be gone forever. You might not experience it again. SCYTHE VS EHOME SEMIFINALS And we have a rematch. EHOME versus Scythe. EHOME facing up against the team that forced them into the lower bracket. WINNER ADVANCES TO THE GRAND FINALS The psychological pressure is immense, especially upon the drafter. Because he is the one who is in the end responsible for the team's picks. HYHY GAMBLES AND PICKS "SHADOW FIEND," HIS BEST PLAYED HERO No, no, no, no, no. No, no. Don't say no! No, no. Trust me. No. Wait, wait, wait. Tell me this. You really want it? I really think... It's the Antimage and SF (Shadow Fiend). That's what I think. Shadow Fiend? Alrighty then. It's hyhy as SF. Everyone knows how to counter a Shadow Fiend. It's a very bold pickup here by Scythe. The fact, if Scythe wins the early game, they're going to gain so much momentum, but if they don't, then EHOME will basically roll themselves into the Grand Final. hyhy, BKB (Black King Bar) is going to wear off pretty soon, Venomancer, great strike! hy's dead! Stay in the trees now! And he wants xy-, he catches up to him. And he brings him down. Hey! I told you to stay in the trees! Why'd you come out? Stay in the trees! I told you. What an ulti! He Cogs! Chawy, he wants to leap, but there is just no Mana! I already told you. I told you. Do you understand? It's ok. Take it easy. If he can pop off an ulti like that, he doesn't have to reveal himself to his opponent. He can really just initiate. Oh, there he goes! hyhy doesn't manage to pop off an ultimate. Nice! Nice! There are already three gone. Make that four. It's a double-kill for the Anti-mage. And they're headed for the tower right now. There is a GG—Good Game called by hyhy. Scythe have had enough now. EHOME will advance. The Chinese hopes will stay alive as they will go up against Na'Vi with a one game disadvantage... SCYTHE IS NOW ELIMINATED TAKING HOME $150,000 The first-placing was very important to me. And to add on to that, my studies were also at the same time affected by everything. So everything was related. When everything comes falling down at the same time it's quite hard to handle. Things are all changed. So you gotta plan your life again. All over again. I've learned a lot. You've gotta realize your flaws. That's the toughest part, I feel. I don't do things as well alone. So if you try to do everything by yourself, it's not going to be possible, you know. I'm actually a believer of fate, and I told myself that winning isn't necessary because there are so many more things in life. How you take care of the people you love. I think that's a very big thing. That's a very important thing. It's the most important thing ever. Catch these guys. It's not fair. Catch these guys. I just woke up. It's not fair. My haircut... still... crazy. No? But I don't care. Ok, I have everything with me. Let's go. We are now at the final day of The International Dota 2 Championships. It is Na'Vi. They have a one game advantage. Sitting very, very sweetly in the Grand Final. Who will get a shot at the one million dollars? Na'Vi was running the same strategy the whole time and no one seemed to be able to counter it. Na'Vi loves pushing from minute 10 and trying to end the game at minute 15. Those strategies are very sensitive because if you fail even once it can become a very difficult game for you. EHOME has been known for how well they defend their base So if there was a team that could stop Na'Vi's push it would be EHOME. And let's get this game underway. The players will start to pick up their heroes with one million dollars at stake. Na'Vi need to win two. EHOME need to win three. Running a very, very old school strategy with three core heroes. EHOME managed to survive Na'Vi's onslaught early. It's all on Dendi. PLT TP's himself in. Dendi on the retreat back out to the tower. Will he get himself away? X!! Yes, there it is. Last hit, 357, the Venomancer brings down Dendi in the middle. Every time you see Dendi perform he's always playing very well and he usually doesn't lose his lanes. So, Dendi, his impatience is that Chinese teams, they are patient. They look out for the fact that you might cross a line and they will take you and kill you and win the game through those situations. Trouble in the mid lane again. There's already the Gush. 357, PLT, everyone is right on top of Dendi. He's in the wrong place. And the way Na'Vi played, they really gambled basically. Dendi's really been ganked, just shut down. And not a single kill to his name as well. Now Na'Vi going to assault inside the base Watch Artstyle. Tier 3 tower. VS Swap! Artstyle's in the wrong place! Doom there as well! BKB's both popping off! Ravage will pop from LighTofHeaveN unable to affect EHOME. Pudge will go down. They want to be initiated on. Na'Vi, they need to fall back. They take your little upsets and just win the game through those mistakes. NA'VI IS FORCED TO CALL "GG" "GG" from Na'Vi! EHOME are celebrating right now inside the booth. Na'Vi cannot believe it! They've dominated this tournament up till now, and EHOME takes the first match so convincingly. That was the first loss of Na'Vi during the whole tournament. They went undefeated until the Grand Final. We're going to have a 15-minute break and be right back here soon. Na'Vi, they need to compose themselves. EHOME, well, they just need to be awesome... What a play by them! Any loss actually makes me pretty sad. Dendi's Home L'viv, Ukraine We tried to put family pictures here. This is our mom and dad. And I think that this one is our favorite actually. My childhood, we lived a poor life and Dad was working for all our lives. But he helped us every time and every problem. I just ask him and he'll do everything for me, for Katya, for Danil as well. But Danil and Father were like friends. Indeed my husband was simply a fanatical fisherman. Danil was, I would say, his best student. Danil has the same patience and control as his dad. He could sit for hours and watch the bobber that wouldn't even twitch. They could sit with no speaking for hours. And just enjoy each other's company. They understood each other without words. One day I was going fishing, but Dad never showed up. When I came home it was already super late. He was feeling bad. He went to the hospital. He decided to... stay for a few weeks, you know, so we watch everything, stuff like this. And... cancer. It was a very big shock for me because he was very thin. I cannot understand that this is my father. We were all sure that it must be okay. But it was a very short time. I was really sad and was crying a lot. I was upset about I couldn't say to him, many times, how much I loved him. After his dad passed away, he hasn't gone fishing once. Not even once. For now this is all in the past. Actually I spent more time near the computer because I could not think about it. It's like a distractor. It was like a start time, actually. The push to play more. And that's maybe one of the reasons why I'm playing now. Maybe I wouldn't play at all. The relationship of Danil and my mom grew stronger these days. They support each other. and they are very good friends. I think that this is very important for Danil. You know, five years ago, I wouldn't care about many things. Now, I'm thinking about it a lot. Something knocks you down, you need to learn to get up. So I'm trying to research this. To learn to get up. This is the most important moment in my life because everything I worked on wasn't useful. And now I have a chance to win this tournament for my family. So we have currently EHOME and Na'Vi playing the Grand Finals. Na'Vi just lost one game versus EHOME and it's 1-1. So both teams have to win two matches in order to win the one million dollars. Because our picks looked completely different, we were like passive and stuff. People thought we lost the first game, we're going to lose the second game. We were maybe a little bit demoralized. We really needed to change to a different pick. We were missing something. We picked Enigma just to have a strong teamfight a five versus five combat. It was, like, the last hero left and I never played it before. Then, we're, like, "Dendi, you go!" And he's, like, "Guys, I've never played it!" "But, I can do it!" So we took the risk of taking him and risking maybe playing him badly. So it looks like down on that bottom lane, Dendi will be taking the Enigma. It is going to be a very, very rough lane... Na'Vi lost the game. And they're playing something now that they're not as confident with. EHOME figured out Na'Vi. Figured out how to play against it. And I'm going to stick to my word and I'm going to say EHOME will win it. It was incredibly ballsy from Dendi to do that on the verge of winning the million dollars for your team. That's very, very stupid. That's suicidal. Dendi really now caught out. He's in trouble. Rockets to fly in. FCB long way in on the tower, lands the stun. Tinker just lasers him to death. It will cost FCB his life. Then we made some little mistakes. We played a really semi type of, like, "turtle" strategy. Really passive. Really passive. We don't play like that. Puppey and Dendi just want to retreat back out. 820! What a Fissure! PLT is there! Echo Slam as well! Beautiful play there by EHOME. But I know if I die, I die not for nothing. X!! in the middle lane... Force, Rocket, Laser. It's enough! Dendi goes down in the middle lane. Sometimes it can be like, you dying but your teammates picking up more. EHOME, they still want to push out that mid... They weren't ready for Dendi Enigma. It was a patient Enigma. That was the most patient Enigma in the world. Puppey is here. Dendi as well. Going to look for the Hole. BLACK HOLE!!!! Three are going to go down for EHOME Currently, Na'Vi, they have the advantage now. That really impresses me how he's able to make that transition. You just have to have the balls, basically. He was scared of losing. That's why he was so patient and he did everything right. Their strategy is kind of similar to how EHOME won. Na'Vi defeated them "Late Game." And I think this really shattered EHOME's confidence. And "GG" is the call from EHOME. Na'Vi, they take the game. And they are only one win short of taking home one million dollars. We hardly won the second game. Chinese teams generally are feared for their "Late Game" potential. So we hit the point now. The gloves come off. EHOME, they will master their knowledge, their experience, their calls up against Na'Vi. And Puck will be the last hero for Na'Vi. The nimble hero there already. Once again a lot of aggressive heroes for themselves. Na'Vi LighTofHeaveN playing as the Beastmaster again with Dendi playing as the Puck this time. If Na'Vi wins this, they win the whole tournament. This Clash of the Titans right here is something we will not want to miss. X!! will come in closer. They will be able to get that kill. Doom now on Dendi. Pulled in by X!! The entire EHOME team turns on him. Lich will go down. FCB is on the run. XBOCT after the chase of him. Might be enough. Needs some more damage. Storm! X!! Long jump in. Dendi Orbing up to the high ground. FCB! Puts on the Rift. Will he be able to get the kill? He's on the retreat. Yes, it is. Dendi with the last right click. EHOME now, they're gonna rotate themselves down. Na'Vi already in the pit. They're trying to bring down Roshan - all 5. Dendi! He's gonna jump out! He goes for the Dream Coil! He gets them! He gets EHOME! Holds them in the middle lane. Na'Vi already on their way out of the pit. They're coming in to help out Dendi. Then we just went in and demolished them. Now they're on top of the Tier 3 tower. They're going to bring it down. Yes, it does go down. EHOME, they're trying desperately to defend but Na'Vi, the onslaught will continue. The mid tower's already being pushed. The Tier 4 tower is going to go down. And running in right now is the rest of Na'Vi. They are running forward to one million dollars. And they will get it! The "GG" is the call from EHOME. Na'Vi have just won one million dollars. EHOME do take home $250,000 in second place. But Na'Vi are the champions! There's moments of E Sports that are landmark, and this is one of them. In Cologne. And Na'Vi, the winners. You guys have just made history. I was jumping on the sofa. And screaming like a crazy girl because I was the happiest girl in the world. And my brother just won one million dollars! I think in 10 years time all the gamers which we currently have showing themselves, they're going to be the guys we will look back at and say this was the beginning. This is where it all started. These are the guys that worked hard and they took the risk. They proved themselves. And they forwarded the entire industry to the point where we could have a kick-start. We could show the world what we do. And then who knows how big we could get at that point. We've come far already. When more and more people support it and it becomes more and more normal, it's going to go from a niche to becoming accepted in societies. I think in 15 years, E Sports will be bigger than football. Than basketball. Than everything. That kid who you thought played too many video games is potentially going to be on a path where he's earning $250,000 a year, salary. He's flying the world. He's going to be endorsed. Gaming's the biggest entertainment industry in the world. So if you're a star, you are potentially one of the biggest stars in the world. So, if that, like everything else with computers grows exponentially or whatever then 5 or 10 years could be a big step actually. Changing mindsets is never easy. So it's going to take awhile. When the gamers now become parents, we will be supportive of our kids playing, and I think that's really when everything will boom. "The only thing achieved in life without effort is failure" After weeks of training, a local man has led his online gaming team to the top, placing seventh in an international gaming competition held in Germany. Yeah, she's definitely proud of me. I mean just, she had her camera out... like, "Why are taking a photo of the television?" I know she's really smart. She's a lawyer so... But in the end, I think she'll be more understanding and be willing to support me more so it worked out. Fear now lives in San Francisco, CA and captains US-based team, Evil Geniuses.He no longer trains alone. And after the tournament, he bought a new desk. We were disappointed with our loss. And, yeah, it's a mixture of both, we're happy and sad that we got third. Because of all the emotions I felt like she was the one I wanted to share them with. And it got pretty clear only then that I had to get her back. After the tournament I actually went back to look for her, and talk things out, and we have actually begun dating again. And things are actually going great. I love her, you know. She played a huge role, a very huge part in... in the me today. hyhy is pursuing his Masters in Business. He pays for his university expenses through tournament winnings. One week ago it was 3,000 followers . I was happy. Then it's boomed. 8,000 followers. It's not about the number. Even if it's one or two, I'm fine. So you don't need to show numbers actually. I think. My father, I think, didn't have time to understand what Dendi's doing. "Dendi the Dota 2 Millionaire" We lost him too early. And if now he could see Dendi, I'm sure that he's proud of his son. Dendi has become one of the most recognized professional gamers today. He has more followers on Twitter than the Ukrainian national soccer team. Free to Play