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Hello, my name is Alan "RyuUboruZ" Andersen.
I welcome everyone to the discount Matt Damon thread and I wanted to tell you how my adventures at TI4 went. I started out not knowing if I would end up going as a caster. So I bought a plane ticket early thinking my chances were very low, shockingly I got invited to participate as an analyst for TI4 group stages. Sadly I lost the money for the plane ticket I bought but got reimbursed 'flying credit' for my next flight. This was the first time I appeared on camera and experienced a panel with professional colleagues. I'm grateful for the help and kindness given from Draskyl, Sheever, Whatiship, and 2GD. Being next to them allowed me to meet other people for the first time and glad that I was to be a part of something as big as TI4. After the groupstages were done my time in the spotlight was over, but I still enjoyed being a part of the crew and spectating the games. I know I have a long way to go before I'm one of the best but I will try harder to get better.
When I was at Key Arena the atmosphere erupted into chaos when big plays happened. Being a part of the crowd felt amazing and when I cheered side by side with friends and fans from all over the world; I felt really alive. After numerous games I finally realized that sitting down for long periods of time exhausted me. I should have moved around because I was mentally getting drained by watching so much DotA. Since DotA grows and expands every day, I think a football/baseball stadium is required for The International to grow to bigger and better heights. Why settle for thousands when you can increase the numbers exponentially; both in monetary and fan count. Not only that, it will eliminate the criticism of not being able to obtain tickets in a timely fashion since tickets as they are now, get sold out in a few hours.
Korok and I talked about the differences between past TI's and this TI. The general consensus was this year favored the weaker teams. The reason being that each team played each other once so most of the weaker teams wouldn't go 0-2 or at best 1-1 against strong opponents like previous years. So the phrase "Anything can happen in BO1" was used prominently throughout this tournament. Also, we strongly felt this year screwed over friends and family (aka the fans/community) of the teams coming to the main event because 8 teams were eliminated before Key Arena. "Alliance won't get knocked out before the main event" was a general thought for everyone and so when they were knocked out, all those fans who wanted to come cheer and watch their team, became disappointed.
The bubble bracket for me was really well done and the run put on by Newbee to the grand finals reminds me of Na'Vi from the past. The hype for TI4 died out though sadly during the main event because of the format and order which it was played. I think the format should be 4 groups of 4 (just like the world cup) and each team gets to play 2 games instead of 1. Also afterwards there should be another group stage 2 groups 8 teams BO2s again (bottom 4 knocked out) 12 teams left for main event 8 in upper bracket with the 4 teams that just survived in lower bracket. Then the 4 teams that lost in the upper bracket would play the other 4 in lower bracket and so forth. DotA isn't a best of 1 game so I think this format is best for next year which there will be more teams for the main event which will make the fans and players happier.
For the people that are curious about my future as a caster/analyst/gamer or anything. If the opportunity came up where I can play with 4 other amazing players and likeable personalities I would love to be a pro. Most likely though I will try to get better at commentating and analyzing games, so hopefully see you guys soon! Shoutout to all the amazing people I met, hope to see everyone not just next TI but throughout the year. Special shoutouts to Whatiship/Kotlguy/Maut for helping me through the good, the bad, and the ugly. <3 you guys
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Braavos36362 Posts
Hello mini Matt Damon, glad you enjoyed your TI4.
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28056 Posts
I enjoyed watchign you at the analyst desk. Hopefully you continue down that road a bit more
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That format sounds like the tournament version of a root canal.
4 groups of 4 so that you can put the teams in groups of 8? what? Then after that you only go down to 12 for the main event. So before the main event you're playing 20 games of groups and still not going to play against more than 9 teams. And even if they try to make it as fair as they can you still are going to have balancing issues with the draw because the two teams that get put with two Chinese teams are going to be in a hole to start with.
BO1 is volatile, but you can't argue the group stage wasn't fair. It sounds like your idea for a new format is 75% salt. Unless coin flip results come out and there is data to suggest that winning that made a significant impact on results you'll have to excuse me for being skeptical. This format did the job of getting us the best teams to move on to each stage. It is pretty hard to argue that any of the teams eliminated before top 8 should have moved on (except Titan though even then they were a bubble team for 7th at best IMO).
I agree there needs to be a bit of a change and that all the teams should play on stage, but if you're going to suggest something at least have it make some sense.
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Magic Woods9326 Posts
I really like you as an expert/analytical caster. I hope you continue~~
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It's friggin discount MD. Holla. Either way I remember watching you at I believe the Monster Invitational.
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u were so funny when u stuttered and 2gd basically told u to stfu
pls go to more events i need this in my life
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Cmon everyone, that's not Matt Damon, it's Mark Wahlberg.
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@LeLoup The whole point was to start a debate about a better format and not everything is perfect. Like I said DotA isn't a BO1 game. Having first pick and sides changing changes the whole way DotA works and BO1 doesn't give the right representation of each teams play.
All the amazing games were played in the group stages this year. Maybe the players were more comfortable and could relax; either way I'm just sad similar games didn't get played at the main event lol.
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I think the fact that teams get to play every other team is good for everyone (the teams, the spectators, the event) however I agree the Bo1 kinda sucks for a lot top teams (alliance and NB in group stages are the most obvious pair). I really don't know about the world cup groups though.
These aren't multi-millionaires playing for pride and charity. A group of death is way more brutal than "well TL should've beat Mouz if they wanted to get half a mil" or "Alliance got shafted but it was kinda their own fault". The problem would feel way more bureaucratic than the current format and the problem pertains to possibly 2+ years of sustainability for some players. I think the dream would be Bo2 against every team (most likely unrealistic unfortunately due to way too many games for the teams and time period though) held in front of a (smaller) live audience (maybe benaroya hall as group stage venue) and then move to stadium for the final bracket (in a TI held every 2 years) with separate tickets sold for both and day passes so people who just want to shop can do that early and people who want to be there for every moment of the action can do that as well.
Anyways, glad you had fun though, cool blog.
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On July 27 2014 07:03 Ryuuboruz wrote: @LeLoup The whole point was to start a debate about a better format and not everything is perfect. Like I said DotA isn't a BO1 game. Having first pick and sides changing changes the whole way DotA works and BO1 doesn't give the right representation of each teams play.
All the amazing games were played in the group stages this year. Maybe the players were more comfortable and could relax; either way I'm just sad similar games didn't get played at the main event lol.
Again, I'd like to see if the coin flips actually impacted anything, because just based on how the teams played I'd say it was pretty clear that Alliance and the other teams that were eliminated were not good enough to move on and that's exactly what the format did do successfully. You can say that changing sides would have made a difference, but I'd honestly argue otherwise as the 6 worst teams of the tournament were the first 6 eliminated.
Sure there can be some changes, but I don't think the format is as awful as people are claiming it to be. BO2 is ideal, but I still like the idea of all the teams playing each other. If the results of the coin toss weren't heavily influencing who won the games in the group stages I don't see a reason to change though as it clearly worked out if that was the case. Obviously if the coin toss skewed the odds in favor of one team or another then you'd have to change it, but without that data it's impossible to say a statement like 'changing picks and sides changes the whole way dota works.'
As for the Main Event, all 16 teams need to make it to the stage. I'm sorry, but I don't think you can have the same amount of hype if only half the teams can make it to the big crowd (especially if a couple of big fan favorites get knocked out). Whatever they do they have to make it so that they can get all 16 to the stage. After that I think that the rest just falls on the teams and the balance of the game to show it off.
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I referenced Na'Vi from the past and imagine if any of their games were BO1s they would not have made it to the grand finals for TI2 and TI3. Many top teams try to get a feel for what the enemy like to play before they know exactly what they want to do to counteract. DotA is like a chess match you don't decide who is the best with just 1 game. You need multiple games to figure out who is the best. As for the rest of the format during the bubble bracket and main event they were fine EXCEPT for EG vs NEWBEE on day 1. Everything else was fine.
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Ryuuboruz, It was an honor to walk to that stupidass Grocery store and buy alcohol with you
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Definitely agree with the format change. This year just didn't feel right and I think they should go with what has been proven to work.
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