Tournament Recap
By Vykromond

Eternal Onslaught
By riptide

joinTOBY
By riptide

Eyes In The Sky: Na`Vi vs QPAD

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jD Masters XIII Recap

The joinDOTA Masters XIII was played out this week, with Na`Vi walking away as champions. Up and coming team Kaipi also did really well in the tournament, and got to the finals by beating top teams like Liquid and EG along the way.

This recap from TL's Dota Coverage team includes a quick recap of the tournament (with VODs), an interview with Kaipi's EternaLEnVy, and finally, a sit down with the voice of joinDOTA, Toby "Tobiwan" Dawson.

Finally, we leave you with this double POV video of the game of the tournament - Na`Vi vs QPAD.

Tournament Recap

By Vykromond

Bracket via Liquipedia.

Though one of the smaller tournaments, the jD Masters XIII gave us two days of great games by Western DotA's top teams. Here's a rundown of the games, including VODs, so you can watch a few as you go along.

Quarter Finals: Fnatic EU vs RoX

Game 1

Fnatic.EU (Radiant)

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RoX.KIS (Dire)

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RoX pulls the game back from the brink early on after a quick Fnatic 5-1 start and from there Fnatic seem unable to make either the push or gank approaches click. Even with Aegises, Fnatic can't find the chinks in RoX's armour and eventually, past the 60 minute mark, Bzz's Gyro and Dread's Weaver are able to outcarry their opponents.

Quarter Finals: QPAD vs Na`Vi

Game 1 (*** Game of the Tournament)

QPAD (Radiant)

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Natus Vincere (Dire)

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One to watch. While both teams' lineups revolve around pushing, the game is comprised mostly of skirmishes until QPAD start to pull away with some convincing fights around 20-25 minutes in. While their gold/XP lead balloons, it takes them 15 minutes to convert it to the first rax. Na`Vi go on permanent defense with Puppey splitpushing, and wait for QPAD to make a mistake, which they do, biting on the Puppey bait slightly too hard just a couple of times and finding a wrathful Na`Vi swooping in to take vengeance and flip the game on its head.

Quarter Finals: Mouz vs EG

Game 1

mousesports (Radiant)

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Evil Geniuses (Dire)

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Mouz gets the kills early, and it seems like Black might find the farm especially when he rockets to 8-0, then 10-0, then 13-0. But Black is the only good news for a team actually struggling to hold EG off anywhere on the map. EG effectively farms up 3 separate core heroes and breaks the base through sheer numbers and tenacity.

Quarter Finals: Kaipi vs TL

Game 1

Kaipi (Radiant)

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Team Liquid (Dire)

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Korok's typical Puck dominance of mid doesn't prevent Liquid and particularly TC's Lifestealer from struggling to find a rhythm as bOne7's Clock hooks + Blademail and Arise's Magnus keep catching them. Eventually the Complexity smoke ganks come out and the game draws to a close.

Semi Finals: RoX vs Na`Vi

Game 1

RoX.KIS (Radiant)

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Natus Vincere (Dire)

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RoX.KIS keep the game very close for a very long time but in the end Na`Vi's two developed cores from XBOCT and Dendi overwhelm RoX's focus on Bzz's PL and Na`Vi takes a series of barracks to secure the game.

Semi Finals: EG vs Kaipi

Game 1

Evil Geniuses (Radiant)

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Kaipi (Dire)

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EG's ever-shifting position assignments bite them in the butt as neither Jeyo on Lifestealer nor Fear on Lone Druid can find good farm, nor can the team put together a convincing teamfight. With every engagement EG falls further and further behind Envy's Void, and they never catch up.

Grand Finals: Na`Vi vs Kaipi

Game 1

Natus Vincere (Radiant)

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Kaipi (Dire)

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An incredibly sloppy game from both teams features Na`Vi scooting to an easy early lead, feeding it away via ill-advised engagements and dying to big bOne7 Clockwerk plays, and finally pulling it together long enough for an inspired, decisive push across top rax, featuring a stolen RP from Kuroky.

Game 2

Kaipi (Radiant)

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Natus Vincere (Dire)

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In a game redolent of "classic Na`Vi," the team absolutely crushes Kaipi with relentless aggression, especially from Dendi's resurrected TA and Funn1k's resurrected Clinkz. The game feels like a breakthrough for Na`Vi's new squad who look every bit as trusting and coordinating with each other as the previous lineup ever was. Kaipi, stunned at the completeness of their loss, GG at 14 minutes down 14-1.

Eternal Onslaught

By riptide

A wild EternaLEnVy appears. (Picture by joinDOTA)

Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao took the Dota 2 scene by storm when his team, No Tidehunter, became the Dreamhack Winter 2012 Champions, and he, in effect transitioned from being yet another pub into the progamer he is today.

Now, just a little over six months later, he is on a new team, Kaipi, a team that did very well in the jD Masters to make it all the way to the Grand Finals. He is here today to talk to us about their run through the tournament, his thoughts on the Dota 2 scene, and more.

The last few months have been a period of change for you. How do you find your new team?

I think Pieliedie is a great player and I have learnt a lot from him in play, and how he approaches the game. The rest of the players are very skilled in specific areas as well, but also have big weaknesses. For example, bOne7 is sometimes mute. However, right now the team mostly needs to work on their attitude towards the game - to not be scared of facing tough opponents but instead be excited, to not rage/go emo from a loss but to grow from them instead, and to treat each other with the utmost respect. Overall, it is a team with some talented players. I'm excited to see how they will develop.

You have moved from being a hard support to a carry, going right across the farm allocation scale from #5 to #1. Have you enjoyed this transition? What have you learnt from the experience?

At first it was quite enjoyable transitioning from support to carry as it adds a new spice to playing in real games. However, after a few days it's basically the same as playing support. It's fun when you win or are improving, but otherwise it's depressing. One good thing is that I solo queue public games quite a lot, so the transition has made practicing/warming up in public games easier, although I don't really win more when I play carry in public games (unless I pick some specific heroes *cough* Ursa *cough*), it's definitely less frustrating.

Going by the same logic though, I think the mid role would be the best since I usually play mid in pubs. I hate it when everyone feeds and I can't even play my game as carry. At least in the mid role, I can blame myself when I lose - "omg, I made a mistake this game, that's why I lost." Sigh, I say that too much on stream... T_T solo queue emo-ness. It's definitely more frustrating practicing support heroes in pub games, especially heroes that require coordination. It may even make you worse. I haven't really learnt much from the transition from a knowledge perspective. I spent a lot of time thinking, trying to figure out every role in order to have a higher chance of joining a good team when I first started playing, and I continued to do the same even during NTH in order to help my teammates. That doesn't mean I'm not learning though. I'm gaining experience and confidence in my play, and I can think I learn faster the more I play the role. Some roles require more knowledge than others in the laning phase, but the carry role probably has the least technical aspects in terms of laning. But really, switching roles usually isn't that big a deal, it's really just playing DotA.

You guys did really well in the jD Masters XIII tournament, beating both Liquid and EG. Tell us a bit about how the five of you went into these two games.

We were fairly confident against both teams after our victory against Empire. Kaipi has played against Liquid in matches a few times already and so far it's been going back and forth. Evil Geniuses is a team I respect, but lately they aren't doing too well. We didn't underestimate EG though, as they played well against mousesports, and I personally don't do that in general. In both games the opponent went for an aggressive tri-lane to slow down our hard late game carry's farm (Phantom Lancer, and Void) but failed both times. Our solo lanes got crushed then as my teammates don't do very well on the US EAST server. Regardless, I felt like we out picked Liquid and once they lost a team fight (lol blademail clockwerk > eclipse), the game was over. In the game against EG we had heroes like a mask of madness Void/Queen of Pain/Batrider which are strong at picking off weak heroes, and once the enemy fails an aggressive tri-lane they will surely have at least 2 heroes that are easy to pick off.

What are your thoughts on your Grand Finals series vs Na`Vi? If you could replay it, what would your team do differently?

I think the first game was a fairly good game, but we had some embarrassing moments. We somehow lost to a solo Lifestealer with a tri-lane, after crushing a 3v3 at the start. There were some points in time where we got chased for a year and there wasn't any clear communication/reaction between teammates. If we secured our tri-lane and our Gyro managed to farm a single damage item, the enfeeble wouldn't have crushed us that hard. Also, Kuroky used the same stolen Mag ult two times. We should have kept track of the ultimate and avoided fights till it timed out. In the second game they used a neat strategy that just caught us off guard. I think Na`Vi is the highest individual skilled team in the Western scene, and they have been playing well since their boot camp, so I'm kinda OK with the results. It sucks though because we got second place in so many two day tournaments, and we've been trying to win a tournament to buy Arise a new computer. T_T Right now he doesn't even have a mousepad and lags every game. "I can't play, the wind is blowing, I'm lagging." - Arise.

In the long run, what do you think you guys need to work on the most?

Well, as I mentioned before, first we need to work on our team atmosphere when we are under pressure or after a loss. Our supports need to start practicing mastering their heroes, as they aren't weak at heroes like Wisp/Visage/Chen, and they definitely can get a lot better. After we develop our hero pool, I would like to start playing more pressure oriented line-ups, and eventually we will have plenty of strategies, sort of like Fnatic.EU.

As a team, what are you most looking forward to about the next few months?

Obviously TI3, and right now the G-1 qualifier. Hopefully DDOS won't doom us all.

Which team(s) would you like to face next in a tournament?

I sometimes get really excited when we play against the best teams. Right now that would be NTH, and Na`Vi. But personally I think there are about 9 teams right now in the West that can beat each other at random times, so any of the Tier 1 teams plus Rox.Kis, DD, and 4FC would be fun to play against.

Make a bold prediction about the Dota 2 scene in the second half of 2013.

Clairvoyance becomes one of the best casters, Arteezy becomes a great, developed player and crushes everyone; he's still a kid though, but that could be a good thing.

joinTOBY

By riptide

Tobi with the indomitable Day9.

Toby "Tobiwan" Dawson needs no introduction. He is one of the most visible (and indeed, audible!) parts of the community, and yet, we sometimes get to hear very little from the man himself. While he is always casting games for us, we thought it would be nice to sit down with him and see what he has to say about the DotA, the universe and everything.

You cast a lot of DotA. What motivates you to power through smaller events like the jD Masters when that could in fact be a break of sorts for you from big events like The Defense?

I really enjoy the smaller, shorter events just as much as I do the bigger events like The Defense. When you cast as much DOTA2 as I do, variety is the best thing going from tournament to tournament as it keeps things fresh for both the viewer and myself.

As a caster, what is the biggest difference between a big event and something like jD masters for you? Do you enjoy one more than the other? Why?

I appreciate both long and short events for what they are. Long events give consistent content that lets me stay up to date with teams as well as give a good place for teams to consistently play games that mean more than just a scrim.

The short events are also great for quick hype but they normally burn out quickly and if you run too many of them in a short period of time people just don't care anymore.

As the scene develops and more big tournaments make their way on to the calendar, what is your vision for the jD Masters series? What sort of role do you think it will fulfill?

I think there will also be space for things like the joinDOTA Masters. It is a very small amount of time committed for the teams (1 best of one on the first day and then 2 games on day 2) and is a great filler for both content on a stream as well as time for the players in between big tournaments.

I also find with the big tournaments they drag on too long (this is speaking from experience with what happened with the last Defense) and sometimes teams have to wait 1-2 months before they find a tournament big enough to showcase their talent. This is a good way to give a team the hype and exposure they deserve.

Who is your favourite co-commentator at the moment, and why?

I enjoy casting with a lot of the pro gamers on my stream. H4nn1 and Bulba would be my favourites as of late. But like all pro gamers they have commitments to their team which I do not want to interfere with by being demanding (when in search of a co-caster), as the people I cast with I consider my friends and I want them to do their best.

Out of the non pro players I have casted with, Clairvoyance would be the best out there at the moment. His knowledge of the game and more his ability to express that knowledge on both a basic and an advanced level is something very rare in co-casters. Also he actually doesn't sound like paint drying... entertainment is always key when streaming with me.

If you could cast alongside any famous person, living or dead, who would you pick, and why?

First pick would have to be Natalie Portman. I loved her ever since Léon: The Professional, and she always got better. The fact that she doesn't know DOTA2 is a small problem, but she is smart enough to pick it up.

But to be serious, as a child I would always find myself most nights in front of the TV watching the NRL and listening to the casting of my idol Ray Warren.

This is a man I would consider the god of commentating. It is funny that I always loved listening to commentators. I never dreamed that I would actually be one myself. It was even funnier to find that I lived and casted with a relative of his, Craig Warren, who is still my man to go to in Australian eSports.

You're running for President of DotA land. Pick one progamer as your running mate. Why would he make a good Vice President?

Hmm I would have to actually pick someone that I don't think would handle being my Vice President (just because that would make him #2). But I would pick this guy because I would know that no matter what decision I was making he would make me be honest about my reasons for doing it, and would be very blunt about it -

Na`Vi's Puppey

Where would you like to see the Dota 2 scene one year from now?

I would like to see the DOTA 2 scene growing beyond any of our imaginations, where every night you could check out the DOTA 2 portals and see good editorial content, good streamers with professional productions, and tournaments worthy of being called the best in eSports.

I also have faith that eSports will have the same respect as a game like Football or Tennis, but I know that this is a goal to set for beyond a year as eSports is still very young and nowhere near professional enough.

Make a bold prediction about the Dota 2 scene in the second half of 2013.

The big online tournaments will have a minimum of $50,000 USD and the LAN competitions will exceed that. Also, a normal livestream of a decent DOTA2 competition will have a minimum of 40k viewers, and funnily enough both go hand in hand.

Eyes In The Sky: Na`Vi vs QPAD

The fine folks at Natus Vincere gave us a lot of video content from their bootcamp for EMS this week. Among them was a video of them playing their much talked about game vs QPAD. In this youtube doubled VOD, check out the game from our POV and theirs. (Click play twice, or view the full version.)