SEA Dota: Inching Back?
Remember the time when Southeast Asia (SEA) faced North America in 2006 when Zenith and Complexity took a match apiece in a series that was considered to be one of the classics of early DotA? Remember the days when Indonesia’s XcN (eXecutioNer), Singapore’s Zenith, Malaysia’s Kingsurf and Philippines’ very own Team Flow defined what innovation and creativity meant?
Does anyone recall the days when Zenith and Kingsurf earned the top two placings in the Electronic Sports World Cup back in 2008 at San Jose, California?
SEA’s aggression and unconventional strategies have been a staple of the DotA scene since the old days.
However, with the recent match-fixing scandals as well as the falling profile of SEA DotA in general, it seems that many people are starting to doubt the region in terms of gameplay and LAN participation.
It will only take a month to prove a lot of people wrong. At no point in time in the history of Dota 2 in the SEA region have multiple teams from different countries represented the region in different tournaments around the globe.
First, Philippines’ Execration grabbed the slot to Kiev after an action-packed tiebreaker against teams such as former Johnny’s Revenge and Titan, both of which considered to be among the top teams of the region. Though they placed poorly in the event, they showed heart at Kiev, giving teams such as Team Secret, Natus Vincere and Virtus Pro a good run for their money. Since they have returned, they have proven to be one of the most stable teams in the region despite losing Ryan Jay “Bimbo” Qui as well as Ralph Richard “RR” Penano to Mineski.
Then, just after Starladder, it was time for the Malaysians to send their own teams to a large tournament as both Invasion and Team Malaysia, with Execration falling just short of getting the slot to the Synergy League LAN finals in Moscow after losing 2-1 to Team Malaysia in the loser bracket finals. It is good to note that this is the tournament where Team Malaysia introduced the “Huskar+Riki” first-phase ban strategy in order to accomplish the following:
1. Remove the heroes that are less preferred in the current meta
2. Open up a larger pool of heroes to pick
3. Allow the opponent to choose their best hero so that they can learn how to counter it
Finally, in probably one of the most exciting reverse all-kills this year, First Departure, composed of Galvin “Meracle” Kang Jian Wen et al. won first against Team Malaysia in the loser bracket finals of the Summit 2 SEA Qualifiers, then went on to reverse what could have been another ticket for Invasion to Los Angeles into a nightmare as they turned a 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 win, securing their spot in Los Angeles. It is worthy to mention that Meracle played what could be argued as his A-game there, playing a huge part in enabling his team to take three games using heroes such as Ember Spirit, Juggernaut and Faceless Void.
As seen above, despite what people may say about the state of the scene right now, two things are clear: Firstly, SEA Dota is starting to get representation in international tournaments, which means that teams will get more exposure and experience; with that, they will get a chance to raise their level of the game and this results to a more healthy scene overall because different strategies as well as perspectives in playing the game are gained. Secondly, the very fact that the same teams do not get qualified for each LAN tournament shows that the SEA scene is very much alive, where the top teams can get games off each other and that there’s no sure way to know who will win each map, which leads to more action-packed games!
Ladies and gentlemen, SEA Dota is inching its way back. But whether it will be able to deliver podium spots is a totally different story.
For those interested:
Mushi’s Official Fanpage (for explanations on Huskar+Riki ban)
YaphetS’ Facebook Page (for the early history of Dota as well as other notes)
Think the SEA Dota 2 scene is doing well/bad? Join the discussion in our forums!
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