Warding, and bitches.

http://www.team-dignitas.net/articles/blogs/DotA/1092/Dota-2-Ultimate-Guide-to-Warding/

Everyone should read this. In general we're not that good at warding. First we need to get knowledge about warding, then we need to consistently buy wards whenever the cooldown's down then we apply all that in a game. You could try setting up some wards in the practice mode if you'd like.

Tuesday!

Hope everyone's read the articles that Ayenara posted! They were interesting to say the least. Anyways! This tuesday we're gonna play, right? Jibing won't be here but we might find a standin. The question being if we start at 17:00 or at 19:00? Perhaps 19:00 will give people more free time.

http://teamzenith.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/to-take-down-an-lgd/

This was also funny to read. Creds på Ayenara.

Essential reading

http://www.complexitygaming.com/forums/entry.php?b=2021

http://www.complexitygaming.com/forums/entry.php?b=2024

http://www.complexitygaming.com/forums/entry.php?b=2033

In these posts col's captain fluff shares his insight on how to improve and become a competitive team.

Saturday/Sunday schedule

I assume we start as usual 17:00, that or 19:00 if you guys want to have a little more free time.

The cake I made with whipped cream instead of butter.

How not to make whipped cream

Friday schedule!

We start off as normal, and later in the day we get to play against daskad's team! Should be fun!

Wednesday schedule!

I'll hurry myself back and be there in time for practice. Costs a bit more, but hell! What wouldn't you do for a DOTA2 team? If everyone can play let's start ay 17:00 as normal.

I've got an idea we could try to improve our playstyle. We'll play some public games today, where we play all five as support heroes and games where we play all five carries. The idea is for us to play more farming as supports and more roaming as carries, and in that regard expand our understanding of how you can play each role and hero. What do you guys think? Am I out and bicycling?

Practice!

You've probably heard it from mjifi, but everyone should do the 80/80 challenge and do at least 70+ last hits. It's simple, go mid with a ranged hero without any points skilled or items then try to hold the creep equilibrium while getting every last hit/deny. That means you shouldn't be pushing the wave into either tower.

Also, if no one of you have a better idea then this is a casual day where you can practice whatever. Playing pubs or just doing challenges. It's important however that you have training in mind and focus on what you're trying to accomplish when you're practicing. If you're playing a pub and your goal is to last-hit then keep it in mind. If your goal is to gank and coordinate, keep that in mind.

Monday schedule

Same times as always, starting at 17:00 CEST
Let's focus on practicing rather than scrimming this time. Relearn the basics. Mjifi some good shit we could do.

MID: 27652733 TR LOS
MID: 27676138 HS LOS
MID: 27687298 HS WIN
MID: 27702416 HS LOS

"I'd rather have a live team than a dead team" -kopa

Tournament tomorrow

These are the games that we played yesterday.

MID: 27443267 HS WIN
MID: 27454423 HS WIN
MID: 27479875 HS LOSE
MID: 27489993 HS WIN

The tournament's at 16:00 CEST tomorrow but we will be starting preliminary talks at 14:30 CEST. Check-in's at 15:30 so remind me, please!

mjifi brought up our communication, and how we maybe should make guidelines for how we speak and what information is necessary to convey during a game, when buying certain items, when setting up a gank, in team fights and if you're coming to help.

Mjifi might have been kidnapped

Anyone seen Mjifi around?

Either way, here are the games we played today

MID: 27294859 HS DRW (standin Xenior)
MID: 27288026 MS WIN (standin Xenior)
MID: 27276412 MS WIN (standin RAAAGE)

Same time tommorow guys! 17-19:00. 1h pause. 20:00+ Good work!

PS3SUX

So many games
For Xbox and Wii
But not even one
For poor PS3

Friday schedule

Team practice:

17:00 CEST - 19:00 CEST

Then an hour's pause for food and hookers

20:00 CEST - 23:30 CEST

If you can't come, or are unavailable for some reason, write in comments!

http://www.joindota.com/en/news/3655-4pl-play4dota2-7-announced

This is what we're training for! It's on sunday. Can everyone attend?

By the way, I didn't get to spam mjifi so if he comes online then do it.

kopa will be back

I will be back on friday, alternatively saturday. What do you guys think? When do you want to practice? I'm up for whenever. Could do friday evening. First scrims as a full roster.

Updating the members page

I don't know what we should put there. I did however upload most of the thumbnails since before of almost all the heroes in the game. I thought maybe we could add heroes we could think of playing in there? See my example on the page.

YOYOYO

I'M IN DA HOUSE RDY TO WRECK SHIT UP!!!
GANGSTA4LYFE

Great abbreviations and getting comfortable

We're having a pretty relaxed schedule this week, but there are some things I'd like you to do.

1. Wear the team-tag that we've got when you play. Thanks to JohnFreeman for coming up with a name and a tag. The team has to become a part of who we are and our playstyle. That is, avoid smurfing. The tag is: 

   HwwtIaCC✡[name]

2. Play pubs. Get confident with heroes you like, and try out new and interesting lanes. I want us to be on the forefront of how to draft and play this game. We're innovators. For example, JohnFreeman is currently trying out Rubick and what you can or can't do with him.
3. Talk to eachother, play with eachother and finally be nice to eachother. (Also, don't be afraid to post anything on the blog)

This could be us.

We're full, no longer looking!

I welcome Ayenara to the team, and here's the full roster:

JohnFreeman

jibing

Mjifi

Ayenara

kopa

With this roster, I wouldn't be surprised if we won the International without any problems next year. Fuckers didn't invite us to this one, but their loss. They're missing out on some great games. We'll be running light this week. Jibing and I are heading to Gothenburg to do some...stuff. Legal stuff.

In other news, this is a picture of daskad's leg after he got hit by a car.

That's nice.

Sunday schedule

How about playing some scrims or do some theoretical practice? I'm free all day. Post in comments whenever's fine by you. 17:00?

I thought I'd go to Gothenburg when Jibing does the same. Go practice my driving skills. I might be able to use my little brother's computer for a little practice. If we're gonna scrim we'll probably need a stand-in for Jibing, though.

"I would rather have a good team than spectacular players" -kopa

Friday joinDOTA open

The tournament starts at 18:00 CEST
The check-in starts at 17:00 CEST

Fifth player is "Rainman". Be nice to him, and maybe he'll be nice to us. Let's win this!

Replay analysis: what to think of

If I remember correctly from mjifi's replay analysis these are things to remember.

Fuck their vision. We need to anti-ward them where it hurts us the most.

Plan the ganks. Don't rely on them being stupid

Communicate the key points of the draft.

Don't throw. Feel the flow of the game. If we're doing well, they'll attempt to counter-attack us by changing their playstyle. Be ready for it!

   

I'm sure I've forgotten something. In that case just add it or post in comments.

"I like dancing ;_;" -kopa

On Drafting

                Let me first say that it is impossible to be outdrafted unless you choose to be outdrafted. This thought can be justified with the following logic; the hero pool is so large at this point that no matter what the other team picks there will always be a viable set of heroes that will allow you to compete with them. Often people mistake problems with other things for problems with the draft, it's far too easy and convenient to simply say "We had a weak draft, if we'd taken such and such a hero instead we would have won" 

                One should always look to what could have been done with the heroes that actually were picked. If the situation can be rectified without replacing any of the chosen heroes then the problem was not with the draft at all.

                As an example one game I recall playing we had a trilane with an Enchantress against a Beastmaster while we had Tidehunter offlane against two with a Chen in the forest. This game was a disaster, no serious advantage was gained with our trilane and their trilane quickly started to brush up against our barracks. However had we done the trilane against theirs things could have been totally different, Tidehunter can handle a solo Beastmaster very easily and Chen would have real trouble with Enchantress and her buddy in the forest.

                After this particular game there was a very heated discussion about why we had lost, one argument brought up was "You never let them get both Leshrac and Chen in the same lineup". This is a copout. To simply say that they won because they had those two heroes ignores the greater problem of why things did not work. Not to say that Chen and Leshrac are not excellent heroes and very capable of an extremely fast push. But to say that it's a problem with the lineup is to ignore all other arguments and deeper reasoning for our failure.

                There is a limit to what you can do during the draft. Even if you knew what the other team was going to pick with one hundred percent certainty beforehand you can never completely outpick them.

                The last sentence I made wasn't entirely correct, it is possible to be outpicked but it's not something that the other team does to you. It's something you do to yourself. Through your own lack of vision you can pick yourself into a corner, by setting your sights on one particular hero that has no real replacement then him getting banned/picked up by the other team, or by giving away completely what you want to do early on.

                Let me briefly say what I mean by outpicked. I mean when a lineup neatly counters the entire enemy lineup, for example a very mana heavy, teamfight lineup can be almost completely countered with heroes like Pugna and Silencer.

                When you put all your eggs in one basket, when the other team decides to target that particular basket you're not left with much in the way of recourse. However even when you do this to yourself there is still hope to turn things around in game, even a weak lineup can win with clever play.

                I'd like to speak briefly now about how one should go about picking the heroes. I believe you should take a very Zen stance toward it, yes it is wonderful to have competent people around you to make informed suggestions, oftentimes they pick up on things that you yourself would miss. However if you get too bogged down in your team's banter then you risk your lineup losing focus, this is the same with any other thing, as an example if a movie has too many screenwriters it will become a nonsensical mess. If a draft has too many major contributors it will become a confused and unfocused mess.

                Like Frankenstein's monster it will have parts of various different lineups that its contributors had in mind that simply do not work together. This is another way of allowing yourself to be outpicked.

                When you're in the captain's chair it is your duty to listen to your teammates, it is a poor leader that cannot hear another's point of view. However you must let their opinions flow around you as a river does, you are aware of them and can take their ideas how you see fit but you may also ignore the ones that you dislike.

                If you get that feeling in your gut that says "This hero is not going to work with my lineup" then you usually should not ignore it.

                That's all I wanted to write for now, no doubt some other brilliant ideas will come to me later in the day. Thank you very much for reading.

Thursday schedule

12:00 CEST

Also, I'm sorry if I upset you mjifi.

When somethin' happens in South Central, Los Angles nothin' happens, it's just another nigga's dead

Straight outta Compton crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube
From the gang called Niggaz With Attitudes
When I'm called off I got a sawed off
Squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off
You too boy if ya fuck with me
The police are gonna hafta come and get me
Off yo ass that's how I'm goin out
For the punk motherfuckers that's showin out
Niggaz start to mumble, they wanna rumble
Mix em and cook em in a pot like gumbo
Goin off on a motherfucker like that
with a gat that's pointed at yo ass
So give it up smooth
Ain't no tellin when I'm down for a jack move
Here's a murder rap to keep yo dancin
with a crime record like Charles Manson
AK-47 is the tool
Don't make me act the motherfuckin fool
Me you can go toe to toe, no maybe
I'm knockin niggaz out tha box, daily
yo weekly, monthly and yearly
until them dumb motherfuckers see clearly
that I'm down with the capital C-P-T
Boy you can't fuck with me
So when I'm in your neighborhood, you better duck
Coz Ice Cube is crazy as fuck
As I leave, believe I'm stompin
but when I come back, boy, I'm comin straight outta Compton

Yo Ren
Whassup?
Tell em where you from!

Straight outta Compton, another crazy ass nigga
More punks I smoke, yo, my rep gets bigger
I'm a bad motherfucker and you know this
But the pussy ass niggaz don't show this
But I don't give a fuck, I'ma make my snaps
If not from the records, from jackin the crops
Just like burglary, the definition is 'jackin'
And when illegally armed it's called 'packin'
Shoot a motherfucker in a minute
I find a good piece o' pussy, I go up in it
So if you're at a show in the front row
I'm a call you a bitch or dirty-ass ho
You'll probably get mad like a bitch is supposed to
But that shows me, slut, you're composed to
a crazy muthafucker from tha street
Attitude legit cause I'm tearin up shit
MC Ren controls the automatic
For any dumb muthafucker that starts static
Not the right hand cause I'm the hand itself
every time I pull a AK off the shelf
The security is maximum and that's a law
R-E-N spells Ren but I'm raw
See, coz I'm the motherfuckin villain
The definition is clear, you're the witness of a killin
that's takin place without a clue
And once you're on the scope, your ass is through
Look, you might take it as a trip
but a nigga like Ren is on a gangsta tip
Straight outta Compton...

Eazy is his name and the boy is comin...

...straight outta Compton
is a brotha that'll smother yo' mother
and make ya sister think I love her
Dangerous motherfucker raises hell
And if I ever get caught I make bail
See, I don't give a fuck, that's the problem
I see a motherfuckin cop I don't dodge him
But I'm smart, lay low, creep a while
And when I see a punk pass, I smile
To me it's kinda funny, the attitude showin a nigga drivin
but don't know where the fuck he's going, just rollin
lookin for the one they call Eazy
But here's a flash, they never seize me
Ruthless! Never seen like a shadow in the dark
except when I unload, see I'll get over the hesitation
and hear the scream of the one who got the last penetration
Give a little gust of wind and I'm jettin
But leave a memory no one'll be forgettin
So what about the bitch who got shot? Fuck her!
You think I give a damn about a bitch? I ain't a sucker!
This is the autobiography of the E, and if you ever fuck with me
You'll get taken by a stupid dope brotha who will smother
word to the motherfucker, straight outta Compton

Wednesday schedule

17:00 CEST

Jibing version. Perhaps we can be four now. Let's try out some more people. We played some pubs with Sundet last night. Perhaps we can invite him for a game? I've got a Bulgarian player who might be here around when we start scrimming. Later at night this Portuguese player will be available.

I think it's important to look through a good selection of players before we make a decision.

Tuesday schedule

17:00 CEST

Be there or be square. Let's try out some new people as well. What's up with these people who just listens to music in pubs? Might've been a bit rude to the guy but kicked him out of the party when he didn't want to join Teamspeak.

Faggotry in the 21:st century

So, we're starting out. It's all shit, but it's getting better. The original team members are JohnFreeman, jibing and myself. Recently we acquired a player by the name of mjifi. The choice seemed obvious after just playing a few games with him. The question is however who'll fit the last spot. The lack of a full roster will slowly wear on the team's motivation so hopefully we'll be able to fill it soon. Then again, bringing someone unsuitable into the team would be equally demotivating.

Now that all the dramatic bullshit's out of the way, let's talk about something interesting. Schedules. We should set up schedules when we should practice, and when we should play. I think we're all ready to play the joinDOTA open this friday? Right? Good. Now we need to practice until then. I'll get a hold of you people on Teamspeak and we'll try to set up times when everyone can attend.

Check out my new hat

                                        It's the greatest, most kawaiiest hat ever.

SANK YO!