Here’s your 30-second summary of this issue of Ancient Tidings:
Can somebody stop Gaimin Gladiators?
The International returns to Seattle
MidOne actually MidOne now
7.33c drops, bringing with it a bunch of nerfs for heroes that were simply too OP
Cross-language teams: Can they be consistent performers?
Yes yes, I know… it’s been way too long coming. Before moving to a different continent for grad school I was certain I’d be able to find a bit of time to dedicate to this little baby of mine, but such is life.
Rest assured, I’ve been following the scene as much as before, just… not writing about it.
Regardless. From here on out I don’t know if I’ll be able to do weekly issues like before, but I do know that you’ll be seeing my emails popup in your inboxes for sure every so often. Perhaps bi-weekly, definitely monthly.
To those of you who stuck around, I thank you.
Onwards to Issue 24.
Gaimin Gladiators
Indisputably the best looking team in the world since… I’d like to say this year. Look at their recent slew of achievements:
2nd in Tour 1 of the WEU DPC, Div 1
Won the Lima Major
3rd in Tour 2 of the WEU DPC, Div 2
Won Dreamleague, punching their tickets to the incredibly lucrative Riyadh Masters
Won the Berlin Major,
punching their tickets to Seattle
And you know what? Their Major victories weren’t even difficult. It isn’t a far cry to say that Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators are on top of the world right now, with GG consistently edging out Zai and the lads time and again. During Lima, yes, sure, TL had to face them without Boxi… but even during the grand finals of the Berlin Major it genuinely felt like GG were just waiting before they could click all their gears together and just push for the throne.
There were just… so many things to keep track of. Quinn Pango. Dyrachyo Medusa or Terrorblade. Ace Doom. Ace Underlord. Seleri IO. Seleri Ench. Tofu with everything from Techies to Disruptor.
An argument can certainly be made for a groundbreaking new patch dropping mere days before the Major, but… that’s true for everyone involved. If building aura items the fastest was the way to win, surely other teams would have been able to put up a better fight against them.
Either way, they are on a hot streak and they seem to be in incredible sync, just not letting anything faze the strategies they prepare. Perhaps a lot of credit can lie with their new coach, Cy-, who… has a relatively empty Liquipedia page.
Or perhaps NA Salt was what was needed to suddenly make Veganism so damn strong.
Side note: Faith_bian on the main panel of the English stream was nothing short of incredible. So much respect for one of the most celebrated offlaners of all time.
Roster shuffles
SumaiL to Team Aster
Pro Dota is fine and dandy, but the matches wouldn’t be quite as engaging if we didn’t care about the players clicking the buttons.
And few players have as large a fanbase as the King himself, SumaiL.
After carrying OG through the TI quals for TI10, the King was… on a bit of a slump. His stint at Team Secret didn’t quite work out, his time on Nigma Galaxy, quite possibly something a large number of people were rooting for… didn’t quite pan out.
You know what did work, though? His time playing as a stand-in on… Team Aster.
When the rumours started circulating… quite a few doubters emerged. Of course they would. Imagine competing on the highest stage in the world and… not speaking the same language as the rest of your team. With True Sight and, more recently, PGL’s live comm segments, the audience is more aware than ever of the communication that happens behind clutch plays.
And yet.
SumaiL absolutely destroyed during the Berlin Major; Team Aster was by far the best Chinese team there, so much so that he will be playing with them until next TI.
The King in the East. What a timeline.
Somnus and Fy join hands once again
Few eastern players have made quite a mark on the western audience as this fabled duo. Featuring in some of the most iconic moments of Dota 2 history (from the inception of “Fy! F-God!” to the TI8 grand finals), their reunion as Team Elephant was quite a let-down, considering the calibre of the team. While both of them attempted to make forays on the big stage once again (With Somnus coming to form while on RNG, only to be let down by illness), none can deny that seeing the likes of them under the same banner is a tantalizing prospect.
Add in LaNm as coach, TI-finalist Chalice and up-and-coming carry Lou… enter Azure Ray.
While not quite on the level of Team Elephant in terms of star players, it seems to have a well-balanced mix of veterans with new blood which… could be a road to success. Just ask any of OG, PSG.LGD, Team Spirit or even Team Secret.
The China region has been performing notably poorer as of now so maybe, just maybe, having SumaiL and Somnus playoff in the DPC is what the region needed as a shot in the arm.
Nothing quite like regional titans battling off throughout the year. Nothing like it indeed.
Side note: I hope they bring it to Gaimin and Team Liquid. Cross-regional rivalry is the best.
MidOne back to Mid
CEO Moon is so 2022, we now have CEO MidOne. Officially, as it were, given how even SMG’s official Twitter describes their new roster.
With Masaros on the offlane, and CDR on the safelane… MidOne goes back to where he belonged, and where he arguably had the most impact historically.
Ever since his days on Team Secret, MidOne hasn’t quite managed to reach those levels of competitive success. Perhaps a return to his roots is what he needed.
Nigma Galaxy
Ah, Nigma. The core group of these players display flashes of their old selves before dropping down to Div 2… but what about when they play outside Nigma?
SumaiL, syncing incredibly well with Aster, and especially Boboka.
MinD_ContRoL, syncing incredibly well with OG. Washed up, I don’t think so.
ATF, on loan to Quest Esports (the former Ooredoo Thunders team that made waves recently in WEU Div 1). Back to offlane (and Div 1!), where he made a name for himself. Perhaps a new patch combined with an old role will let him be as impactful as he was earlier. I do believe he was the most impactful player in the world during his time on OG; seldom do you see teams respect banning hero-player combinations as much as they did against OG.ATF.
Gh, standing in for Boxi for Team Liquid’s first game of the new DPC season. Familiar colours for him.
Of course, with SumaiL and ATF going on loan… Nigma needed some new blood.
Enter Mikey and Yuma.
Mikey, before his stint as a stand-in for Shopify Rebellion during Dreamleague, was simply a pubstar. All people said about him was that he reached Rank 1 despite high ping.
After Dreamleague, people feared his Bat. A section of people even wanted Shopify to sign him on.
Nigma noticed, and as luck would have it, he will be playing under their colours in Div 2 of the WEU DPC, 2022-23.
Yuma, on the other hand, helped D2 Hustlers become D1 Hustlers. It must be noted that that squad made quick work of Team Secret. Had he stuck with that team, he would’ve been the first Nicaraguan player to be in Div 1.
Fresh blood, under such immense experience. Their potential is up there; combined with some key members experiencing fresh perspectives… who knows what the future holds for Nigma?
7.33c
Medusa. Alchemist. Crimson Guard. Pipe. Underlord. Doom.
Nightmare fuel during pro-dota when the New Frontiers update just dropped. Thankfully though, our favourite frozen amphibian saw the warning signals and decided to do something about it.
No bonus mana for Snake Lady level 1. Less gold for our Ogre-Keen(?) duo. Aura items nerfed a “little”. So many Universal heroes nerfed across the board.
EarthShaker buffs. Ooof that feels good considering he’s one of the best heroes to watch as a spectator.
And hey, no more XP-starved supports!
For the entire patch notes, check out the update page here.
As the new tour of the DPC begins on May 15th, one can only hope that 7.33c changed the meta just a bit to switch things away from what we saw during the recently-concluded Major. While the production was top-notch, the games unfortunately… weren’t, with quite a few of them being extremely one-sided.
Man oh man… the China DPC will be on LAN which means we will be having SumaiL and Somnus on LAN for literal 3 weeks.
Chills.
Thanks for reading, all. See you in the next one!