Interview with Original Gosu Captain, Babyowl

It's never easy when you're looked upon favourably in a tournament, then only to have your bottom handed to you on a platter then left out to dry.  This was the fate of Original Gosu also known as LoLCats at the time.

But here they are, back again and ready to prove that last tournament was just sheer bad luck and bad timing.

We interviewed Captain extraordinaire, BabyOwl!

Player profile 
Name: BabyOwl
Age: 28
Current Team: OG
Headset: Combo AKG headphones and Live Pro mic
Keyboard: Logitech G15
Mouse: Logitech 510 - The counterstrikers mouse of choice.
Essential tournament food: Jolt Cola - Blackcherry 2 bottles eating is for quitters.

G’day, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene?
I am your standard White boy with a dream, I started gaming way back in the CS alpha and original Starcraft days, progressed through to WC3 and was introduced to Dota by RoseyTheMook. I passed on the torch to Who_House and a few others all of which became better than me #studentbecamethemaster. I jump at any chance to get as many of the original gang back together for a run.

The Student who will one day become the Master!

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team?
BabyOwl - 5th spot and general sacrificial pawn, I am the unknown element in the team, am I out of place? Or is it a cunning ploy you wont know until you kill me. I run the ganks/rotations and I'm all about the heroic sacrifice to keep the carry alive... even when not needed.

RoseyTheMook - Every team needs a Kobe and Rosey is the blackest of the mambas, known through Canberra and the internet as a clutch player he will be running mid this tournament. Rosey was part of the original WCG crew that made it to Sydney and will be running a train on Mid and any willing cougars in the general vicinity.

Whos_House - Whos_House is the Keyboards only natural predator On several occasions i have heard House destroy a piece of gaming equipment or a knuckle. Voted PC Gamings "Most likely to throw an Elbow" 5 years running this baby faced slayer is running the 1 spot for the tournament.

Loach - Loaches gonna loach, what more can be said about our fiery 4th? When he’s not showing his snake to the general public he can be found performing aggressive and clutch ganks from where you’d least expect it. Whilst not part of the original squad he has definitely earned a spot in the team through reliably answering my texts/SKYPE.
Pupfish - One of my oldest gaming buddies Pupfish is our sleeper... literally the largest threat to the team is his ability to sleep anywhere. He will be interchanging with Who_House for carry/offlane depending on the line-up.  With a variety of heroes under his belt Pup serves as our gap fill to make our drafts a lot more dynamic.

This team's line-up is different from the previous one you've been in, do you expect to do just as well?
We are closer to the original squad with Rosey taking Dickie's place we have gained a serious boost in skill/role playing id expect a better performance this time round but once again the tournament has some skilled players and anything can happen!

Original Gosu rebooted

We expected bigger results last tournament, what happened with the recent performance?
Our first game was against a very strong team, even with the current line-up it was going to be a hard fought win. The second game came down to drafting errors and a few crucial mistakes with a bit of luck and focus id expect us to go further this time round.

We're bracing up for a pretty big solid tournament, what are you most looking forward to?
I just love a reason to game, nothing better than gearing up for a day of dota with mates. Bar the overall experience i am looking forward to playing some of the Sydney teams making their way to Canberra as they are full of names i remember from back in the day.

Some Interstate teams coming around this weekend, think you'll be able to handle it?
Without out sounding defeated there are some big players coming down this time and it is going to be difficult to match up, I am hoping to give them a run for their money but pulling off an overall victory is going to be very tough.

What are your thoughts on the Australian DOTA 2 scene?
It needs more events like this that are associated to an overall tournament like WCG, the only way for us to get better and get teams into the international scene is to improve the local competition. It’s like the A-League it is hard for players to progress when the competition isn't there to drive them on.
Back to our own local scene in Canberra, is there any teams that you’re familiar with and respect?
Last tournament I didn't recognize a lot of teams but this time i know who people are, there are a few teams that will definitely put on a good show but I'm not going to give any shout-outs they just need to earn their praise on the day!

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA2 tournaments?
Every time I can put together a team I will, you never grow out of being a gamer each time we get closer to an original team reunite so hopefully next time we can run a team favoured to win!

Any last shoutouts?
Shoutouts to Chinky for organising another tournament in Canberra. Also big Shoutout to Eldestdad for showing us that being cooked is a way of life.

Interview with #Hero team captain Big Hatoonda

#Hero will make their debut at the Canberra DOTA 2 Autumn Cup and hope to learn as much as possible.  Previously having participated in the ANU DOTA 2 competitions, can the team of Pinoys make their mark this coming Friday?

Find out more about this team and what they had to say about themselves and the tournament.

Player profile

Name: Kyle

Age: 19

Current Team: #Hero 

Headset: Some trash Logitech one

Keyboard:  Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard

Mouse: Basic HP mouse

Essential tournament food: Hungry jacks frozen coke+ chicken nuggets  

G’day, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene?     

Hey everyone I'm Kyle, known as Big Hatoonda in game and I am the captain of #Hero. As far as DOTA goes I believe I will be playing the offlane for the team.

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team?

My teammates are Dylan(FreEZe) who will be taking up the midlane, Jordan(B1GS3XY) who will be playing the safelane farmer, Peter(White Mamba) who will be playing support and finally Ash(David Luiz) who will also be playing support.

You guys are pretty much a new team around here, what do you think you can bring to this tournament?

Well someone’s gotta lose right 😉, having only participated in two ANU tournaments prior with a few players swapped out and different names, we aren't really expecting too much. We are just some boys who want to have a go at some more organised DOTA, hopefully we can pull of some good games and maybe go further into the bracket, but really we are just in it for the experience.

Would you guys rate yourselves as the second coming of RAVE?

Absolutely.

RAVE RAVE RAVE RAVE RAVE

We're bracing up for a pretty big solid tournament, what are you most looking forward to?

Just seeing what the Canberra DOTA 2 scene has to offer, hopefully with so many teams the tournament will have lots of exciting games.

We have 4 interstate teams competing in this tournament, with the strongest one of the lot, being BlackShatan and friends.  Are you familiar with any of them and how do you fancy your chances against them?

Unfortunately I am not familiar with any of the interstate teams. As far as our chances go I’d assume if they are coming from interstate they are pretty confident in winning and probably have participated in other Australian DOTA 2 tournaments, so I don’t like our chances really, but you just have to beliEEve

What are your thoughts on the Australian DOTA 2 scene?

Haven’t seen too much of it, but from what I have there appears to be a really strong base community around the country and with the ever growing popularity of DOTA hopefully the Australian scene will also grow. Would be nice to see more Australian teams doing well in the big leagues.

Back to our own local scene in Canberra, is there any teams that you’re familiar with and respect?

Well from the 2 other tournaments we've played I have fond memories of getting crushed by BOYSBOYS and RAD, although we haven’t played BOYSBOYS in at least a year. But RAD definitely has our respect if we make it far enough in the bracket to face them. But obviously we are going to be careful of every team, and especially those who got higher seeding.

A renactment of the ANU tournaments

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA2 tournaments?

Should do, we just struggle getting a 5th member sometimes, but the group we have now should be able to play into the foreseeable future

Big Hatoonda, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts?

Just props to you guys really for hosting the tournament (Y)

Interview with BOYSBOYS Captain, Rylan

First to warm things up and get you into the mood of the local ACT team, listen to this classic hit.  Let it sink in and then wonder what the hell just happened.  

This would be the general reaction of teams who faced BoysBoys, the local Canberra team who rose through the brackets and finished a respectable fourth.  Taking down Sydney teams along the way, these boys proved that they weren't a one hit wonder like Sabrina.  Read more below about this group of Boys

Player profile

Name: Rylan Savage

Age: 22

Current Team: Boysboys

Headset: Plantronics Gamecom 780

Keyboard: Logitech G18

Mouse: Razor death adder

Essential tournament food: Canberra milk


Hey Rylan, thank you for returning to this tournament and gracing us with your presence. Mind introducing yourself one more time for them youngbloods?          
Hi, I've been playing Dota casually for about 6 years now with my friends, and we've competed on and off in Australia. We played Dota 1 on Garena for the first few years then transferred over to Dota 2 early in the beta. Dota LANs have always been a lifeblood for our friend group, if as a group you can weather Dota conflicts then you know you're pretty tight, at times the game seriously brings out the worst in people.

While we've got you on the introduction phase, why not for your team as well?
My team this time will be X4, JJH, elks, Ming and myself, the only roster change being Ming. X4 (or Xavier) is the theory crafter and niche supported, known across Australia for his calculated and deadly support wisp. JJH (or Jon) is like the cement that holds the team together, keeping our minds on objective gaming, calling out bad dives and in general being a wet blanket, but still an integral element of our strength. He has a calmness and dexterity that hes brought from his days as a professional DonkeyKong smash player, which he uses to keep our eyes on the prize. Elks is the team's pubstar and chemist, getting you whatever you might need to relax yourself after a stressful day at work. Watching his roaming Mirana you'd think arrow was a targeted ability he's so good, but sometimes he misclicks and selects a creep instead, but then he explains to us he really just wanted the last hit to buy his second bottle so he can steal even more runes from me in mid. Ming's our last, a strong player who we've known out of dota for years and who will most likely carry us hard.

BoysBoys and more Boys!

There's been some changes with the team and you've sought out talent from the east, why the change?
Ming will mix things up for us, with his Burning like collectedness, farming prowess and steadfast incremental game-play that reminds me of a TI3 LGD. His syllabear root hax will prove very useful.

How did you rate your performance at the last tournament especially having sent two Sydney teams packing home?
It's always disappointing when you don't perform better than you did, regardless of how good other teams are, but it was OK to lose to the team we did, cause we're friends with all of them and consider them really strong players. Considering we were a casual team (and are again) its just great to progress to the late stages of the tournament and get some great games in.  

Canberra DOTA 2 Scene is not really stable at this moment since we've had quite a lot of teams die out, you guys have kept it going and what's the secret behind this?
We didn't meet through DOTA, but rather dota is a shared hobby we all have and something we do together. Conflict (and egos) in dota can be really destructive and a lot of things about pub dota foster this in people. Making the jump from being a potentially very strong ranked player (even 5.5k, whatever) to being in a functional team is really hard, I think a 4k team with strong teamwork can wipe the floor with a 5k team full of pubstars. I think we're all pretty chill in dota, but still get involved and competitive in our games.

We'll have another interstate team come around once again and possibly more, any kind words from Canberra that you'd like to offer?
Eat at Grill'd in the city, that place is out of control.

Grill'd for off the hook burgers!

Last time we talked about the Australia DOTA 2 scene and how it's very lacking.  Since then we have Can't Say Wips win a SEA tournament and things are improving in Australia.  Would you agree?
Maybe, CSW doing well in SEA is great, but with the exception of Godot (who I think is the best Australian player) its mainly Singapore and Malaysian players too, kind of a chains stack with an AUS flag. While things are improving, (more LAN tourneys, wider playerbase) players or teams who want to be internationally competitive will inevitably still have to move to SEA, china or the US. Even a single Australian player moving to a foreign inhouse dota team would be really exciting, and that team would probably be followed by the entirely of Aus.

Anything you're looking forward to at this tournament? 
I know a lot of strong players on screen that are coming, so its exciting to put a face to some names. LAN atmospheres are always great for our whole team, we get more spirited to play tournament style at a proper event

Rylan, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts?
Shout-out to Canberra dota teams and Enigma players everywhere. Shout-out to Jim over at Reload and the Barracks and to you, Fred for jointly making these events possible. And shout-out to Canberra Milk, it's a really good product

Mark Webber approves of this local Milk!

Canberra DOTA 2 Autumn Cup update

It’s been quite a while since the last update so here goes.

The lists below are where I have seeded each team based on their roster or past performances in recent tournaments.

The online component was meant to sort this out but due to time management, I haven’t been able to run this component as successfully as I would have hoped to.  So for this, I do humbly apologise.

What I have decided to do is split up the tournament into two days.  Attached are how the schedule would work and the schedule itself.  Big ups to Whos_House, who assisted me.

The lower ranked teams will kick off on Good Friday 3rd April.  While the top ranked teams will start on Saturday 4th April.

So I will make this easier for the teams below the top 5.  Any team that feels their ranking should be higher, please do feel free to challenge said team.

1. Wh0res : Blackshatan, kotlz, Ada.L, Kitkat

2. Team EZ - `MPJ, Sonogong, Matino, Miggel.Z, BRE@TH//LESS

3. Plantronics Nv - Moops, ToOnz, Tiboursin, Varj, JaN

4. RAD - hyhy, BigCow, Bloodstruck, Vergil7, Chuper

5. BOYSBOYS - Rylan26, elks, X4vier, JJH, ming

6. Original Gosu - BabyOwl, Whos_House, RoseyTheMook, Pupfish, Loach

7. Omega Squadron - Squirtle,Yadig, Frostyflavours, Jandals, exOHH, Standin-Fidzeh

8. Don't Smoke It- VeenarM, Detendu, CosmicD, Crusader, NotJesse

9. Sponsored by Centrelink - Lord Smooth, Lotto Shark, Maestro Loaf, Baron Beatbox, Young Money

10. Sodium hypochlorite - mangoheart, RaVa, 50 shades of Wang, NovaClipse, TBA

11. #Hero - Big Hatoonda, B1G S3XY,White Mamba, FreEZe, Hazz

12. 420 Praise It - Sneakypete, MrTinkertonks, Lizza, High&Mighty, Pedochu

13. FLCL - Chinky, Souza, James, TBA, TBA

14. Ataxia1 - K-Sama, Agilethief, Platinum,Notoriously B.I.G., Talsidor

https://www.dropbox.com/s/16htnsvdf7vtc74/Dota%20Tourney%20Partial%20Bracket.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4brprqmjvhfm1jw/Dota%20Tourney%20Schedule.pdf?dl=0

Interview with Omega Squadron Captain - YaDig

Omega Squadron had high hopes for the first Canberra DOTA 2 tournament but that changed as alcohol was a factor with many of the boys.  Taking the time to come down from Sydney once again. the boys are back in town.  Rameka answers the questions for all to see.

Player profile

Name:  Rameka aka YaDig

Age:  23

Current Team: Omega  

Headset:  Steel series Siberia V2

Keyboard: Steel series Apex

Mouse:  Steel series sensei

Essential tournament food: Massaman chicken curry from Number One Thai at Kogarah

Welcome back Rameka, thanks for your time.  How have things been with your team and yourself since the last tournament? 
Things have been good. Didn't play much DotA collectively over summer but we are slowly getting back into the swing of things.

As last tournament, you are one of the first interstate teams to sign up.  What keeps you coming back?

 We travel down to Canberra with 3 car loads of friends so its guaranteed a memorable weekend regardless of the result.

Field trips with Omega Squadron and their entourage

Last interview we talked about the strength of Canberra teams and as fate would have it, you were sent back to Sydney by BoysBoys.   What happened on that day?

They were the better team, we gambled on a "all-in strategy" which didn't work out. We didn't have the best showing last Canberra tournament due to some of us being a "tad" hungover but we definitely enjoyed ourselves.

Will there be any repeat this time around or will you go pound for pound and go further?Hoping to do better this time around of course. The good thing about having the tournament on Saturday, which is the same day we travel to Canberra, is that we won't be intoxicated (hopefully).

The probable outcome of this trip

Apart from BoysBoys, any teams this time around that you're familiar with from Canberra?
I don't think so but in saying that i have poor memory.

We know your team likes to party and that probably contributed to a weaker showing.  Is the team still the same or have you gone through some changes?
Same team, same roster and same pack of friends coming down to support us aka drink.

You are not solely here for the tournament, so what else is in store from this sleepy city?
We are staying at the local hostel with 15 friends for the long weekend and plan on spending it out and about around Canberra.

Is there anything further that you’d like to add?

Shoutout to Kogarah net cafe, Team Ez and Pewpew. All the best to everyone!