Interview with Sydney Titan's captain, Khoa

One of the last Sydney teams to sign up in this tournament, will be the Sydney Titans.  Backed by a horde of spectators, the Titans will do their best to make sure that their supporters are well pleased and entertained.  Having recently won the mini tournament on the weekend, they’ll be ready to take a few teams down and possibly the crown with them.

To answer our questions, we spoke with Khoa of PewPew casting and captain of the Sydney Titans.

Player profile
Name:  Van Khoa Hoang
Age:  23
Current Team: Sydney Titans
Headset: Gamecome 720
Keyboard: Razer blackwidow tournament
Mouse:  Razer Adder
Essential tournament food: Fastfood plus 1 large coke!

G’day Khoa, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene?
Hi all, I am just someone who loves Dota 2 since it came out and have been playing dota/dota 2 for 3 years I think. I'm also a caster for the Vietnamese community.

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team?
We have been playing with each other since Dota 1 - CityHunter 2 was our previous team, Jdmaster - support, Pukventuk - carry, Tumbling and kiwi are new to us but they play solo mid and offlane. I, myself play a special role, feeder, as they say.

Team Sydney Titans, looking fresh after their recent tournament win.

How long have you played together with your current team?
As said, me, JD and Puk were playing together before since dota 1, it was back 2011 I believe. After Dota 2 we cant play as a team cause pukventuk went back to his country, and I started casting so we all part our own ways. We just grouped up again 3 weeks ago with Kiwi and we found Tumbling. The first tournament we played together with this current line up was Titan mini tournament 2 weeks ago. So yea, not long.

Guys such as YaDig from Sydney give your team a lot of props and rate you up there.  With such expectations, how do you rate your team?
Mate, you haven't seen our team losing to a random 5 stack with Morphling support. We win because other teams make mistakes. We vs Omega in the Titan Internet Cafe tournament, they actually had an early lead like 5-0 on us. So yea, I don't think we are that good, just lucky.

You’ve also got quite a fan base and your FB profile is followed by over 2000 followers.  Is there any reason for this?
Maybe they want to see me feed. Too many pro players nowadays, we need some kind of feed to make you feel excited.

Your manager told me that you are quite adored back in Vietnam, in thanks to the DOTA 2 community.  Will we expect to see them watch the game here too? 
Yeah, I hope the tournament admin will let games open up for the spectators so my friends can watch my feed and watch how pro my teammates will carry me to get some wins.

Khoa does it for his people

Back to our own local scene in Canberra, is there any teams that you’re familiar with and respect? My teams said they know teams Boysboys, Avant (ofcourse kphoenix), I, myself know Sonogong is a good player and Omega as well. The rest I don't know.

We are expecting some tough competitions from Sydney, but is there any of the Sydney teams which you have doubts against?
We respect and think all teams have good chance to win. We don't know which team from Sydney as well so yea. I think we just try to win every games we have.

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA2 tournaments?
Of course, if we get some sponsor for traveling costs, fees and food. It would be nice - Kappa ^^

Khoa, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts?
Thanks for having this tour, letting us play as well as late register. Shoutout to Mr Long as Titan Bankstown Manager, also to all Pewnoy and Pewer around keep supporting my casting and cheering for me whenever I feed. We are looking forward to having some fun.

Interview with Avant YMC Captain, George

Canberra has been quite busy during this year.  Has a regular tourist attraction, this city does quite well.  We've also drawn celebrities such as Prince Williams and Kate, Canberra Product Patty Mills and his teammate Aaron Baynes,  5th NBA Pick Dante Exum, and even international DOTA 2 player Fnatic.H4nn1.

This tournament will see another Australian powerhouse team in Avant YMC, who will make their way on Sunday to compete and show why they're the cream of the crop.

To answer all our question, here is George from Avant YMC.

Player profile
Name: George
Age: 20
Current Team: Avant YMC
Headset: Steelseries siberia v2
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Pro
Mouse: Razer Mamba
Essential tournament food:  Does a drink count?  In that case V!

G’day George, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene?     
Hello. I'm 20 this year and I've been playing dota for around 6 years now. I've been around the DotA 2 scene since early beta.

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team?
kPhoeni - #1 MMR SEA Leaderboards, what else can i say about him ? (support)

JaN- Veteran DotA 2 player, shares the same birthday as me ;D (offlane)

M!!! - Fresh off the boat but skilled player nonetheless (mid)

Tomato - Feeder and always makes me MADDDDDDDD (Carry)

How long have you played together with your current team?
We've known each other for a long time, but only recently started playing together in a team for this LaN tournament

You guys without a doubt are favoured to be the winners of this comp.  What made you guys want to come down to a small city such as Canberra and compete in this tournament?
Because DOTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and my girlfriend always wanted to check out canberra, so why not.

Are there any tournaments that you are competing in, whether it’d be online or LAN?
We're on a pretty busy schedule, with Cybergamer Proleague, MSI BEAT IT taiwan to name a few

I’ve asked a lot of the teams competing in this tournament, who have given their view about the DOTA 2 community in Australia.  However from a highly respected player, what do you think of the competition in Australia and how can Australia raise the bar to be respected worldwide?
To be honest, the competition in Australia is pretty lacklustre compared to other regions. There's not enough teams and not enough tournaments.  We need more exposure and more sponsors to notice that there IS an Australian DotA 2 Scene

You have pretty tough out there already with teams such as Immunity, MEKA and so forth.  Any chance we’ll be seeing your team take the number 1 spot soon?
Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

When life gives you Lemons

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

I know a few players but no teams in general.

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA2 tournaments?
Definitely

George, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts?
Shout to Avant and Lionberg, Empirical and everyone else who supports us (if there is any).

Interview with Sponsored by Centrelink's captain, AndyfromCanberra

With the new government in effect, benefits provided by Centrelink will be cut down to ensure that Australia has a bright future.   This might be a deterrence to some who would protest in defiance, but for Sponsored by Centrelink, it's not the case.
They're determined to ride out their benefits and see through that the government's money is put to a good cause.  So what more than a better cause than the Canberra DOTA 2 tournament!

Here to answer our questions, is AndyfromCanberra.

Player profile
Name: Andrew "Andrew" Deakins, I'm known as Deakins to my friends and Andrew on the street.
Age: 21
Current Team: Sponsored by Centrelink
Headset: We use teletubbies to communicate
Keyboard: Piano Nova g552. Also some super crusty broken Razer keyboard that decides to occasional have buttons stick down because the touchpad was designed by a monkey.
Mouse: Scottish Door mouse. He is called Deathadder. He also has a layer of caked on sweat grunge and the middle mouse button refuses to respond.
Essential tournament food:  Doritos and Dew

G’day Andy, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene? 
Many 2k MMR ranked players will already know me from my extremely awkward rage and mic abuse. Those who have recently joined the ranks unfortunately would not know my sweet supple voice because of my year long communications ban. Team is always noob gg. I miss last hits because I'm talking to girls on Facebook. My favourite hero is the fishman because he is slippery. I have been  since early wc2 days back when the game was first thought of by valve. I lost the arm wrestle and was made the team leader.

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team?
My team has one particularly nerdy player and 3 other scrub lords. They are only on this team because you would not let me enter as a multi box. We are all from Canberra and are good friends in the real life. We have grown up together sucking at video games with various success. Four of us are studying at ANU and one is studying at UC.

MikeyfromCanberra is Michael from Canberra. He is our bad player and has been eating a lot as to be the best anchor he can possibly be. He will be playing some heroes that frag for coin.
KoeyfromCanberra is Michael from Canberra. Is also our bad player and prefers to play League of Legends. He will be playing, somewhere.

DannyfromCanberra is Daniel from Canberra. Is becoming a teacher and will probably buy the courier because he has the better skin for it.
AndyfromCanberra is Andrew from Canberra. He has a special handle on his head so his team can drag him to victory. Sometimes he hits creeps to get lots of coins and buys items.

Pickles is Andrew from Canberra. He has a manly red beard and is new to the game. He will be buying the wards.

A fine masterpiece painted by the great Ken Done

How long have you played together with your current team?
We cannot play together much because we've reported each other too many times. About a week though since we asked Gabe to let us play together. We have played together as individuals, it'll be interesting to see if we can play as a team at this tournament without yelling too many gender and race based slurs.

With new reforms to the jobsearch allowance and Tony Abbott’s work for the dole scheme, won’t this affect your sponsorship with Centrelink?
WAIT THEY'RE CHANGING IT? Nah we'll be sweet though. We're full time students and are already getting screwed over enough already but who knows, we'll see how deep the boot can go? The Liberal party are the EA /Ubisoft of Australian Politics and I do not support their on release DLC. But seriously I wouldn't mind having people do a bit of community work if they're receiving unemployment benefits.

Progaming isn’t quite covered as work yet, any thoughts when that will be a reality in Australia?
Australia is a country known for it's passion and dedication to sport. It will just take until the generation with money can transition esports from a hobby to a professional sport. In reality something that will spur this greatly is a successful Australian Esports team. We need to show the country that gaming is a legitimate sport. The best path to doing this would be for an Australian player or team to win some shockingly large amount of money that would get the attention of the media.

I hope in the future that our schools will support eSports as a co-curricular activity. The levels of team work and successful communication required to play well are great character builders. Kappa.

Are you familiar with any top tier teams in Australia and its surrounding neighbours?
I've played against and with many of Australia's known dota/hon players in public and ranked queues. Our player MikeyfromCanberra has been a part of the scene and is familiar with most of the players.

Back to our own local scene in Canberra, is there any teams that you’re familiar with and respect?
The scene isn't really there at the moment. We do know of boyzboys though.

We are expecting some tough competitions from Sydney, but is there any of the Sydney teams which you have doubts against?
To be honest I don't really know about the teams from Sydney. The internet points says that kp is a big nerd and is pretty scary.

The last known pic of kPhoenix

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA2 tournaments?
Of course. Maybe not as the exact team we are entering as now but we have a large group of friends who really enjoy the game.

Andy, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts?
If you beat us in this tournament you are a nerd and if you lose to us you are a casual. Thanks for putting so much effort into organising this, we'd like to give a team shoutout to you.

Sponsored by Centrelink's worst fear, a dedicated Asian DOTA 2 player

Prize Pool

This will be a quick post, so here is the prize pool that I will be allocating for this tournament.
 1st prize - $750
2nd prize - $375
3rd Prize - Gift Certificate for 8 custom T-Shirts or Polos by Redskins Sportswear
Miscellaneous - $125 to be used throughout the day for in game item purchases on participants of the tournament.

The breakdown for transparency sake is below:
18 teams * $125 (entry free) = $2250
Venue Hire for both Barracks Internet Cafe and Sky Cafe = $1000
Remaining money = $1250

Which is why you have the $1250 remaining and how the prize pool is made up.  I have decided to use the remaining $125 to give it to random participants who may not have a chance to win the 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize.  I believe that you need to give a little back to those who show up on the day just to have fun and encourage them to come back to future tournaments.

Thank you for your patience and understanding and I look forward to a great weekend on the Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August 2014, for the Canberra DOTA 2 Tournament.

Interview with bok choy gaming's captain, Hamish

Most possibly the youngest team to compete on the day, bok choy gaming will use this tournament as an initiation of sorts.
But one would hope that by the end of the day, they will grow beards and be familiar with the art of manscaping.  Nevertheless, the man leading this team into the battle took the time to answer his set of questions.

Player profile
Name: Hamish Jennett
Age: 14
Current Team: bok Choy gaming
Headset: beats studio headphones
Keyboard: Asus laptop keyboard
Mouse: Anker something
Essential tournament food:  Toasty nougat tea from T2

G’day Hamish, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene?    
I'm a 14 year old player from Radford College, who loves eSports and managed to convince my band of awful scrubs, I call friends, to get a team together!

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team?
We have got Wesley on our solo mid, Ben our offlane, Marcus on our position 4, Jackson on carry, and me on the infamous ward bitch.

From L-R: Wesley, Hamish, Marcus, Jackson and Ben

How long have you played together with your current team?
We have all been playing with each other for around 2 years, except for Marcus, who we needed to replace our previous offlane, who wasn't able to make it.

The team RAD does team bonding exercises, is there anything that you do as a team to strengthen your chemistry together?
Our team tends to strategically flame each other a lot, so as to build character and crush self esteem.

A reenactment of bok choy gaming

 We're bracing up for a pretty big solid tournament, what are you most looking forward to?
We are all interested in seeing how we match up against you oldies, being what we expect to be the youngest team there. If we are to get rofl-stomped, then the aim is to at least have fun.

We have 3 interstate teams competing in this tournament, with the strongest one of the lot, being AVANT YMC.  Are you familiar with any of them and how do you fancy your chances against them?
We don't know any of the interstate teams, but they all look scary as hell, but we hope to send at least one home crying. 

What are your thoughts on the Australian DOTA 2 scene?
Honestly, I though Aus were a bunch of ~5k max scrubs untill last night, when I saw JR beat MVP Phoenix, who I consider to be the best 3rd tier team around right now.
(Editor's note: JR = Johnny's Revenge which is a SEA team rather than an AUS team)

Back to our own local scene in Canberra, is there any teams that you’re familiar with and respect?
Our mid says he knows 4+1's captain, anno domini, but I don't know any of the players by name myself.

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA2 tournaments?
Probably not, as our team isn't very good at communicating, so we think it's going to be a one of, unless we kick ass or something silly.

Hamish, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts?
I would really like to thank the organisers, my team, and barclay zhang, our older offlane who can't be here to play with us for the tournament and all our families and friends who have been so encouraging in our interest of "not a real sport"

Interview with Yowie Power captain, LeighRoy

The Yowies, are not just only mythical creatures, but they're a bunch of delightful chocolate treats which melt in your mouth and not in your hand. 

This new team will get their chance to test their prowess in DOTA 2 and hopefully can pull off some sweet moves like their Cadbury products.

Here to answer the questions, is their captain LeighRoy.

Player profile
Name: Leigh
Age: 22
Current Team: Yowie Power
Headset: Steelseries Siberia Elite
Keyboard: Gigabyte Aivia
Mouse: Steelseries Rival
Essential tournament food: Cadbury Yowies and Copious amounts of Red Bull

G’day LeighRoy, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene?            
 Names Leigh, living down on the South Coast. Been playing Dota for a little over 3yrs now

Beware of Yowies

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team?
 our roles mix and match a bit depending on the heroes we pick, but typically you'll see Samsquanch on the one position carry, doing his best to PvE, Myself in the mid trying to avoid constant ganks and bottle juicy runes, Seagull being the sacrificial lamb in the offlane, Tricky as our 5 position/Jungler and that leaves Patience, which contrary to popular belief, doesn't have much patience so he'll do a bit of everything.  

How long have you played together with your current team?
 we have played together casually for about 3yrs. We were good friends through high school and when dota2 popped up we all promptly hopped on the bandwagon.

Why the name Yowie Power, and how much of it do you require on the day?
 If you guys can grab us a Cadbury sponsor we would be forever grateful! Loads of it, have to keep that sugar high going to increase those APM's! I'm not to sure really, maybe we just all liked them as kids! Our team is a bunch of jokers haha.

We’re bracing up for a pretty big solid tournament, what are you most looking forward to?
I'm looking forward to playing on a LAN environment and playing against some good players! I've always been a competitive bloke and at its heart, DOTA is a competitive game, so I'm looking forward to playing some good games.

We have 3 interstate teams competing in this tournament, with the strongest one of the lot, being AVANT YMC.  Are you familiar with any of them and how do you fancy your chances against them?
 I've heard of a few of their players, some have been around quite a while and had short stints on the International level with some decent success. Games against them will be tough but I enjoy a good challenge and anything can happen in DOTA!

What are your thoughts on the Australian DOTA 2 scene?
 Low key haha. Australia is in an unfortunate position for eSports in general, But I guess that comes from being isolated in comparison to NA,EU and Asia. Hopefully with events like this one, we can raise the profile a bit and get some notice! There is some good players out there, and it would be sweet to see an Aussie team make a splash on the international level like aL did a few years back.

Back to our own local scene in Canberra, is there any teams that you’re familiar with and respect?
 Not really, I've only began paying attention since this comp was announced really lol. But it looks like we have some good teams here, and I look forward to playing them.

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA2 tournaments?
 For sure! Providing we can all make it on the day I'd love to come back and play again.

LeighRoy, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts?
No problem! Shoutout to Cadbury for making such awesome chocolate! And you fellas here at the Barracks for hosting this event! KAPPA

Another delicious team photo of the Yowies

Tournament Schedule

The tournament schedule can be found by clicking on this link - http://challonge.com/ACTDOTA2

The first lot of games will be played at the Barracks at 4PM Saturday 30th August 2014.  Teams will be required to show up 15 mins earlier to pay registration and set up their peripherals such as mouse, keyboard and headphones.

The 4pm Saturday game schedule is listed below and both games will be played at the same time.

4pm Games at the Barracks

On Sunday, the two venues of the Barracks and Sky Internet Cafe will be used to hold all our matches.  Teams Freedom Isn't Free, RAD, Yowie Power and Awww Narr will be BYOPC and be allocated at the Barracks.

More Information to come soon but for now, this will be the schedule for Saturday and Sunday.