Better late than never, right? I'm always going to force myself to do one blog each month. Remember that everything expressed in these blogs are just my thoughts. Often times they are Dota related and other times not so much.
Feel free to follow and tweet at me @LiquidFLUFF. I make an effort to interact with everyone and, of course, you'll be the first to know when I put up a new blog. Everyone's support is greatly appreciated, so thank you.
Please Note: The majority of my blogs are written in one sitting with cursory editing methods. The reason for this is because I tend to delete a large portion of the material I write. To counteract that, I try not to dwell on it too much and leave it be. I also use and abuse comma's, sorry in advance :D.
Without further ado, here are the things that I intend to elaborate on in this blog:
A. Nerd-chills B. Stagnant Growth and Perspective C. Losing
No doubt you've seen the mess of results that my team's been experiencing for the past month or two, since our inception with Liquid. I want to talk a little bit about why losing is important and how perspective contributes to growth.
A. Nerd-chills
Yes, I went there. Nerd-chills are something that each and every one of us should unapologetically be able to talk about. It's one of those feelings that are so pivotal, yet so seemingly lame at the same time.
What is the significance to me? Whenever I lose my drive or lose sight of my vision, I watch the videos that remind me of why I will continue to sacrifice to reach my goals. Revisiting videos from The International fuels and reinforces a lot of the positive emotions that I've always had.
The way that the audience's booming energy collectively surged throughout every crevice in the room was unforgettable. Not only from a players perspective, atop the grandest stage in Dota's history, but that of a spectator's as well. Everything and everyone felt completely intertwined. There's no way to describe how amazing it feels to close my eyes and listen to the uproars. It leaves me feeling rejuvenated and hungry for so much more.
B. Stagnant Growth and Perspective
Our recent performances have been lackluster to say the least. We've been having a tough time calibrating our strengths and weaknesses with this roster. With little practice in the month of December, due to holidays, we kept charging into matches without a plan. As far as I'm concerned, action without intent is the recipe for stagnant growth. Though, I'm not too worried because the potential of our team is really high. I can only see good things happening, as we practice more. In fact we've finally been putting in a lot of hours together and I'm really pleased with the direction we've taken, as of late.
I'll be the first one to assume responsibility as the captain. There was even one point this month in which I had TC take over drafts over the course of a week.This is another tool that I've used on several occasions, with the understanding that it'd be temporary (coL). When things are not working, the pressures mount and, very rapidly, doubt consumes the leader. It's important to take a step back instead of banging one's head against a wall.
A lot of the time it becomes hard to identify exactly what you need to do to improve at a competitive level. My initial reaction to stagnation is to try and reflect on matches and stare at the hero pool. It hardly ever works and just frustrates me. As if to beckon to the universe and yell, "give me ideas dammit!". Rather unrealistic, don't you agree?
I've found that the cliche (paraphrased) "You'll find what you're looking for when you least expect it" to be very true. I don't know how many hundreds of hours I've spent looking at replays. Hoping to find something to special, a spark for motivation. All the same, I've spent so much time glaring at every hero in the hero tab repeatedly to no avail.
All my best ideas are brought about when I clear my mind and become present. Whether it be through unconsciously drafting a cool new lineup and playing it without any expectations or after exercising, most of the time my best ideas come to me when I'm not actively looking for any answers. From there I feel it's best to identify what works and what doesn't, then take all factors into account to create a strategy.
What this technique allows me to do, is to take in a different perspective: that of a player and not a captain. I must admit, it's quite nice to take no responsibility whatsoever with the drafts. I can go eat cereal, tab out and browse the internet; It is always so relaxing! However, I'm not one to sit back.
Everyone's experience with this might be different, but mine's always been very similar. Immediately I notice myself feeling relaxed and almost absolved from defeat. Though we lose here and there, I don't necessarily take it to heart or mull over it. Part of the reason, I suppose, is because I don't take responsibility. Instead, I fixate on regaining my own ideals as to how the game should be played. Sometimes as short as several games or as long as a week with someone else's draft, I quickly regain confidence and feel driven to lead with renewed intensity. A lot of my doubts disperse and with a bird's eye view, I'm able to identify what exactly we need to focus on to improve.
I imagine that this might come off as arrogant, but I always realize that it's up to me. I realize that I'm the leader for a reason and that no one else can do what I do for my team. There's a reason why my four teammates and Team Liquid would put their trust in me. If you're a captain like me, I totally empathize with you. If you're a leader, it's probably because you stepped up or people believed in you. Just own up to it and assume all the responsibilities, hopefully you can learn from my experiences as well.
C. Losing
In the past losing used to be a really huge deal. I used to endure soul-crushing pain with each and every loss. Literally each game, be it scrim or official match, pressed on me. Back then, I thought that I was supposed to ruminate over the losses and feel miserable while doing it.
If I had to give advice to the old me, it would be: It's okay to lose. Not only is it okay to lose, but you need to lose. I'd say that the universe gives you what you need, not necessarily what you want and you're being silly. Losing is important because it keeps you from getting complacent. It'll break you down and build you back up stronger.
So what about now? What about the last couple of weeks? I'll be honest, yes I didn't want to lose, but I didn't let it affect me negatively. Interestingly enough, I actually experienced more negative emotion when we won without merit. By that, I mean when our opponents would make significant mistakes or if we didn't execute properly.
I noticed that after several losses in a row, I was learning more and more. I felt a little guilty that I wasn't feeling badly. Rather, I felt inspired with every loss. I noticed many different things that I never would've thought about, had we won them all without resistance.
A few Lessons I learned:
1. Execution is the more important than hero picks. Assigning your teammates specific actions within teamfights is key. Two really basic examples would be saying, "Venge, stand out of the fight until Enigma black holes and then swap him" or "When you Panda split, cyclone Lone Druid's Bear". Knowing what to do and how to do it is very important.
Another aspect of execution involves timings, such as ganking lanes during night time (6 mins) because of the reduced sight range. Accordingly, your supports should ward up vulnerable lanes in preparation, as well as carrying a teleport scroll.
2. A lot of the time the initiating team gains advantage first.
3. Going out of your way to put a thorn in the enemy team's strategy goes a long way. Teams often have strategies that fit their playstyles, such as turtling for a hard carry like PL or getting quick levels on a Wisp to abuse his ultimate. Pushing teams outside of their comfort zones by placing pressure on their key heroes will disrupt the flow of their strategy in your favor.
4. You have to identify your opponents strategy and make sure it doesn't counter yours. For example, a team with KotL and Tinker will make it VERY difficult for your team to push. So even if you have an awesome pushing lineup, you're putting yourself at an inherent disadvantage because they can hold you off while farming the other lanes.
The thing is that I've been through rough patches before and I realize that our team's potential is nowhere near met. Our goal, first and foremost is TI3. There is no doubt in my mind that we'll grow exponentially in the coming months. Our team is in it for the long-haul and a couple losses aren't going to break our spirits.
Shoutouts
Special shoutout to Bumblebee for being an outstanding manager. Shoutout to Media Manager Rosy(Grape) and Shoutout to 4 Asians +1, TI3 LAN team: Left to right: Luminous, Me, Purge, Blitz, and Eosin.
Thank you to our fans for your support. I'd also like to thank our sponsors Twitch, Shinythings, Razer and Barracuda Networks.
Always a pleasure to read your thoughts. I find it's important in situations like this to make sure you have some balance in your life - some things you can focus on that aren't Dota. The reason for it is exactly like you described, because often the biggest insights come when you're relaxed and not thinking about the game, when you put it in the back of your mind. That seems to be the time when the hours upon hours of staring at heroes and trying to force solutions finally coalesce into a coherent thought and when the breakthroughs come.
Best of luck, it's just a matter of time until the team finds their footing.
I can see you guys going in the right direction, playing to the strengths of your players, and slowly looking better and better. My faith in Victor and TL is unassailable and I'm sure you guys will be stomping with the best in the scene in no time.
P.S. The series vs Na'Vi was hearbreaking. Outdraft the crap out of them, they get to redraft. T.T
I find your experience when you are not drafting to be very interesting. It makes me wonder if DOTA teams would be better served if they had a designated coach who did not play but selected heros in all of the drafts. If it could reduce stress on the players, and perhaps let them focus on their mechanics and execution more instead of theory crafting I could see it being a good system. What are your thoughts? I have never played at a competitive level so I wouldn’t know.
Edit: forgot to thank you for the blog XD GOGO TL FIGHTING!
It was a pleasure reading your blog, there was alot of good points one could learn from. Learning from your mistakes, taking a few steps back to regain perspective and let someone else run the show for awhile also to get new perspectives are all very good advice.
One thing that i got kinda caught on tho that you wrote was this:
"I imagine that this might come off as arrogant, but I always realize that it's up to me. I realize that I'm the leader for a reason and that no one else can do what I do for my team."
Im currently in the University and im thinking about taking leadership psychology as my masters degree. Related to that i read an article written by an experienced leader in finances. He wrote that the most important thing he had learned during his career was delegating responsibility and putting faith in his employees. This may or may not directly relate to Dota 2 or your teams situation. But what i thought was interesting about what he said was that; "The important thing isn't if the great ideas come from me, but that i pick up on the ideas and identify the good/right ones". Earlier he had been very focused on doing alot himself, coming up with the great ideas etc. He realized that in his organization there was a potential for alot more good ideas than he ever could come up with himself. His role as a leader was nurturing an innovative environment, decide wich ideas were the good ones and what direction his company should take.
Anyways, good luck in your future games and i hope you get where you want to be before TI3
A great blog, Fluff. As usual, a pleasure to read. And OFC all the best for you guys. It is only a matter of time until you guys get in your comfort zone. Liquid fighting!!!
Holloworb, I totally forgot I was going to talk about how there are two models I understand at the moment. The first is that a team captain should ignore his teammates and work only to unify them under one idea (This is what I believed last year). The second is that the team captain should be hardened but open to everyone's ideas.
I agree completely with what you said and with that quote. Thanks.
On February 01 2013 15:08 theaxis12 wrote: I find your experience when you are not drafting to be very interesting. It makes me wonder if DOTA teams would be better served if they had a designated coach who did not play but selected heros in all of the drafts. If it could reduce stress on the players, and perhaps let them focus on their mechanics and execution more instead of theory crafting I could see it being a good system. What are your thoughts? I have never played at a competitive level so I wouldn’t know.
Edit: forgot to thank you for the blog XD GOGO TL FIGHTING!
I think coaches will be apart of the next era in competitive DotA 2. However, at the moment there aren't enough retired veterans with the experience to make it possible. It's also not financially viable for any real coaches yet or organizations to give them salary with the players. It'll happen, but for now it's up to the players.
On February 01 2013 15:08 theaxis12 wrote: I find your experience when you are not drafting to be very interesting. It makes me wonder if DOTA teams would be better served if they had a designated coach who did not play but selected heros in all of the drafts. If it could reduce stress on the players, and perhaps let them focus on their mechanics and execution more instead of theory crafting I could see it being a good system. What are your thoughts? I have never played at a competitive level so I wouldn’t know.
Edit: forgot to thank you for the blog XD GOGO TL FIGHTING!
I think coaches will be apart of the next era in competitive DotA 2. However, at the moment there aren't enough retired veterans with the experience to make it possible. It's also not financially viable for any real coaches yet or organizations to give them salary with the players. It'll happen, but for now it's up to the players.
Thoughts on which players might do better as coaches than as players? *coughSyndereNcough*
Fluff, I love your blog posts, and thank you for your time. Although you mentioned that execution in the game is more important than picks/bans, I was wondering if you could elaborate on how you form a team. Is it a predetermined idea based on your team's strengths? Do you have 2 or 3 ideal lineups, and draft based on the opposing team's strategy? If you have any insight, I'd love to hear it
Liquid needs to work on early game. I felt that there is a lack of intention in your early games. There are many games where you lost early games but still managed to come back after some good execution and exploited other team's mistake. However, if you lose early game to a Chinese teams like iG, LGD, DK; they will snowball out of control.
Your tangent on banging your head against the wall was very insightful, and it got me thinking of a study I read that can be related to DOTA teams. Though execution is paramount in DOTA, being able to innovate is also huge. There's a study on creativity performed by Brian Uzzi of Northwestern that states that there is an ideal amount of unfamiliarity within a group of people required to innovate effectively. When a team is brand new and no one is connected to each other, there is not much innovation, but when there is a certain amount of familiarity with some members but also new faces, groups of people show an uncanny ability to innovate. This is the sweet spot and Uzzi references it in terms of a "Q" number. A high number of Q represents a very tight connected group, where a low Q is a very disconnected group. This ability to innovate at an ideal Q# (somewhere in the middle) is sadly temporary, as once the group has become too comfortable, the Q becomes too high, and the new ideas will stagnate once again.
This situation reminds me of your current state with Liquid, with a mix of old coL players + some new faces, it would seem that you guys have a great capacity to innovate, eventually though, that capacity will be lost. Navi's current struggles I think is a great example of this. Seeing them get dismantled by VP's NP, CW, Wisp, CK, Nyx strategy was very telling, VP was out-smarting them. Though Puppey is a great innovator, Navi's "Q" is too High right now.
Of course the obvious solution of this strategy stagnation would be a roster change, but with so many other variables in DOTA, the most important being execution, it seems like a less than ideal solution. How do you then keep your roster intact, while keeping new ideas and strategies flowing? I'm not sure of the solution, but it's food for thought either way.
@AkalineMess - We've significantly improved upon our early game and that's our focus at the moment, it's going well in practice.
On February 02 2013 06:19 Sinbu wrote: Fluff, I love your blog posts, and thank you for your time. Although you mentioned that execution in the game is more important than picks/bans, I was wondering if you could elaborate on how you form a team. Is it a predetermined idea based on your team's strengths? Do you have 2 or 3 ideal lineups, and draft based on the opposing team's strategy? If you have any insight, I'd love to hear it
Thanks for all your time
@Sinbu - By team, do you mean a group of 5 players or 5 hero picks (draft)? I'm just going to assume draft. In my mind, most of the time there should be some sort of idea, so you know which heroes are important to draft and to ban out early on. However, you should consider the style of your opponent to make sure that you're strategy is effective against theirs. It's a bit harder, paradoxically, to play versus teams that you're not familiar with compared to the top contenders. There really isn't such a thing as an "ideal" lineup, so much as an effective strategy against the opposing team.
You can pick for your strategy based on what your perceived strengths are. For example, if you have a really talented carry player, you can pick really turtle heavy lineups and try, say, Keeper of the Light and Tinker to stall the games out.
You could also pick to pressure your opponents by aiming to win as many lanes as possible. Usually people go offensive trilane versus abusable lanes (such as picking defenseless carries like spectre), followed by a counter-pick to their safe lane and usually mid is even. This gives you the option to take 3 lanes and then snowball past their strategy if you completely dominate. Empire is a good example of a team that runs this.
I think having two or three diverse strategies are enough to take a LAN tournament or a tournament in general. Typically really solid strategies aren't fully figured out until after the events.
It's a blog in of itself. Hopefully that's enough for now.
Great read, man! I get the same way with creativity in my life: It's often best to just put it aside for a while. Ironically, I like to play Dota to drift my mind towards other things, but it's the same concept.
I found your swapping with 'TC interesting, too. But in hindsight, it's a great method to gain perspective, and avoid burn out, while also growing TC as a player (improving the overall team). It's a brilliant method, and I hope other teams do similar.
Regarding A: Nerdchills. Does that involve tears into the term, because I tend to cry from sheer happiness and empathic joy, when rewatching such things. Or is that just a sideeffect from the nerdchills? Rewatching past moments, have always been a recatalyst for me, when I have been jaded. Glad you pointed out this re-visiting of nerdchills.
While I agree execution is more important than heroes, heroes are the extension of your strategy, and ability to adjust(important), due to said heroes. Avoiding predictability is another thing. I think you/team need to work some there, but feel free to disagree, as I probably have no idea what I am talking about. You are still gonna be at the very top of DotA 2 regardlessly, and I hope you in the warmth of TL will have continuity in practice schedules, and roster to secure that the performance pendulum doesn't get swung. I have absolutely no doubts of the success of this team, and have never even considered to have it, be it since Fire, or now in TL(even less).
Whenever I lose my drive or lose sight of my vision, I watch the videos that remind me of why I will continue to sacrifice to reach my goals
I cant be the only one watching this vid
But after listening to you guys a little bit. I overheard you talking about needing an identity. You guys mentioned xboct, and how when navi puts him on naix they function well. They all play seamlessly as if the game plan is ingrained in them. The same with funnic on clinkz, its not just funnic that clicks when hes on clinkz, the entire team just gets in this rhythm and roll over teams that seem off beat.
Thats one of the things that I feel might be missing from the TL team. TL needs an identity, a hero, or a playstyle that can give them the rhythm they need.
For example, anyone remember this
Korok on morphling, his team would just play out of their minds and you would get plays like this
On February 02 2013 04:57 Liquid`FLUFF wrote: Holloworb, I totally forgot I was going to talk about how there are two models I understand at the moment. The first is that a team captain should ignore his teammates and work only to unify them under one idea (This is what I believed last year). The second is that the team captain should be hardened but open to everyone's ideas.
I agree completely with what you said and with that quote. Thanks.
I asked Korok the other day, what his thoughts on the different draft styles were. He told me that he had been on teams that did both the major styles of drafting.(captian/collective draft) His opinion was that its far better to let the captain draft, then to have the team discuss it. If the team discusses it, sure you get everyone's input, but you get bad ideas as well as good ideas and its not always easiest to pick out the best ideas from the pot. With that being said, he felt that if the captain has a solid game plan, that its then best from him to pick a draft that allows the team to carry out that plan, and not let differing opinions interfere with his plan. He also added that he would only input his thoughts if he felt you were being led into a trap.
Im guessing that since the team operates with having you draft, would you agree with Korok. Also do you feel like the team would continue operating like that in the future, or do you see room for change in the way teams draft lineups?
I completely agree on your points about losing and specifically applying that to Liquid's losses. Glad you've managed to boil down the major problems and look forward to seeing the adjustments.
@Sinbu - By team, do you mean a group of 5 players or 5 hero picks (draft)? I'm just going to assume draft. In my mind, most of the time there should be some sort of idea, so you know which heroes are important to draft and to ban out early on. However, you should consider the style of your opponent to make sure that you're strategy is effective against theirs. It's a bit harder, paradoxically, to play versus teams that you're not familiar with compared to the top contenders. There really isn't such a thing as an "ideal" lineup, so much as an effective strategy against the opposing team.
You can pick for your strategy based on what your perceived strengths are. For example, if you have a really talented carry player, you can pick really turtle heavy lineups and try, say, Keeper of the Light and Tinker to stall the games out.
You could also pick to pressure your opponents by aiming to win as many lanes as possible. Usually people go offensive trilane versus abusable lanes (such as picking defenseless carries like spectre), followed by a counter-pick to their safe lane and usually mid is even. This gives you the option to take 3 lanes and then snowball past their strategy if you completely dominate. Empire is a good example of a team that runs this.
I think having two or three diverse strategies are enough to take a LAN tournament or a tournament in general. Typically really solid strategies aren't fully figured out until after the events.
It's a blog in of itself. Hopefully that's enough for now.
Thanks for the response fluff. I did intend the group 5v5 with my question. It's hard to start randomly drafting with my friends, and they look to me to know what to ban and pick, especially with our skill levels. I really look forward to your future blogs.
Some really interesting thoughts. The bit about "becoming present" definitely resonates with me---that's something I do when I'm struggling as well (yay mindfulness!). Also appreciate a window into how a captain leads a team. Good stuff
On February 01 2013 15:08 theaxis12 wrote: I find your experience when you are not drafting to be very interesting. It makes me wonder if DOTA teams would be better served if they had a designated coach who did not play but selected heros in all of the drafts. If it could reduce stress on the players, and perhaps let them focus on their mechanics and execution more instead of theory crafting I could see it being a good system. What are your thoughts? I have never played at a competitive level so I wouldn’t know.
Edit: forgot to thank you for the blog XD GOGO TL FIGHTING!
I think coaches will be apart of the next era in competitive DotA 2. However, at the moment there aren't enough retired veterans with the experience to make it possible. It's also not financially viable for any real coaches yet or organizations to give them salary with the players. It'll happen, but for now it's up to the players.
Thanks for the response man! I am excited to see DotA 2 grow as an e-sport, and the level of play and strategy that we will achieve!
Nice write up as always Fluff. Definitely opens my mind a bit about some issues that I have in DotA 2. Thanks also for doing this blog! I'm sure I will always get back to reading it whenever I feel lost. All the best! Liquid Fighting!!
Excellent blog. I very much enjoyed reading it. Its nice to see some of the inside thoughts of the pro players that I follow. Thanks again for posting (I know it's not easy) and I look forward to future installments.
Nice blog I really enjoyed reading. I hope you know that the lessons you've mentioned here can be applied pretty much anywhere in life. In building a business/career, dating, relationships and pursuing hobbies that interest you. What you seem to learn from Dota can easily be applied to life in general.
Keep on truckin'. I'm sure you'll eventually succeed at where you want to go.
EPT![[image loading]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8463/8405481299_5ea6265564.jpg)
