EPTI'll start by introducing myself for those who don't know me :
I'm cArn-, former French Starcraft II progamer in Korea since October 2010. Before that I've played a ton of DotA back when I was in Europe, I would say for about 8 years if not more. I was playing mostly some of the high level closed inhouses and other leagues that were happening on iRC etc at the time, and competed in a couple teams aswell.
I've always had a huge passion for DotA, but I didn't really have time for it anymore after I switched to Starcraft II fulltime.
However, DotA 2 was announced at pretty dark times of my sc2 career, so once it actually came out here, it made the most sense to me to switch back to the game I was from, especially when my situation regarding Starcraft would be completely reversed (I would be the one with previous experience as opposed to Starcraft 2 being my first RTS)
I was still splitting my time between sc2 and DotA 2 until the release was made official, which was the point I completely made the switch and stopped practicing sc2 alltogether. That was about a month or so before NSL 2 rolled in.
I was obviously extremely sloppy compared to the level of play I had back in Europe, so I had to get back in shape. Another problem I had was that I literally knew nobody in the Korean DotA scene beside Heen who was still in the army when I started playing in anticipation. I've known Heen from some time now, playing WC3 DotA together from time to time when I was taking a break from practice and when he was able to play, so I was planning on building a team with him. Unfortunately for me he already had something in the works as March talked to him and was gonna bring him, ReiSen, FoRev and Solara to make a 2nd MVP squad. I talked to March after MVP's match at the Nexon invitational (where dignitas, Speed etc came to play) to ask about their plans etc and if they had a spot but they already had 5, with Solara not completely sure he wanted to do this.
I was kinda sad because I really wanted to play on a team with Heen but it seemed like it wouldn't work..
An opportunity to take off...
I decided to just back and keep training to get back to shape, and try to make a name for myself on the Korean server. I was still pretty far from being in the kind of shape I was before when Heen messaged me with what I thought was an amazing news : Solara wouldn't make it in time for the NSL 2 qualifiers and the first rounds, so they were looking for a standin and Heen was the one to bring someone in, so he asked me if I was up to do it and play mid for them.
Obviously I was very happy to do it, even though I wouldn't be contracted for this or get paid directly, all I wanted was to get some experience in here and most importantly, get exposure to the Korean scene that would allow me to find players or a team after I'm done helping MVP.
I switched my focus completely on practicing mid and stopped going to the weekly tv shoots I was doing (I'm doing some acting in Korea). I was gonna lose quite a bit of money doing this but I didn't care, it was an opportunity I had to make the most of. As soon as I got more used to the DotA 2 engine and graphics etc, my mechanics got back pretty quickly and I was getting closer to what I used to do best, which was dominating my lane and finding a lot of farm.
One thing that seemed to play in my favor too is that I didn't really know who was good or not in Korea, and people didn't know me, so I wasn't giving any unnecessary respect to anyone and was maybe getting underestimated, which resulted in me pretty much destroying anyone I would lane against, including people like QO and MP who were/are regarded as the best Korean mid players (but again, I didn't know them).
A couple weeks passed by and we had to play in the NSL 2 qualifiers during the weekend. They were played in some PC cafe that was reserved for the occasion, so I met up with the rest of the team and the coach there before the games started. There was 4 groups of 4 teams, winner of the group advances to the Ro8 of the NSL 2. The 2 first games were pretty one sided, every lane got pretty much stomped ; The 3rd one was a bit closer since we were kinda throwing and I was playing Elder Titan which I never do, so I was kinda underwhelming.
It didn't matter tho, we 3-0'd the group and were the first team to qualify for the Ro8 beside the previous season top 4. We all left with MVP's manager to get dinner to celebrate, then we went to his house where he handed the MVP jersey freshly arrived to the members, but strangely he didn't give me one, which I would need for the profile photoshoot the coming week and for the games ; I simply assumed he didn't have my size ready today. He also gave me a bunch of gear from their sponsors, keyboard mouse bag and whatnot to thank me for helping them.
Afterwards, the manager drives Heen March and me to the subway station so that we can go home, which is when I ask March why I haven't been given a jersey since we have the photoshoot soon, which is when he tells me that it's possible that they won't need me for the playoffs even tho it's more likely they will.. that got me kinda down but I thought to myself I should just wait and see.
A couple days later he messages me to tell me that I'll be playing so I'll have to come for the photoshoot on Thursday ; I was very happy at that point, I would have my chance to show my skill, so I kept practicing as usual.. until the day before the photoshoot.
... or not
Heen messaged me to let me know that March managed to get DeMoN to come play with them.. My mind was both blank and filled with anger. I wasn't sure what to think of it and how to react, until they tell me to join a lobby for practice. I join and after a couple minutes decide I can't take this and message March for explanations ; not much to say, just that he is sorry but he thinks they have better chances with DeMoN, so obviously I leave the lobby and tell him to go on and practice with him then instead of keeping taking advantage of me.
Even though I can't blame him for thinking this, the fact that he keeps me as 3rd wheel for himself until the very last moment made me furious, I got tagged in this NSL with them and wasn't even gonna play a game. I also really think we would have had similar chances to win with me instead, not because I was playing better than DeMoN but because the style we were playing with me was more solid than the 4 protect DeMoN they used with him, which was very different than their original style.
When I played with them they would simply let me do my thing mid and not rotate mid, while the pressure I put there forces ennemies' supports to rotate to do something about it, leaving both March and Heen unaccounted for. Playing this style was hell for me at the beginning, I was getting so much hate and couldn't keep on crushing mid, and sometimes died bit too much, but it made me learn to play safer and waste supports time, creating space for the others cores to freefarm while ennemies cores become vulnerable.
That wouldn't work as well if I wasn't able to pressure mid as much as I usually did, but it was very unlikely to happen given the level of play there at that time.
In the end, I didn't get to play a single game on stage when I was promised I would play the first couple rounds at least. I was upset. VERY upset. Now I wasn't too sure what I would be able to do make a name for myself and find a team of my own, and watching them stomp through the whole NSL and barely take the title 3-2 to 5inQ, a team we didn't drop a single map to before iirc, got me really depressed.
It felt like this title was a title I should have gotten since ; Solara never got to Korea in time for the finals so I would have played them. I was finally in a position to take a major title and, even though we can't know for sure if we would have actually won it with me in DeMoN's place, the odds were still heavily on our side.
After cooling off and thinking about my situation, I came to the conclusion that it was way too early to have this unfortunate turn of event get me down. I have been trying so hard in sc2 in Korea for over 3 years, so I was familiar with these kinds of setbacks, and in a much much more unforgiving environment ; it would be stupid to let the first one I had in DotA 2 make me slow down, especially with the NSL 3 coming up, and many more opportunities we still didn't even know about at the time.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Cf5AdW9.jpg)
