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My Kiev Experience

Blogs > Julmust
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Julmust
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Sweden4867 Posts
May 06 2017 12:16 GMT
#1
So it's been about a week now since the Kiev major finished with an amazing Bo5 finals between OG and VP. While I'm happy for OG, I mean holy hell 4/5 major wins for Fly and Notail, I can't help but feel a bit sad for VP, but mostly for the entire CIS community. They deserved having the home team win. I have always known that Dota was big in CIS but my experience in Kiev made me realize I really had no clue of exactly how big it really is. And it's not just fandom. Let me expand on that a little bit.

On the first day we (me, nixer, shiaopi) arrive at the arena ~1½ hours before the games are set to start, which is 30 minutes before the doors open. The line we see if nothing short of amazing. It must have been 3-400 meters long and actually wen around the block. At 8:30am. On a Thursday morning. I tried taking some pictures of this but without a drone, or a skycrane, it was impossible to do the fans justice. As we were standing around looking confused V1lat drives up with his car (for whatever reason the parking was in front of the venue) and we just hear this roar of the line as 50-100 people break off just to catch a glimpse of him and, hopefully, a picture to immortilize the moment.

So they were hyped. And not only that, they weren't fanboys (or girls, there was actually a surprising number of girls there). These were fans of good Dota. No matter if it was Liquid mounting a huge comeback versus Newbee, or Faceless showing who's the top dog of the SEA region, the crowd showed their appriciation of all the teams and all the plays, no matter who performed them. Nothing short of amazing and, with the demonization of CIS (pub)players going on in the western scene, so not what I was expecting. Now don't get me wrong the crowd showed their love of Virtus Pro, I can still hear "Vir...tus.....pro" in my head from time to time. So kudos to you CIS Dota. I hope I have to chance to return for another major, cause you guys deserve it.

Another thing dawned to me as we were sitting in the arena (for something like 16-18 hours a day #worth). While the Russian audio in the arena wasn't an issue, they have some great casters who get you hyped up, the in-between games was lacking. It was basically just their panel discussing things. No other content was made. And that's when I realized how amazingly lucky we in the western scene are to have someone like SirActionSlacks. I'll be honest and say I've never been a huge fan of Slacks. I've found him to be over the top and annoying. During Kiev... I wouldn't say my feelings changed (still think he caters to the lowest common denominator of the community) but I came to respect him immensly. Wherever you went he was always around filming a new segment. He worked harder than anyone else at the event, I'm fairly sure, and even with his few, precious, minutes off he came down to the press room and joked around (he knows how to get people laughing, I'll give him that). So kudos to you Slacks. You do you!

So I've talked about the good. What about the not-so-good? Well I'll start off by saying I understand V1lat's blog about the venue now. Don't get me wrong the spectating area of the venue is about what you'd expect from a major. There was nothing wrong there. My issue was with what was available outside of that. When you go to these events you'll reach a point where you kind of overdose on Dota. It's day three and you've watched every single minute of the event so far and just want to do something else. While it's unfair to draw a paralell to TI, I'm gonna do so. In Seattle they have a nice outdoors area where you can sit and chill, with a food court like... 2 minutes away. There are street vendors and an activity area where you can try stuff like the Vive. There's also amazing Dota artwork all over Key Arena that you can walk around and look like. In Kiev we had a Secret shop and about 5 resturants in close proximity. Nothing to write home about. The venue wasn't in a very central location either, so there wasn't any point in just strolling around.

That's about it for the negatives really. I wasn't a big fan of the set up for press, but I won't bore you with those details as that's feedback for PGL.

All in all, Kiev was absolutely amazing and I really hope I get the chance to return some day.

I want to end this blog by telling you all the story of why we stopped wearing out Liquid gear. All three of us are big Liquid fans and have gear. So we wore it to the arena... well for a few days. In the short span we were there people stared at us like they were trying to figure out if we were a part of the team or not. Some of them failed. ShiaoPi got asked if he was EternalEnvy. Nixer if he was Miracle. And me... ehm I wasn't really asked if I was X, but I assume they thought I was a taller, fatter, version of Mind_Control? We had people come up to us asking for pictures and when we said "We're not famous at all" some of them walked away with a disappointed look. What really made my day though was the few times where the person, who was asking for the picture, woudl go: "I don't care". He just wanted a picture of a random person in Liquid gear! So after Liquid was eliminated we decided that enough was enough with the gear, it's actually uncomfortable having people stare at you all the time, and ditched our fandom
AdministratorI'm dancing in the moonlight
ahswtini
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Northern Ireland22185 Posts
May 06 2017 16:25 GMT
#2
i guess liquid gear isnt as widespread as navi gear over there?
"As I've said, balance isn't about strategies or counters, it's about probability and statistics." - paralleluniverse
Nixer
Profile Joined July 2011
2774 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-05-06 21:23:46
May 06 2017 21:21 GMT
#3
On May 07 2017 01:25 ahswtini wrote:
i guess liquid gear isnt as widespread as navi gear over there?

You're quite right. I think I only saw one person with a TL branded shirt besides us and that was an old one at that. Not to mention TL jackets are quite expensive, especially for the average Ukrainian.
Graphics
Ange777
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Germany1164 Posts
May 06 2017 21:29 GMT
#4
On May 06 2017 21:16 Julmust wrote:
I want to end this blog by telling you all the story of why we stopped wearing out Liquid gear. All three of us are big Liquid fans and have gear. So we wore it to the arena... well for a few days. In the short span we were there people stared at us like they were trying to figure out if we were a part of the team or not. Some of them failed. ShiaoPi got asked if he was EternalEnvy. Nixer if he was Miracle. And me... ehm I wasn't really asked if I was X, but I assume they thought I was a taller, fatter, version of Mind_Control? We had people come up to us asking for pictures and when we said "We're not famous at all" some of them walked away with a disappointed look. What really made my day though was the few times where the person, who was asking for the picture, woudl go: "I don't care". He just wanted a picture of a random person in Liquid gear! So after Liquid was eliminated we decided that enough was enough with the gear, it's actually uncomfortable having people stare at you all the time, and ditched our fandom


This is hilarious. Never heard ShiaoPi mention this anecdote though which makes me wonder if he is ashamed for being mistaken for EE :D :D :D
♥ Sen - 台灣之光 ♥
meegrean
Profile Joined May 2008
Thailand7699 Posts
May 07 2017 02:41 GMT
#5
How can you not like Slacks?
Brood War loyalist
TheEmulator
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
27962 Posts
May 07 2017 07:34 GMT
#6
(still think he caters to the lowest common denominator of the community)


tfw I like Slacks
Administrator
Torte de Lini
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Germany38463 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-05-07 08:01:37
May 07 2017 08:00 GMT
#7
That's about it for the negatives really. I wasn't a big fan of the set up for press, but I won't bore you with those details as that's feedback for PGL.


agreeeeeeeed, press room was weak
https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
YourGoodFriend
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2197 Posts
May 08 2017 13:40 GMT
#8
Good stuff, I havent been to a Dota tournament in person yet but I can see how the crowd in many ways makes it or breaks it. I remember after manila(?) everyone was talking about how it was such a good tournament because the crowd was super hyped
anonymous is the most famous author that anyone can be
turpentine
Profile Joined November 2015
1624 Posts
May 09 2017 06:03 GMT
#9
yeah it's obvious Slacks works hard since he always has new material. It can be a little dumb sometimes but he's constantly coming up with new things, and it does a better job of filling the time than weak analyst desk banter.
Book of Funn1k, 3:22 "YOU RUINED MY LIFE AND NOW YOU TALK ABOUT 0-7 TUSK?? I would so fuckin Walrus Punch you that you will get stunned for 1 year."
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