1. You CAN trigger Reactive Armor without even damaging Rizzrak
2. If yoy hook to a tree using Timber Chain just before Wisp will Relocate you, you won’t be Relocated
3. Illusion CAN’T tank part of Mystic Flare damage
4. Illusion CAN’T draw Concussive Shot  from real hero. This will help you determine which is the real hero
5. Blade Mail still take effect in Duel
6. If Axe uses Berseker’s Call on dueling unit, Axe will not be attacked instead. However Tresdin will have trouble hitting the dueling unit
7. Overwhelming Odds CAN’T damage Warlock’s Infernal
8. You CAN trigger Moment of Courage without even damaging Tresdin
9. Tresdin CAN Duel Yurnero while he using Blade Fury. However Blade Fury will still do damage
10. Heaven’s Halberd disarm ability CAN be dispelled with Diffusal Blade. However Icarus disarm CAN’T be dispelled this way
11. Ember Spirit CAN bottle runes while traveling to his summoned Fire Remnant
12. Orbs, such as Mjollnir, work during Sleight of Fist. This applies for Bash,Cleave and Critical
13. Sleight of Fist CAN dodge many stuns, such as Magic Missile
14. Sleight of Fist CAN be casted on units in fog
15. Sleight of Fist won’t do any damage while in Ghost Scepter is active
16. You CAN use Manta Style during Sleight of Fist. However the illusion will be partially disabled, they may not be able to attack or move
17. Ember Spirit’s Flame Guard won’t cancel Healing Salve

1. Lich’s Chain Frost deals mini stun to it’s first target
2. When Sand King is Repelled and he uses Sand Storm, he still invisible. However, if he is Repelled after casting Sand Storm he will be revealed
3. Doom CAN cancels Blade Fury
4. You CAN pick up runes with bottle while in Lightning Ball when passing over the rune
5. You CAN Tether a mechanical unit. You CAN even use Overcharge to make it attack quicker
6. Your illusions will have more HP if you use Armlet of Mordiggian before you spawn them, the illusion won’t even lose HP
7. Windrunner (skill) will not cause Mass Serpent Wards to miss their hits. They visually acts ‘miss’ but they don’t actually miss because Serpent Wards hit splash.
8. You CAN free yourself from Kinetic Field by using Force Staff
9. If you use Blade Mail before you swap to Flesh Golem with Dirge, the spikes will disappear but the damage return will still be active
10. Razor’s Eye of the Storm with Aghanim’s Scepter hits towers also
11. Rubick CAN Steal Poof and poof to his illusions
12. Aghanim’s Scepter will spawn another Meepo even if you didn’t level up your ultimate (Divided We Stand)

DotA Mythbusters #12

1. You CAN destroy Gyrocopter’s Homing Missile with Diffusal Blade
2. Invisible units will not be blocked by another dropped items. Only units with Windwalk will be blocked. You can use this to blocked them on tight paths
3. If Tiny Tosses Guardian Wisp just before they are going to Relocate back, only Tiny will teleport back
4. Storm CAN go through Chronosphere with Ball Lightning
5. If Rubick has Aghanim’s Scepter when he steals an ultimate from enemies, it will not be upgraded. However, if the enemy hero has Aghanims, Rubick will steal the upgraded ultimate even if he doesn’t have Aghanim
6. Every Geomancer has its own cooldown time for Boots of Travel
7. Global Silence will not reveal all invisible units. Only Rikimaru will be revealed
8. Gem is disabled while you are hooking with Pudge. This applies for all items
9. Puck CAN move in Phase Sift while Mirana’s ultimate
10. Pudge CAN heal with Healing Salve while under Rot level 1-3. This doesn’t work for Rot level

DotA Mythbusters #13

1. Luna’s Eclipse will end Balanar’s Darkness
2. You CAN’T escape Chronosphere when your ally used Force Staff on you
3. You CAN teleport to Pandaren’s Primal Split pandas with Boots of Travel
4. Omniknight’s Repel CAN be removed by casting Purge on the units who has it
5. Teleport will not be stopped if you the unit that you are teleporting to is Cycloned
6. Double Damage rune has AoE when you pick it up, so your illusions will get it too if standing close by.
7. Enigma’s Black Hole CAN’T cancels Yurnero’s Blade Fury. Just the visuals cancel, you will still be damaged
8. Tiny CAN Toss Cyclone units
9. Power Cogs CAN used to push out invisible Sand King from hios Sand Storm
10. Manually casting orb spells, such us Burning Spear, have greater range than auto-casting them
11. Enchantress has a same sight range day & night time

DotA Mythbusters #14

1. If you use Icarus Dive while caught by Rooftrellens’s Overgrowth it will cause nothing and trigger cooldown. This also applies on Naga Siren’s Ensnare
2. Frostbite will cancel channeling spells. However you CAN cast channeling spells under the effect of Frostbite
3. Pandaren’s Primal Split Pandas won’t be affected by Song of Siren
4. Centaur Returns damage before the animation projectile reaches him
5. Pudge CAN hook Cycloned units. It’s also applies for Invoker’s Tornado
6. Yurnero’s Omnislash has mini-stun on the first slash
7. Terrorblade CAN use his Sunder while affected by Ice Blast. It doesn’t switch the HP, only removes enemy’s HP
8. Radiance CAN damage the fountain
9. Weaver’s Shukuci CAN’T deal damage to sleeping neutrals. This applies for any sleeping units
10. Manual casting orb attacks on a hero will not cause nearby creeps to attack you
11. If you Force Staff Magnus while he is using Skewer, he will not drag units further
12. Icarus Dive doesn’t Disarm illusions

1. Batrider does NOT fly through when he activates Phase Boots during Firefly
2. Enigma’s Black Hole works on fountain and prevents it from attacking units
3. Quelling Blade will trigger Last Word
4. You can stop Pandaren Brewmaster’s Primal Split by pressing “S” but you will waste your ultimate
5. However, if you press “S” earlier you can trick enemies
6. Land Mines and Remote Mines can damage Phoenix during Icarus Dive
7. Primal Roar will stun a crow
8. You can cancel Sven’s God’s Strenght with Diffusal Blade
9. Mana Drain will destroy an illusion after 1 second
10. If you target Twin Head Dragon’s Dual Breathe skill under him the Ice Blast and Fire Wave go in different direction

DotA Mythbusters Episode #7

1. Windrunner’s Focus Fire CANNOT target Phoenix while in Supernova form
2. Doom will pause while inside Chronosphere
3. If you Transmute (Hand of Midas) on a unit just before you are going to kill it, you will get extra gold
4. Tuskarr’s Walrus Punch will NOT critical while Phase Boots is active. This also work for any critical (Mortred, Gondar,etc)
5. Nerubian Assassin’s Urna Swarm CAN move in Chronosphere
6. Unit under effect of Poison Nova CANNOT be hit by Rocket Barrage(Gyrocopter). This work on sukuchi too
7. Pandaren Brewmaster’s Primal Split will end if he is Relocated by Guardian Wisp
8. Units that are out of the map will not be interacted with Zeus’s Thundergod’s Wrath. This also applies Chen’s Hand of God but Wrath of Nature and Global Silence will effect you
9. Gem will disappear if you die on unpathable terrain. This also work for any droppable items, such us Divine Rapier
10. Aegis won’t work if your on unpathable terrain. However, you will still have it when you respawn
11. Lich’s Chain Frost will NOT stop if the target dies before the ultimate reaches it but the ultimate will always go to middle no matter where you are on the map

DotA Mythbusters Episode #8

1. Since Tidehunter’s Ravage is segmented, you CAN avoid it by blinking right near him
2. Slark CAN’T stop Barathrum’s Charge of Darkness with Pounce. And if Barathrum reaches the target before Pounce ends he will be returned back to where he was Pounced
3. If Syllabear dies with Aegis, the Bear won’t and it will also be able to attack
4. If Broodmother enters the Web while using Phase Boots, she will NOT become invisible
5. Also if Broodmother uses the Phase Boots while inside the Web she will be revealed
6. Storm CAN blink while in Ball Lightning
7. You CANNOT place Observer Wards in Roshan’s den
8. It is impossible to reveal Roshan with wards, even by placing them on the top of the cliffs
9. You CANNOT dodge Sniper’s Assassinate by going invisible after he targets you
10. However, if you go invisible just after the bullet is shoot you CAN dodge it
11. Fissure’s sound comes first for a split second before the effect appears
12. Fountain targets Crystal Maiden with priority over other heroes, to prevent easy fountain kills. It will attack Crystal Maiden even if she is not attacking the fountain
13. You CAN sell items from the teal Circle of Power (this is also works for the purple Circle of Power)
14. Juggernaut’s Omnislash will continue after he is returned by Kunkka’s X mark
15. You CAN drop the rune if you are under the effect of Astral Imprisonment when it gets released from the bottle

DotA Mythbusters Episode #9

1. When you double click on Kelen’s Dagger you will blink in direction towards where you last picked it up
2. Ensnare CANNOT be cast on a courier even with invulnerability
3. Radiance won’t work while N’aix is inside a unit
4. If a hero is Doomed while under Aphotic  Shield, the doom will NOT go away even the shield explodes
5. Units receive experience while under the effect of Astral Imprisonment
6. However, if a creep is denied while you are under Astral Imprisonment you will NOT receive experience
7. Void will NOT miss while inside Chronosphere
8. If N’aix is inside a creep, Zeus’s Thundergod’s Wrath will NOT hit the creep
9. Borrowed Time will activate even if you are Doomed
10. If you use Astral Imprisonment on a unit which is being hooked, it will reappear on the palce where Pudge hooked it from
11. Lucifer’s Doom disables all items including Gem
12. N’aix won’t be affected by the Mines if he is inside a hero. However, he will be damaged by the Remote Mines
13. Liquid Fire will slow the tower’s attack speed

DotA Mythbusters Episode #10

1. You CAN debuff Poison Nova by activating Ghost Scepter
2. You CAN use teleport without breaking the Ghost Form (Ghost Scepter)
3. The Mines,Suicide Squad Attack!,Echo Slam,Diabolic Edict will NOT damage if you are in Ghost Form
4. You CANNOT debuff Viper Strike and Ice Blast by activating Ghost Scepter
5. You CAN Hook with Pudge when you are in Ghost Form but you CANNOT Hookshot with Clockwerk Goblin when you are in Ghost Form
6. Yurnero’s Omnislash WON’T attack units are in Ghost Form
7. If you use Force Staff while in Waveform, you will travel further
8. You CAN use any items while in Waveform
9. You CAN Force Staff Sand King while he is in Sand Storm without stopping it
10. Also if Pudge Hooks Sand King after he was Forced out from the Sand Storm, he WON’T be revealed.
11. Even if you have Repel you CAN Force yourself by Double-Clicking the item. This is also works with Yurnero’s Blade Fury and Omnislash.

1. The Enemy/The Ally CANNOT stop your teleport with Force Staff
2. You CAN stop your teleport with Force Staff
3. Yurnero CAN deny a tower while using Blade Fury
4. Storm Spirits CAN teleport while using Ball Lightning. This also applies for spell and items but Ball Lightning won’t stack
5. Tiny CANNOT deny a tower with Toss
6. Tiny CAN destroy a tower with Toss

DotA Mythbusters Episode #2

1. Tiny’s Avalanche will damage twice if you toss the unit back to the Avalanche’s AoE before it ends
2. Wid Walk (Lothar) won’t stop your teleport. Lothar’s Edge, Shivas Guard, Mask of Madness and Armlet of Mordiggian are the only items that won’t stop your teleport
3. Geomancer CAN teleport to his illusions with poof
4. Crystal Maiden CAN cast Frostbite on the Fountain (10s)
5. Your courier will exploded if it aproaches the enemy fountain

DotA Mythbusters Episode #3

1. You CAN instantly kill an Infernal (Warlock)  with Purge (Diffusal Blade)
2. You CANNOT leap and blink (Kelen’s Dagger) in the same time. This also work on Force Staff, you can even use all three.
3. You CAN stun (Hellfire Blast) Mirana while she Leaps if you have True Sight (Dust). This also works for any target stuns (Magic Missile, Storm Bolt) and any item/spell that gives you True Sight.
4. Slardar’s ultimate still work on Slark’s ultimate (won’t reveal him). However you CAN redem it with Slark’s first spell (Dark Pact) and still stay invisible.
5. Avatar CAN’T protect you from Overgrowth. However, if you use Avatar after Overgrowth you will break free
6. You CAN teleport to Dirge’s Tombstone with Botts of Travel
7. Furion’s Teleportation won’t stop Wind Walk (Lothar)
8. You CAN debuff viper Strike with Manta. This also work for some other spells such us Venomous Gale and Poison Nova

DotA Mythbusters Episode #4

1. Stealth Assassin won’t be invisible while silenced
2. When you drop your ‘cheese’ from your crow in your fountain, the ‘cheese’ will appear in the middle of the map
3. Stealth Assassin will gain permanent invisibility when Mirana casts Moonlight Shadow
4. Akasha’s Scream of Pain CAN’T hit invisible units (DotA 6.73)
5. If you use all the charges in Diffusal Blade, you won’t get any gold when you sell it
6. You CAN escape from Enigma’s Black Hole with Force Staff
7. Cyclone will only prevent you from being damaged
8. Silencer CAN take you intelligent even to below 0

DotA Mythbusters Episode #5 (Special Pugna)

1. Pugna’s Nether Ward doesn’t kill Omniknight if he uses Purification on himself
2. Pugna’s Nether Ward will kill Chen if he uses Hand of God
3. Pugna’s Nether Ward will kill Omniknight if he uses Repel on himself
4. Pugna’s Nether Ward doesn’t kill Dazzle if he uses Shallow Grave on himself
5. Pugna’s Nether Ward doesn’t kill Puck if he uses Phase Shift
6. Pugna CAN hit decrepified units with Maelstorm,Desolator, and Mjolnir but it doesn’t work for other heroes

Download : wvs 1.26a by DotA-Blog (Mediafire)

TFT 1.24b (mediafire)

TFT 1.24e (mediafire)

Guide :

1. Extract the zip file

2. Paste the TFT warcraft version in the ‘wvs’ folder

3. In the first time you have to find your warcraft location.

4. After that, you have to restart the wvs

5. open yhe wvs.exe and change the version

Changelog v6.73c:
* Fire Remnant activation cost increased from 100 to 150
* Flame Guard magic barrier reduced from 150/300/450/600 to 100/250/400/550
* Moment of Courage cooldown increased from 0.75 to 0.9
* Chakram manacost over time reduced from 20/30/40 to 20/25/30

* Removed all Christmas themed additions
* Fixed death timer not showing properly
* Fixed a crash that happens on PowerPC Mac systems when playing online
* Fixed a rare bug that could cause Ember Spirit to be unable to move
* More map optimizations

* Fixed Aghanim Tiny Illusions appearing as unupgraded Tiny
* Fixed rare bugs with Sleight of Fist and Hex
* Fixed sound effect on Skywrath Mage’s attack projectile
* Fixed visual effect for Rod of Atos’s slow not showing
* Fixed various tooltips
* Fixed Ring of Aquila shared disable icon
* Fixed a very minor visual glitch with Tranquil Boots item cooldown causing non-active items to look in cooldown
* Fixed Shadow Demon’s scoreboard icon
* Fixed a bug with Tranquil boots and Aghanim Meepo
* Fixed Orchid recipe shop hotkey
* Fixed Chakram continuing to deal damage after game is over

DOWNLOAD via game2a (Mediafire)

On September 6th 2007, version 6.48b was released and a new stable competitive version emerged.

Happenings in the EU/NA scene

Tournaments:

In the EU/NA scene, EuroCup was 6.48′s first tournament. This tournament ran into many difficulties. VP erupted with a big scandal. After the livestream was already set-up, their lineup was still incomplete. Apparently there was some miscommunication as M.Admiration was at home playing IHCS (a DotA League) rather than taking part in the competition, because he was under the belief that Sahka had been selected from their 6-player roster to play the match. This was another scandal in VP after the Profanity-Gate affair. After VP gave their explanation, the organizing committee let them off with a warning. In the semi-finals, they were eliminated by MYM 2-0.

On November 4th, MYM PriDe #8 began. Over 400 teams worldwide signed up. It became known as the World Cup of the DotA world.

On November 26th, in the ASUS Autumn 2007 tournament, Singapore’s team Zenith made their first foray out of Asia. Even though they’d begun taking part in EU events since MYM PriDe #4, this was the first time they flew to EU to compete. Flying to Russia, they were eliminated in the knock-out stages by the eventual winner of the tournament Say Plz. The old rivals Say Plz and VP once again met in the finals of a tournament. VP tried to change what had worked for them for a long time by abandoning their trademark full pressure gank strategy and playing 4-protect-1 against Say Plz, who everyone knew were the masters of the 4-protect-1. The outcome naturally resulted in a rout. Say Plz simply overwhelmed them and became champion.

In early November, the official DotA website made a loud ruckus about the level of DotA in China. Evidently someone had sent them five outdated Chinese replays all containing Bristleback and in every match, the side with Bristleback won. This led to the EU/NA scene concluding the Chinese DotA to be too boring and their strategies far behind the times. Due to the bad internet provided by China Telecom, there was no way to show the true strength of Chinese DotA; they could only do battle with words.

On December 3rd in DreamHack Winter 2007, MYM defeated SK to become champion. In the finals, Priestess of the Moon’s (Potm) elegance shone through thoroughly. First Loda’s beyond godlike Potm struck terror into everyone’s heart. Then H4nn1′s Eye of Skadi, Stygian Desolator, Butterfly and Aegis of the Immortal Potm crushed SK. After their trip to ASUS Autumn, Singaporean team Zenith attended this tournament as well, but fell to SK twice: once in the winners’ bracket and again in the losers’ bracket. Nevertheless, it was enough to claim 3rd place.

On December 5th, MYM PriDe #8 reached its knock-out phase. In the first round, Vigoss played a hero one would get flamed for using even in pubs, Sniper. By defeating the strong Malaysian team mkvl, Vigoss’s reputation was brought to a whole new level.

The final four in MYM PriDe #8 were MYM, VP, KS (Kingsurf) and SK. While no one thought much of KS, they eliminated SK and slaughtered their way into the losers’ bracket finals. Every match they played was highly exciting. Yamateh’s consistently exciting performances led to his rising popularity in China. On forum pages where the Chinese DotA community would comment on KS replays, KS team members would sometimes post replies, which brought them many fans in China. In the finals, the old rivals VP and MYM met once more.

After VP gave up their 1-0 winners’ bracket lead in the first game, in the second and deciding match of the finals, M.Admiration in by far the most crucial juncture managed to farm up a BKB (Black King Bar) and shattered MYM’s fast push. At the same time that the “Mouth of Sven” M.Admiration took his place among the legends of DotA, it is sad to note that having just returned from several month long vacation Merlini was unable to farm up his items drawing much criticism. After this match, Merlini’s inspiration seemed to have run dry and a star dimmed in the heavens.

After SK was defeated by MYM at MYM PriDe #8, the founding father of SK DotA Drayich left the team to soon after join Mouz. This enabled Mouz Gaming—a reorganized BtB (Back to Basics), a team that had enjoyed some fine performances in the past—to become a major force in DotA. Also on this team were later stars PlaymatE and Miracle.

On December 20th, ESWC 2008 announced DotA as an official game title for the competition. This was particularly big event in DotA’s path of becoming a professional e-sport.

On December 28th, eMg’s Fire in Ice 2007 LAN tournament began. In the end, MYM defeated the American team eMg to become champion. The prize amount in this tournament was princely; the winning team secured $6000 USD.

On January 27th, MYM Prime Nations #2 began. Over 60 nations participated. China also registered, but due to it coinciding with the Chinese New Year, players couldn’t meet up and practice. This reason along with the bad internet provided by China Telecom meant they would ultimately be eliminated from the tournament. In the end, the finals were between Russia and Ukraine, which Russia won to successfully defend their title.

During this tournament, matches between Germany and Singapore, and Singapore and Russia were very exciting matches between high-level players. Passionate and intense, every one of these matches was a classic.

At the same time, MYM PriDe #9 began. Two overseas Chinese student teams participated. One was IFNT’s European team, the other WGA. Both were defeated in the preliminaries.

After facing a previously unheard of team in the preliminaries, the MYM referee arbitrarily accused KS of maphacking, drawing much criticism. The official DotA forums had several hundred page threads criticizing his decision, which ultimately led to the referee making an apology and withdrawing his accusation.

Legendary old-school players ezy and Fear awaken to shake up
the world of DotA once more

On January 28th, once dominant Fear and ezy re-entered the DotA scene. They formed team PluG (this was the name of coL before they got sponsored) and joined MYM PriDe #9. People had high expectations of them before the tournament. It was a shame that they were eliminated in the first round of the preliminaries.

On February 18th, Begrip Gaming added a DotA squad. It was essentially the same squad as the old Say Plz. Later, Begrip became Rush3D. Just as the competitive DotA scene was being invigorated by the return of the old Say Plz, their old rivals VP had sunk into massive trouble.

On February 22nd, SK with its thin roster was eliminated by TeG from MYM PriDe #9 only making it as far as the Last 8.

On February 24th, MYM easily defeated the Vigoss-less VP. During this period, rumours of internal disputes within VP took flight.

On February 25th in ASUS Winter 2008, VP only made it as far as the Last 16 having been eliminated by a small, previously unheard of team. The recently formed Begrip ultimately won the tournament drawing everyone’s gaze.

Begrip Gaming, winner of ASUS Winter 2008 would go on to become Rush3D
From left to right: blowyourbrain, PGG, Drag13, FocusIRE, LighTofHeaven

After VP was eliminated at ASUS Winter, they immediately announced their forfeiture of MYM PriDe #9′s losers’ bracket final match. The Ukrainian side WG (Wolk3R Gaming) would play MYM for the final. Wolk3R Gaming was a Ukrainian team composed of Travka, DkPhobos, Axypa, GOblak (also known as Go[Blin]) and the young prodigy, Dendi. The team’s manager was v1lat who would later become a famous caster. In the end, MYM finally broke the curse, easily defeating WG to win their first MYM PriDe event. At this time, there were countless MYM fans with tear-filled faces.

Just as rumours of VP disbanding filled the air, the already-thin SK roster was further depleted by the departure of two veteran members Renji and Kwom. Loda announced the search for high-skilled players fueling further speculation.

On March 2nd, shocking information finally confirmed that there were indeed internal disputes within VP. ARS-ART announced he was joining SK under the ID of SK.Djan. At the same time, the previously unknown support player Hailo was added to SK as well.

New and revitalized SK Gaming roster featuring from left to right:
Akke, Loda, ARS-ART, Bogdan, Hailo

In just his first competitive match with SK, ARS-ART already showed his bloodlust. Against nEph (nEophytes), he claimed 18 hero kills in a single match. In a glance, the floundering SK had sounded its resurgence. The perfect collaboration between Loda playing carry and ARS-ART’s ganking was an immediate threat to MYM’s throne.

The reality unfolded very similarly to what one might imagine. On March 11th, SK neatly and skillfully defeated the recent winners of MYM PriDe #9 MYM, by winning the first season of ESL Major Series (EMS). After a brief period of stagnation, they had stormed back to reclaim their rightful place amongst the leading ranks of DotA teams. It is interesting to note that Puppey who was fairly unknown at the time began making his mark on the DotA world by helping his team XsK (Xero Skill) took 3rd place in this tournament.

Perhaps feeling the pressure soon after MYM’s defeat at EMS, Maelk expanded an already luxurious roster by adding Fear and ezy. MYM’s decadence had reached nine world-class players on a single team.

After ARS-ART’s departure, M.Admiration suddenly left for Team Q. Facing SK and MYM’s build-up of forces, VP didn’t let themselves get out-played in politics, and recruited Begrip’s (i.e. ex-Say Plz) veteran leader and star player LighTofHeaven, as well as the gifted youngster blowyourbrain to maintain their status as one of the top teams in the world.

On March 6th, facing competition from increasingly frequent DotA tournaments, the MYM entertainment division announced the start of MYM PriDe #10. At the same time, the newly-formed PDL (Prime Defending League) was used to help boost the visibility of MYM PriDe. The top six teams from the MYM PriDe tournament and six other invited teams would fight it out to become champion of the PDL competition.

On March 23rd, HTGL (Hostile Tactics Gaming League) competitions featured contests between high-skilled teams. The recombined VP fought MYM. New members Fear and ezy gave uninspired performances and the Maelk-less MYM once again fell to VP.

On April 7th, WG defeated the newly reformed VP to win the DTS Cup LAN tournament. The new VP squad was weakened by LighTofHeaven not being able to attend the tournament.

On April 13th, in the HTGL European finals, VP defeated SK 3-1. Following the addition of LighTofHeaven, VP’s style changed from full pressure gank to 4-protect-1. With this new style, VP maintained its iron grip on the DotA world. Vigoss’s gank, LighTofHeaven’s carry and NS’s support were an imbalanced combination. Puppey’s XsK picked up 3rd place in this competition as well.

If it weren’t for having broken a rule in the MYM PriDe tournament by having unrostered players fake-nick and be disqualified, it’s very likely that they would’ve been the victors in MYM PriDe #10.

In early April, DotA’s official website DotA-Allstars.com published an article discussing the -RD (Random Draft) mode. It set off a debate amongst many players regarding the possibility of -RD replacing -XL as the mode used in competitions. This debate greatly increased the visibility of -RD as a viable mode. After 6.48, -RD became the standard mode for having fun and -CM the official competitive mode. The banlist was expanded by one hero to a total of four.

On April 21st, the Last 16 in MYM PriDe #10 began. The last team to enter the Last 16 VP gave everyone a scare, but ultimately Vigoss’s fierce and stubborn Warlock delivered for VP. This match was one of the most definitive at highlighting Vigoss’s extremely high individual skill. It was only that these types of performances were growing fewer and farther in between.

One day later, the Ringer-Gate scandal broke out and nEph was disqualified from MYM PriDe #10 for using a ringer. SGC replaced them in the Last 16 beginning their legendary dark horse run through the tournament.

In the Ro16, VP was in a poor state and was easily eliminated by x6. Soon after, another Ringer-Gate scandal broke out. Three of VP’s players were ringers. This time, the prizes money was large, so the MYM organizing committee wanted to avoid any suspicion of unfairness. They summoned 6 star players from different countries and teams to be the judge. In the end, they all voted in favour of VP’s disqualification.

After SGC’s good fortune in getting into the Last 16, they struck terror into everyone’s hearts with their performances. In the first round, they 2-0′d the defending champions MYM who had been on a winning streak knocking them into the losers’ bracket. Concurrently, the first time Danish attendees MeT (Mom equals Toilet) defeated the strong Malaysian team KS. Next, KS eliminated MYM in the losers’ bracket. These consecutive matches seen as upsets shocked fans around the world.

SGC, one of two dark horses of MYM PriDe #10
From left to right: Xali, zax, Tulex; in the front: tipek, neKro

In the end, the two dark horses MeT and SGC slaughtered separate paths through the tournament sending strong teams into disorderly retreat. SGC eliminated Team Q who had reorganized and come back stronger than ever. With M.Admiration, Team Q had been considered a major contender before the tournament. MeT defeated the well-performing Mouz. Finally, the two dark horses met in the losers’ bracket semi-finals. In the end, SGC’s resolute 4-protect-1 defeated MeT winning the dark horse battle. However, SGC was in turn defeated by WG who employed a similar playstyle. The finals were set to take place between WG and SK.

The reappearance of ARS-ART who had been missing for a while completed SK’s roster. With the surge in morale, they swept WG in two games to easily take the tournament. After leaving VP, ARS-ART hadn’t gotten the chance to play his trademark heroes and he’d been stagnating for a while. In these two matches, he used his emblematic Potm and Lina to perform exciting ganks once again proving that the King of Gankers had not yet left the world.

The partnership between the valiant Loda and the surgical ARS-ART finally exhibited the results one would imagine such a collaboration would bring on paper. However, beauty is always fleeting. After MYM PriDe #10, ARS-ART left SK.

MeT, the other dark horse of MYM PriDe #10
From left to right: Smiske, miGGel, Misery, DanishPride, Angel

Winning MYM PriDe #10 made ARS-ART the leader in terms of MYM PriDe tournaments won. As a core player on every team that won, he contributed to a total of five tournament wins. After this tournament, ARS-ART graduated from college. Facing work and family-related pressure, he made fewer and fewer appearances in the DotA world.

On May 15th, MYM defeated SK to win the DBL (DotA Ballers League) tournament. After their defeat in MYM PriDe #10, they were able to get some consolation with this victory.

On May 18th, the last EU/NA DotA tournament of the 6.48 era, ASUS Spring 2008 began. SK flew to Moscow to attend their first ASUS. The final four were SK, WG, VP and Rush3D. VP held their dominance over the DotA world by valiantly defeating WG two straight to win the tournament. It took merely 25min for them to win the first match. In the second match, they were able to win 4v5 after blowyourbrain disconnected early on.

On May 30th, MYM held a trial tournament to test out the 6.52 version. The 6.48 era had ended. Afterwards, there were some tournaments that continued to use 6.48 such as the international ESWC tournament, but they were sporadic so I won’t continue to dwell on this point.

Influential teams and star players:

The 6.48 era continued to be a contest of supremacy amongst 6.43′s triumvirate, but at the same time many new strong teams emerged. Aside from VP, MYM and SK, the Ukrainian team WG won the most honours late in the 6.48 era having been runners-up to MYM PriDe #9, #10, to two different ASUSs and having won the DTS tournament. They were already beginning to show the air of a dominant team.

Three days after Say Plz defeated VP to win ASUS Spring, they announced they were disbanding. The reason was that when PGG, PUB and HoroN were playing against VP in the ClanBase tournament, they had some serious disagreements with the bans and picks. Furthermore, Say Plz’s manager Matrix was moving to another city to work, so after discussing with the team decided to disband. The team logo was going to be sold. Truth be told, Say Plz’s popularity wasn’t something to be sniffed at. On the official DotA website, “Say-” and “-Plz” were used in many fake nicknames. Rumour has it that even Merlini had a dual account with Say Plz there. We can see from this what popularity and deep roots the team had. To tell you the truth, Say Plz this kind of ID was really popular. Even on the Chinese VS client, you would see many Say Plz IDs.

Say Plz was the oldest and most stable team in the history of EU DotA. Just when they began to win some tournaments, VP swooped in to steal their spot in the limelight. Later in the 6.5x era, Rush3D returned the favour to VP. Was this some sort of cosmic karma?

Soon after finishing in 3rd place of MYM PriDe #10, SGC disbanded and combined with nEph.

The other MYM PriDe #10 dark horse Denmark’s team MeT after pulling out a coup, maintained their competitiveness going on to become one of the heavy-lifters in more recent DotA.

During this time, Mouz was still in the process of figuring things out, so they didn’t achieve any good results. After Drayich became Mouz’s captain, they successively recruited Twisted and Kuroky the prodigy who used to play for WE. This set up a very good foundation for Mouz’s dominance in the 6.52 era.

Drayich, a founding father of team SK and captain of Mouz

10 months later, the website GotFrag did a vote on the top 10 DotA players of all time. Vigoss got first place and became universally acknowledged as the best DotA player and the first legendary status player of the new generation.

In the Last 16 in MYM PriDe #10, in a disadvantageous situation, Vigoss played an incredibly decisive Warlock using every last ounce of effort to make a comeback displaying a perfectly-performed one-man show. This match was one of Vigoss’s magical performances. It was his magnum opus out of all his MYM Prime performances.

In MYM PriDe #8, M.Admiration played a stable but fierce Sven becoming another source of brilliance after legends like Vigoss and ARS-ART. As blood splashed across his blade, his ultra kill Sven was the most epic moment in MYM PriDe #8.

Speaking of team MYM, under XL mode the few faults Merlini showed playing certain heroes were magnified. He never seemed to get to play heroes he was trademarked for. Ever since he returned to Taiwan on vacation, it seems he’d been on a decline.

During the 6.48 era, H4nn1, slahser and MaNia became MYM’s most exceptional players. H4nn1 had impeccable technique, slahser was simply ingenious and MaNia projected an aura of stability. After Fear had acclimatized to the new team, he was quickly instated as MYM’s carry. Levent was compelled towards a support role.

MYM’s captain Maelk wasn’t eye-catching in the 6.41 era. After half a year of bitter training, he finally ascended to become a top player during the 6.48 era. His stable performances which demonstrated his strategic understanding and a keen sense of judgment showed that he fully deserved the title of being leader of MYM.

MYM PriDe #9′s dark horse WG received consecutive top honours in the MYM PriDe #10, ASUS and DTS tournaments that followed. Their carry Travka’s stable and exceptional performances made him a star player of the new generation. It’s just that this person had a very bad hobby: he enjoys announcing his retirement. After WG had won these many honours, Travka announced his retirement. Before these successes, he had also retired more than once. After his retirement, his position on WG would be taken by ArtStyle (xLo.Diesel) who would go on to become a famous captain.

Wolk3R Gaming from left to right:
Axypa, Dendi, DkPhobos, Go[Blin], Travka

The amount of talent on this team was not inconsiderable. Players like Dendi and ArtStyle who would go on to become the top solo mid and top captain in Europe respectively. Go[Blin] and Axypa would also become mainstays in the Ukrainian scene.

Denmark’s newly-formed team MeT’s carry GlorYofGoD became a star player by showing off an exciting Shadow Fiend. This ID was a bit too corny, so later he changed it to AngeLofGod or Angel for short.

After MYM PriDe #5, Loda consistently produced stable performances to lead his much-criticized teammates against VP and MYM. At MYM PriDe #10 with recently acquired ARS-ART and Hailo, he was finally able to defeat MYM and become champion.

The player joining alongside ARS-ART, Hailo became a pleasant surprise for SK. Having been forced to switch roles to play support, his super-stable Earthshaker set him on pace to overtake NS at quality of support played.

On the other hand, SK’s much-criticized “leg-God” Bogdan (God of DotA players who play with their feet instead of hands) relied on a completely unselfish performance at MYM PriDe #10 to shed himself of this nickname. Bogdan’s Sand King with just 50HP displayed dauntless courage by turning around to impale four WG players saving his carry Loda from certain death. This became one of MYM PriDe #10’s highlight moments.

Overseas Chinese student Enigma (Zhaoyun) joined team SGC to participate in MYM PriDe #10. Already in the 6.32 era, Enigma was active in the NA scene, making him an old-school player. Before joining SGC, he used Zhaoyun, the name of the most famous legend from ancient China as his ID in an IHCS match against Vigoss. His exciting performance brought him many Chinese fans. In MYM PriDe #10, Zhaoyun played carry on the dark horse team SGC. His performance was highly exceptional bringing him many more Chinese fans.

VP’s captain and the world’s best support player NS published a series of articles during this era. First, he gave the inside story on why VP shockingly forfeited MYM PriDe #9. This article got the chief manager of the MYM PriDe #10 tournament dismissed, its prize money increased and its organizing committee changed.

Another article evaluated the strategy in the 6.48 version, where NS pointed out the imbalanced nature of Blink Dagger. Even though this article might very well not have been the reason why the Blink Dagger got so strongly nerfed, this article became the focal point of discussion after the nerf. The articles can be found in the footnotes. [1]

At this point, the IHCS (Inhouse Clan Scrim) league deserves some mention. It started in June 2006 on Battle.net hosted by the Russian admin Lego. I will post an excerpt of his article “On the History of IHCS”:

The importance of IHCS to the development of DotA as a competitive game cannot be denied. If you wish to read the entire article, it can be found archived by longtime GGnet user Amock. [2]

Happenings in the Asian scene

Tournaments:

On November 5th, the ADC qualifications drew to a close and the actual competition began. Strong teams like EHOME, Zenith, KS (Kingsurf), XcN (eXeCutioNer), SB (StarsBoba) and xDT (eXtreme DotA Team) opened an intense contest for glory and prestige. In the end, XcN claimed victory.

After Team KS’s Yamateh’s brilliant showing with Shadow Fiend at MYM PriDe #10, he proceeded to crush the streaking MYM with the unpopular hero Obsidian Destroyer. This match won him even more popularity.

This tournament served the role of providing a strong boost to communication between teams from various Asian countries. Before, Chinese teams had focused their sight on EU and studying European replays. Their playstyle imitated EU playstyles. After this tournament, SEA playstyles which were widely different from those of EU caught the attention of Chinese teams. This tournament was also excellent preparation for EHOME’s ACG 2008 victory.

During the 6.48 era, the first important tournament in China was CDL-I which began on September 20th. It was the first tournament in the world that used 6.48. It used the English version as the official match version and banned all new heroes. One month later, the tournament had progressed into the 8th round of competition when the ban on the new heroes was lifted. In the play-offs stages, the games were broadcast on livestream by NeoTV. Ultimately, EHOME defeated GL to become champion.

On October 10th, the Intel-sponsored IEF (International E-Sports Festival) nation-wide cybercafé tournament began. In the October 29th final, the formed 3 days ago EHOME defeated the college team XJTU to qualify. This was EHOME’s first victory after formation.
On November 11th, IFNT defeated XJTU to become victor of the CETC tournament.

On December 25th, the year-end DCN (DotA.cn) invitational began. The mysterious and low-key CaNt won.

On December 30th, in the IEF Masters Tournament finals, GL defeated EHOME to become champion. Ever since the ACG 2007 victory, there’d been rumours swirling around GL. Especially after 820 left to join EHOME, there’d been rumours about GL’s disbandment. In this tournament, GL showed it wasn’t affected by the outside world and defeated EHOME 2-1 to become champion.

On March 2nd, in the finals of the offline G-League Tournament, GL managed to become champion despite their internal and external troubles. After the win, GL.Snoy announced his retirement. Countless people expressed their sympathies.

EHOME was also beset by tragedy. GK wrote on his blog “Soulk couldn’t attend the tournament in Shanghai and we were once again confronted with surprise embarrassment, so we were forced to find a lightweight replacement. Even though the replacement boasted about his fearsome ability before the tournament, he really botched two matches in the tournament.”

On March 20th, the CDL (China DotA League) 2008 tournament began. Finishing on June 15th, CaNt, EHOME, HFUT and CT won the privilege of attending the offline finals.

On March 21st, the PGL (Pro Gamer League) tournament began, adding to the number of DotA events. This was an invitational tournament with 12 teams attending. In the end, EHOME’s now fine-tuned roster defeated CaNt coming off the momentum from some victories in CDL.

On April 18th 2008, the Garena gaming client teamed up with DCN (DotA.cn) to host the GOA tournament. This competition was organized very poorly. One day before competition began, they suddenly changed the tournament version from 6.51 to 6.48 drawing much protest. During the tournament, replay uploads and tournament coverage were essentially non-existent. These factors resulted in very little attention paid to a tournament whose matches actually showed a very high level of skill. Aside from Chinese teams that attended there were also strong SEA teams. In the end, EHOME slaughtered their way from the losers’ bracket to defeat KS for the win. This competition and the ADC competition both provided EHOME with valuable experience paving a clear road to their ACG victory.

On May 11th, in the Shanghai regional qualifications for WCG China, CT defeated CaNt to take 1st place. HFUT placed 3rd meaning they regretfully missed out on the WCG China finals.

On May 17th, in the Beijing regional qualifications, EHOME took 1st place.

On June 8th, EHOME.GK defeated teammate 2009 to win the SG (SGamer) Solo-Mid tournament.

Influential teams and star players:

In October 2007, the first Chinese all-female DotA team EuF (Encore une Fois) formed. Despite being a team that played just for amusement, this flowery lace on the edge of the DotA scene was a result of the burst of popularity from March 2007 and showed just how trendy the game had become in China. Unpopular things aren’t lined with lace.

On October 25th, the first Chinese professional DotA team was formed. EHOME’s entertainment division used HTML as the foundation to create their DotA team. The founding members were the captain mN, amei, IsuN, GK, SatXIII^_^ and Longdd (in-game leader).

Founding members of EHOME from left to right:
GK, Soulk, amei, mN and Longdd

After winning the finals of IEF, SatXIII^_^ left the team and IFNT’s Soulk joined. On November 28th, GL’s leader 820 joined EHOME. Due to differences in opinion, 820 very quickly left EHOME. Accompanying the talk about which team—EHOME or GL—was going to get the last laugh were rumours of GL disbanding.

In November, the formation of CaNt was being planned by Fashao (IFNT’s founding member) with their founding members 820, McGrosS, 357, EC, Topman, hanhan and Inso as manager. After the DCN year-end invitational, CaNt was officially formed.

CaNt from left to right:
Fangsi (Topman), 820, McGrosS, 357, Inso, YJJ, Fashao, Girl, Guy

While attending the DCN invitational, CaNt was not yet formed. Their team introduction was written very mysteriously: “A team formed from the cream of the crop has become a new contender for offline DotA tournaments. With Chinese DotA becoming more popular with the passing day, they have chosen DotA for its bright-looking future as the game into which they were going to invest all their effort. Worth mentioning is that they’ve already demonstrated uncommonly good results in competitions while showing unforgettable playing ability. Whether DotA will nurture their new course, let us eagerly await.” Also during the whole tournament they were fake-nicking so it was completely impossible to know who was who.

After EHOME and CaNt formed, Chinese DotA entered a period with two dominant teams.

In March after the 2008 Chinese New Year, Chinese DotA entered a reorganization phase.

The three veteran teams entered a cooling period. After over half a year of fruitlessly trying to find a sponsor, GL finally announced their disbandment. As a legendary Chinese team which has shown brilliance countless times, GL’s disbandment made many DotA fans feel as if an act of deicide had occurred.

HTML who had once been invincible for over half a year saw their core players move to EHOME. IFNT who was once a crouching tiger hidden dragon saw their leader and manager move to CaNt. The player transfers during the youth of both teams saw their team strength greatly diminished.

Soon after 820 joined the recently-formed CaNt, they recruited another player from EHOME, SatXIII^_^. Soon, they invited and added Snoy famous for playing his Bristleback in ACG 2007. At the same time, they also invited the experienced and successful overseas student Eddie who was a participant from MYM PriDe #4-8 to join. Despite this invitation not have been successful in the end, CaNt was red-hot during this period whether you look at their results or the amount of gossip about them in the news.

After seeing 820 and Soulk depart due to personal or legitimate reasons, EHOME recruited GL’s legendary support DC (who together with 820 were known as GL’s 2 superstars), GL’s core player Shasha and IFNT’s core player Facegod entering a period of rebuilding. During this time, EHOME’s results weren’t consistent and got eliminated from ADC.

GK and PD (also known as Angel_Lover) returned to the Changsha (city in Southern China) LAN team CT. 2009 formed the new team ONCE. Team ZZZ was pretty low-key. HFUT and XJTU remained consistent. These were the teams that demonstrated some ability during this period.

During mid-April, facing rumours of high-skilled player Eddie returning to China and joining CaNt, he ultimately joined DH.

In early May, Snoy moved from CaNt back to EHOME to train. At the same time, ONCE’s leader 2009 joined as well. EHOME’s strength multiplied. The addition of strong players were meeting the conditions for defending the title at ACG 2008 for China.

On May 25th, in the ESWC Masters invitational tournament, EHOME was getting ready to attend, but sadly due to visa issues had no way of making it a reality.

XcN (eXecutioNer) was a large Indonesian gaming organization formed in 2003 beginning with a Counter-Strike team. In late 2006, two DotA teams eVolve and BiG SnR merged to form a team sponsored by XcN. Those two teams had attended ACG 2006 and 2007, but were not able to produce any favourable results. After dominating the Indonesian scene, they first broke into the international view by claiming 1st place in the 2nd season of GXL LAN tournament over teams such as KS and Zenith in December 2007 going undefeated until they dropped one game to KS in the finals. These three were the best teams in Asia.

XcN, winners of GXL Season 2 LAN tournament

The two teams KS and XcN met again in the finals of ADC 2007. In a reenactment of the GXL tournament, XcN emerged from the winners’ bracket, lost the first game, but would go on to win the second to win the tournament.

Here is what GGnet user Thanatos.ph reminisces of XcN:

KS (Kingsurf) was a Malaysian team that had been around for quite some time. They had been dominating the Malaysian scene and had won SMM 2007, which was at the time only open to Malaysian teams. They finished 2nd in GXL Season 2 and ADC 2007, as well as 3rd place in MYM PriDe #8 helping to put Asian DotA on the map. In every other MYM PriDe season beginning with the first they took part in (#7), they finished no worse than Top 8.

Kingsurf (KS) after winning 2nd place at ESWC 2008 held in San Jose
From left to right: Xiaogui, Papaxiong, Sakura, XiaOma, Yamateh.

KS was led by Xiaogui who had players with incredible individual ability at his disposal. Particularly memorable were Yamateh’s Shadowfiend and Tinker. In an MYM PriDe #8 groupstage match, they defeated European powerhouse SK in what was considered a huge upset in Europe. Yamateh farmed up a sub-10 min Blink Dagger on Shadowfiend against an unimposing Magnataur. They used the bread and butter of the 6.48 era with dual stun lanes at top and bottom taking advantage of SK global lineup’s weakness—a lack of stuns.

In April 2008, the triumvirate Zenith, KS and XcN were the three foreign teams invited to take part in ESTC 2008 (Electronic Sports Thailand Championship). Directly seeded into the Top 32, the teams had no problem making it to the Last 4 along with local Thai team Trust. In the semi-finals, XcN dispatched Zenith while KS took out Trust. A GXL and ADC rematch between XcN and KS was set to take part. In the end, Yamateh’s Shadowfiend was too much for XcN to handle and KS managed to claim victory. Perhaps critical to the team’s success in this tournament was the recruitment of ex-Zenith superstar iceiceice.

In the Philippines, DotA was dominated by Team Flow. They defeated veteran countrymen Team 129 in 2006 to earn the privilege of representing their country at ACG 2006, but lost to the eventual champions MI2 from Singapore. In 2007, they defeated Ninja in the local qualifiers to once against earn the privilege of represent their country at ACG. This time, they won 3rd place giving the Philippines their ever medal at ACG.

Team Flow, Bronze medalist at WCG 2007

In the quarter-finals of ACG 2007, Team Flow was the underdog facing the illustrious Indonesian XcN, a team who the Malaysian champions Cybertime could not beat even once in more than 10 training matches. Nevertheless, Team Flow of Philippines took down XCN with an impressive roaming Queen of Pain, Sand King, Venomancer strategy that reportedly left XcN.Lakuci astonished. Queen of Pain had previously only been used as a carry farm hero until that point of time, so the Team Flow played the hero in a way no one had thought of before.

The team led by Arby consisted of himself, Jojo, Vinzyre, Lutan and Bru. Arby and Vinzyre formed a deadly Chen-Sven combination. Shortly after their ACG victory, Arby left for Canada to study, so the team decided to disband. Mineski was also becoming a juggernaut in the Philippines and they managed to claim the honour of representing the Philippines in future competitions beginning with ADC 2007. Nevertheless, it is important to remember the important contribution Team Flow made to Filipino DotA.

Mainstream strategies and hero picks

Finally the 6.48 era ended. 6.48 was unprecedented in the history of DotA for the stability of the competitive version, the number of tournaments and the dazzling excitement.

From 6.41 to 6.48, versions were continuously made, tournaments happened one after the other and playstyles evolved from past styles meaning that the passionate ganking style became the theme of this era. The strategy was similar to that of the 6.43 era, so I won’t bother reposting the same material.

So ended the first golden age in the history of DotA, the 6.4x era.

Taken From : Gosugamers.net

Source: http://www.playdota.com/forums/329512/dota/
Chinese Author: IloveThis
Chinese Editor: xuyou

6.43 was one of the golden eras in the history of DotA. Numerous strategies emerged and many unpopular heroes were introduced into CW. The game’s seemingly infinite variation drew more players into the world of DotA.

6.43 fixed many bugs and balance issues that existed in 6.41. At the same time, several important changes were made. These changes made 6.43 into a stable competitive version with one of the most profound and far-reaching effects in the history of DotA.

Between 6.43 and 6.48, none of the versions were stable versions. Their individual influences can be ignored, so I’ll put all mention of pre-6.48 competitions under the 6.43 heading.

Happenings in the EU/NA scene

Tournaments:

On May 8th, VP (Virtus Pro) was formed from players out of MaGe and DoTa[]. In the ASUS Spring 2007 Tournament, the LighTofHeaven-led Say Plz defeated VP to become champion. Just like how Michael Jordan had to overcome many difficulties before dominating the NBA, after this defeat VP ruled the DotA world from 6.43 to the 6.48 era.

On June 8th, MYM hosted the MYM Prime Nations #1 tournament with players representing their countries that ran concurrent to MYM PriDe #6. In total, 18 countries attended. China’s team was organized by ChinaPanda who took care of players who wanted sign up and play. GL ended up representing China, but due to the bad internet, they were eliminated after one win and one loss. In the final, Russia defeated Denmark to become victor.

Vigoss, shares title of “King of Gankers” with ARS-ART

Another important tournament in June was DreamHack Summer 2007. Using version 6.44, this was the first international-level competition that used -XL mode (three bans for each side). Carrying widespread influence, this tournament drew 33 participating teams. Ultimately, MYM defeated T_T with their own version of the devastating global strategy, swapping out Spectre for the famous MYM Tinker surprisingly not played by Merlini. This is because they introduced an innovation of their own—a jungling Beastmaster by Merlini together with a jungling Furion to quickly reach the all-important Level 6. Beastmaster synergized very well with the lineup providing excellent vision for ganks as well as a creep for a quick teleport from Tinker. T_T would go on to win SK Gaming’s sponsorship, and become another powerful and influential team following the steps of MYM and VP.

MYM PriDe #6 turned out to be a cakewalk for the Russians with five Russian teams making the playoffs. The finals were between Say Plz and VP. After a bitter 84min contest, VP emerged victorious. They were on their way of creating their own legend of winning three consecutive MYM PriDe events.

After MYM PriDe #6, the long and drawn out TFL competition finally reached the playoffs. In the first round, SK fought three hard fought battles to defeat VP at their peak. VP got sent to the losers’ bracket where they were eliminated by the previously unheard of South Korean dark horse team xDT (Extreme DotA Team). xDT commonly employed heroes that were extremely unpopular at the time like Anti-Mage, Terrorblade and Faceless Void often surprising the opponent. In the finals of the TFL, SK got their revenge for Dreamhack Summer by defeating MYM to claim victory. TFL was the only tournament during the 6.43 era that VP did not win.

ARS-ART with the cold, emotion-less eyes of an assassin
shares title of “King of Gankers” with Vigoss

On August 24th, ASUS Summer 2007 began. VP went undefeated to take the tournament while Say Plz took 3rd place.

On September 6th, MYM PriDe #7 began. Even though IceFrog had just released 6.48b the day before, this tournament still used 6.43b as the competitive version. MYM first defeated VP in the winners’ bracket, but they were then defeated by VP slaughtering their way out of the losers’ bracket. It was a fierce, seemingly preordained meeting that was hard to forget.

If MYM PriDe #6 was said to be Vigoss’s mainstage, then MYM PriDe #7 was ARS-ART’s. He seemed to be naturally endowed with instincts of an assassin and filled to the core with a desire for aggression. He attained an acme of perfection with heroes like Nerubian Assassin, Gondar and Pudge. Without a doubt, his and Vigoss’s performances both deserved the title “King of Gankers”. At the time, VP’s captain and strategic mastermind Jolie described ARS-ART and Vigoss as thus:

On September 29th, the Garena gaming platform announced the Asian DotA Championships (ADC). This was a big online tournament held over the course of four months with 32 teams from 10 countries in Asia participating.The tournament began with 6.43b and ended with 6.48b. Together with PLU, a livestream was provided online. This was the first DotA competition that provided an online livestream to the Chinese audience.

Influential teams and star players:

During the 6.43 era, VP was dominant. Out of five important international competitions DreamHack Summer, ASUS Spring, ASUS Summer, MYM PriDe #6, MYM PriDe #7 and TFL, VP won three while MYM, Say Plz and SK took one apiece. At the time, Say Plz was reaching its twilight and trying to continue on despite its problems. SK had no star players aside from Loda. This led to contests between MYM and VP being the most eagerly anticipated. Their meetings in consecutive MYM Pride tournaments are considered classic matches in the history of DotA.

From left to right: M.Admiration, Jolie, Vigoss

Later on in the group stages of MYM PriDe #7, this team made a huge comeback to defeat VP. Going without even Boots at 42min, Syllabear managed to farm up Radiance. 20min later, they had pushed into VP’s base. This made the disconsolate VP type out after GG the two phrases “guis U SO COOL” and “FUCK U”. This was the famous Profanity-Gate affair.

After group stages, VP, rB (French team Redbear) and MiZen (Singaporean team formed from Micronology and Zenith) were in a three-way tie, so tiebreakers were played. However, the tiebreaker results didn’t solve anything, so they were forced to looking at stats from each game (hero kills/tower kills/barrack kills/number of Aegis). MiZen playing a conservative playstyle and often being in an inferior position was eliminated. It was very tragic, because if their luck was just a tiny bit better, VP’s three consecutive MYM Pride wins would have been interrupted.

After the hit0mi-led NA team x6′s (Check-Six) fine performance in MYM PriDe #6 that led them to a 3rd place finish, instability in team members cost them their sponsorship. Even though they left their mark on MYM PriDe #7 by claiming 3rd place, NA were no longer the dominant force they were in the 6.32 era.

hit0mi uttering a summons to the underworld before facing LighTofHeaven’s Say Plz at MYM PriDe 6

hit0mi has been a core member of NA teams including JMC, x6, coL, tPD and later eMg. Aside from Fear and Merlini, he was the only player from NA to make the aforementioned GotFrag list of Top 10 DotA Players of All Time in 2007. (He is actually from Germany and came to NA for college, but he was awarded honorary NA status on the GotFrag list, so I will continue this tradition). With teams x6 and eMg, he attained 3rd place placings in consecutive MYM PriDes.

He was known for his game sense, grasp of the tempo and strategic mastery. As attested to by a former x6 teammate, he was also known for his leadership and was possessed that special ability of making good players around him even better. As we will see later on, players such as MYM’s Maelk also possessed this rare quality. As a result, hit0mi is remembered as one of the famous leaders in the history of DotA.

During the 6.43 era, VP emerged with great splendor drawing the gaze of the whole world. Vigoss and ARS-ART became superstar-level players. One became the #1 DotA player in world between versions 6.43 and 6.48 inclusive; the other became known as the King of Gankers.

ASUS Spring 2007 runners-up VP (Virtus Pro)
From left to right: Vigoss, M.Admiration, Jolie, ARS-ART and NS

VP’s popularity also brought acclaim to NS as the world’s best support player. Just as how ezy’s appearance in the 6.32 era showed DotA players—even the casual ones—the importance of good fundamentals, NS’s exquisite ward placement showed everyone the importance of good map vision.

Behind Vigoss and ARS-ART, Jolie only had to worry about the grand strategy and tempo management, which led to him being referred to as VP’s metronome. M.Admiration was VP’s most stable player. Without a doubt, VP’s players were the best even among top players. Together, they succeeded at making VP a legend.

It is often forgotten that VP had not a 5-player roster, but one with six players. The last member was Sahka. He usually played the role of support along with NS and contributed much to VP’s dominance during this era.

From left to right: Jolie, Sahka, Vigoss, ARS-ART

At DreamHack Summer early in the 6.43 era, MYM.Merlini was brilliant in his jungling Beastmaster from Level 1 as part of MYM’s take on the innovative global strategy. It was a shame that soon after this tournament, Merlini temporarily went back to Taiwan on vacation. After he returned, he wasn’t in his old form.

As a replacement for Merlini’s Tinker during his vacation, MYM found a new team member in slahser. His individual ability in all aspects of the game and flashy ganks were particularly memorable quickly reaching Star status.

Happenings in the Asian scene

The first important tournament was the Chinese qualifiers held in Beijing on May 15th for WCG Asia competition (ACG) in Singapore. The winner was team GL with Snoy, Stephy, DC, 820 and DiviDust (he changed his name from Tossgirl during the finals in Singapore). The runner-up was Nebula. Later on August 5th in Singapore, ACG Grand Finals, GL lived up to the highest expectations by defeating the Malaysian team Ct (Cybertime). This was a Chinese DotA team’s first foray out of China and actually was able to achieve glory. GL’s path to the finals received much news coverage in China.

This time, the Chinese qualification competition was organized very poorly. Before the competition, only 30min were allotted per match and hero and tower kills were used to determine the victor. This kind of match regulation caused much commotion. Furthermore, the grouping left people feeling very helpless. There were 4 groups. Group A had 8 teams of which 4 were leading teams of the time: AVNC, IFNT, HTML and GL. However, Group D had merely 2 teams. The omission of replay release after the tournament was also a source for further castigation.

In early June, CDL-I finally entered its late phase and playoffs began. 4 teams were left: GL, Zhanguotianxia, HTML and IFNT. Zhanguotianxia was GL’s B-team. Rumour has it that it was a team led by an overseas student (I think it was Tossgirl, but I don’t remember too clearly). CDL-I’s rules were extremely stringent that even GL’s A-team choked at a critical juncture. In the end, IFNT defeated HTML to become victor. IFNT was one of China’s best teams at the time. Its talented players were numerous, but they hadn’t won a major tournament since then.

GL after winning WCG 2007 ACG tournament from left to right: DiviDust, 820, Stephy, DC, Reporter, Snoy

After CDL on the evening of July 9th, IFNT and GL fought another fierce struggle between two mighty and evenly-matched teams. In a Bo3 on the line was WE’s (World Elite) sponsorship to become China’s first professional DotA team. The first match, IFNT won. The second had only gone some 20min when the computer of IFNT carry player 2046 playing Queen of Pain restarted, because they couldn’t stop the cybercafé from shutting it off. IFNT was forced to play 4v5, eventually losing. The third match, GL relied on 820′s incisive Silencer to defeat IFNT winning them WE’s sponsorship.

At the time, everyone thought GL had won WE’s sponsorship thereby becoming China’s first professional DotA team. In ACG 2007 that followed, GL also used WE as their team name. However, Snoy later wrote in his blog that WE had not actually provided any funds to them. So it was that even though GL won the competition, they didn’t actually become China’s first professional team.

On September 26th in the finals of WGT China 2007 (World Gamemaster Tournament), Longdd’s exceptional performance led HTML to defeat IFNT for the victory. PLU provided the livestream for this match. This was the first time that mass media was used to provide a livestream of a DotA event. At the time an advertisement said:

The victory at ACG brought GL to the peak of their popularity and made them indisputably the best team in China. HTML was also very strong during this era. In the CW room in the VS gaming platform, a popular saying was “come try to beat us, GL and HTML players not welcome.” In my recollections GL often played standard lineups and crushed teams with mainstream strategies. HTML used weird lineups with a graceful playstyle, which frustrated opponents to no end.

Playing against GL was like reading a Jin Yong novel (popular Hong Kong author who wrote novels about adventures of martial artists)—you felt there was a majestic atmosphere. Playing against HTML was like reading Gu Long (popular Mainland China author of same genre, but who liked to delve more into the psychology of his strange characters)—you felt befuddled by strange and peculiar sights. HTML’s Nerubian Weaver and Tinker strategy had an awe-inspiringly illustrious reputation.

Actually during the 6.43 era, there was another powerful DotA clan in China that if you wanted to use the number of clan members as a metric, was the strongest in the world. MYW and Xiaobaitu these average teams had a large influence on the development of Chinese DotA by giving it exposure to large numbers of people. In the long run, DotA even without any competitive nature attached was very fun to play. Some teams had competition as their end goal, while others had entertainment as theirs; these are two completely different ideals. Both made enormous contributions to the development of DotA in China.

After Chinese qualifications for ACG, AVNC disbanded. At the time, when 820, Huati, 2046 and others did some interviews where they all expressed regret. After AVNC, HFUT, XJTU, SMTH and other college teams emerged during the 6.43 era. With excellent individual ability and excellent chemistry from sitting beside each other in real life, these college players were shockingly good.

In early July, the once magnificent CPL LAN tournament winners Nebula announced they were disbanding due to pressure for team members to go work and study. From these pressures and the fiasco with the sponsorship, IFNT, GL and HTML which formed the first generation Chinese teams after performing gloriously and inciting much excitement during the 6.43 era have all gradually lost their vitality. In succession, they walked off the center-stage of history.

On September 30th, a consolidation of Chinese experts formed the team SNM. On the eve of their formation, they gave people much hope for the future. It’s a shame that nothing came of it. After making noise, the team disappeared. It’s lamentable, because if these experts were really to have been gathered, it wouldn’t have been impossible for them to re-enact a second coming of GL.

In the 6.43 era, the playstyle mainly studied was VP’s full pressure gank strategy. Individual brilliance was often overcome by good chemistry and teamwork. GL’s five players who attended ACG were certainly deserved Star status. After Longdd left for HTML, his elegant playstyle and flamboyant ganking drew him much attention. HTML’s GK also gradually became a star player.

Dgc, Soulk and 830 who played for both GOW and IFNT also flourished during this time. HTML’s amei, Shuairen, IFNT’s 2046, hanhan, and others also shined for a while.

To sum up, the 6.43 era was an explosive period in Chinese DotA with large amounts of new players joining the gaming community. Various teams and discussion forums emerged in large numbers like mushrooms in the rain. Livestreams began and tournaments happened more frequently than before. Sponsors began noticing DotA. A very good foundation was laid for Chinese DotA teams to move towards the professional direction.

The powerful and influential Singaporean team Zenith from SEA that had swept away all competition in 2006 was now facing growing troubles. First at ACG Singapore qualifications, they met an unexpected setback and didn’t qualify. Being a leading team in Asia and not winning ACG for two consecutive years led people to begin questioning their strength. After ACG due to some team members not being stable, they combined with another top Singaporean team Micronology to form MiZen.

The South Korean dark horse xDT (the team who eliminated VP in TFL) had some memorable players. Even though it was the team that picked unorthodox heroes like Anti-Mage and a jungling Terrorblade, their main carry xD.Scout played no small part in ensuring that it worked. Even now, this player is still invigorating the DotA world. He was seen playing on team SuP (Sponsor us Please) in ADC 2009 and more recently on How.kr playing under the alias Tomato in ADC 2010.
These teams were founded and led by ex-xDT player Heen to win all the Korean DotA tournaments during this period, earning them the right to represent Korea in international tournaments such as ADC and ACG. His team would achieve a 4th place finish at ACG 2009 ahead of the Chinese team led by Zhou, cD (Comme Dieu) and a 3rd place finish at ACG 2010.

Team xDT was originally formed from two teams in NA, TreXoN (winners of CAL Open Season 3) and Tofu. Aside from Scout and Heen, other famous Korean players include Chu and March. Both represented Korea at ACG 2008. March would go on to take part in ACG 2009 and 2010 with Heen and Scout. Chu was famous for his Meepo play and would go on to join tPD. March would go on to become an active member of the NA DotA community and join the world class team Nirvana.Int (Nirvana International).

Mainstream strategies and hero picks

Early on in the 6.43 era during DreamHack Summer 2007, MYM.Merlini, the traveler from afar, demonstrated the jungling Beastmaster playstyle. In fashion for a while, it was 6.43 era’s first mainstream strategy and its repercussions are felt even today.

After MYM PriDe #8 began, everyone’s glance was drawn to VP. Nowadays when version 6.43 is mentioned, the terms “VP”, “full pressure gank” and “Blink Dagger” will jump to mind. It’s true, 6.43 was VP’s era. The passionately fierce full pressure gank playstyle was emotionally stirring. VP also had great success in various tournaments. This led to nearly all players who watched the 6.43 era replays to become a fan quite involuntarily. VP’s brilliance had illuminated the entire DotA world.

Recipe for nightmare fuel when the horror movie just doesn’t cut it

With 6.43 being VP’s era, to say full pressure gank was the mainstream strategy would be correct. With gank-style being mainstream, the high burst-damage heroes developed during the 6.41 era found their time of popularity lengthened. In particular, Lina and Queen of Pain were especially popular. Others included Sand King, Zeus, Leshrac and Sven. VP often ran dual-stun lanes which led to kills in the early-game becoming a common occurrence. To express how VP achieved dominance relying on the Blink Dagger during this era, we can examine the words of NS during the 6.48 era:

The above represents the beginning of the Blink Dagger era of DotA’s history.

Taken From : Gosugamers.net

Source: http://www.playdota.com/forums/329512/dota/
Chinese Author: IloveThis
Chinese Editor: xuyou

On February 7th 2007, DotA 6.41 was released. On February 28th, the Chinese version was released. 6.41 addressed balance problems to a large extent. It replaced 6.37 as the version used in competitive matches. 6.41 lasted a very short period as it was replaced by 6.43 a month later.

Nevertheless, 6.41 was a version with particular historical significance. In this version, -AP replaced -LM as the official competitive mode. Furthermore, there were many tournaments held using this version. For these reasons, version 6.41 was a good testing ground to pave the way for 6.43.

Happenings in the EU/NA scene

Tournaments:

On February 28th 2007, the first large-scale -AP mode tournament was the Russian ASUS Winter Open 2007. Russia’s team MaGe (Magic aGe) claimed victory. This was the first time Vigoss came into everyone’s vision. Second and third place were claimed by Russian teams DoTa[] and Say Plz respectively.

MaGe winners at ASUS Winter Open 2007
From left to right: HoroN, NS, Jolie, GashY, Vigoss

On March 7th 2007, MYM PriDe #4 (Prime Defending) started. After experimenting with the first 3 editions, the MYM tournament has attracted the attention of the world with 137 teams participating. Compared with the first edition 3 months ago, you can see how rapidly DotA was growing. This MYM tournament had two rules that caught one’s attention: firstly, Bristleback was auto-banned; secondly, every hero could only make one Aegis of the Immortal. These two rules became standard in competitions for the 6.41 version. It is also what began the legend of Bristleback’s invincibility.

Soon after MYM PriDe #4 began, three Russian teams were banned from the competition: Say Plz, MaGe and a team not well known called SD. The reason was Say Plz and SD were both using a player called HoroN to play their games, but HoroN was actually MaGe’s player. This led to the organizing committee banning all three teams (another rumour was that MaGe was actually banned for having used Bristleback). Say Plz’s manager Matrix protested with great indignation. He claimed that even though Say Plz did break a rule, MYM’s punishment was overly severe. He even went so far as to claim that kicking them out was the result of an inside plot and as may be imagined, his words caused much controversy.

This was the first significant claim of corruption in DotA tournament organizers. Following DotA’s continuous development as an e-sport, everyone’s standard of fair play had also increased. This is a natural development in a competitive game’s path towards becoming a professional e-sport. Therefore, there’s no ground for blame towards the MYM PriDe #4 tournament organizers. You can’t let a team break rules just because they’re famous. Without rules, nothing can be accomplished—this happened to be MYM tournament organizers’ philosophy. Their decisions led to the MYM tournament series becoming famous and respected worldwide.

In MYM PriDe #4, dark horses burst onto the scene. Zenith, MYM and tPD these old-school teams got eliminated in the Round of 16 by teams no one had previously heard of. In the end, team DoTa[] led by core veterans FocusIRE (DoTa[expert]), Get-Lost (brother of FocusIRE, also known as DoTa[pro]) and ars-n00b (DoTa[gosu]) defeated Kuroky’s upstart German team WE (World Eaters) to become champion. Worth noting is that also on this team were future stars ARS-ART and M.Admiration (DoTa[hasu]) who would go on to form the core of VP (Virtus Pro).

The disintegrating coL had to field an entirely new roster relying on ex-JMC and ex-tPD players. Their players were Fear, ezy, imMIKEJONES, Shroomz, Shaang and hit0mi with BarbaraQ, CatQ (also known as MoON, not the Korean WC3 progamer) from Team Q as stand-ins since their team wasn’t participating in this MYM PriDe. Despite the lack of commitment, the team had very strong players and was very successful in the tournament making it all the way to the semi-finals where they forfeited the match to the dismay of their fans. They decided to forfeit the third-place match as well and the team disbanded soon afterwards.

Original team SK’s 6-player roster, featuring from left to right
Top row: Bogdan, Loda, Akke, KwoM, Renji, Drayich

On March 10th 2007, TFL (The Frozen League) began. This was the other influential competition during the 6.41 era. TFL was an invitational, but didn’t invite Say Plz during their peak, so the tournament organizers were called into question. However aside from omitting Say Plz, all other strong teams participated, so it was an international-scale tournament. This competition was similar to the Chinese CDL-I tournament in that both lasted a very long time. While the tournament was running, teams dropped out one by one. Four months later, the team that began the tournament as T_T ended the tournament as SK and defeated MYM to claim victory.

There was a scandal in TFL too. During the match between TeG and VP, TeG-KANGA was caught maphacking. Soon after, TeG had another team member caught maphacking leaving no choice for TeG but to forfeit their remaining matches. TeG was an old-school Romanian powerhouse, winners of MYM PriDe Xtreme #1 (a tournament that took place between MYM PriDe #3 and #4). This scandal dragged their reputation through the mud and after the tournament, their playing ability was severely impacted. Later, they recombined with new players and while not attaining dominance, would remain a force teams needed to watch out for. So it was that TeG furthered its legacy as one of Europe’s oldest teams.

On April 12th 2007, MYM PriDe #5 got off to a start. MYM PriDe #5 continued to use 6.41 as the competitive version. This was a very successful tournament as over 200 teams worldwide participated. This officially made the MYM tournament series the World Cup of the DotA world. Some even went so far as to claim that MYM PriDe #5 changed DotA, that it was the beginning of a new era by saying:

Even though these words might be a bit of an exaggeration, they do have some merit. MYM PriDe #5 broadened DotA’s influence on the world. The tournament’s level of organization and rules set the standard for future tournaments to follow, and a provided a great opportunity for international teams to interact. Many new, original strategies were explored in this tournament. These strategies yielded better understanding of how deep DotA truly was.

In MYM PriDe #5, Loda led team T_T to abandon the by-now popular trilane strategy. He came up with a spectacular global gank strategy defeating Say Plz, annihilating DoA (Dead or Alive), overthrowing TeG, braving MaGe before finally triumphing over MYM to become victor. In an interview, Loda says that he and Bogdan perfected the concept after seeing Kuroky’s WE use something similar in a scrim against them.

The global strategy is a lineup involving the heroes Zeus, Furion and Spectre. The ultimates of all three heroes have global effect and the latter two can move to an engagement happening anywhere on the map bringing great impact to small-scale battles and ganks. Back then, the global strategy was limited to these three heroes. MYM would later add BoT Tinker to the global arsenal and it would be further expanded with the introduction of new heroes such as Clockwerk Goblin, Ancient Apparition and Gyrocopter.

By necessity, a global lineup requires the team to abandon the trilane strategy, because it would be impossible for three heroes on a team to reach Level 6 in a short amount of time due to the fact that at least one out of the three will be forced to split experience on the trilane. Furthermore, this strategy could be said to be a counter to the trilane strategy in the sense that with proper execution, a team can take advantage (by ganking) of the timing window where they have ultimates on their three key heroes while the other team might still have heroes stuck on Level 5.

Early ganking cannot usually be guaranteed to succeed without a hero first farming up a blink dagger or by using Nerubian Assassin (Storm Spirit wasn’t added until 6.44), but T_T managed to chance upon a clever and efficient way of ganking with the only requirement being to reach Level 6 on their key heroes.

Regarding the two heroes completing the global strategy lineup, teamfight heroes with powerfuly ultimates such as Sand King, Shadow Fiend and Warlock would often be picked. This completes the synergy with the other three “global” heroes, because the ultimates of those three are quite useful in teamfights as well. The result was a lineup strong in mid-game ganks as well as late-game teamfights.

Influential teams and star players:

The 6.41 era was quite chaotic as teams tried to find the perfect hero combination since they were no longer restrained by the Sentinel-Scourge limitation in hero choices of -LM mode. Many teams had bright points in their play. Of these teams, the team with most influence was MYM. To begin with, MYM was already a worldwide famous e-sports organization. By adding an international DotA team filled with high-skilled players, they received much attention and gained massive popularity; their replays were studied by many. This led to the rapid popularization of heroes they unearthed.

MYM from left to right: MaNia, Maelk, Merlini, p0c, H4nn1, LevenT

Back in the 6.37 era, MYM.Merlini had demonstrated the global gank strategy based around Tinker. Drawing on his legendary abilities to dazzle the world once more, he demonstrated that his understanding of fog was simply incomparable.

MYM.LevenT went beyond godlike with Lina nearly every match. This led to people referring to him as the “Mouth of Lina” (as if he were her spokesman). This female hero became the most popular hero in the 6.4x versions.

MYM.Fang was indisputably a legendary player at using Sand King. He took Sand King from a traditional AOE (area of effect) hero to a roaming gank hero. Sand King played the role of the “man” in the famous “Dog, Man and Woman” gank combination of the 6.4x versions.

MYM.H4nn1′s mastery of all aspects of the game and his refined individual abilities got him Star status. Together with Loda, he made the 6.41 era into Shadow Fiend’s era.

Aside from team MYM, the play of the eventual winners of MYM PriDe #5 T_T were the most eye-catching. Developing the global gank strategy which directly inspired VP’s later full pressure gank strategy, they greatly influenced later DotA.

Loda attains Legend status
(If you haven’t figured it out by now, Legend status = right to append God to the first letter of your name i.e. L-God)

T_T’s core player Loda demonstrated to everyone for the first time how imbalanced the 6.41 Shadow Fiend could be. From 6.41 onwards, Loda officially attained Legend status. His abundant individual ability and the unique glamour of his play gave him the capability for quite a long time to carry his relatively mediocre teammates against MYM and VP, two star-studded teams.

In the 6.41 version, Team Q’s original lineup of Keeper of the Light, Earthshaker, Silencer and Shadow Fiend showed profound influence.

The Russian team MaGe were victors of ASUS Winter 2007. The team’s Vigoss and Jolie were on the brink of their meteoric rise to stardom.

Happenings in the Asian scene

In March 2007, the second edition of the U9 DotA Championship was held. This was the most influential competition in Chinese DotA during the 6.41 era. At the time aside from the incredibly long CDL-I, there weren’t any other competitions. From growth between 6.32 and 6.41, Chinese DotA players were blowing up in numbers forming numerous teams. This led to many DotA fans in succession registering for the U9 DotA Championship. In the end, over 60 teams participated.

This event drew many college teams out of their normal school circles letting them attend a large-scale tournament. In particular, AVNC (led by a player called 2009) and HFUT were the most successful college teams during this era.

Newcomers such as EAST, AVNC, GOW and LOST.P were incredibly strong. In matches against the old guard GL, IFNT and Nebula, their play were extremely eye-catching. In particular, the LOST.P team formed by Danche (N3komatA) was the biggest underdog. In the winners’ bracket finals, they sent GL down to the losers’ bracket and emerged as the darkest of the dark horses. EAST and AVNC claimed 3rd and 4th places respectively laying down fine performances.

GK of team GL, talented player of the second generation

The new generation of players including GK, 2009, 830, Soulk and Dgc were all very capable players.

Overall, this edition of the U9 competition was the first event in China to test the skill levels of the different teams. The new generation of teams and players shined on-stage. They infused the Chinese scene with a newfound source of vitality and passion.

During this tournament, VS gaming platform’s CW (clan war) room became the main place for teams wanting to learn from each other. In the forums, chat between new teams and posts to schedule CWs could be found. The Chinese scene was continuing its development.

Singapore’s Zenith began taking part in online EU events starting from MYM PriDe #4. Since they’d been playing -AP mode from the beginning, people gave them good expectations of winning. However due to poor connections and at times playing not very maturely, they were eliminated from TFL and MYM PriDe #4.

Nevertheless, they were the first team from Asia to go do battle in EU/NA and some of their strategies have had worldwide influence. Rushing Eye of Skadi before Boots was particularly memorable. Their strategy of switching Queen of Pain from gank to DPS (damage-per-second) would become mainstream after 6.43. Another of their contributions was five heroes getting Blink Daggers in a competitive match. Blink Daggers would become standard in 6.4x versions.

Mainstream strategies and hero picks

6.41 was the first version to use -AP mode as the competitive mode instead of -LM. Earlier on in the new version, the playstyle carried remnants of the old -LM styles: AOE, fast push and gank were all being executed using the 3-1-1 laning system. Trilanes that were seen only as a novelty in 6.37 now became mainstream.

All the teams were trying out new heroes for use in CW. After a period of feeling their way around, small-scale gank 4-protect-1 became mainstream. High burst-damage heroes took centre-stage in CW. Heroes like Shadow Fiend, Zeus, Warlock, Tinker and Nerubian Assassin became popular during this era. The Leshrac and Lina stun combo was particularly deadly. In the Chinese scene, Alchemist and Spectre were popular late-game heroes.

Later in the era, the global strategy was discovered and used to devastating effect bringing T_T the title of MYM PriDe #5. This strategy was particularly effective against the experience-starved trilane heroes on the other team. Whether it was for this reason or some other that led to the disappearance of trilanes, it is unclear. What is clear however, is that soon afterwards, the trilane strategy lost favour in the European DotA competitive community as teams resorted to the familiar 2-1-2 and sometimes 2-2-1 laning. This would not be the last the DotA world saw of trilanes.

The dazzling power of a global strategy to gank a hero anywhere on the map was truly incredible. It is theorized that this strategy became the inspiration of VP’s full pressure gank strategy later on.

The above concludes the first incarnation of the trilane in DotA’s history.

Taken From : Gosugamers.net

Source: http://www.playdota.com/forums/329512/dota/
Chinese Author: IloveThis
Chinese Editor: xuyou