For the eSports fans among you, this was a weekend full of exciting games. We had the MSSA organized League of Legends tri-nations match, as well as our very own Lazygamer facilitated Dota 2 team matches between top South African and Mexican teams. So how did it all go down?
League of Legends Tri-nations
First up was the League of Legends match at 6pm on Saturday night. The match was organized by the MSSA in conjunction with their IeSF counterparts in Israel and Denmark. They even made a pretty branded twitch page. I would love to give you the link for the recording on twitch, but it appears that the channel doesn’t have any recordings. Not sure how that works. In any event, the South African team was soundly defeated by both the Israelis and Danish. It was actually pretty difficult to watch, not just because of the ridiculous lag on the stream – the teams were clearly poorly matched. I wonder if it would have gone differently had our DGC winners (ROCCAT) had their normal team together – is South African LoL so far behind the rest of the world, or is it just national eSports compared to team eSports?
Friendly Unofficial SA-Mexico team matches
Speaking of team eSports, we got to see two team-based friendly Dota 2 matches between South Africa and Mexico. These may not have been official test matches, but were used to satisfy the masses who said that the IeSF sanctioned match last month was not representative of Mexican prowess. So the top team in Mexico (Team Quetzal) was to go up against the top team in SA (Energy eSports).
WARNING: there was yet more eSports drama. I am hiding it from those who just want to read about the games and not the behind the scenes malarky.
Now, here’s where things went a bit pear-shaped. Many top clans in South Africa are on a break following the DGC. We understand – that weekend and the build-up to it are intense and exhausting; everyone deserves a break sometimes. However, in trying to organize this event, it became difficult to arrange a match for the second team. The Mexican side (Aztec Gaming) wanted a chance to go against South Africa and prove their mettle, and yet we did not have a second (or third, or fourth) team that was available or willing to take part in the match. Initially, Gavin reported that Sector 17 would be representing South Africa in the match. Unfortunately, due to a horribly vitriolic thread on the South African Dota 2 Facebook page (that has since been deleted), Sector 17 pulled out of the match. With limited time to organize, and still facing the same clan rest issues, we managed to rustle up a team to go against Aztec Gaming – eZ.mix, a team of former Protea Dota players.
The first game between Energy eSports and Team Quetzal saw some strange champion selection on the part of Team Quetzal – people were certainly scratching their heads about their choice of Riki. Energy picked up Weaver, Rubick, Abaddon, Troll Warlord and Timersaw against Quetzal’s Naga Siren, Visage, Dark Seer, Riki and Razor. The game felt pretty one sided early on, with Energy eSports dominating. Quickly picking up a strong gold and XP advantage, the game was clearly in Energy’s hands after the first 15 minutes of the game. After 30 minutes, Energy secured victory with 24 kills to Quetzal’s 14.
Game two was similar. Quetzal started with some odd picks, opting for a Razor again versus a Nature’s Wisp-Lifestealer strategy. Once again, Energy dominated early on in the game, eventually stretching their XP and gold differences to 12k. Unfortunately, halfway through the game, PolarfluKe’s power went out and killed his stream. Despite a valiant fight against the PC, he was not able to get it back up and running to stream the end of the game. As such, all I can tell you is that Energy eSports won the second game as well – soundly establishing SA Dota 2. When the top teams from both countries collided, it was clear that South African Dota 2 is not the inferior form that people assume it is. If you missed it, you can check out the video:
Watch live video from PolarfluKe on TwitchTV
Of course, then we had round two of the friendly team matches – Aztec Gaming against eZ.mix. In a strange mirror image, the South African team (eZ.mix) was soundly defeated by the Mexicans (Aztec Gaming). At the start of the first game, it appeared that the two teams might be evenly matched. However, eZ.mix started making a lot of mistakes, letting Aztec take clear control of the game. In less than half an hour, Aztec had wiped the floor with Ez.mix.
Going into game two, eZ.mix were clearly shaken from their defeat. In fact, when two of Aztec’s champions discovered three eZ.mix players in the jungle before creeps even spawned, the result was death for all three eZ.mix champions. Suffice it to say, it was not pretty. Ez.mix never stood a chance in game two, as Aztec absolutely annihilated them in less than 20 minutes.
All in all, it was an exciting weekend for South African eSports – over 2k people in South Africa tuned in to watch the Energy eSport match on Saturday night. We want to give a big shout out to PolarfluKe – we couldn’t have had the friendly matches without you! Thank you for the tireless work supporting local eSports. Now, everyone go follow the twitch page and like the Facebook page. Seriously, PolarfluKe’s stream is the only one I’ve experience on twitch that didn’t lag to death, plus he’s got awesome shoutcasters. Go show support!
Last Updated: October 14, 2013
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Alien Emperor Trevor
October 14, 2013 at 09:23
Is it just coincidence that PolarfluKe’s capitalisations are PK?
Admiral Chief Ninja
October 14, 2013 at 09:25
XD
Seraphim
October 14, 2013 at 09:34
When I first tried playing Dota 2 I was thrown by the difference in item names and shop location and the location of the chat messages.
I wasted time searching for the items I needed to buy and didn’t notice a lot of the messages from my allies.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 14, 2013 at 09:36
Think eZ,mix deserve credit for having the balls to stand up & have a go.
Her Highness the Hipster
October 14, 2013 at 09:40
Very true! they came through in a big way, even if it meant getting a thrashing.
SargonTheGreatPandaOfAkkad
October 14, 2013 at 10:41
Legend of them to play. That’s class, that is.
A moment of silence for our brave fallen few, who stood against the strength of their opposition even though it meant annihilation. You have my respect, good people.
Skyblue
October 14, 2013 at 09:56
Thanks for the update. Was trying to find out what happened yesterday as I spent Saturday evening in a decent Jameson soaked haze watching The Shield and playing Civ V. Don’t regret a moment of it.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 14, 2013 at 10:47
The Shield is one of the best cop series I’ve ever watched.
Skyblue
October 14, 2013 at 11:15
I’m 4 seasons in now, fantastic show. Had to find a gem I never caught in it’s day to help stop jonesing after Breaking Bad ended.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 14, 2013 at 11:18
The end of the very first episode is probably the biggest WTF?!?!?!?! moment I’ve ever had watching a TV series, never saw it coming, and the way it carries through the entire series.
I need to start Breaking Bad.
TiMsTeR1033
October 14, 2013 at 11:20
I need to see Breaking bad! I am waiting for The walking dead Se 4!
Skyblue
October 14, 2013 at 11:47
Walking Dead is for noobs ;p (compared to Breaking Bad anyway)
TiMsTeR1033
October 14, 2013 at 11:54
I like Zombies!
Skyblue
October 14, 2013 at 12:40
Read World War Z, awesome book.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 14, 2013 at 13:02
I just watched the movie last night – enjoyed it. Read a lot of people complain about how it’s nothing like the book though.
Skyblue
October 14, 2013 at 14:06
I read the book after watching the movie and I have to say that they are completely different experiences. Yes, I know, I know, books are always better and this is still true in this case. The problem here is that the movie isn’t even a “reasonable hand drawn facsimile” of the book. I enjoyed the movie but it really is so different that I wasn’t even disappointed when I read the book as the movie was decent enough but only shared the books name. The ideology behind the book and film are the same but presented very differently.
Barry Ronge out.
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 14, 2013 at 13:03
No wonder you’re always wanting to “play” with NecroRince :/
Skyblue
October 14, 2013 at 11:51
Very true. I was initially intrigued by the show and Vic Mackey’s character but that last episode of season 1 was the hook for me. Blitzed through those 4 seasons in a week and some change and loving how they developed the characters (esp Dutchie and Lem). Will start watching S5 tonight!
Meh
October 14, 2013 at 10:02
wd to Energy. Really wanted to watch, but was away until Sunday night. Anyone else find it difficult to watch these games? or watch after completed?
Logged on last night wanting to maybe watch the replay – and battled to try find any info. Wish there was a schedule that just had the Match ID so I could log in and jam the replay from dota 2 client. Did a search for games played on Saturday with SA’s hero names but came up with thousands…. so got over it.
Gavin Mannion
October 14, 2013 at 10:29
Yeah not being a DOTA person myself I was totally lost.. if we do it again we’ll make sure to have a DOTA 2 streaming for dummies post up with all those details
noxville
October 14, 2013 at 12:02
It was a custom lobby, you won’t be able to download it given the match ID (unless they’ve fixed that)
Alwyn Venter
October 14, 2013 at 10:37
Well done guys! This weekend was a good weekend for e-Sports!
xeRaaaa
October 17, 2013 at 10:34
The characters are called heroes in Dota 2, not champions. Champions are what they call them in LoL. Just a heads up for future reference! =]