We sucked. Even though this season of RD2L contained a lot of good times, sometimes that is just how it happens. Not every season is going to be a championship contending season, especially if you are not a 5k+ carry or mid player. Overall, we went 12–8, winning one playoff series vs triple immortal core team. On to the review.
Rice Boi (Spirit):
Rice Boi is the kind of player that gets called inflated and hero puddler so much that even I was starting to get annoyed at it. While everyone blasts his hero pool and laughs at his throws, they are also quick to point out his high mmr as an explanation when he does well. Coming into this season, Rice Boi gained quite a bit of mmr before the draft, making it harder to draft around when it came to later round picks (thanks Danny). There is an immense pressure put on high mmr mids in the current meta, with even such mid staples as Logical playing carry this season and destroying.
Originally, I had a solid amount of Rice Boi flame here. Looking back on it, it might have even been deserved at the time. However, since originally writing this review, Rice Boi has not only played at a higher level, but also has been the driving force that was necessary for our team to do well. I will say that sometimes Rice Boi did not care / was a bit too flippant, but that is ironic considering I played two pubs all season. I would recommend that he captain in future seasons and pick someone who he can delegate captain duties too, rather than get picked high. Rice Boi paired with an immortal level carry (he would be drafting around the Treyn / Gentleman Bastard level of picks) would be very scary.
TL;DR Rice Boi is a great mid, but needs someone next to him to do all the stuff he doesn’t want to do.
Martin (Aggressor)
After destroying Martin’s S18 team a record six times, Martin got Stockholm Syndrome wanted to team with me. When he fell in the draft due to the amount of teams needing a carry going down + rust, we had a steal in the third round. Sounds like a great plan, right? Well, on paper it was. However, Dota is not played on paper. Where Rice Boi is ice, Martin is fire. Not to say either are necessarily wrong in their approaches but trying to patch up holes mid-season is not something that can (or really, should considering the level of effort) be done on a middling team. Martin is great when paired with a mid like Pishtya, but the combo with Rice Boi was more bark than bite unfortunately. I enjoyed playing and theorycrafting with Martin. He can be a bit heavy-handed and out of touch at times, but he always gives it 100% and tries his best to improve and be a team player.
TL;DR Martin is fiery both in and out of game. He does not fit in with everyone but excels when he does.
Danny (Memer) (Captain)
When Danny griefed me during draft, I was speechless. I was taken in the first half of round 2? In THIS pool? While I understood the logistics around moving up for later rounds, a legend captain bombing his round two pick is not something that I foresaw, especially for myself. Draft complaints aside, Danny is still as confusing of a human being as he was when I met him. Sometimes Danny is aggressive; other times he is silent. Sometimes Danny will take the initiative; other times you cannot get a word out of him. Outside of constant memeing and emotes, I could not get a handle on him pretty much (which does not help considering Rice Boi is a quiet person and Martin is not a quiet person). Personally, I believe Legend captains in RD2L already go into the season at a huge disadvantage compared to immortal-level captains (yes, even immortal-level support captains, considering legend teams have a much higher variance than your classic 8–8 Brightside teams.) Not to mention, low mmr captains are often stuck picking high mmr cores that do not want to be vocal, otherwise those players would have been captains themselves.
TL;DR To this day I have literally never heard USDanny speak. Sometimes I think my teammates are hallucinating when they respond to someone that is clearly not in the call.
Sleepy (Feeder)
Sleepy was my lane partner all season, and he was the highlight of it. Despite looking like a smurf on the draft sheet, he ended up being the juvenile, rage-inducing troll of fresh air that I needed despite a rocky season in-and-out of RD2L. Sleepy responded to all of my terrible ideas while also playing off-role in RD2L, saddling any sort of playmaker role that I shunned due to lack of sharpness. While Sleepy in a mid by nature, he fed with the best of them. Also, he helped bridge Danny and my AD2L team a bit, however disastrous the result was. He is a good kid, no matter how many times he gets out-traded by an Archon support in lane. Never going to pick techies outside of scrim week ever again. Sleepy’s section is the shortest because literally everything I want to say to him I just DM him since he has no life and will always respond.
TL;DR Sleepy is a smurf pls ban thanks.
JD (New Mid Player)
This season was not easy for me once my one hero (Furion) started getting banned. I had Centaur / Sand King / Pitlord, sure, but laning vs immortal carries makes hedging harder than usual. With my kind of playstyle, playing from a losing lane is nearly impossible, which is why most lanes I lost were slight losses or just poor farm trades rather than being crushed. While I regret not being sharp, not having the desire to play dota is something I cannot overcome.
I was adjusted up to Ancient 1 from Legend 4 after a calibration day that went less-than-optimal. I have zero concerns about that, but it must be said that I am not sure about what purpose it serves to adjust up players slightly after not playing dota for months. I have no ill will towards any admins for doing it. My bluff was called. However, I will continue to play at a Legend 4 or lower level until such adjustments are not necessary. I am playing mid in mini with my next season of RD2L depending on it.
TL;DR Dota sucks I’m just gonna play JRPGs.
Going back to that last point, I will close with this. Do not take playing pubs and having an interest in Dota for granted. Just because someone has not played recently or infrequently plays does not mean they would instantly start grinding mmr if they did. While it can be flattering to be compared to a Divine-level player, the reverse side of that is never being able to achieve that due to circumstances one way or another. I know on the surface it can look like someone is trying to game the system by being “lower medal than widely accepted”. However, sometimes they just want to play dota and not have to worry about those higher expectations. Basing a player off 100% effort and 100% de-rust is dangerous.
Also big shoutouts to our standins this season (Naratheen, Carobu, Noobish, Paradise). Much appreciated.
Hoping the best for mini and the future,
jd