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[Wok]

Hey so I planned on releasing a big blog (still intend to, just later) detailing my entire Dota "career", from nobody, to pubstar, to professional; however, I still have a lot of fine tuning, editing, and some entries still needed to be added to it. Basically, it's a little bit ways away from being finished. Also I'm going to be MIA for several days and I don't plan to work on it then. There is something that I want to get off my chest/remove some of the mystery regarding my tweet about possibly being done with pro Dota. So I'll just hop right into it.

The day after the afterparty (Tuesday) my team held a meeting without me, and I was unaware of it for a while (someone I knew knocked on their door and said they were having a meeting in my room while I was chilling with some other people). There they discussed some things about the future of the team, as well as my future with them. In shorthand, I was kicked from the team. After the meeting I asked PPD why, and he gave me a bunch of reasons. I asked Artour the morning after, a bunch of reasons. I won't say the reasons because that's the teams business and I don't want to say something that could affect negatively them in the future. I told them I'd be down to play more (at the time I hardly played pubs at all) and kind of plead my case, but unfortunately it was a unanimous decision and I don't want to play with people who don't want to play with me. I thought I performed pretty well at every tournament minus Dreamleague (my attitude and mindset that tournament was as poor as it has ever been). Infact, at TI, I feel like I played the 2nd best on the team. But play isn't the only thing that leads to decisions like these I suppose. Anyways yeah, I've been removed from the team. I would've enjoyed to continue to play with them but it looks like it's not meant to be.

So now that I'm off EG, what's next for me? Like I said in multiple interviews, I only want to play with people I enjoy and people who are good enough to be a legit contender at every tournament they attend. Frankly, I don't see any 4 group of players like that at the moment. So for now, I'll go back to my stomping grounds. Inhouses, stacking, and pubbing. I've been pubbing a lot recently, played like 10 games in the last 24 hours, maybe I'll continue that. I've been winning every game though so if I lose a couple in a row I'll probably take a break or something. It's kind of sad. I felt like I could've been great. Like I think I played well, but I don't think I played as good as I'm capable of. I think the break would've given me time to reassess things and come back better than ever.

While I'm upset with my teammates, I'm also grateful. The last 2 months (I guess 5?) have been pretty fun and I would definitely do it all over again. The money is nice but that's not what I played for. I would like to give a couple shoutouts to the people behind the scenes (kind of). Aside from my teammates, I also met Fear, Charlie (Monolith), Conrad (QuantumPope), and Alex. Charlie and Conrad especially made everything smooth as fuck for me and put up with us and did the most ridiculous shit just to ensure we'd be happy and set for whatever. Props to them for putting up with a bunch of whiny people who get way too much for what they do. Also they're just incredibly nice and hard working people. I wish them and my teammates the best in the future, although I'm still kind of mad at them, I do understand and they'll continue to do well in Dota. I'm sure of it. EG is a good organization basically.

So TLDR of a not very long post: I've been kicked from EG. I am mad but also grateful. EG is a good organization. I have no intentions of playing Dota professionally but if I meet the right group of people that could definitely change. Also, I'll miss all the awesome people I met at the events. See ya.
--
Mason

Infact, at TI, I feel like I played the 2nd best on the team.
--
Mason

We have not watched the same games. More like 3rd or 4th.

Like I think I played well, but I don't think I played as good as I'm capable of.
--
Mason

The story of every Dota2 player.

 

[Cyborgmatt]

There's always a way.

Edit: FUUUUUUUUUU. All this Furion talk and then I spot that another set is heading into the game. The one with the Shagbark like Treants.

 

[Anilusion]

I'm batman

 

[neurosisxeno]

We have not watched the same games. More like 3rd or 4th.

3rd would even be generous. Universe was probably one of the top performers of the entire event, and Zai was definitely up there on the list of top performing support players. PPD did alright but definitely could have done better, and arteezy was prime target number 1 for every team at the event. Mason showed exactly how underwhelming he was when he played Void--1 game after Universe dominated with him--and accomplished nothing. He's not a terrible player, but not on par for the rest of his team. I was a pretty big supporter of his going into TI, but I think with Fear playing even below his best they would have taken the event.

 

[G.ZZZ]

3rd would even be generous. Universe was probably one of the top performers of the entire event, and Zai was definitely up there on the list of top performing support players. PPD did alright but definitely could have done better, and arteezy was prime target number 1 for every team at the event. Mason showed exactly how underwhelming he was when he played Void--1 game after Universe dominated with him--and accomplished nothing. He's not a terrible player, but not on par for the rest of his team. I was a pretty big supporter of his going into TI, but I think with Fear playing even below his best they would have taken the event.

Arteezy played bad and fed a lot of games and his average XPM/GPM was still insane. He need to rethink a bit his decision making since he's not playing pubs anymore, but technically he's still over the top.

 

[Heavy's Sandvich]

I don't think you can be too harsh on Mason's performances during TI considering the fact they finished 3rd.

He might not be a decent person and he might be full of himself, but you can't diminish the fact they worked together and achieved brilliantly.

If people are going to blame him for the decisive loss playing as Void, then you need to watch the match again.

 

[ViviOggi]

Arteezy played bad and fed a lot of games and his average XPM/GPM was still insane. He need to rethink a bit his decision making since he's not playing pubs anymore, but technically he's still over the top.

Yup. His mechanics and in-lane decision making are crazy good, he mainly needs to improve his coordination and stop tilting.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Reading the NADota forum is quite something

 

[G.ZZZ]

I don't think you can be too harsh on Mason's performances during TI considering the fact they finished 3rd.

He might not be a decent person and he might be full of himself, but you can't diminish the fact they worked together and achieved brilliantly.

If people are going to blame him for the decisive loss playing as Void, then you need to watch the match again.

That match literally made no sense. Alche support, timber mid (against DK no less...), void offlane, mirana top would've won the game 99/100 games. Instead they all went for unfamiliar heroes for reasons i can't actually understand. I mean sure they needed antipush so a mid alche would've done the job better, but even a supp alche with max acid is decent antipush, and you had Enigma that would've given a lot of exp even to a supp alche anyway.
That game was uncomphrensible to me.

EDIT: and again Zai queuing with S4. I'm calling it here:

[A] : Zai, S4, EGM, Admiral Bulldoge, Excalibur
EG: RTZ, Uniberse, Aui3000, PPD, Fear,

 

[Acti]

Reading the NADota forum is quite something

Why do you say that? (I'm from Portugal so yeah, I don't go to NADota)

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Why do you say that? (I'm from Portugal so yeah, I don't go to NADota)

Browsed it yesterday for the first time because of Mason's blog post and it blew my mind how bad the quality of posts is. You gotta see for yourself. It's basically 4chan level of shittiness with actual nicknames.

 

[LiQuid!]

Woooo boy I just had one of the best games in a long time. Solo Q! Had one of my best Clock starts ever going something like 12-2 or thereabouts. I thought for sure my team was going to throw this one but after a lot of back and forth and having some pretty epic base defense from our Brew we managed to gg push and win at the end. Wish I had 9 commends for this game.

http://dotabuff.com/matches/804350626

 

[Ikuu]

EDIT: and again Zai queuing with S4.

Yea, it's so strange to see them queue so much.

 

[Spookie]

Putting Naix inside Legion is so much fun. You just want to fist bump the shit out of the person next to you when you get another stack of damage.

 

[Artanisix]

Yea, it's so strange to see them queue so much.

Is it that strange? They're both Swedes aren't they?

 

[call_kotaku]

Is it that strange? They're both Swedes aren't they?

But Zai's American, just like Arteezy

 

[LiQuid!]

Love hearing all the stories of pros losing hundreds of MMR when they had to play on US servers because they're such shitholes. Listen, I'm not saying we need to region lock or anything, I'm just saying if Valve needed to do some kind of hat sale to raise money for the biggest best servers money can buy and put them on every square mile of Peru I might be willing to partake.

 

[M.D]

what is this steamcommunity/economy/item link

someone (from a group i'm in i think) added me, asked to trade my tibmerthaw and i told him no, now he asks again

both times he sent me link like that, now he's asking about another item and sent that link

 

[Ikuu]

Is it that strange? They're both Swedes aren't they?

 

[kvk1]

Love hearing all the stories of pros losing hundreds of MMR when they had to play on US servers because they're such shitholes. Listen, I'm not saying we need to region lock or anything, I'm just saying if Valve needed to do some kind of hat sale to raise money for the biggest best servers money can buy and put them on every square mile of Peru I might be willing to partake.

Even if you took all the Peruvians out of the US servers it wouldn't instantly elevate things to EU West levels of play.

This is a collective and continental suckage we must correct.

 

[LiQuid!]

Holy shit, Cyborgmatt teleporting to "save" Sheever's life just now might be the funniest thing I've ever seen on Bulldog's stream.

 

[markot]

 

[Acti]

How could Valve let that shit in....

 

[markot]

How could Valve let that shit in....

You mean "How could Valve do that to such a great item set?"?!?

 

[Kreunt]

I've spent way too much time watching streams instead of playing in the last week.

 

[Acti]

You mean "How could Valve do that to such a great item set?"?!?

Wait a sec... Were they the ones who made it?

 

[Pureauthor]

what is this steamcommunity/economy/item link

someone (from a group i'm in i think) added me, asked to trade my tibmerthaw and i told him no, now he asks again

both times he sent me link like that, now he's asking about another item and sent that link

Probably a phishing site to get you to enter your account info.

Stay far far away.

 

[darkwhitehair]

http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/28/5945245/what-dota-2-needs-most-is-a-white-flag

Man plays dota 2 for a few hours, decides the game should be balanced his way, more at 11.

 

[Messiah]

That match literally made no sense. Alche support, timber mid (against DK no less...), void offlane, mirana top would've won the game 99/100 games. Instead they all went for unfamiliar heroes for reasons i can't actually understand. I mean sure they needed antipush so a mid alche would've done the job better, but even a supp alche with max acid is decent antipush, and you had Enigma that would've given a lot of exp even to a supp alche anyway.
That game was uncomphrensible to me.

EDIT: and again Zai queuing with S4. I'm calling it here:

[A] : Zai, S4, EGM, Admiral Bulldoge, Excalibur
EG: RTZ, Uniberse, Aui3000, PPD, Fear,

Leave Aui alone. He belongs to C9 now. And so does Black^.

 

[kvk1]

Kick Xboct, acquire Black, take TI5.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Kick Xboct, acquire Black, take TI5.

Xboct is better which is quite telling. Both are tier 2 carries.

 

[Heavy's Sandvich]

Puppey is the bigger problem in my opinion.

Dendi's style doesn't suit this patch as well.

There are bigger problems than Xboct.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Yeah, Dendi underperformed in virtually every game I watched this TI4. Didn't watch too much of Na'Vi but he looked lacklustre.

 

[kvk1]

Kidding aside, to me the most apparent problems are 1) Puppey's drafts, i.e. slowly taking Dendi away from the middle lane and early/mid-game impact heroes. 2) Xboct's positioning and decision making slowly devolving in the time period from TI3 to TI4, and 3) an overall lack of consistent and long-term team practice.

I don't think any of these are dire and problematic enough that it requires anyone to leave the team. Just get your head down, put the time in, and climb back up the ladder.

Now if there are "internal" problems, that's another thing. Personal relationships affecting team play is a tougher problem to solve, and one we can only speculate about as we don't know what the hell is going on inside their heads and/or private quarters.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Xboct is better which is quite telling. Both are tier 2 carries.

no

 

[Imp the Dimp]

no

no wat

 

[Captain Fish]

I think Na'Vi's issue is team communication more than anything, I remember watching XBOCT on tidehunter in the offlane sitting around with ravages for minutes on end without any sort of rotation in or aggression anywhere so he could use it. Eventually the enemy would push in with an outnumbering gank and kill him. Stuff like that and several questionable team fights where it's clear the players aren't on the same page are more an issue than any individual skill. Maybe at some point Na'Vi players knew intuitively what each other would do and how to work with them, but it feels like their apocryphal lack of practice has hurt that compatibility.

 

[Randdalf]

Kick Xboct, acquire Black, take TI5.

I hate to say this, but the last few times Black played for a western team he turned out to be quite mediocre compared to the top tier carries. Sure he would get a lot of farm, but his team would be playing 4v5 for a significant portion of the game.

 

[ViviOggi]

I hate to say this, but the last few times Black played for a western team he turned out to be quite mediocre compared to the top tier carries. Sure he would get a lot of farm, but his team would be playing 4v5 for a significant portion of the game.

That's because they committed to 4 protect 1 strats and didn't execute it well enough/got counter-picked. An AM simply can't contribute early outside of tping to snatch the occasional kill, which Black generally does competently.

 

[RS4-]

Not having BP bonus is so shit.

 

[eznark]

Earth Shaker totem sold for $400. So dumb!

 

[Sigismundo]

Mid Sand King with Caustic Finale is one of the funniest fucking things I have ever seen in my life.

 

[Kreunt]

There's 2 main problems with na'vi.
The first being that they don't practice.
The second being that Puppey sucks at drafting in this meta.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

There's 2 main problems with na'vi.
The first being that they don't practice.
The second being that Puppey sucks at drafting in this meta.

How do they "not practice" before a 5 mil prize pool tournament? They looked indiviually outclassed when they were up against the best.

 

[eznark]

There's 2 main problems with na'vi.
The first being that they don't practice.
The second being that Puppey sucks at drafting in this meta.

Kind of felt like they were just playing out their contract the last couple tournaments.

 

[KingKong]

Competition was just better. I'm sure Alliance practised 10 hours a day and it didn't help them

 

[Emerson]

Members of NaVi have repeatedly stated on record that they did not practice very much. Don't really see how it's up for debate.

 

[KingKong]

I think it's stupid to assume that they just needed to practice and then they could beat EG or Newbee or whoever. Wasnt there a whole thing about them arriving early and spending all their time scrimming for The Summit only get beaten by Vici and EG

 

[eznark]

Zephyr earbuds!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M3F447A/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Heavy's Sandvich]

That's also an issue if the team isn't practising.

Lack of motivation isn't something you can just get yourself out of/turn it on when it matters.

If you can't be bothered to practice for TI4 there's nothing that will motivate you. I also think it's a nice excuse for when they perform badly.

To say Puppey can draft better is just nonsense as well if the other players can play the new roles needed.

I honestly think the xp/gpm change really messed with Na'Vi/Alliance more than any hero balancing ever did.

Edit: lack of motivation was enough for Light of Heaven to get kicked.