Free to Play (2014) Movie Script
In August 2011 a tournament
featuring the popular
online strategy game Dota 2 was
held in Cologne, Germany.
It offered the largest prize pool to date
attracting professional players
from all over the world.
Yes, it is actually confirmed.
1.6 million dollar prize pool!
I'm double-checking to make sure
they haven't changed any details
since they told us last time.
1 million in US dollars for First Prize.
That is for the winner.
1 million dollars for winning Dota!
It's going to be huge. Dota2.com
The tournament tab is up, too.
Our website will actually change
for the next 24 hours as well...
The day I transformed into an adult was
the day I started playing Dota.
Its times like, when you
go up on the stage,
you represent your country for something.
You get the prize.
It's the amount of satisfaction and achievement
that nothing else can give you.
It's something I definitely
don't regret ever doing.
Gaming is simply the proudest
thing in my life.
It can be called "gamer," but for me,
it's something different.
One way to forget about pain is to do
something that you will be in completely.
So
computer games.
For me, it was
everything.
This is my career.
I've chosen to do it for so long.
Success in my eyes is always based
on how other people see you.
In the eyes of the public,
it's up to them.
It's important to be doing things
that you love and you really appreciate.
Because that's your passion, man.
You should really work for your passions.
Ok, guys, you have 7 minutes
to set everything up
and then we go.
This is the first time I really
wanted to take something seriously
and do something good for my life.
FREE TO PLAY
10 years ago, competitive gaming
wasn't even really a thing.
You would play for fun
against your friends.
Maybe you would play for a cup of coffee or
whatever you wanted.
When I started playing,
we'd been fighting for
24 bottles of beer as a first place.
I'm not joking.
From there, though, online happened.
And, all of a sudden, you weren't
just trying to be the best on your block.
Now you're trying to be the best
in the world.
And that opened up competitive
gaming to a whole new landscape.
And one of the games really
leading the way is Dota.
Dota is sort of a combination of football
(or soccer for the Americans)
and Chess.
This is probably how I would try
to explain Dota
to someone who's not familiar with it.
At least, that's what I did to my parents.
Dota is a game of momentum.
You as 5 players
try and battle against the other
5 players for momentum.
Every single player controls one unit.
And the main objective of the game is
to destroy the final enemy building
which is called the "Ancient."
Everything else that happens
in the meantime
is your amazing filler of a game.
You could play 100 heroes
in conjunction with 99 other heroes.
It's just nonstop possibilities
and it's so much fun.
And you know, it's like the same
map every single time
but it literally never gets boring.
I would say Dota is a way of life.
When the prizes started coming
I was like, well we have tournaments
so obviously some people are going
to come and say,
"This is a great game. Let's play it.
Like, let's put money in it."
And it started progressing each year.
Those at the top level,
they just do like lots of
calculations in their head.
Something like "A Beautiful Mind"
where you see like all kinds of things.
And using all this information
make your next move.
I see it in a lot of ways
similar to basketball.
Just like a 5 on 5 game
where you kind of have to work together
and utilize each other's strengths and
synergizing everything together.
The teamwork, and the trust,
and the sacrifice
those are all true for every
single team sport.
Dota is a game that unites everybody.
It doesn't matter what country
you're from or race you are.
It's kind of like a bond that is shared
and when you're part of this
tight-knit group of people.
It's like having a second family.
That's something you never let go.
Everyone's searching for something.
Fulfillment.
Fame.
Satisfaction.
It gives you the ability to
become someone else.
A someone who is powerful.
Who can take down 5 opponents.
Express their creativity.
Break the rules without actually
getting arrested.
All of these reasons are
in there somewhere.
The player himself might not even know.
He might not even understand it himself.
But it's there.
Medford, Oregon
Gaming fulfills my competitive need.
I'm a very competitive person.
When it comes to sports,
I consider gaming a sport.
So I use my competitiveness
and I fuel it with Dota.
So it fulfills that side of me completely.
Fear's one of the best
in America, if not the best.
He has a lot of experience.
He's one of the old hogs, basically.
And he's generally just a calm guy.
So, in my opinion, that's his strength.
Really good basketball player.
I remember my coaches watch him playing
and just talk about picking him up
the next year when he came in.
Always had nothing but good things to say,
but he wasn't picked on the team.
The reason was, yeah, he just
wasn't tall enough, I guess.
So, I know that, yeah, he found the game.
He got really devoted in that and stuff
and just found something else that worked.
I was your typical parent.
"Clinton, you're spending too
much time playing computer games."
"You need to go to school."
"You need to go to college."
and he would tell me,
"I want to be able to play
games and get paid for it."
Now he said this at a very young age
before Dota ever came along.
And I thought, well, you know,
he's going to grow out of it.
He's going to get sick and
tired of sitting there
in front of that computer and playing.
Never did. Never did.
Singapore
In Singapore the families actually
put a lot of stress on us
in terms of our education.
I would say it's been tough on me
trying to juggle
both studies and gaming at the same time.
My grades have dropped for
two years already.
And my parents have treated
the gaming as the cause of it.
I mean there was this phrase that
they used. They said,
"Gaming will be the death of you one day."
He's a great player and a great captain.
I would say he's the top player
in Singapore.
Easily.
My parents and my family,
they don't actually speak much
of my gaming career.
They don't tell their friends
and my other relatives
that I'm actually that good at my games.
All along they have only been
bragging about my studies.
Because I used to be an "A" student.
Yeah, they go on and on. And
And it seemed like that was the only thing
they could ever be proud of.
Actually, there has only been one person
that has always been very
supportive of me gaming.
And that was my ex-girlfriend, Huayan.
She's from the female Dota team
in Singapore.
There are a lot of things
that we share in life.
So many things.
In my case, it felt really good,
you know, to have someone
who truly appreciated what you did best.
And loved you for it.
She was aware of what I'm doing
and what I'm passionate about.
The breakup was her decision
and I respected it.
We'd been together for close to three years
and ever since the breakup,
I haven't gotten over it.
I recall the last time she spoke to me
she named me as a bastard so
Laughter
We're not in contact anymore,
yeah, but
life goes on.
L'viv, Ukraine
I'm from Ukraine.
My nickname is Dendi.
I finished my university, and
I'm just playing computer games right now.
He was doing music.
He played the piano.
He was doing dancing.
At school, he had musical plays in
which he played the main role.
Audiences were always
impressed by his artistic ability.
When their kids' group was showing,
Danil would always stand out.
When we were growing up
it wasn't a good time financially
for our family.
But my grandma helped us
to get our first computer in 1997.
Early, compared with other kids in Ukraine.
We got visitors every day.
The friends of my older brother
used to come to visit us
and we were playing games.
And Danil, every time looked at what we do.
Every time we would try to push him away
but he would come back and look again.
It was more prominent with him
than with other kids.
During all his conscious life
we were trying to stop him from playing.
We were hiding our computer cord
everywhere in our apartment
but he always found it.
I always wanted to understand him better.
Including that hobby, I wanted
to understand him better.
There were certain reasons.
I'm not going to mention them now.
I think somewhere deep
inside he's a little bit sad.
She stopped preventing him
from playing Dota.
She gave Dendi the freedom to choose
what is the best for him and his life.
Tournaments back then were
really low prizes.
And a lot of prize money didn't
even get to the players.
There's been a lot of scams with
the managers and stuff like that.
There were, like, some rumors that
it's going to be $50,000 first place,
and everyone was going, like,
"Nah, it's not going to be like that."
August 10, 2011
Watch the forums go nuts, guys.
Watch the forums go nuts.
It is actually confirmed.
It is off the fricking hook.
1.6 million dollar prize pool!
That is for the winner,
1 million dollars for winning Dota!
Dota, the game I've played for 5 years now.
Which I played for fun.
For some food money or whatever, you know.
Ok, it's actually getting big.
It's the largest prize pool of any
gaming competition to date.
It just felt like the start
of something big.
Like a revolution.
You know, we had everything we needed
for the game to become big and
respected as an E Sport.
It would kind of like vindicate us.
We're not just playing
because we're addicted.
There's a goal, a motive.
That we can actually reach out and
grab if we are good enough.
Beijing, China
Over in Asia, professional gamers
are treated like rock stars.
It's a viable career opportunity.
They actually live in gamer houses.
So it's set up to be a thing all year long.
I think their approach to practice
is that it's like a day job.
The fan base is immense.
It probably is as big as the
whole western audience together.
Or even more than that.
So now you really have to play good.
You really have to try hard.
It's first place. It's go big or go home.
The big teams get big money.
But the 9th to 16th place earn nothing.
And their salaries are not
worth considering.
While in sports, you have a salary
that you can live on.
With pro gaming, I think that's
one of the toughest parts is
living game to game.
It's like living paycheck to paycheck.
Like, I have to win.
If I don't win, I don't get paid.
That's a tough living for anybody.
It doesn't matter what you're doing.
When your child wants
to be a professional gamer
you don't have any history to look back on
like other sports.
I don't know anyone who's
made a living at gaming.
So it's kind of a scary thing
when you see your kid putting
their whole life into gaming
and not college and
not the traditional things.
What if nothing comes of it?
Regarding the age
I think, yes,
25, 26 years.
It's absolutely maximum for E Sports
because 27, 28, 29, 30
your reaction time is lowering
and you can't click so much, you know,
as the kids do.
A lot of financial responsibilities
are laid upon me right now.
Require me to be successful
in something or have a job.
So it's pretty critical that
I am successful
if I want to continue the gaming career.
He's an "A-Star" student, you know?
Because of this gaming,
it pulled him right down.
It's very sad for me.
So here the bad one is Auntie.
Auntie is the one that always
comes here and
nag, nag, nag, nag, nag.
- Am I right?
- It's tough being a gamer.
Sorry?
- Am I right?
- I said, it's tough being a gamer.
Huh, hy? Multi-millionaire.
Laughter
For gaming, huh?
Sorry, you are not.
Huh? What is your view?
What is your plan?
That is more important.
I mean, we speak ourselves.
We speak our frank opinion.
This is your choice now.
What do you want in life?
That is more important.
If I'm going to win this tournament
my first thought would be
I will call my ex-girlfriend.
Things got real bad between us and
but right now, for me, if I'm going
to win this tournament,
my first thought would be,
yeah, I would call her.
I would tell her about it and
I would want to share this moment with her
yeah.
This tournament is going to be
a moment in every gamer's life.
Everything that you've been
doing has been building up
and is going to happen over one week.
And then it's not one week anymore.
It's one game.
And then it's not that one game.
it's that one moment in the game.
And then that one moment in the
game is where it's going to finish.
And how's it going to finish?
Are you going to be holding up a trophy?
Or are you going to be the most
disappointed that you've ever been?
Cologne, Germany
It's Tuesday.
So one day before the event.
We already have a lot of setup.
We have a lot of computer setup right here.
The whole booth construction
pretty much finished.
So five players per side.
They can see each other through the glass.
They can't hear each other.
This booth is soundproofed up.
Plus, the whole setup here
if you look from above looks
exactly like a Dota map.
And this is the mid.
This is where it all happens.
A few teams have already
arrived this morning.
We had a lot of teams
from Singapore.
We have China.
We had Malaysia coming in
and Russia.
And tomorrow it's finally happening.
DAY 1 of 5
TEAMS WITH TWO OR MORE WINS
ADVANCE TO THE WINNERS BRACKE We're here live at Gamescom
2011 in beautiful Cologne.
It's the first day of the event.
We've got some of the world's
best teams here in Dota.
And they're handing out a tournament
prize of 1.6 million dollars!
It is massive here.
A tournament of 1.6 million dollars.
That's the future of gaming.
This is awesome!
It's the first time we're going to see teams
of this caliber assembled in one location.
These guys are not just nameless faces.
They're the best in the world.
The bunch of teams we have here,
there's a few teams that have individual
skill that's unbelievable.
And then there's a big group of other teams
that have good individual skill,
not top-notch,
but who win through good
strategy and team play.
Fear is a great player, for example,
but he is not comparable
to good players in Asia.
And that's nothing against Fear,
because he's still an excellent player
but he's not them.
Over in Asia, they take gaming
so much more seriously.
Just to give you an example,
the Korean soccer team were
playing in the World Cup.
To motivate the Korean soccer
team to play better,
they brought in Starcraft Brood War
professional gamers
into their locker room before they went out
so that they got to meet
what were their heroes.
Shanghai, China
In China, Dota is to the people
there what Starcraft is to Korea.
It's televised.
The girls like their boyfriends
to be Dota players.
After a game, when they're walking around
you can see fans running up to them
asking them to sign on their shirts.
It's like a real sport.
The third time I was in China,
I was playing with fans for two days.
They made a video of me,
filming me walking in some mountains
and I had to say some sentences and stuff.
And I was like, yeah, "In Dota,
there's always a new mountain to climb."
Stuff like this, you know.
I walked up and down these stairs
and started running and
lifting some weights,
just to compare this with Dota
like some metaphor and stuff.
Fuzhou, I am coming!
E Sports in China is already a sport
that is recognized by the
General Administration of Sport.
It is the same as tennis, ping pong, chess.
The only thing is that it is
not an Olympic sport.
I will say that China teams are all great.
Every player in the team is strong.
You don't recognize China
players as a player.
You just recognize them as a whole team.
You just fear the whole team.
The Chinese teams that have
come to this competition
are scaring the shit out of everyone else.
We had two of the top
Chinese teams in our group.
Online Kingdom has not been
regarded as one of the favorites to win it.
In fact, they were considered bottom four
or just bottom eight for sure.
This is our first time on LAN together.
The team together has only been
around for around 4-5 months
so it's a relatively new team,
and Pajkatt, our newest addition,
playing Carry for us,
he's only been on the team for
three weeks now actually.
We were really nervous going
against a Chinese team
especially the top Chinese teams.
There are going to be players that choke
handling this kind of pressure
at such a young age.
1437, this is the first time he's
ever been on LAN.
It's not easy, like, this is a
million dollar tournament.
First time he's been on LAN.
LAN (LOCAL AREA NETWORK) A TOURNAMENT WHERE ALL
THE TEAMS COMPETE IN THE SAME LOCATION
This stage. This prize money.
This prestige.
This is real competition.
We tried to keep our cool together
and we just played our game.
ONLINE KINGDOM VS VIRUS
ONLINE KINGDOM 1-0
ONLINE KINGDOM VS NIRVANA.CN
ONLINE KINGDOM 2-0
We were super hyped.
Everyone was surprised
we were doing so good.
Even we couldn't believe it.
Online Kingdom dominating right now.
ONLINE KINGDOM VS TYLOO
ONLINE KINGDOM
3-0
After the match against TyLoo,
everyone was very excited, you know.
We just beat one of the teams that was
actually favored to win the competition.
So everyone's spirits were, like,
"Oh, we may be actually
able to do this, you know."
Beating the Chinese teams,
some people just, you know
for fun, they started,
"Ok, hey, it's OK.Nirvana.Int.
They're the China slayers."
DAY 2 of 5
DOUBLE-ELIMINATION BEGINS
A few little bit surprises that
we had yesterday.
Quite a few upsets.
OK.Nirvana.International managing
to beat two Chinese teams in a row,
beating out TyLoo and OK.Nirvana.CN.
They're currently on a roll now.
And Chinese teams are not unbeatable.
But on the other hand,
EHOME are just proving that they are
the strongest of the four Chinese teams
having a clean 3-0 record.
They are the favorites to win
the whole tournament.
So they come in with the confidence
that they've won so many
championships already.
It's always a little bit of
national pride at stake.
So, of course, they want to prove that
Chinese Dota is still a little bit above the rest.
EHOME is one of the oldest
Chinese Dota organizations.
They've always been at the
top of competitive gaming.
Most memorably at ESWC 2010.
Before ESWC 2010,
I thought, like, yeah ok,
the Chinese, they're probably pretty good,
but like how good can they be?
And then we played EHOME who won that
tournament without losing a single match.
Like, they just crushed every team.
1st PLACE
EHOME finished the year as
the best team in the history of Dota.
They were just like on a
totally different level.
Like, they had their manager
sitting behind them.
He was making their calls.
He was running around with this
little black book.
And they were the first team
I heard of who did that.
The EHOME manager copying down
the draft, doing the prep work.
He was their coach.
There was a great interview that was done.
And it lined up all the top European
captains who attended
and the topic was EHOME.
If you want to ever play good
you don't need to invite Chinese teams
because they are too strong.
So EHOME won
What do you think of the Chinese guys?
I never felt this outplayed
in my entire life.
It's unbelievable how good they are.
Like, their timing, their discipline
They're really in control
of the game, the whole game,
and they keep this control all the time.
This is really crazy to see, actually.
It's because when we are at
any international tournament,
when all of the foreign team managers
and team members see us,
everyone will all yell out, "EHOME!"
EHOME! EHOME!
Do you know how spectacular that is?
Actually, this is a story. It's a custom.
Which is when everyone sees EHOME,
they naturally think the king is entering.
During this trip to The International,
it's actually the same period
as my exam periods.
So I treated it as a sacrifice
that I've made
for the team and for myself.
And I find that
when it comes to pursuing your passions
it's really up to you to decide
if it's worth the
worth the sacrifice.
SINGAPORE
When they're having exams,
they don't allow him to leave the school
So I told him really I said,
"Mind yourself."
Setting out on a career in gaming
is risky. It's very risky.
Because the examinations actually
clash with the competition
and missing the exams without
a proper explanation,
the school didn't recognize the Dota
competition as a valid reason.
It's kind of breaking school rules.
The school is very determined
to stop him from pursuing
his chance of going for this contest.
So I think this has created
a big stress for the family.
Gives his mother very headache, you know?
It's quite difficult for us
to pull him out right now, I think.
You know he's so adamant about it.
So that's why when he told me
he's going in August,
I said, "Then how about your school exams?"
"What are you going to do?"
I think my mother,
she was kind of at her limits,
telling me about how much gaming
has been weighing me down.
That was really the talk when I really
opened my heart and I
shared with her my passion for the game
and how much I believed that
my team actually has the potential to win,
to be the best in the world.
So we are stopping at nothing
less than first.
This is how I tried to put it
across to my mom.
By giving up so much to come here
I have absolute confidence
in my team that we will win.
SCYTHE VS EHOME
Alright the draft is under way.
EHOME, they will select up their heroes.
Scythe will start selecting theirs.
Looking now at both the teams,
it looks like EHOME they're fairly relaxed
while Scythe, you know they're eager.
They're all gathering around hyhy to pick.
If you have a losing draft,
you will lose the game.
This is what I think of Dota.
So it's really a lot on drafting.
Drafting is where two captains will
select what they want to play with.
What heroes are selected
and what heroes are taken out.
You can select five heroes
out of a pool of over a hundred.
And can also remove four of those heroes.
So four heroes you think
your opponent will want to use,
you can remove.
Before any game, any match,
we will decide our bans and picks
according to which team we are fighting.
Usually we would come up with
a very impromptu strategy
to try and fight their strat (strategy).
You really have to spend a lot
of time thinking of the draft.
The draft actually decides
a lot of the game itself.
EHOME. They're a team
with so much experience.
They already know the way
they want to roll this one out.
The only thing that's really going to
make it or break it for them
is if they can get their execution right.
In that particular match-up
we felt that we needed something
that could instill the fear in them.
And Tiny looks to be the last pickup
here from Scythe.
A bit of an interesting pickup
there by Scythe.
It's going to start to change around
their lanes completely now.
With Tiny, it is good as
a surprise strategy.
If another team doesn't realize where
he fits into the whole lineup,
then you can really throw
the opposition off balance.
He's moving away, but no, hyhy,
he'll just turn around and
just pops the Lina.
I want to point out right now that EHOME,
they are not noobs (new to the game).
This is just Scythe playing
an amazing game.
When you have such a huge audience and
you know that everyone is at home
watching the game
they have their hopes pinned on you and
I feel that
there's so much at stake.
And they should be able to
clean it up right now.
Tiny, he's gonna toss, he's gonna launch
and he definitely gets the kill.
We got 357 getting nailed out there.
Nature's Prophet going to get
the last hit in as well.
It's the entire team down for EHOME.
This is GG.
This is now a double-rax, at least.
And EHOME, they're going to disconnect.
We have our first
Winner's Bracket Finalist.
Scythe will advance.
EHOME will drop down into
the Loser's Bracket,
and Scythe will now finish up this game.
SCYTHE WINS
EHOME CALLS "GG" ("GOOD GAME")
CONCEDING THE MATCH
Yeah, the one million is
yeah, one million.
That's a lot.
It's going to make my time
playing this game all worth it.
Didn't think smoking would do me any good.
When did you start smoking?
Two years back.
Two years back.
Bad move.
That seems to coincide with when you
and your ex-girlfriend broke up.
On bad terms
Seems like she's moved on already.
Back then when she was playing the game
it felt like we had something we shared.
Yeah, but right now, it's like
I think she's following this event, but
probably
This event's big.
I hope I will get to make that phone call.
Finally I'll have something I'm proud of
to tell her about.
Finally.
DAY 3 of 5
When you played the Russians
and the Ukrainians,
they were just the unpredictable teams.
I had no idea what the Russians
were thinking.
That was their best weapon.
Well, we're having fun.
We're trying to relax.
We're trying to scare our opponents.
Mind games. Mind games.
I turn off my brain in the way
of being scared of someone.
One of the things I really
admire about him is how
he hasn't really had an easy life
but he's always so upbeat.
He's always so cheerful.
When he first came on the Dota scene,
he looked like a 12-year-old boy.
Everyone was just, like, "Who is this kid?"
There's no way you can
take this guy seriously.
And then he would destroy you in games!
I saw somewhere on the internet
how he works with the keyboard.
It really is mesmerizing.
I think Danil benefited
from his piano playing
because his hands are absolutely amazing.
He can make really good moves.
His moves, I think are unique,
and they might win you the game.
But he wants to rely completely on skill.
He wants, like, an enemy against him
and he wants to kill him through skill,
nothing more.
He wants to win the game.
His disadvantage is that
he doesn't have patience.
He wants to make those moves.
He can get a little bit too silly in games.
He will try new and different things.
He will overextend in team fights
because he believes he can get the kill.
And his impatience can go too far
and he might lose the game for us.
INVICTUS GAMING VS NA'VI
Oh, Nature's Prophet, he's going to go in.
This should be the First Blood.
They got the Sprout on Sansheng as well.
There's probably going to be a double.
Dendi's ulti, it hits!
Dendi, Dendi, no, no.
He's nothe cannot be.
This is Dendi through and through.
Starts with the Hex, goes to Cold
Snap, he locks him in place!
Weaver really close to death!
Manages to Timelapse back out again.
Dendi will TP (teleport) back to safety.
So GG being called by iG.
Na'Vi, they will take the game.
NA'VI CLINCHES QUARTERFINALS
Our Winners Bracket Finalists are
going to be Na'Vi versus Scythe.
Most teams that you see that have
the most fan bases are full nationality.
Our team is all spread out
across the world.
He does have it a little harder than us
because he doesn't really have
this human support
that we do.
Medford, Oregon
The hardest thing that I've had
to really deal with in my life
is just trying to convince my family
about my gaming career.
It's really, really difficult especially
when you start out slow
but you know there's a future for something
and you put a lot of time into it,
and they keep telling you,
"You should probably get a real job."
I was born in the Los Angeles district
in Lancaster, California.
I lived there with my dad and my mom.
Around 2 years old, my dad left my mom.
He didn't really say anything.
He just kind of
He just packed up and left.
She's had to raise us both while
going to law school at the same time.
It wasn't real easy as far as
just got out of law school,
didn't have a job, had huge
student loans to pay back.
This job came up and so
we moved here on our own.
So I've been raising them by myself
ever since.
So this is a photo album
that I made for Clinton.
As he was growing up, I put pictures
in it as we went along.
My sons were both really active into sports
and they wanted to do a lot
so I had to limit them.
They could choose two per season.
That was maximum for me being
able to get them to practice
and go watch their games.
That was tough.
And Clinton sitting on Santa's lap
- his brother Santa.
My brother's more angry at my father
for leaving than I am.
He thinks about him.
He gets upset.
Compared to me, I just block him out
and pretend he doesn't exist.
Clinton already starting video games here.
He was sitting at his house,
you know, playing Dota.
Doing it competitively, had a sponsored
team and everything like that.
But I think that's when it started
getting on his mom's nerves.
I have a crazy sleeping schedule.
I'm on a European team so sometimes I
have to stay up pretty ridiculous hours
or wake up at ridiculous hours.
So the standard day for me is
not so standard.
All the nights he'd be up and stuff,
the dog would be up too with him
and that would keep her awake
most of the nights
and this is kind of where
the tension got pretty high.
You know, this went on for years
and it came to the point
where I just told him
I said, "You know what, you just
need to go somewhere else."
So I got kicked out of my house because
of my gaming career, basically.
When Clinton first moved in here,
he was looking for a desk and
there wasn't anything in the room.
And I had a lot of stuff we were
getting ready to take to the dump.
And Clinton went out there and he
came back in with this green desk.
And he goes, "This is perfect!"
So I didn't have a monitor,
so I went to my friend
and he had a spare CRT monitor.
So I got that, and then, obviously,
I have two books here to hunch that up
so I can actually see the monitor.
So it's kind of a ghetto setup.
Even when I go to competitions, I don't think
I play any differently on the nice setups
compared to this one.
Clinton's like the Rocky Balboa of Dota.
He's definitely one of
the first big US players
and honestly, I didn't even know
he was that big.
In the North American scene, there weren't many
good American players known back then.
Everybody respected Fear.
A lot of the people I knew,
they quit the game.
They moved on, stuff like that.
But I stuck with it so I ended up
being like one of the oldest players.
With all his years of experience,
and all his constant commitment
to the game,
he's really shown that he doesn't give up.
Growing up without my father,
I think in the end, not having someone
there and teach me the guy side
and having a father to help you up,
I think that it's actually probably made me
the person I am today.
You know, I just make sure everything's
running smoothly on the team.
I kind of play, like,
the father figure, I guess.
As a captain, I guess he felt
he had that responsibility as well.
He was like pretty much my mentor.
He did tell me one time,
"Hey if you need someone to talk to,"
he would be here.
So I kind of see him as a Dota brother.
I've never had an ego thinking that
I'm better than anyone else.
I'm always there willing to help people
who are new to the scene.
And that's always been kind of
my role in the game
by just helping players get up
for the most part.
Fear actually broke me
into the scene, you know.
It's very hard to get yourself out there.
I mean, back then, I was kind of
like a fan boy of him.
You know, watching his games and what-not.
And he gave me a shot to play
at a high level.
I wouldn't be here today
if it wasn't for Fear.
I can guarantee you that.
ONLINE KINGDOM VS MUFC
ELIMINATION MATCH
Going into the match, we were all thinking,
MUFC didn't do so well earlier, but
If we lost that game,
we wouldn't win anything so
it was a high risk game.
36 minutes in, almost a 7,000 gold
advantage in favor of MUFC
Toward the end of the game,
we made a couple of mistakes
that put two heroes on the sideline for us.
And they had all five still up and decided that
they were going to go for our Throne (Ancient).
They're probably just going
to push for the base.
They're going GG!
They want to go for the GG!
No Fortification anymore!
We were really close to losing our Throne.
It's below 20 percent HP
And Online Kingdom, they are so close to
getting eliminated from this tournament!
We just needed to do something.
Alright, I'm going to go on them!
I'm going to initiate on them!
So I ran in first and then
they all went on me
instead of focusing on the Throne,
which is good.
Again by Silvercross.
Fear, he's trying to retreat.
He turns into a pig.
How the hell is he still alive?!!
Go, go, go! Go, go!
They push MUFC back!
We made this huge comeback where
we killed all of their heroes.
You know, started pushing.
Silvercross is down!
Morphling! He's out of this!
The Top Rax (barracks) will go!
There is no way now that
MUFC can come back!
But it will be Online Kingdom
eliminating MUFC!
Our whole team just went crazy.
Fear leading Online Kingdom
to do the impossible.
I've never seen anything like that.
And stay tuned.
We'll be back here with more
exciting gameplay coming up.
"ONLINE KINGDOM CELEBRATE MUFC DEFEAT"
"SECURE 7th PLACE AT INTERNATIONAL"
DAY 4 of 5
Scythe.
They are the 2008 ESWC winners.
One of the best Asian teams
but we aren't afraid of them.
We're gonna fight them.
I don't know about my teammates,
but I don't feel scared at all.
I feel like I want to crush my enemy.
That's how I feel.
That's it.
NA'VI VS SCYTHE
Welcome to the Winners Bracket Final
where Scythe goes up against Na'Vi.
WINNER ADVANCES TO THE GRAND FINALS
The winner gets a slot in the Grand Final.
The crowds were all cheering for them.
And their draft was very scary.
We were, like, caught off by surprise.
But, we were like,
we've gotta win this, man.
We've gotta win this and
show them who's boss.
Scythe has managed to take all
the best players from Singapore
and put them in their lineup.
One million!
Na'Vi, they look cool calm and collected.
They know exactly what they gotta do.
It all comes down to gameplay right now
and I gotta say like, Na'Vi's lineup,
it is not unbeatable.
NA'VI GOES AFTER SCYTHE
AGGRESSIVELY IN EARLY GAME
Now they're gonna look for the initiation
and possible kill.
hy is gonna get caught.
Now bottom lane. Held in place.
Sven stunned. Sven will go down.
LighTofHeaveN, he helped out but
Ancient Apparition gets the last hit.
Na'Vi are dominating this final.
Now Na'Vi, they're gonna
take the chance here.
They're gonna go in for the GG.
And GG is the call from hy first.
Na'Vi are already off their computers.
They're not even sticking around.
They've got the GG.
Na'Vi are into the Grand Finals and
will play for the one million dollars.
NA'VI GOES TO THE FINALS
Scythe will go down. They will face
the winner of the Loser's Bracket.
ONE MORE LOSS AND SCYTHE IS
ELIMINATED FROM THE TOURNAMEN We had just lost our confidence match
against Na'Vi.
It was actually quite a blow to us.
The game was really
the turning point for me
because I actually learned that in life
you can only trust in yourself, actually
not in the sense that
you can't trust people
but, yeah, like I said, the one who will
never let you down is yourself.
Medford, Oregon
Within the gaming world
You know, it's like I'm following behind
my mother's footsteps basically.
She worked really hard to get where she is,
and I kind of want to be the same way.
I want to work hard for whatever I do.
For me, I mean I've never really had a dad.
So if I had any questions about anything
the person I was most comfortable
talking to was my mom.
She definitely had
the most influence on my life.
When she comes home from work
she's always anxious to bring up
the subject how she won a big case.
And I'm always proud of her
when she wins these big cases
because I know it means a lot to her.
I mean, in the back of my head,
I'm always, like,
If I do well and if I win this tournament,
I'll finally be able to prove that
I'm getting something out of this.
ONLINE KINGDOM IS FACING ELIMINATION
And whoever wins this match will be
facing up against EHOME,
but whoever will lose it, is going
to be eliminated already.
Like, EHOME, they're looking
really strong right now.
We had the stronger late-game heroes,
the better team fight.
WINNER CLINCHES 6TH PLACE AND $35,000
Just all we had to do was just
control the pushes.
Now, Online Kingdom, they're split!
The stun on Santa! The splash as well.
They're gonna claim a Windrunner.
Will they? Yes they do!
It's 2-0 for Online Kingdom.
Moscow 5, not the start they wanted.
But Online Kingdom having an amazing start
We were so close to winning until some few
mistakes that occurred in the late game.
They might go right now.
There's four heroes standing
right next to each other.
The timing is wrong!
There's communication problems
because we're an international team.
So I think full-nationality teams have
an advantage over most teams.
Almost there! Big try!
Fear's in trouble though.
He's shackled and Lacoste is in.
He casts his ulti as well.
And it just fell apart from there.
They just slowly beat us down.
Eventually they just broke our base and took
every single one of our raxes (barracks).
This is really hurting Online Kingdom.
They've lost three.
Enigma pops.
The team is wiped for Online Kingdom.
The base will be taken and Moscow 5 will now
play EHOME and advance in the tournament.
Now, Online Kingdom, they are out.
So much promise
It didn't happen in the end for Fear
and the rest of Online Kingdom,
ONLINE KINGDOM IS ELIMINATED
TAKING HOME $25,000
and it will be Moscow 5 that will advance
I think everybody on the team
was very emotional.
I could only imagine how he was feeling.
Some people take it more personally
and they give everything to win.
It was very satisfying knowing
that we reached that Top 8,
but he had better expectations
for our team,
and we'd come a long way
and it's all thanks to Fear.
If you don't go as far as you
thought you were going to be,
I guess you end up in tears or something.
All of us are really disappointed, but
I guess that's just how it goes.
When I get back home, I need to
make a big decision in my life.
Like, just the benefits of
playing Dota professionally,
how much I can make from it,
and how much time I really need to put
into it to be one hundred percent, so
The only way I would ever do that is if
I move in with my teammates
and have like a training house with them
so I know for sure that
we're all dedicated.
I think things happen for a reason,
and when things happen,
you just do your best,
and continue going forward with it.
I mean, deep down inside, I know this career
is going to work out for me in the end.
As for the Chinese teams I hope and know that
they're capable of coming out of the Losers Bracket.
The top three teams are likely to be
Na'Vi, Scythe, and a Chinese team
which I personally hope will be EHOME.
Emotionally, I would hope
that EHOME would win.
Turning him into a pig!
They need to get this kill.
The stun! The Weaver Wave!
It's a little piglet!
And it's dead! Slardar!
820, he's almost dead!
Burrow Strike! Epicenter!
357! It's a double-kill by the Weaver!
EHOME, they'll lose FCB as well.
Moscow 5, casualties of war.
Holy Hell.
In China, this game is
a professional career.
We are stressed because we have to win.
If we don't win or we lose
to foreign teams,
Chinese fans will have doubt in us.
Now Lion though is going to find him.
Hexes him up.
Finger's already started. There's the stun.
Maelk in a lot of trouble.
Really caught out of position.
AA ulti will fly in but hits on nothing.
Mania with the SK ultimate
The situation is China against the world.
If we win the championship,
it is what we are supposed to do.
I tell them, if you are coming here,
you are here for the first place.
I will tell them every day, we must
accomplish this. We must achieve this.
Our tradition is
anything other than the champion trophy
we will not bring home.
They will go ahead
and trash it at the airport.
Now PLT. Support Teleporting in.
FCB gets the first stun.
Misery over-commits on the top lane.
GG!
I can feel they really want to beat us,
the foreign teams.
PLT, he's had enough of this.
FCB! What a time for a Frog!
Misery will pop!
But when they watch us play, they feel
that there is no way to beat us.
Singapore
This is where my dad works.
For as long as I remember,
he's doing the logistics
for the company here.
So it involves the shipping of the containers
from one place to another.
When I was younger, he used to work, like,
15 to 16 hours a day.
He's pretty much given up
on everything else in his life.
He's always made it clear to me that
I should focus on my life, focus on my studies
so as to not follow in his footsteps.
He doesn't want me to be slogging
as hard as he is right now.
But the chance to be the best
in the world at something
you don't get it much in life.
FINAL DAY
THREE TEAMS REMAIN
I heard my son say
he's working at this, what, Dota.
He spends a lot of time and he gets nothing.
For me, it's very disappointing.
Never goes to school.
He wants to play computer.
Then in the morning, sleep. Then computer
until the next day morning. Then he sleeps.
The whole day at least 15 hours
at the computer a day.
His life, my son's life is like that.
For me, I hope for my son to study more.
Not like me. I never studied.
When I was young, I was also the same as
Han Yong (hy), always spent a lot of time to play.
But now I also regret, why I don't study.
But now I'm hoping my son
continues to study
to get an education better than me.
This is my hope.
Having reached the final day
of the tournament,
Benedict has missed two exams and
must repeat his last semester of school.
His team is one win away
from the Grand Finals.
I want to win this badly.
Are you ready for EHOME?
We'll do whatever we can.
For hy, I feel it was a great choice
- a brilliant choice.
Because he was considering
that we could have won.
It's an opportunity that
you shouldn't miss out.
So, get ready, sign in, log in,
play around, test a little bit,
and then join the lobby in about 4 minutes.
It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
If you miss it, it might be gone forever.
You might not experience it again.
SCYTHE VS EHOME
SEMIFINALS
And we have a rematch.
EHOME versus Scythe.
EHOME facing up against the team
that forced them into the lower bracket.
WINNER ADVANCES TO THE GRAND FINALS
The psychological pressure is immense,
especially upon the drafter.
Because he is the one who is in the end
responsible for the team's picks.
HYHY GAMBLES AND PICKS "SHADOW FIEND,"
HIS BEST PLAYED HERO
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no. Don't say no!
No, no. Trust me. No.
Wait, wait, wait.
Tell me this. You really want it?
I really think
It's the Antimage and SF (Shadow Fiend).
That's what I think.
Shadow Fiend? Alrighty then.
It's hyhy as SF.
Everyone knows how to
counter a Shadow Fiend.
It's a very bold pickup here by Scythe.
The fact, if Scythe wins the early game,
they're going to gain so much momentum,
but if they don't, then EHOME will basically
roll themselves into the Grand Final.
hyhy, BKB (Black King Bar) is going
to wear off pretty soon,
Venomancer, great strike!
hy's dead!
Stay in the trees now!
And he wants xy-, he catches up to him.
And he brings him down.
Hey! I told you to stay in the trees!
Why'd you come out?
Stay in the trees! I told you.
What an ulti! He Cogs!
Chawy, he wants to leap,
but there is just no Mana!
I already told you.
I told you. Do you understand?
It's ok. Take it easy.
If he can pop off an ulti like that, he doesn't
have to reveal himself to his opponent.
He can really just initiate.
Oh, there he goes! hyhy doesn't manage
to pop off an ultimate.
Nice!
Nice!
There are already three gone.
Make that four.
It's a double-kill for the Anti-mage.
And they're headed for the tower right now.
There is a GGGood Game called by hyhy.
Scythe have had enough now.
EHOME will advance.
The Chinese hopes will stay alive
as they will go up against Na'Vi
with a one game disadvantage
SCYTHE IS NOW ELIMINATED
TAKING HOME $150,000
The first-placing was very important to me.
And to add on to that, my studies were also
at the same time affected by everything.
So everything was related.
When everything comes falling down
at the same time
it's quite hard to handle.
Things are all changed.
So you gotta plan your life again.
All over again.
I've learned a lot.
You've gotta realize your flaws.
That's the toughest part, I feel.
I don't do things as well alone.
So if you try to do everything by yourself,
it's not going to be possible, you know.
I'm actually a believer of fate, and
I told myself that winning isn't necessary
because there are so many
more things in life.
How you take care of the people you love.
I think that's a very big thing.
That's a very important thing.
It's the most important thing ever.
Catch these guys.
It's not fair.
Catch these guys.
I just woke up. It's not fair.
My haircut
still
crazy.
No?
But I don't care.
Ok, I have everything with me.
Let's go.
We are now at the final day
of The International Dota 2 Championships.
It is Na'Vi.
They have a one game advantage.
Sitting very, very sweetly
in the Grand Final.
Who will get a shot
at the one million dollars?
Na'Vi was running the same strategy
the whole time
and no one seemed to be able to counter it.
Na'Vi loves pushing from minute 10
and trying to end the game at minute 15.
Those strategies are very sensitive
because if you fail even once
it can become a very
difficult game for you.
EHOME has been known for how well
they defend their base
So if there was a team that could stop
Na'Vi's push it would be EHOME.
And let's get this game underway.
The players will start to
pick up their heroes
with one million dollars at stake.
Na'Vi need to win two.
EHOME need to win three.
Running a very, very old school strategy
with three core heroes.
EHOME managed to survive
Na'Vi's onslaught early.
It's all on Dendi.
PLT TP's himself in.
Dendi on the retreat back out to the tower.
Will he get himself away?
X!! Yes, there it is.
Last hit, 357, the Venomancer
brings down Dendi in the middle.
Every time you see Dendi perform
he's always playing very well
and he usually doesn't lose his lanes.
So, Dendi, his impatience is that
Chinese teams, they are patient.
They look out for the fact that
you might cross a line
and they will take you and kill you
and win the game through those situations.
Trouble in the mid lane again.
There's already the Gush.
357, PLT, everyone is right
on top of Dendi.
He's in the wrong place.
And the way Na'Vi played,
they really gambled basically.
Dendi's really been ganked, just shut down.
And not a single kill to his name as well.
Now Na'Vi going to assault inside the base
Watch Artstyle. Tier 3 tower. VS Swap!
Artstyle's in the wrong place!
Doom there as well!
BKB's both popping off!
Ravage will pop from LighTofHeaveN
unable to affect EHOME.
Pudge will go down.
They want to be initiated on.
Na'Vi, they need to fall back.
They take your little upsets
and just win the game
through those mistakes.
NA'VI IS FORCED TO CALL "GG"
"GG" from Na'Vi!
EHOME are celebrating right now
inside the booth. Na'Vi cannot believe it!
They've dominated this tournament up till now,
and EHOME takes the first match so convincingly.
That was the first loss of Na'Vi
during the whole tournament.
They went undefeated until the Grand Final.
We're going to have a 15-minute break
and be right back here soon.
Na'Vi, they need to compose themselves.
EHOME, well, they just need to be awesome
What a play by them!
Any loss actually makes me pretty sad.
Dendi's Home
L'viv, Ukraine
We tried to put family pictures here.
This is our mom and dad.
And I think that this one
is our favorite actually.
My childhood, we lived a poor life
and Dad was working for all our lives.
But he helped us every time
and every problem.
I just ask him and he'll do everything
for me, for Katya, for Danil as well.
But Danil and Father were like friends.
Indeed my husband was
simply a fanatical fisherman.
Danil was, I would say, his best student.
Danil has the same patience
and control as his dad.
He could sit for hours and watch the bobber
that wouldn't even twitch.
They could sit with no speaking for hours.
And just enjoy each other's company.
They understood each other without words.
One day I was going fishing, but
Dad never showed up.
When I came home it was already super late.
He was feeling bad.
He went to the hospital. He decided to
stay for a few weeks, you know,
so we watch everything, stuff like this.
And
cancer.
It was a very big shock for me
because he was very thin.
I cannot understand that this is my father.
We were all sure that it must be okay.
But it was a very short time.
I was really sad and was
crying a lot.
I was upset about
I couldn't say to him, many times,
how much I loved him.
After his dad passed away,
he hasn't gone fishing once.
Not even once.
For now this is all in the past.
Actually I spent more time near
the computer because
I could not think about it.
It's like a distractor.
It was like a start time, actually.
The push to play more.
And that's maybe one of the reasons
why I'm playing now.
Maybe I wouldn't play at all.
The relationship of Danil and my mom
grew stronger these days.
They support each other.
and they are very good friends.
I think that this is very important
for Danil.
You know, five years ago,
I wouldn't care about many things.
Now, I'm thinking about it a lot.
Something knocks you down,
you need to learn to get up.
So I'm trying to research this.
To learn to get up.
This is the most important moment
in my life
because everything I worked on
wasn't useful.
And now I have a chance to win
this tournament for my family.
So we have currently EHOME and Na'Vi
playing the Grand Finals.
Na'Vi just lost one game versus EHOME
and it's 1-1.
So both teams have to win two matches
in order to win the one million dollars.
Because our picks looked completely different,
we were like passive and stuff.
People thought we lost the first game,
we're going to lose the second game.
We were maybe a little bit demoralized.
We really needed to change
to a different pick.
We were missing something.
We picked Enigma just
to have a strong teamfight
a five versus five combat.
It was, like, the last hero left
and I never played it before.
Then, we're, like, "Dendi, you go!"
And he's, like,
"Guys, I've never played it!"
"But, I can do it!"
So we took the risk of taking him
and risking maybe playing him badly.
So it looks like down on that bottom lane,
Dendi will be taking the Enigma.
It is going to be a very, very rough lane
Na'Vi lost the game.
And they're playing something now
that they're not as confident with.
EHOME figured out Na'Vi.
Figured out how to play against it.
And I'm going to stick to my word
and I'm going to say EHOME will win it.
It was incredibly ballsy from Dendi
to do that
on the verge of winning the million dollars
for your team.
That's very, very stupid. That's suicidal.
Dendi really now caught out.
He's in trouble.
Rockets to fly in.
FCB long way in on the tower,
lands the stun.
Tinker just lasers him to death.
It will cost FCB his life.
Then we made some little mistakes.
We played a really semi type of, like,
"turtle" strategy.
Really passive. Really passive.
We don't play like that.
Puppey and Dendi just want
to retreat back out.
820! What a Fissure!
PLT is there!
Echo Slam as well!
Beautiful play there by EHOME.
But I know if I die,
I die not for nothing.
X!! in the middle lane
Force, Rocket, Laser.
It's enough!
Dendi goes down in the middle lane.
Sometimes it can be like, you dying
but your teammates picking up more.
EHOME, they still want
to push out that mid
They weren't ready for Dendi Enigma.
It was a patient Enigma.
That was the most patient
Enigma in the world.
Puppey is here.
Dendi as well.
Going to look for the Hole.
BLACK HOLE!!!!
Three are going to go down for EHOME
Currently, Na'Vi, they have
the advantage now.
That really impresses me
how he's able to make that transition.
You just have to have the balls, basically.
He was scared of losing.
That's why he was so patient
and he did everything right.
Their strategy is kind of similar
to how EHOME won.
Na'Vi defeated them "Late Game."
And I think this really shattered
EHOME's confidence.
And "GG" is the call from EHOME.
Na'Vi, they take the game.
And they are only one win short
of taking home one million dollars.
We hardly won the second game.
Chinese teams generally are feared
for their "Late Game" potential.
So we hit the point now.
The gloves come off.
EHOME, they will master their knowledge,
their experience, their calls
up against Na'Vi.
And Puck will be the last hero for Na'Vi.
The nimble hero there already.
Once again a lot of aggressive heroes
for themselves.
Na'Vi LighTofHeaveN playing
as the Beastmaster again
with Dendi playing as the Puck this time.
If Na'Vi wins this,
they win the whole tournament.
This Clash of the Titans right here
is something we will not want to miss.
X!! will come in closer.
They will be able to get that kill.
Doom now on Dendi.
Pulled in by X!!
The entire EHOME team turns on him.
Lich will go down.
FCB is on the run.
XBOCT after the chase of him.
Might be enough. Needs some more damage.
Storm! X!! Long jump in.
Dendi Orbing up to the high ground.
FCB! Puts on the Rift.
Will he be able to get the kill?
He's on the retreat.
Yes, it is.
Dendi with the last right click.
EHOME now, they're gonna
rotate themselves down.
Na'Vi already in the pit.
They're trying to bring down Roshan
- all 5.
Dendi! He's gonna jump out!
He goes for the Dream Coil! He gets them!
He gets EHOME!
Holds them in the middle lane.
Na'Vi already on their way out of the pit.
They're coming in to help out Dendi.
Then we just went in and demolished them.
Now they're on top of the Tier 3 tower.
They're going to bring it down.
Yes, it does go down.
EHOME, they're trying desperately to defend
but Na'Vi, the onslaught will continue.
The mid tower's already being pushed.
The Tier 4 tower is going to go down.
And running in right now
is the rest of Na'Vi.
They are running forward
to one million dollars.
And they will get it!
The "GG" is the call from EHOME.
Na'Vi have just won one million dollars.
EHOME do take home $250,000
in second place.
But Na'Vi are the champions!
There's moments of E Sports
that are landmark,
and this is one of them. In Cologne.
And Na'Vi, the winners.
You guys have just made history.
I was jumping on the sofa.
And screaming like a crazy girl
because I was the happiest
girl in the world.
And my brother just won
one million dollars!
I think in 10 years time
all the gamers which we currently have
showing themselves,
they're going to be the guys
we will look back at and say
this was the beginning.
This is where it all started.
These are the guys that worked hard
and they took the risk.
They proved themselves.
And they forwarded the entire industry
to the point where
we could have a kick-start.
We could show the world what we do.
And then who knows how big
we could get at that point.
We've come far already.
When more and more people support it
and it becomes more and more normal,
it's going to go from a niche
to becoming accepted in societies.
I think in 15 years,
E Sports will be bigger than football.
Than basketball. Than everything.
That kid who you thought played
too many video games
is potentially going to be on a path
where he's earning $250,000 a year, salary.
He's flying the world.
He's going to be endorsed.
Gaming's the biggest entertainment
industry in the world.
So if you're a star,
you are potentially one of
the biggest stars in the world.
So, if that, like everything else with computers
grows exponentially or whatever
then 5 or 10 years could be
a big step actually.
Changing mindsets is never easy.
So it's going to take awhile.
When the gamers now become parents,
we will be supportive of our kids playing,
and I think that's really when
everything will boom.
"The only thing achieved in life
without effort is failure"
After weeks of training,
a local man has led his
online gaming team to the top,
placing seventh in an international
gaming competition held in Germany.
Yeah, she's definitely proud of me.
I mean just, she had her camera out
like, "Why are taking a photo
of the television?"
I know she's really smart.
She's a lawyer so
But in the end, I think
she'll be more understanding
and be willing to support me more
so it worked out.
Fear now lives in San Francisco, CA and captains
US-based team, Evil Geniuses. He no longer trains alone.
And after the tournament,
he bought a new desk.
We were disappointed with our loss.
And, yeah, it's a mixture of both,
we're happy and sad that we got third.
Because of all the emotions
I felt like she was the one
I wanted to share them with.
And it got pretty clear only then
that I had to get her back.
After the tournament I actually
went back to look for her,
and talk things out,
and we have actually begun dating again.
And things are actually going great.
I love her, you know.
She played a huge role, a very huge part
in
in the me today.
hyhy is pursuing his Masters in Business. He pays
for his university expenses throughtournament winnings.
One week ago it was 3,000 followers.
I was happy.
Then it's boomed. 8,000 followers.
It's not about the number.
Even if it's one or two, I'm fine.
So you don't need to show numbers actually.
I think.
My father, I think,
didn't have time to understand
what Dendi's doing.
"Dendi the Dota 2 Millionaire"
We lost him too early.
And if now he could see Dendi,
I'm sure that he's proud of his son.
Dendi has become one of the most recognized
professional gamers today.
He has more followers on Twitter
than the Ukrainian national soccer team.
Free to Play
featuring the popular
online strategy game Dota 2 was
held in Cologne, Germany.
It offered the largest prize pool to date
attracting professional players
from all over the world.
Yes, it is actually confirmed.
1.6 million dollar prize pool!
I'm double-checking to make sure
they haven't changed any details
since they told us last time.
1 million in US dollars for First Prize.
That is for the winner.
1 million dollars for winning Dota!
It's going to be huge. Dota2.com
The tournament tab is up, too.
Our website will actually change
for the next 24 hours as well...
The day I transformed into an adult was
the day I started playing Dota.
Its times like, when you
go up on the stage,
you represent your country for something.
You get the prize.
It's the amount of satisfaction and achievement
that nothing else can give you.
It's something I definitely
don't regret ever doing.
Gaming is simply the proudest
thing in my life.
It can be called "gamer," but for me,
it's something different.
One way to forget about pain is to do
something that you will be in completely.
So
computer games.
For me, it was
everything.
This is my career.
I've chosen to do it for so long.
Success in my eyes is always based
on how other people see you.
In the eyes of the public,
it's up to them.
It's important to be doing things
that you love and you really appreciate.
Because that's your passion, man.
You should really work for your passions.
Ok, guys, you have 7 minutes
to set everything up
and then we go.
This is the first time I really
wanted to take something seriously
and do something good for my life.
FREE TO PLAY
10 years ago, competitive gaming
wasn't even really a thing.
You would play for fun
against your friends.
Maybe you would play for a cup of coffee or
whatever you wanted.
When I started playing,
we'd been fighting for
24 bottles of beer as a first place.
I'm not joking.
From there, though, online happened.
And, all of a sudden, you weren't
just trying to be the best on your block.
Now you're trying to be the best
in the world.
And that opened up competitive
gaming to a whole new landscape.
And one of the games really
leading the way is Dota.
Dota is sort of a combination of football
(or soccer for the Americans)
and Chess.
This is probably how I would try
to explain Dota
to someone who's not familiar with it.
At least, that's what I did to my parents.
Dota is a game of momentum.
You as 5 players
try and battle against the other
5 players for momentum.
Every single player controls one unit.
And the main objective of the game is
to destroy the final enemy building
which is called the "Ancient."
Everything else that happens
in the meantime
is your amazing filler of a game.
You could play 100 heroes
in conjunction with 99 other heroes.
It's just nonstop possibilities
and it's so much fun.
And you know, it's like the same
map every single time
but it literally never gets boring.
I would say Dota is a way of life.
When the prizes started coming
I was like, well we have tournaments
so obviously some people are going
to come and say,
"This is a great game. Let's play it.
Like, let's put money in it."
And it started progressing each year.
Those at the top level,
they just do like lots of
calculations in their head.
Something like "A Beautiful Mind"
where you see like all kinds of things.
And using all this information
make your next move.
I see it in a lot of ways
similar to basketball.
Just like a 5 on 5 game
where you kind of have to work together
and utilize each other's strengths and
synergizing everything together.
The teamwork, and the trust,
and the sacrifice
those are all true for every
single team sport.
Dota is a game that unites everybody.
It doesn't matter what country
you're from or race you are.
It's kind of like a bond that is shared
and when you're part of this
tight-knit group of people.
It's like having a second family.
That's something you never let go.
Everyone's searching for something.
Fulfillment.
Fame.
Satisfaction.
It gives you the ability to
become someone else.
A someone who is powerful.
Who can take down 5 opponents.
Express their creativity.
Break the rules without actually
getting arrested.
All of these reasons are
in there somewhere.
The player himself might not even know.
He might not even understand it himself.
But it's there.
Medford, Oregon
Gaming fulfills my competitive need.
I'm a very competitive person.
When it comes to sports,
I consider gaming a sport.
So I use my competitiveness
and I fuel it with Dota.
So it fulfills that side of me completely.
Fear's one of the best
in America, if not the best.
He has a lot of experience.
He's one of the old hogs, basically.
And he's generally just a calm guy.
So, in my opinion, that's his strength.
Really good basketball player.
I remember my coaches watch him playing
and just talk about picking him up
the next year when he came in.
Always had nothing but good things to say,
but he wasn't picked on the team.
The reason was, yeah, he just
wasn't tall enough, I guess.
So, I know that, yeah, he found the game.
He got really devoted in that and stuff
and just found something else that worked.
I was your typical parent.
"Clinton, you're spending too
much time playing computer games."
"You need to go to school."
"You need to go to college."
and he would tell me,
"I want to be able to play
games and get paid for it."
Now he said this at a very young age
before Dota ever came along.
And I thought, well, you know,
he's going to grow out of it.
He's going to get sick and
tired of sitting there
in front of that computer and playing.
Never did. Never did.
Singapore
In Singapore the families actually
put a lot of stress on us
in terms of our education.
I would say it's been tough on me
trying to juggle
both studies and gaming at the same time.
My grades have dropped for
two years already.
And my parents have treated
the gaming as the cause of it.
I mean there was this phrase that
they used. They said,
"Gaming will be the death of you one day."
He's a great player and a great captain.
I would say he's the top player
in Singapore.
Easily.
My parents and my family,
they don't actually speak much
of my gaming career.
They don't tell their friends
and my other relatives
that I'm actually that good at my games.
All along they have only been
bragging about my studies.
Because I used to be an "A" student.
Yeah, they go on and on. And
And it seemed like that was the only thing
they could ever be proud of.
Actually, there has only been one person
that has always been very
supportive of me gaming.
And that was my ex-girlfriend, Huayan.
She's from the female Dota team
in Singapore.
There are a lot of things
that we share in life.
So many things.
In my case, it felt really good,
you know, to have someone
who truly appreciated what you did best.
And loved you for it.
She was aware of what I'm doing
and what I'm passionate about.
The breakup was her decision
and I respected it.
We'd been together for close to three years
and ever since the breakup,
I haven't gotten over it.
I recall the last time she spoke to me
she named me as a bastard so
Laughter
We're not in contact anymore,
yeah, but
life goes on.
L'viv, Ukraine
I'm from Ukraine.
My nickname is Dendi.
I finished my university, and
I'm just playing computer games right now.
He was doing music.
He played the piano.
He was doing dancing.
At school, he had musical plays in
which he played the main role.
Audiences were always
impressed by his artistic ability.
When their kids' group was showing,
Danil would always stand out.
When we were growing up
it wasn't a good time financially
for our family.
But my grandma helped us
to get our first computer in 1997.
Early, compared with other kids in Ukraine.
We got visitors every day.
The friends of my older brother
used to come to visit us
and we were playing games.
And Danil, every time looked at what we do.
Every time we would try to push him away
but he would come back and look again.
It was more prominent with him
than with other kids.
During all his conscious life
we were trying to stop him from playing.
We were hiding our computer cord
everywhere in our apartment
but he always found it.
I always wanted to understand him better.
Including that hobby, I wanted
to understand him better.
There were certain reasons.
I'm not going to mention them now.
I think somewhere deep
inside he's a little bit sad.
She stopped preventing him
from playing Dota.
She gave Dendi the freedom to choose
what is the best for him and his life.
Tournaments back then were
really low prizes.
And a lot of prize money didn't
even get to the players.
There's been a lot of scams with
the managers and stuff like that.
There were, like, some rumors that
it's going to be $50,000 first place,
and everyone was going, like,
"Nah, it's not going to be like that."
August 10, 2011
Watch the forums go nuts, guys.
Watch the forums go nuts.
It is actually confirmed.
It is off the fricking hook.
1.6 million dollar prize pool!
That is for the winner,
1 million dollars for winning Dota!
Dota, the game I've played for 5 years now.
Which I played for fun.
For some food money or whatever, you know.
Ok, it's actually getting big.
It's the largest prize pool of any
gaming competition to date.
It just felt like the start
of something big.
Like a revolution.
You know, we had everything we needed
for the game to become big and
respected as an E Sport.
It would kind of like vindicate us.
We're not just playing
because we're addicted.
There's a goal, a motive.
That we can actually reach out and
grab if we are good enough.
Beijing, China
Over in Asia, professional gamers
are treated like rock stars.
It's a viable career opportunity.
They actually live in gamer houses.
So it's set up to be a thing all year long.
I think their approach to practice
is that it's like a day job.
The fan base is immense.
It probably is as big as the
whole western audience together.
Or even more than that.
So now you really have to play good.
You really have to try hard.
It's first place. It's go big or go home.
The big teams get big money.
But the 9th to 16th place earn nothing.
And their salaries are not
worth considering.
While in sports, you have a salary
that you can live on.
With pro gaming, I think that's
one of the toughest parts is
living game to game.
It's like living paycheck to paycheck.
Like, I have to win.
If I don't win, I don't get paid.
That's a tough living for anybody.
It doesn't matter what you're doing.
When your child wants
to be a professional gamer
you don't have any history to look back on
like other sports.
I don't know anyone who's
made a living at gaming.
So it's kind of a scary thing
when you see your kid putting
their whole life into gaming
and not college and
not the traditional things.
What if nothing comes of it?
Regarding the age
I think, yes,
25, 26 years.
It's absolutely maximum for E Sports
because 27, 28, 29, 30
your reaction time is lowering
and you can't click so much, you know,
as the kids do.
A lot of financial responsibilities
are laid upon me right now.
Require me to be successful
in something or have a job.
So it's pretty critical that
I am successful
if I want to continue the gaming career.
He's an "A-Star" student, you know?
Because of this gaming,
it pulled him right down.
It's very sad for me.
So here the bad one is Auntie.
Auntie is the one that always
comes here and
nag, nag, nag, nag, nag.
- Am I right?
- It's tough being a gamer.
Sorry?
- Am I right?
- I said, it's tough being a gamer.
Huh, hy? Multi-millionaire.
Laughter
For gaming, huh?
Sorry, you are not.
Huh? What is your view?
What is your plan?
That is more important.
I mean, we speak ourselves.
We speak our frank opinion.
This is your choice now.
What do you want in life?
That is more important.
If I'm going to win this tournament
my first thought would be
I will call my ex-girlfriend.
Things got real bad between us and
but right now, for me, if I'm going
to win this tournament,
my first thought would be,
yeah, I would call her.
I would tell her about it and
I would want to share this moment with her
yeah.
This tournament is going to be
a moment in every gamer's life.
Everything that you've been
doing has been building up
and is going to happen over one week.
And then it's not one week anymore.
It's one game.
And then it's not that one game.
it's that one moment in the game.
And then that one moment in the
game is where it's going to finish.
And how's it going to finish?
Are you going to be holding up a trophy?
Or are you going to be the most
disappointed that you've ever been?
Cologne, Germany
It's Tuesday.
So one day before the event.
We already have a lot of setup.
We have a lot of computer setup right here.
The whole booth construction
pretty much finished.
So five players per side.
They can see each other through the glass.
They can't hear each other.
This booth is soundproofed up.
Plus, the whole setup here
if you look from above looks
exactly like a Dota map.
And this is the mid.
This is where it all happens.
A few teams have already
arrived this morning.
We had a lot of teams
from Singapore.
We have China.
We had Malaysia coming in
and Russia.
And tomorrow it's finally happening.
DAY 1 of 5
TEAMS WITH TWO OR MORE WINS
ADVANCE TO THE WINNERS BRACKE We're here live at Gamescom
2011 in beautiful Cologne.
It's the first day of the event.
We've got some of the world's
best teams here in Dota.
And they're handing out a tournament
prize of 1.6 million dollars!
It is massive here.
A tournament of 1.6 million dollars.
That's the future of gaming.
This is awesome!
It's the first time we're going to see teams
of this caliber assembled in one location.
These guys are not just nameless faces.
They're the best in the world.
The bunch of teams we have here,
there's a few teams that have individual
skill that's unbelievable.
And then there's a big group of other teams
that have good individual skill,
not top-notch,
but who win through good
strategy and team play.
Fear is a great player, for example,
but he is not comparable
to good players in Asia.
And that's nothing against Fear,
because he's still an excellent player
but he's not them.
Over in Asia, they take gaming
so much more seriously.
Just to give you an example,
the Korean soccer team were
playing in the World Cup.
To motivate the Korean soccer
team to play better,
they brought in Starcraft Brood War
professional gamers
into their locker room before they went out
so that they got to meet
what were their heroes.
Shanghai, China
In China, Dota is to the people
there what Starcraft is to Korea.
It's televised.
The girls like their boyfriends
to be Dota players.
After a game, when they're walking around
you can see fans running up to them
asking them to sign on their shirts.
It's like a real sport.
The third time I was in China,
I was playing with fans for two days.
They made a video of me,
filming me walking in some mountains
and I had to say some sentences and stuff.
And I was like, yeah, "In Dota,
there's always a new mountain to climb."
Stuff like this, you know.
I walked up and down these stairs
and started running and
lifting some weights,
just to compare this with Dota
like some metaphor and stuff.
Fuzhou, I am coming!
E Sports in China is already a sport
that is recognized by the
General Administration of Sport.
It is the same as tennis, ping pong, chess.
The only thing is that it is
not an Olympic sport.
I will say that China teams are all great.
Every player in the team is strong.
You don't recognize China
players as a player.
You just recognize them as a whole team.
You just fear the whole team.
The Chinese teams that have
come to this competition
are scaring the shit out of everyone else.
We had two of the top
Chinese teams in our group.
Online Kingdom has not been
regarded as one of the favorites to win it.
In fact, they were considered bottom four
or just bottom eight for sure.
This is our first time on LAN together.
The team together has only been
around for around 4-5 months
so it's a relatively new team,
and Pajkatt, our newest addition,
playing Carry for us,
he's only been on the team for
three weeks now actually.
We were really nervous going
against a Chinese team
especially the top Chinese teams.
There are going to be players that choke
handling this kind of pressure
at such a young age.
1437, this is the first time he's
ever been on LAN.
It's not easy, like, this is a
million dollar tournament.
First time he's been on LAN.
LAN (LOCAL AREA NETWORK) A TOURNAMENT WHERE ALL
THE TEAMS COMPETE IN THE SAME LOCATION
This stage. This prize money.
This prestige.
This is real competition.
We tried to keep our cool together
and we just played our game.
ONLINE KINGDOM VS VIRUS
ONLINE KINGDOM 1-0
ONLINE KINGDOM VS NIRVANA.CN
ONLINE KINGDOM 2-0
We were super hyped.
Everyone was surprised
we were doing so good.
Even we couldn't believe it.
Online Kingdom dominating right now.
ONLINE KINGDOM VS TYLOO
ONLINE KINGDOM
3-0
After the match against TyLoo,
everyone was very excited, you know.
We just beat one of the teams that was
actually favored to win the competition.
So everyone's spirits were, like,
"Oh, we may be actually
able to do this, you know."
Beating the Chinese teams,
some people just, you know
for fun, they started,
"Ok, hey, it's OK.Nirvana.Int.
They're the China slayers."
DAY 2 of 5
DOUBLE-ELIMINATION BEGINS
A few little bit surprises that
we had yesterday.
Quite a few upsets.
OK.Nirvana.International managing
to beat two Chinese teams in a row,
beating out TyLoo and OK.Nirvana.CN.
They're currently on a roll now.
And Chinese teams are not unbeatable.
But on the other hand,
EHOME are just proving that they are
the strongest of the four Chinese teams
having a clean 3-0 record.
They are the favorites to win
the whole tournament.
So they come in with the confidence
that they've won so many
championships already.
It's always a little bit of
national pride at stake.
So, of course, they want to prove that
Chinese Dota is still a little bit above the rest.
EHOME is one of the oldest
Chinese Dota organizations.
They've always been at the
top of competitive gaming.
Most memorably at ESWC 2010.
Before ESWC 2010,
I thought, like, yeah ok,
the Chinese, they're probably pretty good,
but like how good can they be?
And then we played EHOME who won that
tournament without losing a single match.
Like, they just crushed every team.
1st PLACE
EHOME finished the year as
the best team in the history of Dota.
They were just like on a
totally different level.
Like, they had their manager
sitting behind them.
He was making their calls.
He was running around with this
little black book.
And they were the first team
I heard of who did that.
The EHOME manager copying down
the draft, doing the prep work.
He was their coach.
There was a great interview that was done.
And it lined up all the top European
captains who attended
and the topic was EHOME.
If you want to ever play good
you don't need to invite Chinese teams
because they are too strong.
So EHOME won
What do you think of the Chinese guys?
I never felt this outplayed
in my entire life.
It's unbelievable how good they are.
Like, their timing, their discipline
They're really in control
of the game, the whole game,
and they keep this control all the time.
This is really crazy to see, actually.
It's because when we are at
any international tournament,
when all of the foreign team managers
and team members see us,
everyone will all yell out, "EHOME!"
EHOME! EHOME!
Do you know how spectacular that is?
Actually, this is a story. It's a custom.
Which is when everyone sees EHOME,
they naturally think the king is entering.
During this trip to The International,
it's actually the same period
as my exam periods.
So I treated it as a sacrifice
that I've made
for the team and for myself.
And I find that
when it comes to pursuing your passions
it's really up to you to decide
if it's worth the
worth the sacrifice.
SINGAPORE
When they're having exams,
they don't allow him to leave the school
So I told him really I said,
"Mind yourself."
Setting out on a career in gaming
is risky. It's very risky.
Because the examinations actually
clash with the competition
and missing the exams without
a proper explanation,
the school didn't recognize the Dota
competition as a valid reason.
It's kind of breaking school rules.
The school is very determined
to stop him from pursuing
his chance of going for this contest.
So I think this has created
a big stress for the family.
Gives his mother very headache, you know?
It's quite difficult for us
to pull him out right now, I think.
You know he's so adamant about it.
So that's why when he told me
he's going in August,
I said, "Then how about your school exams?"
"What are you going to do?"
I think my mother,
she was kind of at her limits,
telling me about how much gaming
has been weighing me down.
That was really the talk when I really
opened my heart and I
shared with her my passion for the game
and how much I believed that
my team actually has the potential to win,
to be the best in the world.
So we are stopping at nothing
less than first.
This is how I tried to put it
across to my mom.
By giving up so much to come here
I have absolute confidence
in my team that we will win.
SCYTHE VS EHOME
Alright the draft is under way.
EHOME, they will select up their heroes.
Scythe will start selecting theirs.
Looking now at both the teams,
it looks like EHOME they're fairly relaxed
while Scythe, you know they're eager.
They're all gathering around hyhy to pick.
If you have a losing draft,
you will lose the game.
This is what I think of Dota.
So it's really a lot on drafting.
Drafting is where two captains will
select what they want to play with.
What heroes are selected
and what heroes are taken out.
You can select five heroes
out of a pool of over a hundred.
And can also remove four of those heroes.
So four heroes you think
your opponent will want to use,
you can remove.
Before any game, any match,
we will decide our bans and picks
according to which team we are fighting.
Usually we would come up with
a very impromptu strategy
to try and fight their strat (strategy).
You really have to spend a lot
of time thinking of the draft.
The draft actually decides
a lot of the game itself.
EHOME. They're a team
with so much experience.
They already know the way
they want to roll this one out.
The only thing that's really going to
make it or break it for them
is if they can get their execution right.
In that particular match-up
we felt that we needed something
that could instill the fear in them.
And Tiny looks to be the last pickup
here from Scythe.
A bit of an interesting pickup
there by Scythe.
It's going to start to change around
their lanes completely now.
With Tiny, it is good as
a surprise strategy.
If another team doesn't realize where
he fits into the whole lineup,
then you can really throw
the opposition off balance.
He's moving away, but no, hyhy,
he'll just turn around and
just pops the Lina.
I want to point out right now that EHOME,
they are not noobs (new to the game).
This is just Scythe playing
an amazing game.
When you have such a huge audience and
you know that everyone is at home
watching the game
they have their hopes pinned on you and
I feel that
there's so much at stake.
And they should be able to
clean it up right now.
Tiny, he's gonna toss, he's gonna launch
and he definitely gets the kill.
We got 357 getting nailed out there.
Nature's Prophet going to get
the last hit in as well.
It's the entire team down for EHOME.
This is GG.
This is now a double-rax, at least.
And EHOME, they're going to disconnect.
We have our first
Winner's Bracket Finalist.
Scythe will advance.
EHOME will drop down into
the Loser's Bracket,
and Scythe will now finish up this game.
SCYTHE WINS
EHOME CALLS "GG" ("GOOD GAME")
CONCEDING THE MATCH
Yeah, the one million is
yeah, one million.
That's a lot.
It's going to make my time
playing this game all worth it.
Didn't think smoking would do me any good.
When did you start smoking?
Two years back.
Two years back.
Bad move.
That seems to coincide with when you
and your ex-girlfriend broke up.
On bad terms
Seems like she's moved on already.
Back then when she was playing the game
it felt like we had something we shared.
Yeah, but right now, it's like
I think she's following this event, but
probably
This event's big.
I hope I will get to make that phone call.
Finally I'll have something I'm proud of
to tell her about.
Finally.
DAY 3 of 5
When you played the Russians
and the Ukrainians,
they were just the unpredictable teams.
I had no idea what the Russians
were thinking.
That was their best weapon.
Well, we're having fun.
We're trying to relax.
We're trying to scare our opponents.
Mind games. Mind games.
I turn off my brain in the way
of being scared of someone.
One of the things I really
admire about him is how
he hasn't really had an easy life
but he's always so upbeat.
He's always so cheerful.
When he first came on the Dota scene,
he looked like a 12-year-old boy.
Everyone was just, like, "Who is this kid?"
There's no way you can
take this guy seriously.
And then he would destroy you in games!
I saw somewhere on the internet
how he works with the keyboard.
It really is mesmerizing.
I think Danil benefited
from his piano playing
because his hands are absolutely amazing.
He can make really good moves.
His moves, I think are unique,
and they might win you the game.
But he wants to rely completely on skill.
He wants, like, an enemy against him
and he wants to kill him through skill,
nothing more.
He wants to win the game.
His disadvantage is that
he doesn't have patience.
He wants to make those moves.
He can get a little bit too silly in games.
He will try new and different things.
He will overextend in team fights
because he believes he can get the kill.
And his impatience can go too far
and he might lose the game for us.
INVICTUS GAMING VS NA'VI
Oh, Nature's Prophet, he's going to go in.
This should be the First Blood.
They got the Sprout on Sansheng as well.
There's probably going to be a double.
Dendi's ulti, it hits!
Dendi, Dendi, no, no.
He's nothe cannot be.
This is Dendi through and through.
Starts with the Hex, goes to Cold
Snap, he locks him in place!
Weaver really close to death!
Manages to Timelapse back out again.
Dendi will TP (teleport) back to safety.
So GG being called by iG.
Na'Vi, they will take the game.
NA'VI CLINCHES QUARTERFINALS
Our Winners Bracket Finalists are
going to be Na'Vi versus Scythe.
Most teams that you see that have
the most fan bases are full nationality.
Our team is all spread out
across the world.
He does have it a little harder than us
because he doesn't really have
this human support
that we do.
Medford, Oregon
The hardest thing that I've had
to really deal with in my life
is just trying to convince my family
about my gaming career.
It's really, really difficult especially
when you start out slow
but you know there's a future for something
and you put a lot of time into it,
and they keep telling you,
"You should probably get a real job."
I was born in the Los Angeles district
in Lancaster, California.
I lived there with my dad and my mom.
Around 2 years old, my dad left my mom.
He didn't really say anything.
He just kind of
He just packed up and left.
She's had to raise us both while
going to law school at the same time.
It wasn't real easy as far as
just got out of law school,
didn't have a job, had huge
student loans to pay back.
This job came up and so
we moved here on our own.
So I've been raising them by myself
ever since.
So this is a photo album
that I made for Clinton.
As he was growing up, I put pictures
in it as we went along.
My sons were both really active into sports
and they wanted to do a lot
so I had to limit them.
They could choose two per season.
That was maximum for me being
able to get them to practice
and go watch their games.
That was tough.
And Clinton sitting on Santa's lap
- his brother Santa.
My brother's more angry at my father
for leaving than I am.
He thinks about him.
He gets upset.
Compared to me, I just block him out
and pretend he doesn't exist.
Clinton already starting video games here.
He was sitting at his house,
you know, playing Dota.
Doing it competitively, had a sponsored
team and everything like that.
But I think that's when it started
getting on his mom's nerves.
I have a crazy sleeping schedule.
I'm on a European team so sometimes I
have to stay up pretty ridiculous hours
or wake up at ridiculous hours.
So the standard day for me is
not so standard.
All the nights he'd be up and stuff,
the dog would be up too with him
and that would keep her awake
most of the nights
and this is kind of where
the tension got pretty high.
You know, this went on for years
and it came to the point
where I just told him
I said, "You know what, you just
need to go somewhere else."
So I got kicked out of my house because
of my gaming career, basically.
When Clinton first moved in here,
he was looking for a desk and
there wasn't anything in the room.
And I had a lot of stuff we were
getting ready to take to the dump.
And Clinton went out there and he
came back in with this green desk.
And he goes, "This is perfect!"
So I didn't have a monitor,
so I went to my friend
and he had a spare CRT monitor.
So I got that, and then, obviously,
I have two books here to hunch that up
so I can actually see the monitor.
So it's kind of a ghetto setup.
Even when I go to competitions, I don't think
I play any differently on the nice setups
compared to this one.
Clinton's like the Rocky Balboa of Dota.
He's definitely one of
the first big US players
and honestly, I didn't even know
he was that big.
In the North American scene, there weren't many
good American players known back then.
Everybody respected Fear.
A lot of the people I knew,
they quit the game.
They moved on, stuff like that.
But I stuck with it so I ended up
being like one of the oldest players.
With all his years of experience,
and all his constant commitment
to the game,
he's really shown that he doesn't give up.
Growing up without my father,
I think in the end, not having someone
there and teach me the guy side
and having a father to help you up,
I think that it's actually probably made me
the person I am today.
You know, I just make sure everything's
running smoothly on the team.
I kind of play, like,
the father figure, I guess.
As a captain, I guess he felt
he had that responsibility as well.
He was like pretty much my mentor.
He did tell me one time,
"Hey if you need someone to talk to,"
he would be here.
So I kind of see him as a Dota brother.
I've never had an ego thinking that
I'm better than anyone else.
I'm always there willing to help people
who are new to the scene.
And that's always been kind of
my role in the game
by just helping players get up
for the most part.
Fear actually broke me
into the scene, you know.
It's very hard to get yourself out there.
I mean, back then, I was kind of
like a fan boy of him.
You know, watching his games and what-not.
And he gave me a shot to play
at a high level.
I wouldn't be here today
if it wasn't for Fear.
I can guarantee you that.
ONLINE KINGDOM VS MUFC
ELIMINATION MATCH
Going into the match, we were all thinking,
MUFC didn't do so well earlier, but
If we lost that game,
we wouldn't win anything so
it was a high risk game.
36 minutes in, almost a 7,000 gold
advantage in favor of MUFC
Toward the end of the game,
we made a couple of mistakes
that put two heroes on the sideline for us.
And they had all five still up and decided that
they were going to go for our Throne (Ancient).
They're probably just going
to push for the base.
They're going GG!
They want to go for the GG!
No Fortification anymore!
We were really close to losing our Throne.
It's below 20 percent HP
And Online Kingdom, they are so close to
getting eliminated from this tournament!
We just needed to do something.
Alright, I'm going to go on them!
I'm going to initiate on them!
So I ran in first and then
they all went on me
instead of focusing on the Throne,
which is good.
Again by Silvercross.
Fear, he's trying to retreat.
He turns into a pig.
How the hell is he still alive?!!
Go, go, go! Go, go!
They push MUFC back!
We made this huge comeback where
we killed all of their heroes.
You know, started pushing.
Silvercross is down!
Morphling! He's out of this!
The Top Rax (barracks) will go!
There is no way now that
MUFC can come back!
But it will be Online Kingdom
eliminating MUFC!
Our whole team just went crazy.
Fear leading Online Kingdom
to do the impossible.
I've never seen anything like that.
And stay tuned.
We'll be back here with more
exciting gameplay coming up.
"ONLINE KINGDOM CELEBRATE MUFC DEFEAT"
"SECURE 7th PLACE AT INTERNATIONAL"
DAY 4 of 5
Scythe.
They are the 2008 ESWC winners.
One of the best Asian teams
but we aren't afraid of them.
We're gonna fight them.
I don't know about my teammates,
but I don't feel scared at all.
I feel like I want to crush my enemy.
That's how I feel.
That's it.
NA'VI VS SCYTHE
Welcome to the Winners Bracket Final
where Scythe goes up against Na'Vi.
WINNER ADVANCES TO THE GRAND FINALS
The winner gets a slot in the Grand Final.
The crowds were all cheering for them.
And their draft was very scary.
We were, like, caught off by surprise.
But, we were like,
we've gotta win this, man.
We've gotta win this and
show them who's boss.
Scythe has managed to take all
the best players from Singapore
and put them in their lineup.
One million!
Na'Vi, they look cool calm and collected.
They know exactly what they gotta do.
It all comes down to gameplay right now
and I gotta say like, Na'Vi's lineup,
it is not unbeatable.
NA'VI GOES AFTER SCYTHE
AGGRESSIVELY IN EARLY GAME
Now they're gonna look for the initiation
and possible kill.
hy is gonna get caught.
Now bottom lane. Held in place.
Sven stunned. Sven will go down.
LighTofHeaveN, he helped out but
Ancient Apparition gets the last hit.
Na'Vi are dominating this final.
Now Na'Vi, they're gonna
take the chance here.
They're gonna go in for the GG.
And GG is the call from hy first.
Na'Vi are already off their computers.
They're not even sticking around.
They've got the GG.
Na'Vi are into the Grand Finals and
will play for the one million dollars.
NA'VI GOES TO THE FINALS
Scythe will go down. They will face
the winner of the Loser's Bracket.
ONE MORE LOSS AND SCYTHE IS
ELIMINATED FROM THE TOURNAMEN We had just lost our confidence match
against Na'Vi.
It was actually quite a blow to us.
The game was really
the turning point for me
because I actually learned that in life
you can only trust in yourself, actually
not in the sense that
you can't trust people
but, yeah, like I said, the one who will
never let you down is yourself.
Medford, Oregon
Within the gaming world
You know, it's like I'm following behind
my mother's footsteps basically.
She worked really hard to get where she is,
and I kind of want to be the same way.
I want to work hard for whatever I do.
For me, I mean I've never really had a dad.
So if I had any questions about anything
the person I was most comfortable
talking to was my mom.
She definitely had
the most influence on my life.
When she comes home from work
she's always anxious to bring up
the subject how she won a big case.
And I'm always proud of her
when she wins these big cases
because I know it means a lot to her.
I mean, in the back of my head,
I'm always, like,
If I do well and if I win this tournament,
I'll finally be able to prove that
I'm getting something out of this.
ONLINE KINGDOM IS FACING ELIMINATION
And whoever wins this match will be
facing up against EHOME,
but whoever will lose it, is going
to be eliminated already.
Like, EHOME, they're looking
really strong right now.
We had the stronger late-game heroes,
the better team fight.
WINNER CLINCHES 6TH PLACE AND $35,000
Just all we had to do was just
control the pushes.
Now, Online Kingdom, they're split!
The stun on Santa! The splash as well.
They're gonna claim a Windrunner.
Will they? Yes they do!
It's 2-0 for Online Kingdom.
Moscow 5, not the start they wanted.
But Online Kingdom having an amazing start
We were so close to winning until some few
mistakes that occurred in the late game.
They might go right now.
There's four heroes standing
right next to each other.
The timing is wrong!
There's communication problems
because we're an international team.
So I think full-nationality teams have
an advantage over most teams.
Almost there! Big try!
Fear's in trouble though.
He's shackled and Lacoste is in.
He casts his ulti as well.
And it just fell apart from there.
They just slowly beat us down.
Eventually they just broke our base and took
every single one of our raxes (barracks).
This is really hurting Online Kingdom.
They've lost three.
Enigma pops.
The team is wiped for Online Kingdom.
The base will be taken and Moscow 5 will now
play EHOME and advance in the tournament.
Now, Online Kingdom, they are out.
So much promise
It didn't happen in the end for Fear
and the rest of Online Kingdom,
ONLINE KINGDOM IS ELIMINATED
TAKING HOME $25,000
and it will be Moscow 5 that will advance
I think everybody on the team
was very emotional.
I could only imagine how he was feeling.
Some people take it more personally
and they give everything to win.
It was very satisfying knowing
that we reached that Top 8,
but he had better expectations
for our team,
and we'd come a long way
and it's all thanks to Fear.
If you don't go as far as you
thought you were going to be,
I guess you end up in tears or something.
All of us are really disappointed, but
I guess that's just how it goes.
When I get back home, I need to
make a big decision in my life.
Like, just the benefits of
playing Dota professionally,
how much I can make from it,
and how much time I really need to put
into it to be one hundred percent, so
The only way I would ever do that is if
I move in with my teammates
and have like a training house with them
so I know for sure that
we're all dedicated.
I think things happen for a reason,
and when things happen,
you just do your best,
and continue going forward with it.
I mean, deep down inside, I know this career
is going to work out for me in the end.
As for the Chinese teams I hope and know that
they're capable of coming out of the Losers Bracket.
The top three teams are likely to be
Na'Vi, Scythe, and a Chinese team
which I personally hope will be EHOME.
Emotionally, I would hope
that EHOME would win.
Turning him into a pig!
They need to get this kill.
The stun! The Weaver Wave!
It's a little piglet!
And it's dead! Slardar!
820, he's almost dead!
Burrow Strike! Epicenter!
357! It's a double-kill by the Weaver!
EHOME, they'll lose FCB as well.
Moscow 5, casualties of war.
Holy Hell.
In China, this game is
a professional career.
We are stressed because we have to win.
If we don't win or we lose
to foreign teams,
Chinese fans will have doubt in us.
Now Lion though is going to find him.
Hexes him up.
Finger's already started. There's the stun.
Maelk in a lot of trouble.
Really caught out of position.
AA ulti will fly in but hits on nothing.
Mania with the SK ultimate
The situation is China against the world.
If we win the championship,
it is what we are supposed to do.
I tell them, if you are coming here,
you are here for the first place.
I will tell them every day, we must
accomplish this. We must achieve this.
Our tradition is
anything other than the champion trophy
we will not bring home.
They will go ahead
and trash it at the airport.
Now PLT. Support Teleporting in.
FCB gets the first stun.
Misery over-commits on the top lane.
GG!
I can feel they really want to beat us,
the foreign teams.
PLT, he's had enough of this.
FCB! What a time for a Frog!
Misery will pop!
But when they watch us play, they feel
that there is no way to beat us.
Singapore
This is where my dad works.
For as long as I remember,
he's doing the logistics
for the company here.
So it involves the shipping of the containers
from one place to another.
When I was younger, he used to work, like,
15 to 16 hours a day.
He's pretty much given up
on everything else in his life.
He's always made it clear to me that
I should focus on my life, focus on my studies
so as to not follow in his footsteps.
He doesn't want me to be slogging
as hard as he is right now.
But the chance to be the best
in the world at something
you don't get it much in life.
FINAL DAY
THREE TEAMS REMAIN
I heard my son say
he's working at this, what, Dota.
He spends a lot of time and he gets nothing.
For me, it's very disappointing.
Never goes to school.
He wants to play computer.
Then in the morning, sleep. Then computer
until the next day morning. Then he sleeps.
The whole day at least 15 hours
at the computer a day.
His life, my son's life is like that.
For me, I hope for my son to study more.
Not like me. I never studied.
When I was young, I was also the same as
Han Yong (hy), always spent a lot of time to play.
But now I also regret, why I don't study.
But now I'm hoping my son
continues to study
to get an education better than me.
This is my hope.
Having reached the final day
of the tournament,
Benedict has missed two exams and
must repeat his last semester of school.
His team is one win away
from the Grand Finals.
I want to win this badly.
Are you ready for EHOME?
We'll do whatever we can.
For hy, I feel it was a great choice
- a brilliant choice.
Because he was considering
that we could have won.
It's an opportunity that
you shouldn't miss out.
So, get ready, sign in, log in,
play around, test a little bit,
and then join the lobby in about 4 minutes.
It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
If you miss it, it might be gone forever.
You might not experience it again.
SCYTHE VS EHOME
SEMIFINALS
And we have a rematch.
EHOME versus Scythe.
EHOME facing up against the team
that forced them into the lower bracket.
WINNER ADVANCES TO THE GRAND FINALS
The psychological pressure is immense,
especially upon the drafter.
Because he is the one who is in the end
responsible for the team's picks.
HYHY GAMBLES AND PICKS "SHADOW FIEND,"
HIS BEST PLAYED HERO
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no. Don't say no!
No, no. Trust me. No.
Wait, wait, wait.
Tell me this. You really want it?
I really think
It's the Antimage and SF (Shadow Fiend).
That's what I think.
Shadow Fiend? Alrighty then.
It's hyhy as SF.
Everyone knows how to
counter a Shadow Fiend.
It's a very bold pickup here by Scythe.
The fact, if Scythe wins the early game,
they're going to gain so much momentum,
but if they don't, then EHOME will basically
roll themselves into the Grand Final.
hyhy, BKB (Black King Bar) is going
to wear off pretty soon,
Venomancer, great strike!
hy's dead!
Stay in the trees now!
And he wants xy-, he catches up to him.
And he brings him down.
Hey! I told you to stay in the trees!
Why'd you come out?
Stay in the trees! I told you.
What an ulti! He Cogs!
Chawy, he wants to leap,
but there is just no Mana!
I already told you.
I told you. Do you understand?
It's ok. Take it easy.
If he can pop off an ulti like that, he doesn't
have to reveal himself to his opponent.
He can really just initiate.
Oh, there he goes! hyhy doesn't manage
to pop off an ultimate.
Nice!
Nice!
There are already three gone.
Make that four.
It's a double-kill for the Anti-mage.
And they're headed for the tower right now.
There is a GGGood Game called by hyhy.
Scythe have had enough now.
EHOME will advance.
The Chinese hopes will stay alive
as they will go up against Na'Vi
with a one game disadvantage
SCYTHE IS NOW ELIMINATED
TAKING HOME $150,000
The first-placing was very important to me.
And to add on to that, my studies were also
at the same time affected by everything.
So everything was related.
When everything comes falling down
at the same time
it's quite hard to handle.
Things are all changed.
So you gotta plan your life again.
All over again.
I've learned a lot.
You've gotta realize your flaws.
That's the toughest part, I feel.
I don't do things as well alone.
So if you try to do everything by yourself,
it's not going to be possible, you know.
I'm actually a believer of fate, and
I told myself that winning isn't necessary
because there are so many
more things in life.
How you take care of the people you love.
I think that's a very big thing.
That's a very important thing.
It's the most important thing ever.
Catch these guys.
It's not fair.
Catch these guys.
I just woke up. It's not fair.
My haircut
still
crazy.
No?
But I don't care.
Ok, I have everything with me.
Let's go.
We are now at the final day
of The International Dota 2 Championships.
It is Na'Vi.
They have a one game advantage.
Sitting very, very sweetly
in the Grand Final.
Who will get a shot
at the one million dollars?
Na'Vi was running the same strategy
the whole time
and no one seemed to be able to counter it.
Na'Vi loves pushing from minute 10
and trying to end the game at minute 15.
Those strategies are very sensitive
because if you fail even once
it can become a very
difficult game for you.
EHOME has been known for how well
they defend their base
So if there was a team that could stop
Na'Vi's push it would be EHOME.
And let's get this game underway.
The players will start to
pick up their heroes
with one million dollars at stake.
Na'Vi need to win two.
EHOME need to win three.
Running a very, very old school strategy
with three core heroes.
EHOME managed to survive
Na'Vi's onslaught early.
It's all on Dendi.
PLT TP's himself in.
Dendi on the retreat back out to the tower.
Will he get himself away?
X!! Yes, there it is.
Last hit, 357, the Venomancer
brings down Dendi in the middle.
Every time you see Dendi perform
he's always playing very well
and he usually doesn't lose his lanes.
So, Dendi, his impatience is that
Chinese teams, they are patient.
They look out for the fact that
you might cross a line
and they will take you and kill you
and win the game through those situations.
Trouble in the mid lane again.
There's already the Gush.
357, PLT, everyone is right
on top of Dendi.
He's in the wrong place.
And the way Na'Vi played,
they really gambled basically.
Dendi's really been ganked, just shut down.
And not a single kill to his name as well.
Now Na'Vi going to assault inside the base
Watch Artstyle. Tier 3 tower. VS Swap!
Artstyle's in the wrong place!
Doom there as well!
BKB's both popping off!
Ravage will pop from LighTofHeaveN
unable to affect EHOME.
Pudge will go down.
They want to be initiated on.
Na'Vi, they need to fall back.
They take your little upsets
and just win the game
through those mistakes.
NA'VI IS FORCED TO CALL "GG"
"GG" from Na'Vi!
EHOME are celebrating right now
inside the booth. Na'Vi cannot believe it!
They've dominated this tournament up till now,
and EHOME takes the first match so convincingly.
That was the first loss of Na'Vi
during the whole tournament.
They went undefeated until the Grand Final.
We're going to have a 15-minute break
and be right back here soon.
Na'Vi, they need to compose themselves.
EHOME, well, they just need to be awesome
What a play by them!
Any loss actually makes me pretty sad.
Dendi's Home
L'viv, Ukraine
We tried to put family pictures here.
This is our mom and dad.
And I think that this one
is our favorite actually.
My childhood, we lived a poor life
and Dad was working for all our lives.
But he helped us every time
and every problem.
I just ask him and he'll do everything
for me, for Katya, for Danil as well.
But Danil and Father were like friends.
Indeed my husband was
simply a fanatical fisherman.
Danil was, I would say, his best student.
Danil has the same patience
and control as his dad.
He could sit for hours and watch the bobber
that wouldn't even twitch.
They could sit with no speaking for hours.
And just enjoy each other's company.
They understood each other without words.
One day I was going fishing, but
Dad never showed up.
When I came home it was already super late.
He was feeling bad.
He went to the hospital. He decided to
stay for a few weeks, you know,
so we watch everything, stuff like this.
And
cancer.
It was a very big shock for me
because he was very thin.
I cannot understand that this is my father.
We were all sure that it must be okay.
But it was a very short time.
I was really sad and was
crying a lot.
I was upset about
I couldn't say to him, many times,
how much I loved him.
After his dad passed away,
he hasn't gone fishing once.
Not even once.
For now this is all in the past.
Actually I spent more time near
the computer because
I could not think about it.
It's like a distractor.
It was like a start time, actually.
The push to play more.
And that's maybe one of the reasons
why I'm playing now.
Maybe I wouldn't play at all.
The relationship of Danil and my mom
grew stronger these days.
They support each other.
and they are very good friends.
I think that this is very important
for Danil.
You know, five years ago,
I wouldn't care about many things.
Now, I'm thinking about it a lot.
Something knocks you down,
you need to learn to get up.
So I'm trying to research this.
To learn to get up.
This is the most important moment
in my life
because everything I worked on
wasn't useful.
And now I have a chance to win
this tournament for my family.
So we have currently EHOME and Na'Vi
playing the Grand Finals.
Na'Vi just lost one game versus EHOME
and it's 1-1.
So both teams have to win two matches
in order to win the one million dollars.
Because our picks looked completely different,
we were like passive and stuff.
People thought we lost the first game,
we're going to lose the second game.
We were maybe a little bit demoralized.
We really needed to change
to a different pick.
We were missing something.
We picked Enigma just
to have a strong teamfight
a five versus five combat.
It was, like, the last hero left
and I never played it before.
Then, we're, like, "Dendi, you go!"
And he's, like,
"Guys, I've never played it!"
"But, I can do it!"
So we took the risk of taking him
and risking maybe playing him badly.
So it looks like down on that bottom lane,
Dendi will be taking the Enigma.
It is going to be a very, very rough lane
Na'Vi lost the game.
And they're playing something now
that they're not as confident with.
EHOME figured out Na'Vi.
Figured out how to play against it.
And I'm going to stick to my word
and I'm going to say EHOME will win it.
It was incredibly ballsy from Dendi
to do that
on the verge of winning the million dollars
for your team.
That's very, very stupid. That's suicidal.
Dendi really now caught out.
He's in trouble.
Rockets to fly in.
FCB long way in on the tower,
lands the stun.
Tinker just lasers him to death.
It will cost FCB his life.
Then we made some little mistakes.
We played a really semi type of, like,
"turtle" strategy.
Really passive. Really passive.
We don't play like that.
Puppey and Dendi just want
to retreat back out.
820! What a Fissure!
PLT is there!
Echo Slam as well!
Beautiful play there by EHOME.
But I know if I die,
I die not for nothing.
X!! in the middle lane
Force, Rocket, Laser.
It's enough!
Dendi goes down in the middle lane.
Sometimes it can be like, you dying
but your teammates picking up more.
EHOME, they still want
to push out that mid
They weren't ready for Dendi Enigma.
It was a patient Enigma.
That was the most patient
Enigma in the world.
Puppey is here.
Dendi as well.
Going to look for the Hole.
BLACK HOLE!!!!
Three are going to go down for EHOME
Currently, Na'Vi, they have
the advantage now.
That really impresses me
how he's able to make that transition.
You just have to have the balls, basically.
He was scared of losing.
That's why he was so patient
and he did everything right.
Their strategy is kind of similar
to how EHOME won.
Na'Vi defeated them "Late Game."
And I think this really shattered
EHOME's confidence.
And "GG" is the call from EHOME.
Na'Vi, they take the game.
And they are only one win short
of taking home one million dollars.
We hardly won the second game.
Chinese teams generally are feared
for their "Late Game" potential.
So we hit the point now.
The gloves come off.
EHOME, they will master their knowledge,
their experience, their calls
up against Na'Vi.
And Puck will be the last hero for Na'Vi.
The nimble hero there already.
Once again a lot of aggressive heroes
for themselves.
Na'Vi LighTofHeaveN playing
as the Beastmaster again
with Dendi playing as the Puck this time.
If Na'Vi wins this,
they win the whole tournament.
This Clash of the Titans right here
is something we will not want to miss.
X!! will come in closer.
They will be able to get that kill.
Doom now on Dendi.
Pulled in by X!!
The entire EHOME team turns on him.
Lich will go down.
FCB is on the run.
XBOCT after the chase of him.
Might be enough. Needs some more damage.
Storm! X!! Long jump in.
Dendi Orbing up to the high ground.
FCB! Puts on the Rift.
Will he be able to get the kill?
He's on the retreat.
Yes, it is.
Dendi with the last right click.
EHOME now, they're gonna
rotate themselves down.
Na'Vi already in the pit.
They're trying to bring down Roshan
- all 5.
Dendi! He's gonna jump out!
He goes for the Dream Coil! He gets them!
He gets EHOME!
Holds them in the middle lane.
Na'Vi already on their way out of the pit.
They're coming in to help out Dendi.
Then we just went in and demolished them.
Now they're on top of the Tier 3 tower.
They're going to bring it down.
Yes, it does go down.
EHOME, they're trying desperately to defend
but Na'Vi, the onslaught will continue.
The mid tower's already being pushed.
The Tier 4 tower is going to go down.
And running in right now
is the rest of Na'Vi.
They are running forward
to one million dollars.
And they will get it!
The "GG" is the call from EHOME.
Na'Vi have just won one million dollars.
EHOME do take home $250,000
in second place.
But Na'Vi are the champions!
There's moments of E Sports
that are landmark,
and this is one of them. In Cologne.
And Na'Vi, the winners.
You guys have just made history.
I was jumping on the sofa.
And screaming like a crazy girl
because I was the happiest
girl in the world.
And my brother just won
one million dollars!
I think in 10 years time
all the gamers which we currently have
showing themselves,
they're going to be the guys
we will look back at and say
this was the beginning.
This is where it all started.
These are the guys that worked hard
and they took the risk.
They proved themselves.
And they forwarded the entire industry
to the point where
we could have a kick-start.
We could show the world what we do.
And then who knows how big
we could get at that point.
We've come far already.
When more and more people support it
and it becomes more and more normal,
it's going to go from a niche
to becoming accepted in societies.
I think in 15 years,
E Sports will be bigger than football.
Than basketball. Than everything.
That kid who you thought played
too many video games
is potentially going to be on a path
where he's earning $250,000 a year, salary.
He's flying the world.
He's going to be endorsed.
Gaming's the biggest entertainment
industry in the world.
So if you're a star,
you are potentially one of
the biggest stars in the world.
So, if that, like everything else with computers
grows exponentially or whatever
then 5 or 10 years could be
a big step actually.
Changing mindsets is never easy.
So it's going to take awhile.
When the gamers now become parents,
we will be supportive of our kids playing,
and I think that's really when
everything will boom.
"The only thing achieved in life
without effort is failure"
After weeks of training,
a local man has led his
online gaming team to the top,
placing seventh in an international
gaming competition held in Germany.
Yeah, she's definitely proud of me.
I mean just, she had her camera out
like, "Why are taking a photo
of the television?"
I know she's really smart.
She's a lawyer so
But in the end, I think
she'll be more understanding
and be willing to support me more
so it worked out.
Fear now lives in San Francisco, CA and captains
US-based team, Evil Geniuses. He no longer trains alone.
And after the tournament,
he bought a new desk.
We were disappointed with our loss.
And, yeah, it's a mixture of both,
we're happy and sad that we got third.
Because of all the emotions
I felt like she was the one
I wanted to share them with.
And it got pretty clear only then
that I had to get her back.
After the tournament I actually
went back to look for her,
and talk things out,
and we have actually begun dating again.
And things are actually going great.
I love her, you know.
She played a huge role, a very huge part
in
in the me today.
hyhy is pursuing his Masters in Business. He pays
for his university expenses throughtournament winnings.
One week ago it was 3,000 followers.
I was happy.
Then it's boomed. 8,000 followers.
It's not about the number.
Even if it's one or two, I'm fine.
So you don't need to show numbers actually.
I think.
My father, I think,
didn't have time to understand
what Dendi's doing.
"Dendi the Dota 2 Millionaire"
We lost him too early.
And if now he could see Dendi,
I'm sure that he's proud of his son.
Dendi has become one of the most recognized
professional gamers today.
He has more followers on Twitter
than the Ukrainian national soccer team.
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