The Asia 2012 Recap January 1st, 2013 13:17 GMT Text by TheEmulator Graphics by shiroiusagi

The Asia 2012 Recap Table of Contents



The Great SEA

Grand Finals Recap





Dota Tivo

Featured Games





Assassin's Creed

Homage to Nyx





Furryfish Interview

Tammy Tang Talks





BuLba Says

MUFC Is Impressive





More on

Grand Finals RecapFeatured GamesHomage to NyxTammy Tang TalksMUFC Is ImpressiveMore on Liquipedia



The Asia 2012 Recap



was one of December's most exciting tournaments. Featuring the very best that SEA Dota 2 had to offer, the event brought the region's top teams face to face and in the process produced some really exciting Dota.



If you missed it all, never fear, for TheEmulator has



Next, our features. Our main feature article of course is an



We wrap up this update with The Asia 2012 was one of December's most exciting tournaments. Featuring the very best that SEA Dota 2 had to offer, the event brought the region's top teams face to face and in the process produced some really exciting Dota.If you missed it all, never fear, for TheEmulator has recapped the event for you and even tivoed some games for you . Jump right in to relive the excitement of The Asia 2012!Next, our features. Our main feature article of course is an an interview with Singaporean gamer furryfish . TL writer konadora talks to Tammy "furryfish" Tang about Dota 2, esports in general and living the life of a female gamer in one of the most Dota obsessed areas of the world.We wrap up this update with an homage to Nyx Assassin courtesy of shostakovich and what is fast becoming one of our favourite regular features - BuLba Says



The Great SEA By TheEmulator



The Asia presented to us some of the greatest teams in the SEA Dota 2 scene, and after three intense days of competition the winner was decided. Join us as we give you a full recap of how everything went down, starting with the group stages.



Group A



Group A was by and far the most stacked group in the tournament, featuring LGD.cn and MUFC, two of the best teams in SEA, if not the world. Natural 9 was present as well, and with recent success during boot camping they were talked about as being a real threat to win it all. The rest of the group was filled with lesser known teams that were not expected to make it out; although, they are all good enough to make anything happen. In the end everything went as planned, with MUFC and LGD.cn demolishing their competition leaving no one standing in the way of the final prize. MUFC went through with a perfect record of 5-0, and LGD.cn were 4-1, only taking a loss to MUFC. Natural 9 put up a valiant effort, but fell just short with a record of 3-2, and barely losing out to MUFC. Group A was stacked like no other, and in all we saw some great games out of it.



Group B



Group B, while less stacked than group A, was still fearsome to most Dota 2 teams out there. Featuring the SEA giants, Orange Esports and MiTH.Trust, how could group B not be feared? In the end these two teams made it through to the championship bracket, but Orange had to work immensely hard for this spot. At the end of the group stage, there happened to be a tie between Zenith, TNC.Pag-ibig, and Orange. After two hard fought matches Orange prevailed and joined MiTH.Trust going through to the next round. Group B was interesting to say the least.



Championship Bracket



The semi-finals featured 4 teams that were expected to do well in this tournament. First up we saw MUFC take on Orange Esports. This game ended up being very close, lasting nearly one hour. In the end it became a battle between the Anti-Mage of MUFC, and the Luna of Orange. The Anti-Mage prevailed, giving MUFC the win, and a spot in the grand finals.



The second match of the semi-finals was between MiTH.Trust, and the tournament favourites, LGD.cn. There isn't very much to say about this game, other than that LGD.cn completely dominated in every aspect. In the end they took the win with a score of 27-3, which is as big of a stomp as we would expect from these giants. LGD.cn had a very solid lineup, utilizing the early/mid game powers of Keeper of the Light, and Nyx Assassin.



Now with the finals set to be MUFC vs LGD.cn, the third place match still had to be played between MiTH.Trust and Orange Esports. These two teams both fought vailiantly, but in the end Orange Esports had the edge over MiTH.Trust taking 3rd place in The Asia.



Grand Finals - Game 1



There was so much anticipation for the Grand Finals, as two extremely tough teams made it this year. MUFC chose a very push heavy lineup for game 1, going for Keeper of the Light, Death Prophet, Rubick, Brewmaster, and Necrolyte. On the other hand, LGD.cn went for more of a gank style/late game lineup consisting of Bounty Hunter, Nyx Assassin, Lina, Lone Druid, and Beastmaster. LGD established their gank style very early on, with Nyx Assassin assisting Beastmaster in the first blood just 7 minutes in at the mid lane. This was the start of a massive snowball effect that would develop more and more as the game went on. LGD.cn just completely outpicked MUFC in this game, and then went on to outplay them as well. LGD.cn won in just 22 minutes, going 13-2 with what were mostly ganks by the Bounty Hunter and Nyx Assassin. In the end, MUFC's lineup was just too squishy, and did not have a stun reliable enough to turn teamfights into their favour.



Grand Finals - Game 2



This game ended up being a lot closer in the early game then we would have expected. At one point it almost seemed like MUFC had the edge over LGD.cn. However, Xiao8 showed us once again the true power of Beastmaster, and how he is quickly becoming a popular choice among many of the world's top teams. We saw some more Nyx Assassin support from ddc as well, completely destroying everything in his path. Although this game was close at one point, LGD.cn quickly took the lead once again with their solid early game ganking lineup, and MUFC still did not have sufficient stuns available to deal with them in major teamfights. LGD.cn won this game in great fashion, and even ending it in under 30 minutes just like the previous game. They are clearly on top form as of now, and it seems like their reign won't end all to soon.



LGD.cn WINS



The Asia featured some amazing Dota 2 matches, and gave everyone some insight into the SEA scene. In the end, LGD.cn showed that they are no match for anyone else right now. Next up they will have to prove that the top spot is still their's in the upcoming G-League, and after seeing their performance in The Asia, a win in G-League won't be a surprise.



Congratulations to LGD Gaming, and their win at The Asia 2012!



The Asia presented to us some of the greatest teams in the SEA Dota 2 scene, and after three intense days of competition the winner was decided. Join us as we give you a full recap of how everything went down, starting with the group stages.Group A was by and far the most stacked group in the tournament, featuring LGD.cn and MUFC, two of the best teams in SEA, if not the world. Natural 9 was present as well, and with recent success during boot camping they were talked about as being a real threat to win it all. The rest of the group was filled with lesser known teams that were not expected to make it out; although, they are all good enough to make anything happen. In the end everything went as planned, with MUFC and LGD.cn demolishing their competition leaving no one standing in the way of the final prize. MUFC went through with a perfect record of 5-0, and LGD.cn were 4-1, only taking a loss to MUFC. Natural 9 put up a valiant effort, but fell just short with a record of 3-2, and barely losing out to MUFC. Group A was stacked like no other, and in all we saw some great games out of it.Group B, while less stacked than group A, was still fearsome to most Dota 2 teams out there. Featuring the SEA giants, Orange Esports and MiTH.Trust, how could group B not be feared? In the end these two teams made it through to the championship bracket, but Orange had to work immensely hard for this spot. At the end of the group stage, there happened to be a tie between Zenith, TNC.Pag-ibig, and Orange. After two hard fought matches Orange prevailed and joined MiTH.Trust going through to the next round. Group B was interesting to say the least.The semi-finals featured 4 teams that were expected to do well in this tournament. First up we saw MUFC take on Orange Esports. This game ended up being very close, lasting nearly one hour. In the end it became a battle between the Anti-Mage of MUFC, and the Luna of Orange. The Anti-Mage prevailed, giving MUFC the win, and a spot in the grand finals.The second match of the semi-finals was between MiTH.Trust, and the tournament favourites, LGD.cn. There isn't very much to say about this game, other than that LGD.cn completely dominated in every aspect. In the end they took the win with a score of 27-3, which is as big of a stomp as we would expect from these giants. LGD.cn had a very solid lineup, utilizing the early/mid game powers of Keeper of the Light, and Nyx Assassin.Now with the finals set to be MUFC vs LGD.cn, the third place match still had to be played between MiTH.Trust and Orange Esports. These two teams both fought vailiantly, but in the end Orange Esports had the edge over MiTH.Trust taking 3rd place in The Asia.There was so much anticipation for the Grand Finals, as two extremely tough teams made it this year. MUFC chose a very push heavy lineup for game 1, going for Keeper of the Light, Death Prophet, Rubick, Brewmaster, and Necrolyte. On the other hand, LGD.cn went for more of a gank style/late game lineup consisting of Bounty Hunter, Nyx Assassin, Lina, Lone Druid, and Beastmaster. LGD established their gank style very early on, with Nyx Assassin assisting Beastmaster in the first blood just 7 minutes in at the mid lane. This was the start of a massive snowball effect that would develop more and more as the game went on. LGD.cn just completely outpicked MUFC in this game, and then went on to outplay them as well. LGD.cn won in just 22 minutes, going 13-2 with what were mostly ganks by the Bounty Hunter and Nyx Assassin. In the end, MUFC's lineup was just too squishy, and did not have a stun reliable enough to turn teamfights into their favour.This game ended up being a lot closer in the early game then we would have expected. At one point it almost seemed like MUFC had the edge over LGD.cn. However, Xiao8 showed us once again the true power of Beastmaster, and how he is quickly becoming a popular choice among many of the world's top teams. We saw some more Nyx Assassin support from ddc as well, completely destroying everything in his path. Although this game was close at one point, LGD.cn quickly took the lead once again with their solid early game ganking lineup, and MUFC still did not have sufficient stuns available to deal with them in major teamfights. LGD.cn won this game in great fashion, and even ending it in under 30 minutes just like the previous game. They are clearly on top form as of now, and it seems like their reign won't end all to soon.The Asia featured some amazing Dota 2 matches, and gave everyone some insight into the SEA scene. In the end, LGD.cn showed that they are no match for anyone else right now. Next up they will have to prove that the top spot is still their's in the upcoming G-League, and after seeing their performance in The Asia, a win in G-League won't be a surprise.Congratulations to LGD Gaming, and their win at The Asia 2012!





Dota Tivo By TheEmulator



Gank City







In game one of the Grand Finals we saw an impressive lineup for LGD consisting of Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter, and Nyx Assassin. This game shows the true power of LGD, and how their newer style of early gank heroes is pushing them to the forefront of the Dota 2 scene.



Farm City







This is the semi-final game between MUFC and Orange Esports. It was quite the opposite of what we saw in the grand finals. Instead of quick, gank centric strategies, both teams went for late game heroe strategies which relied on how farmed said hero became. In the end it was a battle between the Anti-Mage and Luna. Watch this VOD and see who won.





In game one of the Grand Finals we saw an impressive lineup for LGD consisting of Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter, and Nyx Assassin. This game shows the true power of LGD, and how their newer style of early gank heroes is pushing them to the forefront of the Dota 2 scene.This is the semi-final game between MUFC and Orange Esports. It was quite the opposite of what we saw in the grand finals. Instead of quick, gank centric strategies, both teams went for late game heroe strategies which relied on how farmed said hero became. In the end it was a battle between the Anti-Mage and Luna. Watch this VOD and see who won.



Assassin's Creed By Shostakovich



Altair's got nothing on this guy.

During the whole of The Asia 2012, LGD.cn put great emphasis on Nerubian Assassin, picking him in the earlier stages, and even allowing the enemy to have high tier heroes like Batrider in return. While the audience was surprised by this move, Liquid`BuLBa said that LGD.cn would make this trade all the time. In our G-League preview, BuLba even placed Nyx Assassin in the same tier of Batrider and Magnus.



DotA once saw an age where Nyx's ancestor was a weapon of choice. Being the greatest champion of the Nerubians, Anub'arak was an instrumental hero for VP during their era of dominance, with ARS-ART attaining such a high level of play that Nerubian Assassin quickly became a must-ban hero. Other teams - like Team Ukraine, featuring players like Travka, DKPhobos, Goblak and an eighteen years old Dendi, also used the hero with great success. Nerubian Assassin's ability to deal damage and gank was the key element for his success. Usually played at mid, he would get a fast level six, instantly putting pressure on the whole map as he gained the ability to turn invisible and deal even more damage. Between Vendetta, Impale and Mana Burn, any target could be brought down very quickly. Add an eventual Necronomicon or even Dagon and Nerubian Assassin has enough damage to solo-kill most heroes in a matter of seconds. The mere threat of this is often enough to force the enemy to spend money on wards. Each gank of his would open the map for his allies to farm, and the more map control his team had had, the more lethal and unexpected the ganks would become as well. At that time, Spiked Carapace was a passive skill that would reflect physical damage and it was common to see people in public games stacking Blade Mails and having opponents veritably kill themselves while trying to open holes in Anub'arak's armor.



As time passed, Anub'arak was cast into oblivion. Teams learned how to deal with the hero, and he no longer would strike fear into their hearts. People even forgot that Anub'arak was a one-scarab-gank army and even neglected taking precautions against him. Why would you do it if no one picks him?



But then Dota 2 came. The Nerubians are no more. After choosing and anointing a zealot scarab with an extract of herself, Nyx gave birth to the same hero that terrorized the lanes in the past. Only, this hero was better. Along with his known arsenal, Spiked Carapace is now an active spell that not only negates and reflects the first player based damage instance, but also stuns the target. We saw Puppey picking Nyx Assassin in the very last game of The International II, trying to find a way to deny the iG Tidehunter's Ravage and destroy Keeper of the Light with his own Illuminate.



With 6.75, Nyx Assassin became even stronger. His base HP regeneration increased, his Mana Burn now deals more damage and his Spike Carapace now reflects damage from multiple sources. He's a monster hero with four active spells that deal damage. His arsenal allows him to be played in different ways: He can be the solo mid hero, getting the experience he needs so much to be useful. He can be a support against a solo offlaner, burning his mana and making the enemy useless. Also, with so many skills, he can be played against trilanes, destroying heroes like Keeper of the Light. When he gets level six, Nyx Assassin can tag along with another hero like Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter or Night Stalker and execute swift ganks all over the map, opening space for his team to play and farm. With the combination of Vendetta, Impale and Spiked Carapace, Nyx Assassin is one of the most useful teamfight heroes out there today, and we're sure to see him used more and more in the days to come. During the whole of The Asia 2012, LGD.cn put great emphasis on Nerubian Assassin, picking him in the earlier stages, and even allowing the enemy to have high tier heroes like Batrider in return. While the audience was surprised by this move, Liquid`BuLBa said that LGD.cn would make this trade all the time. In our G-League preview, BuLba even placed Nyx Assassin in the same tier of Batrider and Magnus.DotA once saw an age where Nyx's ancestor was a weapon of choice. Being the greatest champion of the Nerubians, Anub'arak was an instrumental hero for VP during their era of dominance, with ARS-ART attaining such a high level of play that Nerubian Assassin quickly became a must-ban hero. Other teams - like Team Ukraine, featuring players like Travka, DKPhobos, Goblak and an eighteen years old Dendi, also used the hero with great success. Nerubian Assassin's ability to deal damage and gank was the key element for his success. Usually played at mid, he would get a fast level six, instantly putting pressure on the whole map as he gained the ability to turn invisible and deal even more damage. Between Vendetta, Impale and Mana Burn, any target could be brought down very quickly. Add an eventual Necronomicon or even Dagon and Nerubian Assassin has enough damage to solo-kill most heroes in a matter of seconds. The mere threat of this is often enough to force the enemy to spend money on wards. Each gank of his would open the map for his allies to farm, and the more map control his team had had, the more lethal and unexpected the ganks would become as well. At that time, Spiked Carapace was a passive skill that would reflect physical damage and it was common to see people in public games stacking Blade Mails and having opponents veritably kill themselves while trying to open holes in Anub'arak's armor.As time passed, Anub'arak was cast into oblivion. Teams learned how to deal with the hero, and he no longer would strike fear into their hearts. People even forgot that Anub'arak was a one-scarab-gank army and even neglected taking precautions against him. Why would you do it if no one picks him?But then Dota 2 came. The Nerubians are no more. After choosing and anointing a zealot scarab with an extract of herself, Nyx gave birth to the same hero that terrorized the lanes in the past. Only, this hero was better. Along with his known arsenal, Spiked Carapace is now an active spell that not only negates and reflects the first player based damage instance, but also stuns the target. We saw Puppey picking Nyx Assassin in the very last game of The International II, trying to find a way to deny the iG Tidehunter's Ravage and destroy Keeper of the Light with his own Illuminate.With 6.75, Nyx Assassin became even stronger. His base HP regeneration increased, his Mana Burn now deals more damage and his Spike Carapace now reflects damage from multiple sources. He's a monster hero with four active spells that deal damage. His arsenal allows him to be played in different ways: He can be the solo mid hero, getting the experience he needs so much to be useful. He can be a support against a solo offlaner, burning his mana and making the enemy useless. Also, with so many skills, he can be played against trilanes, destroying heroes like Keeper of the Light. When he gets level six, Nyx Assassin can tag along with another hero like Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter or Night Stalker and execute swift ganks all over the map, opening space for his team to play and farm. With the combination of Vendetta, Impale and Spiked Carapace, Nyx Assassin is one of the most useful teamfight heroes out there today, and we're sure to see him used more and more in the days to come.



Furryfish Interview By Konadora



L to R: furryfish, konadora, iceiceice



Introduce yourself and your team!

Hi, my name is Tammy “furryﬁsh” Tang, I’m 28, living in Singapore, used to work at Razer and currently manage Zenith and Flash E-Sports. I am also currently working on own gaming projects.



My team was picked up by PMS in 2008. All in all, we've been competitive for 7 years.



Before PMS, we had different team compositions and though we were mainly a female team, we had some male teammates from time to time as well.



How did you ﬁrst get into gaming?

My dad is a techie, being always interested in latest tech stuff. Because of him, such tech was available to me. I Started serious gaming around the age of 11 when my friend gave Warcraft 2. I ended up playing it over and over again. Afterwards, I grew up to play competitive Counter-Strike. The main interest in gaming came from Warcraft 3, but Counter-Strike was my ﬁrst competitive game.



What made you decide to on the competitive stage?

I dislike doing things that has no purpose in doing. If there is no long term aim to it, then why do it? Even in my sports club activities, I took everything to competitive level. I was not satisﬁed with just knowing how to play. I wanted to excel in everything I do.



The sports clubs I had joined over the years were swimming, badminton, gymnastics, ﬂoorball and sailing. I competed in Sailing and Gymnastics on national level. However, I broke ankle during a ﬂoorball match vs National Technological University. I did not actually know that my ankle broke, until one day I saw my toes turning black. That somewhat ended my sports participation.



It says on your stream channel that you were from RJC and NUS. What made you decide to choose gaming over a more widely accepted career, especially considering your education background, and even more so considering this is Singapore, where good education is highly emphasised?

Working in Razer is not a good job, eh? *laughs* I stopped working half a year ago. I’m focusing on gaming at the moment because right now, I believe that the gaming scene is growing, and I want to push the scene forward and watch it grow. I am okay with putting that aspect of a “normal” path on hold to pursue this right now.



Had there been any obstacles or particular incidents that you faced during this move to competitive play?

Probably what every medium to lower-tier team faces. Members not being able to get along in terms of gameplay and personality. A lot of people think that there is a lot of bitching going on in only female teams, but male teams encounter the same problems. This difﬁculty in making a competitive female team was only compounded by the fact that there aren’t many female gamers around. There is not a huge pool of female gamers. It is a challenge that not just us, but other teams face as well. Girls also seem to have an inferiority complex as compared to male gamers, which ends up becoming a self-fulﬁlling prophecy. They need to have belief in themselves and overcome stereotypes.



How did your family and friends react to your decision initially?

In school, everyone was like, “why do you play computer games?”. Only girls with elder brothers had any idea about gaming. Because of such reactions, I didn’t tell others about my interest. But that was 15 years ago. Now it’s different. My mom back then didn’t encourage me, and we used to have ﬁghts. She would switch off the modem or the power to my room, all the way till I was in university. It only stopped around 3 years ago when I decided to tell her that I am independent enough to live my own life. But because I’m from high ranking schools, I think there was higher pressure for me to focus on my schoolwork. During the critical exam periods, I did not play as much.



How do they feel about it now?

When I was playing Dota 1 during my uni, I met some of my sec school girlfriends playing Dota in a LAN cafe. But I think it was just an on-the-moment thing. But at least they are more open minded now. At the present, I don’t expect them give a weird reaction as they did back then.



So do you play Dota 2 full time right now?

Working part time, one or two weeks every month. To me right now, time is more important than money, but of course, money is still a necessity. I try to stream during my free time. I also run projects. One of them is running SCOGA’s (Singapore Cybersports and Online Gaming Assocation) membership program. I’m in charge of ﬁguring out how to get members. Now is the sponsorship season, so I’m managing how to get sponsors for my team, Zenith and for Flash E-Sports. Mostly Zenith though. For Flash E-Sports, I’m playing a consultant role. For my team, we’re planning a month long boot camp in Thailand, sometime after Chinese New Year in February next year, and there are many partners involved. I can’t say right now who are the partners. Running giveaways and stuff is keeping me busy too.



iceiceice enters



Describe your style of play.

*looks at iceiceice* (ice shakes head)



iceiceice: I've been playing WoW!

ff: I’ve been playing WoW too! I guess it’s aggressive support. I like melee heroes.



Why melee heroes?

I don’t know. I just prefer using melee heroes. I quite like fat heroes. I was actually trained to play Omni, then when Lord of Avernus came out, because he was the undead version of Arthas in Dota 1, I took an instant liking to him. And also because I could be more aggressive with LoA.



So how does your team work? Do you stay in a living quarter together or just train together online? If so, how often?

We practice online. It’s because right now, we have new members who are Thai and living in Thailand, and so we have to practice online. We normally play with whoever is online, as often as we can.



Do you practice with any other teams?

With Flash E-Sports, Zenith and Orange. Basically we just play matchmaking with anyone we see online.



Do you do scrims with the teams then?

Not with a full team of 5. That is why I want to have the boot camp. It’s hard when some of members are in Thailand and they aren’t familiar with English.



How active has your team been?

Not very. Two of my main players went off to become stewardesses. Because of their schedule, we can’t play often.



What was the very ﬁrst event you girls competed together under the PMS Asterisk* banner?

ESWC Paris, 2008. It was a mixed team with US and Singapore members.



Where do you feel your team currently stands in the local and global scene, in terms of strength and presence?

*shakes head* In terms of presence, I think it’s quite high. But in terms of competitive strength, nowhere. That’s why we are going through a major shufﬂing. Eliza is in New Zealand, there are two in Thailand, and the rest are here.



Any plans on taking your team to the next level, like what LGD.int is currently doing by going beyond their comfort zone to just purely practice?

We’re trying to work on a full schedule to make it worth the sponsors’ while. There’s a lot of media stuff.



When did you make the transition from Dota 1 to Dota 2, and how?

At the end of last year, after SMM and ESTC. I got a key after TI1. That was in August.



How do you feel about Dota 2? Is it a much cleaner, easier game?

It feels a lot easier than Dota 1. I feel that Dota 1 had a lot of physical aspect to it - things that Dota 2 players take for granted, such as being able to use your own hotkeys and having certain commands. There was Warkeys, but it still does not beat the convenience that Dota 2 brings. There is much better coordination between your thoughts and actions in Dota2. Even transferring items from the courier to the hero was difficult in Dota 1. But in Dota 2, it’s done via a hotkey.



Gamers require a beta key to play Dota 2 currently. Do you think this is hindering the growth of Dota 2 in SEA, where it is famously known for playing Dota 1 for a long time by both professionals and casuals?

I think that is only because Dota 2 is still in beta, so companies may not be willing to invest in it. But if you really want a key, it’s not that difficult. So not really. But one thing that is hindering it is the lack of LAN mode, especially considering many SEA countries don’t have good Internet. Even back in Warcraft 3/Dota 1, people came up with LAN emulators to play over LAN latency instead of Battle.net. Also, because there are competing games in the genre right now, it’s a really important thing.



Any word of advice you would give Gabe Newell right now in regards to Dota 2 growth in SEA?

I would just tell them directly and not here, haha.



How big is your fanbase, both personally and for the team?

If you count all my social media, probably around 15,000 fans for myself. My Facebook has around 5000 friends, fan page has around 7000 fans, and I don’t know about Twitter. For the team, each girl probably has around a few thousand each as well, so it adds up to quite a lot.



What do you think of the local attitude and reception towards gaming?

Competitive events are monopolized by one entity. The government does not really support gaming. Media actually likes to accuse gaming of being the factor that makes a lot of children have a worse future, kill people, etc. I don’t think the sentiments are much different from other countries. But we don’t have any strong factor that is for gaming in Singapore. For example, in Taiwan, they have homegrown companies such as hardware manufacturers that can push for gaming. But in Singapore, we don’t have any such support.



How big do you think the local gaming scene in Singapore is at the moment? How can it be expanded and be made more aware and available to mainstream casual players?

It’s dead. We need more events. Gamers need to be able to earn a living from playing games, but at the same time they need to grow up and realise that people won’t just hand you money. They need to work to ﬁnd ways to make people want to give you money. People here right now are either too lazy and think they should be handed the money, or aren’t able to market themselves to make themselves appealing. They have no idea how to turn themselves into a selling point. We need people like that. Streaming is a tough option. It is not as easy as you think. It’s hard to keep viewers. You have to be entertaining or do giveaways. I’m moving on from a pure competitive gamer to someone who has “been there” and will now be part of the support structure. Part of me still wants to play though, and that’s why I’m still playing.



How do you feel about female Dota teams, as made more known in the last Star Ladder? Do you feel they should be treated differently or no less different from an all-male team, just like in sports?

I think it’s ﬁne to have female-only competitions. But competitions like WCG and ESWC should be open to let female competitors compete on the same level as guys. The main events should be co-ed. Because of all the differences, there’s bound to be differences. But at least there is growth in the female scene. A lot of Russian female gamers mentioned to me that they have a lot of problems, such as guys being hidious to them, but I believe that in the end, if you play well, that would speak for itself. I agree with what people say. If you’re good, you’re good. Who cares if you are male or female? Although I agree that at the same time, the female community needs to grow together. The main aim of one of my projects is to build a community where they can grow together and learn. The ﬁnal goal is to compete on the same level as guys, but right now, the scene is at its infancy.



What do you feel about the female scene in and out of Asia?

iceiceice: There’s no scene.



furryfish: Eastern Europe has a big scene. It’s like how SEA was in Dota 1. A lot of SEA teams in Dota 1 have yet to transit to Dota 2, especially in Pinoy and China. it seems like European teams adopt Dota 2 more quickly than SEA teams. They used to have leagues all the time for female gamers. Thailand also used to have a lot of Dota 1 teams. But Dota 2 is not strong there, so now it’s either LoL or HoN. It’s all just messy.



How do you think the female teams can be promoted better? Create a speciﬁc league or throw them directly into ongoing leagues?

Guys have to be more encouraging to their female friends. (To iceiceice: You’re not very encouraging, eh!) Especially to females who don’t play. Guys should try to get girls to game as well. For me, I started from a very encouraging, active community where we would have in-house leagues. We had four to ﬁve active teams back then, so we would set aside time to have IH leagues. It was good because we weren’t separated by gender, and we were quite competitive. I guess the guys were willing to let me draft and command the game, so they were quite encouraging. They taught me the basics, and let me do the drafting and commanding.



So basically they let you be the captain?

I earned myself that position! My team got #2 in the in-house league, which was an upset for the reigning #2 team.



Females may not see gaming as an attractive profession. What do you think can be done to make it more attractive for female gamers to consider gaming as a profession?

What’s there not to like? It’s a community full of guys, you get 100% guys’ attention. *sarcastic laugh*



Strongest Western team?

furryfish: Na’Vi. A stable team is normally a good team.



iceiceice: .Because Dendi is a good friend.



furryfish: I mean, look at other teams. They keep shufﬂing teams, but Na’Vi has had a stable roster for a long time, and that is the key.



Strongest Asian team?

iceiceice: ForLove!



furryfish: I don’t think iG is that good now. I’m betting on one of the Chinese teams though. They are all roughly of equivalent skill, so it’s hard to pick one.



Best player at the moment?

furryfish: iceiceice.



iceiceice: It’s always me! I’m too inconsistently good.



Who is your favourite player and why?



iceiceice: He always does the most unexpected stuff with the most unexpected items. He is also an interesting person in real life.



iceiceice blabbers on about himself, but ff ignores him.



Then who is your favourite team?

Na’Vi.



Because of Dendi?

Because they are consistent. Despite their ups and downs, they always somehow manage to work it out.



What are your thoughts on the latest patch? It has brought so much needed buffs and gave the scene a refresh as to which heroes are more popular picks, such as Batrider, Undying, Magnus, Nyx Assassin, Jakiro and Luna in favor of pre-6.76 patch heroes like Naga Siren, Morphling and Anti-Mage.

It is nice to see that certain heroes have been balanced out, and I like the new lineups and strats that have come out of it. But teams will still pick their favourites, unless they’ve been terribly nerfed, because a player always plays well on the hero he is most familiar with. Think Dendi and his Pudge, or Tiny + Wisp combo.



What do you think are the heroes in most need of nerf(s) and buff(s) right now, and how and why?

I don’t really have any heroes that I want nerfed. I think that most hero choices have a counter.



Are there any heroes you would like to see being used more often in competitive games?

iceiceice: Timbersaw!



furryfish: Slark! He says the cutest things, like “ﬁshy ﬁshy ﬁshy, it is me!” I think he has potential, especially if iceiceice uses it.



iceiceice No! He’s useless!



furryfish: There are other heroes that I would like to see used in competitive games. Lightning Revenant is practically useless. It’s like a half tank - half damage based hero and isn’t particularly good at either. Meepo also hasn’t become the competitive pick that I hoped it would be.



How do you think Dota 2 will be like in China once it gets more wipespread? For example, a few major teams like DK decided to choose Dota 2 over Dota 1 in the recent WCG.

iceiceice: A lot of disconnects.



furryfish: Agreed. Also, 3 hour waits for them to go to the next LAN shop to play.



It seems like a few teams have yet to adjust to the new patch, and are performing not as well with the new changes in the metagame. How do you think teams should play to adjust to this change? More aggressive early game? Trilaning? Tower diving? Tower pushing? Late game orientated?

I think that they sometimes have to move away from picking heroes they are comfortable with, and look at the bigger picture - ie, opponent’s bans and picks and focus on countering strategies,, research on the latest hot picks and combos, and opponent’s favourite strategies. I think that all this remains the same with every patch, and that’s the fun of Dota 2 - adapting to the changes each patch and coming up with/countering each ensuing strategy.



Predict the next hero to make his/her appearance in Dota 2.

furryfish: Maybe Bristleback. LOA will be last.



iceiceice: Medusa is deﬁnitely coming out next week.



furryfish: OK ﬁne, Medusa.



Which unreleased hero are you most looking forward to in Dota 2?

Lord of Avernus.



Any particular reason for that choice of hero?

Because he’s a fat melee hero.



Most OP hero?

Magnus. Just not in my hands.



Most useless hero?

iceiceice: Lightning Revenant! It’s a ﬁght between LR and... LR.



furryfish: I don’t know... Visage?



Have you bought anything from the Dota 2 store?

Yep. Keys to unlock my chests! No couriers though.



Any events you wish to attend, as a player and a spectator respectively?

furryfish: Dreamhack! It’s the one event I have yet to event, both as a player and as a spectator. Oh, and Starladder as a spectator.



iceiceice: You’ll get your stuff stolen every night if you go to Dreamhack.



If you could form your ideal team, who would be in it and what would it be called?



furryfish: ice, dendi, chuan, burning and me. It’ll be called...



iceiceice: Furrywalrus. Exclamation mark.



furryfish: How about [ ! ] ? just to give the casters a hard time. Can you imagine Tobi trying to read that?



If you could be any single hero in Dota 2, who would it be and why?

None, because it’s not there yet! I’m Lord of Avernus!



Ever going to try casting Dota 2?

I used to cast Dota 1. I don’t think I’m very good at it. I don’t know. It’s more of an.. if there’s an opportunity I’ll take it, but I wont go out of my way to cast it. I know my limitations.



Favourite pastime other than gaming?

Photography.



Any other activities you are good at?

I was quite good at sailing, but as i said, after I broke my ankle, iIve been quite inactive.



Any community sites that you follow for gaming news?

JoinDota. Actually, everything you want to know is on Facebook.



Do you follow any other games professionally, such as Starcraft 2, League of Legends, Counter Strike etc?

furryfish: I was watching Starcraft 2 for quite a bit...



iceiceice: Because I was playing.



furryfish: You think quite highly of yourself, huh?



iceiceice: I’m a natural leader!



furryfish: I actually think Starcraft 2 is a great spectator sport. And a little bit of Dota 1.



Favourite food?

Swordﬁsh sashimi.



Anything you would like to say or recommend to people who have not visited Singapore?

Food, I guess. The food.



Any special person you would like to give a shoutout to?

Carmac from IEM. Kick out LoL and put in Dota 2!



Any challenges that you wish to overcome or goals that you wish to achieve during your involvement with gaming?

Need to focus. There are needs everywhere that are conﬂicting with each other, so I just need to learn to focus.



Where do you see yourself, say, 5 to 10 years from now?

If I still can’t make a living from Dota by then, I see myself in the corporate world.



Will we get to see you and your team in action in the near future?

Yes. After Chinese New Year. Matthias I'm counting on you! He's the ex MYM Losemann



It’s nearing the end of 2012, any new year resolutions you would like to make?

Keep my 2011 resolution, which is to be able to 1v5.



Any ﬁnal words that you would like to say to your family, friends, fans, sponsors, supporters and future fans?

Money makes life go round, and that includes esports. I would like to encourage everyone to be generous to the esports community.



Social media:

Facebook fan page:

Personal Facebook Page:

Twitter:

Twitch.tv:

Blog:



As of 30th December 2012, Tammy "furryfish" Tang Hi, my name is Tammy “furryﬁsh” Tang, I’m 28, living in Singapore, used to work at Razer and currently manage Zenith and Flash E-Sports. I am also currently working on own gaming projects.My team was picked up by PMS in 2008. All in all, we've been competitive for 7 years.Before PMS, we had different team compositions and though we were mainly a female team, we had some male teammates from time to time as well.My dad is a techie, being always interested in latest tech stuff. Because of him, such tech was available to me. I Started serious gaming around the age of 11 when my friend gave Warcraft 2. I ended up playing it over and over again. Afterwards, I grew up to play competitive Counter-Strike. The main interest in gaming came from Warcraft 3, but Counter-Strike was my ﬁrst competitive game.I dislike doing things that has no purpose in doing. If there is no long term aim to it, then why do it? Even in my sports club activities, I took everything to competitive level. I was not satisﬁed with just knowing how to play. I wanted to excel in everything I do.The sports clubs I had joined over the years were swimming, badminton, gymnastics, ﬂoorball and sailing. I competed in Sailing and Gymnastics on national level. However, I broke ankle during a ﬂoorball match vs National Technological University. I did not actually know that my ankle broke, until one day I saw my toes turning black. That somewhat ended my sports participation.Working in Razer is not a good job, eh? *laughs* I stopped working half a year ago. I’m focusing on gaming at the moment because right now, I believe that the gaming scene is growing, and I want to push the scene forward and watch it grow. I am okay with putting that aspect of a “normal” path on hold to pursue this right now.Probably what every medium to lower-tier team faces. Members not being able to get along in terms of gameplay and personality. A lot of people think that there is a lot of bitching going on in only female teams, but male teams encounter the same problems. This difﬁculty in making a competitive female team was only compounded by the fact that there aren’t many female gamers around. There is not a huge pool of female gamers. It is a challenge that not just us, but other teams face as well. Girls also seem to have an inferiority complex as compared to male gamers, which ends up becoming a self-fulﬁlling prophecy. They need to have belief in themselves and overcome stereotypes.In school, everyone was like, “why do you play computer games?”. Only girls with elder brothers had any idea about gaming. Because of such reactions, I didn’t tell others about my interest. But that was 15 years ago. Now it’s different. My mom back then didn’t encourage me, and we used to have ﬁghts. She would switch off the modem or the power to my room, all the way till I was in university. It only stopped around 3 years ago when I decided to tell her that I am independent enough to live my own life. But because I’m from high ranking schools, I think there was higher pressure for me to focus on my schoolwork. During the critical exam periods, I did not play as much.When I was playing Dota 1 during my uni, I met some of my sec school girlfriends playing Dota in a LAN cafe. But I think it was just an on-the-moment thing. But at least they are more open minded now. At the present, I don’t expect them give a weird reaction as they did back then.Working part time, one or two weeks every month. To me right now, time is more important than money, but of course, money is still a necessity. I try to stream during my free time. I also run projects. One of them is running SCOGA’s (Singapore Cybersports and Online Gaming Assocation) membership program. I’m in charge of ﬁguring out how to get members. Now is the sponsorship season, so I’m managing how to get sponsors for my team, Zenith and for Flash E-Sports. Mostly Zenith though. For Flash E-Sports, I’m playing a consultant role. For my team, we’re planning a month long boot camp in Thailand, sometime after Chinese New Year in February next year, and there are many partners involved. I can’t say right now who are the partners. Running giveaways and stuff is keeping me busy too.iceiceice enters*looks at iceiceice* (ice shakes head)iceiceice: I've been playing WoW!ff: I’ve been playing WoW too! I guess it’s aggressive support. I like melee heroes.I don’t know. I just prefer using melee heroes. I quite like fat heroes. I was actually trained to play Omni, then when Lord of Avernus came out, because he was the undead version of Arthas in Dota 1, I took an instant liking to him. And also because I could be more aggressive with LoA.We practice online. It’s because right now, we have new members who are Thai and living in Thailand, and so we have to practice online. We normally play with whoever is online, as often as we can.With Flash E-Sports, Zenith and Orange. Basically we just play matchmaking with anyone we see online.Not with a full team of 5. That is why I want to have the boot camp. It’s hard when some of members are in Thailand and they aren’t familiar with English.Not very. Two of my main players went off to become stewardesses. Because of their schedule, we can’t play often.ESWC Paris, 2008. It was a mixed team with US and Singapore members.*shakes head* In terms of presence, I think it’s quite high. But in terms of competitive strength, nowhere. That’s why we are going through a major shufﬂing. Eliza is in New Zealand, there are two in Thailand, and the rest are here.We’re trying to work on a full schedule to make it worth the sponsors’ while. There’s a lot of media stuff.At the end of last year, after SMM and ESTC. I got a key after TI1. That was in August.It feels a lot easier than Dota 1. I feel that Dota 1 had a lot of physical aspect to it - things that Dota 2 players take for granted, such as being able to use your own hotkeys and having certain commands. There was Warkeys, but it still does not beat the convenience that Dota 2 brings. There is much better coordination between your thoughts and actions in Dota2. Even transferring items from the courier to the hero was difficult in Dota 1. But in Dota 2, it’s done via a hotkey.I think that is only because Dota 2 is still in beta, so companies may not be willing to invest in it. But if you really want a key, it’s not that difficult. So not really. But one thing that is hindering it is the lack of LAN mode, especially considering many SEA countries don’t have good Internet. Even back in Warcraft 3/Dota 1, people came up with LAN emulators to play over LAN latency instead of Battle.net. Also, because there are competing games in the genre right now, it’s a really important thing.I would just tell them directly and not here, haha.If you count all my social media, probably around 15,000 fans for myself. My Facebook has around 5000 friends, fan page has around 7000 fans, and I don’t know about Twitter. For the team, each girl probably has around a few thousand each as well, so it adds up to quite a lot.Competitive events are monopolized by one entity. The government does not really support gaming. Media actually likes to accuse gaming of being the factor that makes a lot of children have a worse future, kill people, etc. I don’t think the sentiments are much different from other countries. But we don’t have any strong factor that is for gaming in Singapore. For example, in Taiwan, they have homegrown companies such as hardware manufacturers that can push for gaming. But in Singapore, we don’t have any such support.It’s dead. We need more events. Gamers need to be able to earn a living from playing games, but at the same time they need to grow up and realise that people won’t just hand you money. They need to work to ﬁnd ways to make people want to give you money. People here right now are either too lazy and think they should be handed the money, or aren’t able to market themselves to make themselves appealing. They have no idea how to turn themselves into a selling point. We need people like that. Streaming is a tough option. It is not as easy as you think. It’s hard to keep viewers. You have to be entertaining or do giveaways. I’m moving on from a pure competitive gamer to someone who has “been there” and will now be part of the support structure. Part of me still wants to play though, and that’s why I’m still playing.I think it’s ﬁne to have female-only competitions. But competitions like WCG and ESWC should be open to let female competitors compete on the same level as guys. The main events should be co-ed. Because of all the differences, there’s bound to be differences. But at least there is growth in the female scene. A lot of Russian female gamers mentioned to me that they have a lot of problems, such as guys being hidious to them, but I believe that in the end, if you play well, that would speak for itself. I agree with what people say. If you’re good, you’re good. Who cares if you are male or female? Although I agree that at the same time, the female community needs to grow together. The main aim of one of my projects is to build a community where they can grow together and learn. The ﬁnal goal is to compete on the same level as guys, but right now, the scene is at its infancy.iceiceice: There’s no scene.furryfish: Eastern Europe has a big scene. It’s like how SEA was in Dota 1. A lot of SEA teams in Dota 1 have yet to transit to Dota 2, especially in Pinoy and China. it seems like European teams adopt Dota 2 more quickly than SEA teams. They used to have leagues all the time for female gamers. Thailand also used to have a lot of Dota 1 teams. But Dota 2 is not strong there, so now it’s either LoL or HoN. It’s all just messy.Guys have to be more encouraging to their female friends. (To iceiceice: You’re not very encouraging, eh!) Especially to females who don’t play. Guys should try to get girls to game as well. For me, I started from a very encouraging, active community where we would have in-house leagues. We had four to ﬁve active teams back then, so we would set aside time to have IH leagues. It was good because we weren’t separated by gender, and we were quite competitive. I guess the guys were willing to let me draft and command the game, so they were quite encouraging. They taught me the basics, and let me do the drafting and commanding.I earned myself that position! My team got #2 in the in-house league, which was an upset for the reigning #2 team.What’s there not to like? It’s a community full of guys, you get 100% guys’ attention. *sarcastic laugh*furryfish: Na’Vi. A stable team is normally a good team.iceiceice: .Because Dendi is a good friend.furryfish: I mean, look at other teams. They keep shufﬂing teams, but Na’Vi has had a stable roster for a long time, and that is the key.iceiceice: ForLove!furryfish: I don’t think iG is that good now. I’m betting on one of the Chinese teams though. They are all roughly of equivalent skill, so it’s hard to pick one.furryfish: iceiceice.iceiceice: It’s always me! I’m too inconsistently good.iceiceice: He always does the most unexpected stuff with the most unexpected items. He is also an interesting person in real life.iceiceice blabbers on about himself, but ff ignores him.Na’Vi.Because they are consistent. Despite their ups and downs, they always somehow manage to work it out.It is nice to see that certain heroes have been balanced out, and I like the new lineups and strats that have come out of it. But teams will still pick their favourites, unless they’ve been terribly nerfed, because a player always plays well on the hero he is most familiar with. Think Dendi and his Pudge, or Tiny + Wisp combo.I don’t really have any heroes that I want nerfed. I think that most hero choices have a counter.iceiceice: Timbersaw!furryfish: Slark! He says the cutest things, like “ﬁshy ﬁshy ﬁshy, it is me!” I think he has potential, especially if iceiceice uses it.iceiceice No! He’s useless!furryfish: There are other heroes that I would like to see used in competitive games. Lightning Revenant is practically useless. It’s like a half tank - half damage based hero and isn’t particularly good at either. Meepo also hasn’t become the competitive pick that I hoped it would be.iceiceice: A lot of disconnects.furryfish: Agreed. Also, 3 hour waits for them to go to the next LAN shop to play.I think that they sometimes have to move away from picking heroes they are comfortable with, and look at the bigger picture - ie, opponent’s bans and picks and focus on countering strategies,, research on the latest hot picks and combos, and opponent’s favourite strategies. I think that all this remains the same with every patch, and that’s the fun of Dota 2 - adapting to the changes each patch and coming up with/countering each ensuing strategy.furryfish: Maybe Bristleback. LOA will be last.iceiceice: Medusa is deﬁnitely coming out next week.furryfish: OK ﬁne, Medusa.Lord of Avernus.Because he’s a fat melee hero.Magnus. Just not in my hands.iceiceice: Lightning Revenant! It’s a ﬁght between LR and... LR.furryfish: I don’t know... Visage?Yep. Keys to unlock my chests! No couriers though.furryfish: Dreamhack! It’s the one event I have yet to event, both as a player and as a spectator. Oh, and Starladder as a spectator.iceiceice: You’ll get your stuff stolen every night if you go to Dreamhack.furryfish: ice, dendi, chuan, burning and me. It’ll be called...iceiceice: Furrywalrus. Exclamation mark.furryfish: How about [ ! ] ? just to give the casters a hard time. Can you imagine Tobi trying to read that?None, because it’s not there yet! I’m Lord of Avernus!I used to cast Dota 1. I don’t think I’m very good at it. I don’t know. It’s more of an.. if there’s an opportunity I’ll take it, but I wont go out of my way to cast it. I know my limitations.Photography.I was quite good at sailing, but as i said, after I broke my ankle, iIve been quite inactive.JoinDota. Actually, everything you want to know is on Facebook.furryfish: I was watching Starcraft 2 for quite a bit...iceiceice: Because I was playing.furryfish: You think quite highly of yourself, huh?iceiceice: I’m a natural leader!furryfish: I actually think Starcraft 2 is a great spectator sport. And a little bit of Dota 1.Swordﬁsh sashimi.Food, I guess. The food.Carmac from IEM. Kick out LoL and put in Dota 2!Need to focus. There are needs everywhere that are conﬂicting with each other, so I just need to learn to focus.If I still can’t make a living from Dota by then, I see myself in the corporate world.Yes. After Chinese New Year. Matthias I'm counting on you! He's the ex MYM LosemannKeep my 2011 resolution, which is to be able to 1v5.Money makes life go round, and that includes esports. I would like to encourage everyone to be generous to the esports community.Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pmsfurryﬁsh Personal Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/furryﬁshy Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/furrryﬁsh Twitch.tv: http://www.twitch.tv/pmsfurryﬁsh Blog: http://sylvirspydir.blogspot.com As of 30th December 2012, Tammy "furryfish" Tang has joined Flash E-Sports as their full-time Business Manager . We wish her all the best in her future endeavors!



BuLba Says: MUFC Is Impressive By Liquid`Bulba





What do you think of the recent performance from MUFC at "The Asia"? How do you think they will do in the upcoming G-League?



MUFC impressed me more at GEST than they did at the Asia. Their games versus LGD in the finals were really questionable. They tried some all in game 1 with Dp and necro and had no stuns. I think they should try and give Ohaiyo some more mid game heroes than just leshrac since he has impressed everyone a lot. They will still be the underdogs of their G League group and may surprise VG or Tongfu with a crazy style or strategy. I doubt they can overcome iG however. MUFC impressed me more at GEST than they did at the Asia. Their games versus LGD in the finals were really questionable. They tried some all in game 1 with Dp and necro and had no stuns. I think they should try and give Ohaiyo some more mid game heroes than just leshrac since he has impressed everyone a lot. They will still be the underdogs of their G League group and may surprise VG or Tongfu with a crazy style or strategy. I doubt they can overcome iG however.



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