Themeless Void Review: Season 16 LD2L
Gotham writes:
I wanted to take some time to talk about the past LD2L season, and to share some of the thoughts from the other team members. Overall, I was pleased with how everything turned out.
First off, I really enjoyed that everyone played everyone AND everyone made the playoffs. It took the ‘pressure’ to win off and allowed us to experiment a bit more. Every week was a scrim and it was fun to look forward to.
Auction Draft: I fucked up and had so much money left at the end. I wanted to draft my guy Deeva in an early round but then I pussied out and got outbid by Roxyroro. It seemed like I was outbid by everybody on all the guys/gals I wanted.
I went into the whole thing thinking I would try and get a good mid or a good safe laner and then I would play the opposite role. It didn’t end up that way, and I didn’t end up playing with any folks that I knew so I was worried heading into the season.
5/10 would auction draft again, I would just spend more money.
I was happy with the team this season. We all got along and it was good vibes win or lose. There was a lot of chatter on the team discord and everyone made themselves available for scrims early on, although there weren’t a lot of other teams who were scrimmaging.
8/10 for communication and participation.
I think in seasons past I would spend a bunch of time criticizing and cussing at my other team mates but this season I’ll mostly let them speak for themselves.
Gotham writes:
LINE: I know you wanted to Captain your own team and I’m sorry it didn’t work out that way for you. I hope that you achieved some (or all) of what you set out to achieve when you declared you wanted to play safe lane this season. You had some really strong performances. You were super PMA at every point along the way. 10/10 would draft again. Fuck your wraith bands.
LINE writes:
This season I really enjoyed getting a supportive team in my debut role as position 1 in LD2L. We had some nice 2–0’s and we got 0–2'd. I learned to farm a lot to prepare for my big battle, where to be on the map, i tried to make movements as soon as directed by my captain. I know in the playoffs, Gotham made mention about it being 25 minutes and I should be with them in game 2. Agreed, In pubs I would go once I got x items to succeed a farming item and a survival item, and i have a feeling i would have done the same but i got so used to Gotham telling me to farm and only calling me in to join a team fight that I didn’t show until you made that mention. I’ve noticed my pub games have improved and to play this game you really need discipline to not go off track, tilt , etc. I don’t think I tilt and I just try to continue on and not get distracted..
I really appreciated getting to work well with team mates and communicating.. I noticed in the pos 1 role, I’m not talking as much as when I am in a support role so I wonder if the support should really call the shot, or rather, ask for a “ready to kill”, and then once I acknowledge, we make the move. it’s all about the positioning and if the enemy is in the wrong position, capitalize with a kill or two. And as role 1, if I have to chase to a not high kill percentage, i stay focused on my cs and let the enemy get away until next opportunity. I’ve noticed that I play my best in a aggressive hero as opposed to a defensive position. I like to accelerate and get kills asap but stay focused on cs. I’d prefer to make the enemy feel uneasy the whole time and try to avoid being near me. in the mid to late game , there’s been some item choice requests that gotham wanted me to acquire and the percentage was high in it being the right choice but there were some times where i felt an alternative item i needed to seal a kill, would have been better but I didn’t communicate it to Gotham as I am still fresh to the role and the heroes. I really liked getting to practice in our 10 minute cs vs enemy teams in a lobby. It helps me gauge where I can be in position, in gold, cs and itemization / skilling based on that. In my pubs I joke and tested out getting a bunch of wraith bands but I found that getting the items in the list, while late, would end up making my farm be better in the long run.
I also enjoyed playing a range of heroes. I know Gotham wanted me to stick to a few but I really liked even in pubs getting to play some heroes I wasn’t immediately comfortable with but choosing them based on what I knew they could do and how they would perform based on what the opposing team chose. Mixing a bit of damage, survivability based on their roots/stuns or what my team chose for their heroes.. IE in herald pubs if my supports are not supports, I have to come up with a hero that can support himself, like Juggernaut with heals.
It was a great learning experience, I would like to play more with Gotham and I’d like to see Gotham play in more games.. Iw ould also like to not to type GG so soon as we had in some games prior to playoffs just because if the game went on, it’s possible to capitalize on an enemies mistake(s). If you type GG, you don’t get to see an alternative to your loss estimation. In a previous season of LD2L my captain had typed gg and if he hadn’t we’d have won by creeps killing the enemy team ancient while we were in a team fight and that would have led to us being in the playoffs. I can hear Big boix Lacroix’s sad voice when he felt we could have continued on in one match(I can’t recall which).
I noticed in some games, I recall one of the team mates making some comments and things might have gotten heated between them and you Gotham.. the heat shouldn’t occur but also, the team mate should listen to your call. I think I read in LD2L to abide to captain’s decisions.
Gotham, your demeanor, can be hard I hear your voice being angry at times and It makes me feel bad because I want to perform beyond expectations and at what you would like. I accept the challenges and try to succeed in your goals set out for me. I think you take a lot consideration in all aspects of the game from drafing, banning , counter picking, calling shots, map awareness, positioning.
I wish our time together as a team was longer because I think we were getting better.
Team, Thanks for your time and dedication to this season. I enjoyed playing with you.
Gotham writes:
Tristero: It’s too bad that we played more meta supports like that stupid zombie. You are a terror with witch doctor, imagine if you had the 7.34 WD! Another super PMA, communicative team mate. Fuck because I have no other words.
Tristero writes:
….nothing, Tristero’s dead; locked up in my basement.
Gotham writes:
Space Cowboy: I’m pretty sure that you’re a core player trapped inside a support players body this season. You played an instrumental part in each of our wins. Thanks for taking the time every week to help scout and prepare for the draft. Fuck your midas.
Space Cowboy writes:
LINE: Line played better than expected, at the start of the season I thought we would lose every game with a Herald support, but I think he often played above his rank and we won about half of our games. There were a few games that we had some communication issues, but overall I think everyone was great. Also enjoyed playing with standin kid dynamite a lot.
Gotham writes:
Big Boix La Croix: It’s super great having such a stable, well-mannered boomer serving as an anchor in the offlane. You understood the vision of the drafts and how you could fit in and never complained too loudly when things didn’t go according to plan. Fuck your Axe though.
Big Boix writes:
General Thoughts: Just one of those seasons where it felt like the individual players were playing just fine but we couldn’t find our chemistry for whatever reason. The early season seemed promising but we didn’t gel with our playstyles in time, and that’s OK, it’s just how the seasons go sometimes. There were a few critical moments in games where our personal play style differences resulted in miscommunications or folks going in different directiosn that cost us. Still a decent team to play with, and I enjoyed the games we played and would welcome playing with them again in the future.
Gotham: Gotham is a captain with a strong personality but I really enjoyed playing with him, and I’d be happy to play on his team again in the future. He tells you what he thinks, he’s straight forward and reasonable, and brings an idea to the draft and game. His individual play on his best heroes was also strong. Sure, there were moments when he (and all of us, myself included) got frustrated, but that’s Dota. Anyway, high marks for me as a captain even if the team didn’t gel.
Line: In my opinion the league was a bit hard on Line this season — he learned a lot in these months and set out to improve. He’s a bit lower MMR than other carries in the league, I think, but he had a good attitude and tried to learn some new heroes for his pool. It was our responsibility to protect him in these games and make sure he’s in the right part of the map, and I think we let him down in some games. He’s a good guy.
Tristero: This is the second or third time I’ve played with this guy and I’ve enjoyed it every time. He’s funny, brings a great attitude, and plays a good support. A great dude and I’m down to play with him anytime.
Space Cowboy: I think Space Cowboy brings a lot of individual skill at Pos 4 as well as a lot of aggression, he’s one of the more skilled Pos 4 players I’ve played with in the league. Our playstyles didn’t gel, as I’m a bit less aggressive in lane (when it comes to playing for kills) and focus more on just getting good trades and farm, but I don’t think his playstyle is wrong or bad — just a different approach. He also brought some ideas to the games ahead of time, and that was nice. Space Cowboy did disagree a bit with our playcalls at times, and I don’t blame him for disagreeing as sometimes he may have been right, but there were times when not all of us doing the same thing cost because we were split or not on the same page. Overall, I’d play with Space Cowboy again, and I have to call out that he simply won us several games with his big Enigma plays. He’s a menace on that hero, and his Skywrath as well, and teams should really look to draft him in future seasons.
