Ah, I see you're still thirsty for more from the Dota Archives. I'd be happy to oblige you. One thing we've yet to
discuss is, of course, what makes Dota truly shine: the teams. Disparate individuals coalescing, united in a bond of
kinship, or determination, with a singular goal, to lift the Aegis and be canonized in the lore of Dota. Brave souls, committed,
daring, intelligent, industrious, legendary. I think about Dota,
I think about the first Na'Vi team. Come on, that's what kind of got everyone, everyone was a Dendi fanboy growing up. They were in basically
TI1 to TI3 in the finals. That was like the hypest
squad to play the game ever, in my opinion. It's minute three, we're all top,
you know. It's like... It was like a bad Counter-Strike
idea or something, like rush B, you know? We're just rushing B every
game and we're somehow winning. It's Team Secret, they've got an all-star line up. They have been the ultimate
favorite for very many months. I think the original Secret
roster was like super iconic. S4, Puppey, Kuro, that team
was like super awesome. Going to the TI main stage and picking first pick Shadow Fiend into second pick Anti-Mage
with sunglasses on like, like, I don't know what you're smoking. If Artour wants to do some stupid stuff, you go with it, you know? And you'll make a good meme though,
you'll make a good meme once you get out and lose after that one. Because the reverse
video's too good, you know. Sunglasses, that's the reference stuff. It's fine, you know, you can
pretend like you're the shit, but don't vocalize like you're the shit. Not quite how one would've put it. But indeed, as the fable
of Icarus tells us, fly too close to the sun, and all those sunglasses will be good for is blocking the glare as
you tumble back to Earth, your wings melted. But not all wings wilt in the heat. My favorite team to watch is Wings from TI6. Because their playstyle and tactics are very intresting and novel,
with a highly versatile strategy. The first team I was a big fan of when I was watching was Wings Gaming. They pick so many weird heroes they understand everything, it was like, these guys deserve the win. Everyone else is just doing the same thing while these guys are
doing something special. Honestly, like watching Wings, it looks like they had
foresight cheats or something. Like they just knew when
teams are going for towers and Faith_bian would already be TPing there and Shadow would be like
hiding under the tower it was something insane. I think how quickly Wings
went from an unknown team to the best in the world was really crazy. Like people, there were
like whispers about, hey this team's pretty
good and stuff, you know. And we got voted into that
Summit as like the joke team, like we were atrocious. And you know, we scrim Wings and they beat us in like 15 seconds. They proceed to win that Summit and then they proceed to
win TI and we're like, wow, those guys went
from like, "Who's Wings?" To, "Oh wow, they're the best,
okay, that's who they are." You couldn't help but not root for them, they were like the supreme
definition of like a dark horse. Among the foreign teams,
I think that the team that best represents Dota would be OG. Because they won TI8 despite
being the underdog team, which was very inspirational. Then a year later, when everyone
started to overlook them, they stomped everyone in perfect form. Other teams came to these events and they weren't even close to OG. I think the first one, TI8, I think LGD got really
close, could have won. So I can't really say, but TI9,
like, absolute domination. I don't think any team had
a chance of beating them. It was just so ridiculously one sided. Ah, yes OG. I wondered when we'd be hearing that name. The underdog story is a popular trope amongst players and supporters alike. It's hard not to root for those
of who failure is expected. But perhaps in some cases
that expectation is misplaced. Some of these chaps really are
jolly good at Dota after all. For me it's Puppey, just 'cause, you know, he's the only player who's
been to every TI, TI winner. He's just been so good for so long. I mean, Puppey was just the first like really good captain in Dota. And he also played the first Dota and he was always on top. I mean, of course I'm contending
for that one probably, but it's... But I'm sharing it with Kuro,
I would say, and Ceb. I want to play. I want to play, play, play, play Dota. Well, I think it's Ceb because he's like... 560 years old, he's been playing
since the very beginning of Dota he's played, like, every role... I dunno, he's spoken with... with everyone in every language. Ceb has been here for
forever and staying here, also winning Majors and stuff
coming out of retirement. Like he wants to win everything he plays. So he takes like personal
offense when he doesn't win. BigDaddy. N0tail. N0tail is the most iconic
player of all time for me. Mainly it's about he's won and then also the way
that he leads the team. And I learn a lot from him as well. If I had to choose someone
who is iconic to Dota 2 both in China and overseas... Based on a team perspective, for a pro player, it would be N0tail. But if it's based on individual
charisma and preference, it would be SumaiL. The first player that comes to mind for a player who best
represents Dota 2 is SumaiL, because he left a memorable impression when I wasn't that good at the game. Look at SumaiL, he made TI when he's 15. I think he's like the poster
child for like rags to riches like pro player from nothing, just 'cause he's just insanely good. And at TI5 he was probably, there was probably the single
biggest gap between a player and every other player at that tournament, he was just like completely untouchable. Everyone else could have just snapped their keyboards in
half when they got on stage 'cause they see this little
15 year old kid on the stage. You just can't do anything,
he's just too good. Dota allows all to flourish. Young, old, veteran players
and the unknown. With each International,
with each opportunity to clash for the Aegis
comes a chance for glory, for a new order, a new master. Which player will drag his
comrades to the summit of success and look down upon the
bodies of their foes, broken and bruised at the foot
of the mountain of victory? Well, this is the archives, not some kind of juice
joint or snap house. Go on, get out, go watch
Dota if you want to find out. Go. GO! Good night.
