Dota is Football?

So due to other commitments I haven't posted here in ages - got a new girlfriend + my Uni term (final year) started up again, so I've had less time for dota than previously, and as such have fallen away from posting anything here. But perhaps I can make a bit more of an effort to put more posts in here, once or twice a week I reckon.

Today I'm just messing around here, drawing some parallels between dota teams and Premier league football teams (thats right, real football, none of that american football stuff) :P

MYM = Manchester United


Yeah, there are times when they miss out on winning tournaments, have the odd bad match against lower ranked sides, but overall they are pretty much the one constant within dota. MYM have been around throughout all recent dota history (if for a minor time played for Ravens) and have dominated the european scene for significant proportions of the time too, sure other teams have competed with them for the top (VP, SK, Ks.Int, fnatic) in the same way that Man Utd have faced stiff competition in recent years from Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, etc... but they remain strong and together and continue to win games. The team has gone through changes over time, and the loss of their captain Maelk (Roy Keane?) may hurt them, but they'll bounce back with new players to cover it i.e. Kuroky (Rooney?). Mania has been an impressive presence for years with MYM, I see him as a Ryan Giggs figure - always been brilliant, but never been considered "the best in the world" like some other players, he's been around for ages and will continue to play amazingly for as long as he can.

Both teams also have a tendancy to drill out winning results even when they're playing badly, however when they're playing well are completely unstoppable.

MYM / Man Utd are arguably the most well known teams in European Dota / English Football as far as the rest of the world is concerned, and can concievably continue that trend into the future.

Fnatic = Liverpool


Fnatic are a tricky one, they have the potential to win tournaments and on a good day can be better than anyone, but seem not to have the strength to maintain a #1 position in dota for a long time. Liverpool do the same, they can come out and win big tournaments sometimes (champions league), but are incapable of maintaining form over the whole course of a season to win the Premiership.

They have some epic top-class players (loda/Misery = Gerrard/Torres), but when these guys aren't playing at their best, the team quite frankly looks not much more than average.

They are capable of awesome play and pulling off some incredible moves when their whole team is on form together however.

Old KS.Int = Arsenal (few years ago)


There was a time a few years ago when Arsenal were completely unstoppable, and their football was beautiful to watch, they were incapable of losing a game (50 unbeaten in a row?). This mirrored how KS.Int were at the height of their game - Puppey, Miracle, Kuroky, Levent, Jolie - these guys were just awesome, their ganking strats were beautiful just like Arsenals smooth football, and seemed to work perfectly.

However after their brief spell of outclassing the best of the rest (MYM / Man Utd), they went through a period of their strategies seemingly not working anymore. Some changes of players seemed to not really improve their game-play (vigoss/dendi/H4nni-/Jolie), similar to how the loss of players like Henry, Pires and Reyes held back Arsenals form. They kept up their old style of heavily early game ganking play whilst it wasn't the most effective way to win, and so were beaten by opposing teams. Similar again to how Arsenal tried to keep going with thier "pass the ball into the net" fancy play, which simply didnt pay off against pysically stronger teams.

The comparison vaguely continues as KS.Int became AEON and then decided to disband as a team, and then AEON picked up a different team - the russians (AEON.ru) who very recently showed their prowess by beating top teams to win the Dota Club Pro Series. Whilst at the same time, Arsenal have been showing great form again recently, and looking like title contenders and also possible candidates to win the champions league, fittingly the russian player Arshavin has been at the heart of their great performances.

DCPS replays: Gosugamers

TeG = Everton


The Immortal Gods, aka I Got Game (IGG) feel like an Everton sort of team to me. For quite a while they were reasonably good, but then their performances improved giving them a great finish in the Farm4Fame competition, for a while appearing to be amongst the best 4 or so teams in Europe, however recently their performances have dropped and other teams have come to show themselves as being in better form - I'd still probably consider them top 10 in europe, but not top 5 anymore. In the same respect, Everton were a mid-table team for a while, but then recently got things together and had a great run last season, however this season other teams have caught up again and once against Everton sink slightly lower - still top half, but not pushing for Champions League qualification.

DTS = Aston Villa


DTS have been one of the top teams in European dota for quite a while, but sometimes fail to properly deliver and win tournaments where they perhaps should. They have some truely great players, but recently have slightly fallen from their position as one of the best, whilst other european teams look to overtake them (dmz, xfz.int, nfinity, AEON.ru..). This is similar to Aston Villa, they've been great for a few seasons, pushing for top 4 and champions league qualification, but though their side is strong they've been somewhat caught-up by other teams around them again... its difficult for them to compete with the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City, Liverpool, etc, though they are still producing some good results.

Time will tell whether or not they retain their position as one of the best, or drop away slightly in the same was as TeG/Everton appear to have.

dmZ = Tottenham Hotspur


dmZ, they've clearly had the talent for a long time, but have never quite been good enough to compete with the teams right at the top - the MYM's and fnatics of the scene. Recently they performed well in the DCPS, but time will tell whether this was just a passing phase, or whether they can maintain a strong position and challenge the other top european teams in being "the best". Spurs are the same, obviously had quality players, but have been somewhat unable to actually show their great potential, perhaps due to inexperience in the squad or whatever. They look good this season, personally I reckon they are the team to steal the #4 spot from Liverpool, and equally the dota team are capable of grinding out good results against the top teams in europe when they put their minds to it.



So there we go, just a bit of fun really. If you don't know anything about English Football, then this probably didn't make any sense whatever to you (or else you just stopped reading so this is pointless for me to say). But hopefully you enjoyed some of that light-hearted comparison between dota teams and the premier league.

I was considering a Man City - xfz.int comparison, but I don't really think it fits... dunno. Also can't really put any team alongside Chelsea - no-one in european dota at the moment truely looks like toppling MYM from their throne (though we'll have to see what AEON.ru are really capable of). Also what on earth can I say about OS|One? (and perhaps more importantly, should they be included? As Khazakstan clearly isnt in Europe :P [though their football team is in the european qualification groups for the World Cup....]).

Anyway, hope you liked that.. will try to continue with some more relevent stuff in the near future.