Noobcake

Sometimes playing DotA with noob can be fun, but other times it can be pretty annoying, especially if they are ignorant and refuse to take advice from his teammate. This is what happened when I play a GG-Client pub game, Oceanic Lobby a few days ago:

Playing -ap game on Sentinel, I randomed Obsidian Destroyer and the said noob pick Faceless Void. We lane top together, facing Furion and Panda. I'm a bit relieved at first because our team had 2 late heroes (antimage and him), while the other 2 heroes are good enough to participate in ganks and hopefully, hold long enough for our carry to shine.
My build, the common skill build for an Obsidian player: Astral-Essence-Astral.

Then this sh1t happen: around level 2 Furion and Panda start to seemingly go for first blood. Furion Sprout, attack followed by Panda's Clap, first blood. He blame me for his death. Sure, I do what I can by Imprisoning Furion while he's sprouted, but level 1 Astral won't be enough compared to 3+ seconds of Sprout. Then he came top again, and yet again he was killed. And again he place all the fault on me. What the hell, where is his Tango, where is his Timewalk? The fourth time he died, he leave soon after. So do the host, to remake.

My justification: If I'm Void, I'd surely learn Timewalk at level 1, and buy at least 2 set of tango, because I know, if I somehow face Furion, I can easily escape his Sprout with either Tango or timewalk. But he never do any of these - obviously ignorant on how to play Void. I realise that he learns Timelock at either level 1 or 2, which is not a good choice so I told him next time learn Timewalk and Backtrack, as his attack speed is not fast enough for Timelock to be effective. He replies: "stfu and let me play".
I don't mind if that's the first time me play Void, but ranting over his death, refuse to listen to those who try to help, that really take away my respect from him.

GG

*screen shot not related*

SENHEISER Prime Defending 9

Right after the announcement of the Prime Nations cup the MeetYourMakers DotA crew opens the sign ups for the 9th edition of the SENNHEISER Prime Defending. The rules are almost the same as the ones of the Nations cup and just like the last times we can expect a lot of very interesting matches. Some of the most successful players in the history of the Prime Defending gave statements about the upcoming tournament:

Virtus.Jolie: I wanna say only one thing - WE WILL EAT U ALL, because VP title defending 4 started. And thanks a lot to MYM organisation for this beautiful tournament.

MYM|Maelk: Looking forward to the 9th edition of the Prime Defending tournament. Hopefully it will be even bigger than the past ones, with possibly 500 teams signing up? As ever, VP will be the hardest contender and I believe SK, Ks and Mouz is going to be a tought opponent for us as well.

more infos: MeetYourMakers
coverage: MYM SEINHEISER PRIDE 8

Prime Defending 9 Trailer, some highlights of top 4 teams in Pride 8:

Good luck for all participated team. 16 teams were seeded, based on their performance on Pride#8: Virtus.Pro (defending champion for 3 consecutive Prime), MYM (2nd place in Pride 7 and 8), KingSurf (Malaysian team, very impressive in the last Pride), SK.Gaming, eMazing Gaming, Serious Gaming, xLo.DotA, mKvL.Roa (another Malaysian team, seeded due to sP.Palit disband), Tomck.Net, Team Pandemic, Mouz.DotA, wickeD (ex-OKHO), hi2u, Just a Mix, Switchback and Zenith (seeded because Hard Team disbanded).
Too bad though, team XcN from Indonesia, one of the strongest challenger from Asia beside KingSurf was not able to participate in this tournament. Or else we might see even more interesting matches in this tournament. However, some people still rues over the rules which still ban the new heroes+Meepo.

btw this tournament will not conflict with MYM Prime Nation#2, as the groupstage will be held after the Prime Nation is over.

Moyashimon

Tales of Agriculture (もやしもん, Moyashimon) is a manga series by Masayuki Ishikawa, and a TV anime series based on the manga by Yuichiro Yano. Both anime and manga are about the college student, Tadayasu Sawaki, who has a unique ability to see and communicate with micro-organisms and bacteria.

Alternative title:

Moyashimon (Japanese)

Moyasimon (Japanese)

もやしもん (Japanese)

Genres: Comedy, Fantasy

Summary: Moyashimon follows the life of Tadayasu Sawaki, a first-year college student at an agricultural univeristy, who has the unique ability to see and communicate with micro-organisms and bacteria. Additionally, these organisms look much different to him, and much larger, than what can be see under a microscope by normal people. This ability has brought him a bit of fame as when he entered the university, Tadayasu discovered that one of the professors there, Keizō Itsuki, already knew about his gift via Tadayasu's father. Professor Itsuki's coworker Haruka Hasegawa has trouble believing what Tadayasu claims at first, but later comes to accept it. Tadayasu enters the university with his good friend Kei Yūki whose family runs a sake brewery. The Department of Agriculture building on the school's campus is a near identical replica of the real life University of Coimbra in Portugal. The flag at the top of the clock tower also has the same color scheme as the Portuguese flag.

Don't let the first impression fool you kids, this is a truly unique anime. I was fooled by the front cover of this anime anf avoided watching until I found a Moyashimon dojin at 4chan. So I give the first episode a try. No doubt, the first episode is enough to describe the awesome-ness of this anime. A mix of LOL, cute-bacteria and ample knowledge input, for me it's definitely not a boring show to watch. Well it is boring for people with low intellect btw. Too bad it's only running for 11 episodes, less than average duration of short anime series. I'm still crossing my finger on the second season though :3
For one, the production studio (as well as the fansub) did a good job implementing a fair knowledge of microbacteria into the show, from the yeast fermentation/sake production to food poisoning, environmental microb to high-end rare bacteria production for profit in agriculture. Talk about originality, the bacteria is depicted in a cute way, in Sawaki's point of view which none others can see. Episode 1-6 focus massively on bacteria stuff and their usual routine in the university, then in the final half it looks to be more of relaxing episode, focus a bit more on human relationship (Hasegawa engaged, trap Kei lmao, Sawaki's trouble when he's in huge shock), but in the end they're back to the main focus - his unique ability to see bacteria.

my rating: 10/10 :3

*the girls in Moyashimon are awesome and wins. But unfortunately, Gothic Loli Kei > any other Moyashimon girls :3

ADC 2007 playoff: KingSurf vs Zenith

The 2nd playoff matches of ADC 2007 between KS (Malaysia) and Zenith (Singapore) were held yesterday. An awesome series of matches, even more interesting especially because I was able to watch the streaming matches LIVE!!!!!

GGC thread

Game 1 (winner: KS):

Bans:
Ks: NA, POTM, Zeus
Zenith: BB, SF,QoP

Picks:
Ks: Lina, Skel King, TS, Sand King, Silencer
Zenith: Magnus, Tiny, WL, Viper, Spectre

comment: I was about 17 minutes late into the streaming, fast-forward to the current Live-stream. In the mean time I see the progress of the match, seeing Zenith leading the kill score from the early to mid game. But then, looking at the overall progress, KS did a better job, gunning down more towers, better creep kills and items, and near the end, better positioning in ganks. KS opted to use their strongest hero in this first match (Yamateh with Lina, Papaxiong with Sand Kind), and it paid off when Yamateh got 6 kill streak, before getting pawned by Magnataur+Viper in mid lane (I already expect him to die when he still stood near the creep waves, farming while Magnataur -with Blink Dagger- and Viper is just in front of him). In the end KS outfarmed Zenith, and ever since the match has been decided. The best item on Zenith side is probably Spectre with Radiance (farmed within around 50 minutes omg!), who was unable to finish radiance due to repeated ganking by KS. I'm a bit surprised to see their viper opted for Hood of Defiance rather than buying carry item, which definitely become one of the main reason for their loss - lack of late carry.

KS 1:0 Zenith
....................................................................................................................................................................

Game 2 (winner: Zenith):

Bans:
Zenith: Bristleback, ShadowFiend, Skel King
Ks: Nerubian Assassin, Zeus, Warlock

Picks:
Zenith: PotM, Tormented Soul, Sven, Puck, OmniKnight
Ks: Queen of Pain, Tiny, Lina, Viper, Warchief

comment: Looking at the lineup, it's hard to predict who will take this match. I was about 13 minutes late. When I see Omni in the lineup, I thought Zenith will take Pudge as their final hero, instead they go for PotM. Through series of ganking, there is no guessing which one will win, however Zenith manage to push tower fast enough, causing KS unable to defend effectively. In the end, Omniknight's repel on Mirana decides the game, as it enable her (who is heavily farmed) to destroy the barrack with ease, especially since KS has run out of Diffusal' Purge charge. Mega Creep, Zenith won the 2nd game.

KS 1:1 Zenith
....................................................................................................................................................................

Game 3 (winner: KS):

Bans:
Ks: Puck, PotM, Bristleback
Zenith: Shadow Fiend, Nerubian Assassin, Queen of Pain

Picks:
Ks: Lina, warlock, zeus, sandking, terrorblade
Zenith: Tormented Soul, Skelking, Viper, Twin Head Dragon, Tiny

comment: The decisive games. I stream the match on time, but unfortunately in the middle of the match I got disconnected, so as many others who also watch the match stream, and unable to reconnect back. I was so nervous about the result, because by the time I got disconnected, Zenith did amazingly well, leading the kill score, ganks much better, better cs score as well as tower score. Terrorblade submit to an easy first blood, and was 0-5 even until I was disconnected. All I can do then is wait until the match is over and look at the replay.
About an hour later, the result was announced: KS WIN!!!!!! I'm so relieved as well as curious on how could they win in such condition. So I watch the replay. Oh wow, an amazing comeback by KingSurf, one of the best match I ever see in ADC 2007. At 50th minute mark, Zenith was able to destroy KS's both mid barrack, and Zenith Bangala even says global 'GG', indicating that the match has already over. However they was wrong, as Terrorblade proves to be the man to turn the tide of the match. With Sange and Yasha equipped, late he was able to farm radiance and Eye of Skadi, making him an unstoppable pusher/defender. Zenith was equipped with 2 aegis+1 cheese, yet they was unable to break the top and bottom barrack, sacrificing the precious Aegis and money on buy back. In the end, KS was able to push and destroy top and middle barrack, then proceed to throning, and win the match.
This match shows the lack sportsmanship in one of Zenith player - Bangala (Leoric). As previously said, he global type "GG" around 51th minute mark, being overconfident that the match is already over at that point. His word beefed up KS's morale, enable them to fight back.

In the end, by 80th minute, KS-Yamateh replied: "Hey Zenith. GG back u"
serve Bangala right.

MYM Prime Nation #2

original author: Milo-

Once again the MYM DotA crew announced a Prime Nations cup. After the last one in the nations format which took place about four months ago it's finally time for all country's to gather their best players again to represent it to the DotA world.

The prizes consist of money and free club MYM memberships for the top three nations and the rules are very similar to the ones of the latest Prime Defending. At the moment the following 16 teams seeded: Estonia, France, Ukraine, Spain, South Korea, Greece, Denmark, Russia, Singapore, Chile, Canada, Slovakia, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, and Finland.

updates/coverage: MYM Prime Nation 2

............................

the seeded team are based on their performance on MYM Pride#1 - those who qualify from the group stage. Malaysia, and even U.S.A are unfortunate to be grouped together with Singapore and South Korea in the last Prime, making it hard for themself to advance from the group stage. In the last Prime, we've seen the domination of Russian, coming from the loser bracket to eventually win the tournament by beating Denmark in the Grand Final. This time around, there will be even more promising and exciting match, now that many team has started to practice together to prepare for this tournament. USA will be even stronger with the addition of players like Merlini and demonhunter, Canada with Remstar, Facch, SwissbeatZ, while half of Malaysian team are taken from the famous Kingsurf team (Yamateh, Xiagui, Xiaoma, Papaxiong, Mikebz) who place third in the latest MYM Prime Defending 8.
Nevertheless, the favorite to win this tournament is still Russia, and expect a strong challenge from Denmark and Sweden. I do hope Malaysia wont be grouped together with powerhouse team, or else it will be difficult for them to advance...

KAREN/Denshiki Karen Ongaku Shuudan, OST collection

Denkishiki Karen Ongaku Shuudan (or Denkare) is a band (I think) created on the year 2001, which is formed by the next members:

- Denki (Lyricist, Composer)
- Karen (Vocalist, Lyricist)
- Shiki (Guitarrist)
- Dang (Chorus, I think)

They aren't very known in the musical world, except by some performance made for H-games, for example, MinD DeaD BlooD, GUN-KATANA, and others.

Their musical style is a blend of Heavy Metal (a la X Japan, HIZAKI, and others) and Electronic, with some gothic elements. I think that is the best form to describe their musical style.

Simply. Karen, the vocalist of Denkare sounds like Fairy Yui because she's Fairy Yui (or Yui Itsuki, their real name) from Yousei Teikoku, or this seems to be, because in the Yui's official site doesn't appear the information about their musical performances on both bands, but there are other additional date, and is the birth date of Yui Itsuki. The birth date of her is October 25 (the year is unknown), which is the same birth date of Yui from Yousei Teikoku and Karen from Denkare. With this date, I can conclude that Fairy Yui and Karen are the Yui Itsuki's alias on their musical projects.

Gun Katana
*01 Raison D'etre.mp3
02 CHAIN.mp3
03 ネムリノマユ.mp3
*04 夢幻の睡り.mp3

MinDeaDBlood～支配者の為の狂詩曲～
*【MinDeaD BlooD ～支配者の為の狂死曲～ 】 Vampire -Head Backing Version- [電気式華憐音楽集団].mp3
【MinDeaD BlooD ～支配者の為の狂死曲～ 】 サクラチル -Unplugged Version- [電気式華憐音楽集団].mp3
*【MinDeaD BlooD ～支配者の為の狂死曲～ 】 櫻舞う [電気式華憐音楽集団].mp3
*【MinDeaD BlooD ～支配者の為の狂死曲～】 Vampire [華憐(電気式華憐音楽集団)].mp3
*【MinDeaD BlooD ～支配者の為の狂死曲～】 サクラチル [華憐(電気式華憐音楽集団)].mp3

ゴアスクリーミングショウ
*01. Distorted Pain.mp3
02. 時果つる夢.mp3

*my personal favorite

download link: KAREN OST collection

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The only game I've played is Gun Katana, good addition of FPS element. Fairy Yui ftw!

edit: A MORE UPDATED COLLECTIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE
http://serph-siden.blogspot.com/2009/12/denkare-music-collection.html

ADC07 Playoff Top 4 Double Elimination Stage

Asian DotA Championship finally enters its final stage with only 4 teams left to determine the Champion of DotA in Asia: XcN (Indonesia), KingSurf (Malaysia), Zenith (Singapore) and Mineski (Philippines). All these team shows high-end quality of teamplay in almost every round, particularly XcN which win almost all of their match, even beating Malaysian Kingsurf who did very well in the last MYM Prime Defending #8, placing third.

My prediction: I've never see a replay featuring Zenith vs Kingsurf, but both team are in very good form recently, Kingsurf mercilessly pawn a3vR, xDt and eHome (dagon shadow fiend ftw), while Zenith put a very good show against XcN in playday 9 before losing in the 3rd match because of backdoor/over 2 hours of match (yeah I know backdoor is allowed, but I still don't favor winning merely because of backdoor). It's hard to predict the outcome of this match, but I hope KS can advance all the way to the final.

Then Nimeski vs XcN. XcN will be hugely favorite to win this one, no matter what.

more update: ADC GG-C

[DotA]Perspective Play

Another DotA compilation by NumbFaith aka Slahser/MYM.Slahser. He's one of my favorite player, often seen playing as carry/ganker heroes.

Perspective Play 1

my favorite highlights:
-0:20 - Sand King epicenter after seeing Furion's Teleport sign near the rune spawn.
-0:40 - Enigma going all out attack (malefice+pulse+hole) on Void, only to discover that it's only an image =)
-1:40 - Leshrac teleport tower, shift-blink and stun Lina.
-1:50 - Warlock survive against Rikimaru with less than 10 HP!

Perspective Play 2

my favorite highlights:
-0:40 - epic Arrow+Hook to save Syllabear from Centaur+Bane
-2:19 - Lina blink-dodge Fissure
-2:35 - Pudge's Hook save Venomancer+double teleport

Perspective Play 3

my favorite highlights:
-0:55 - Nevermore double kill+escape
-1:42 - Rikimaru branch bait, blink strike-dodging Tiny's Avalache, kill Morphling and escape with bare hp to survive
-2:25 - Omni+Vengeful rape double stunner of Skeleton King and Sven (and seems like Dark Seer is also there)
-3:33 - Nerubian Assassin kill+survive gank, just 0.000001 sec before being killed by Magnataur's Shockwave in the very last scene =)

I'm looking forward to see more videos from him.

Stomping

Manchester United shows a world class performance against Newcastle United at Old Trafford yesterday, in their bid to defend the English Premier League title. While Arsenal and Liverpool only manage a draw in their respective game, Man Utd was enjoying a glorious evening as they put 6 goals past Newcastle. It was not until 4 minutes after the restart that the goal comes, where Cristiano Ronaldo, who was fouled, convert the free kick with a low drive past the men barrier. Ronaldo later added 2 more goals to get his first ever hat-rick for Man Utd, after failing so many times, scoring 2 goals in many matches. This hatrick put his goal tally to 22 goals, just 1 goal less than the amount he scored in last season.

Utd failed to penetrate into Newcastle defence in the first half, with Rooney unable to convert some great chances past the goalkeeper Given.However, once Ronaldo got his goal, the match seems to be decided, with Man Utd continuously taking chances after chances, and got another goal credit to the mistake in the defensive line which gives the goal to Tevez. The match should have end with even more goals, however good clearing off the line by Newcastloe defender prevent that from happening. In the end, it was 3 goals for Ronaldo, 2 for Tevez and 1 for Ferdinand. Rooney, although failed to score, still got the credit for great assists.

"It's a special day for me. I'm very happy to win the game and go to the top of the league. This is the most important thing," he said.

"It's always important to score and help my team. I feel proud and very happy. It's good to score a hat-trick but if I score two in every game I'll be very happy.

"If we keep playing like we did in the second half I am sure we will be the best team."

p/s: wp by Man Utd. Excellent performance, now they're top of table due to goal difference =)

Top 10 Reason to Play DotA

Dota (Defense of the Ancients) is basically a fun map which started as a fun custom game to break from standard Warcraft III play. It now no more a break but is pushing its way into competitive e-sports world. It is a stragetgy game based on hero combat and team play. Tough it is played on isometric 2-D platform of Warcraft III : The Frozen Throne, it inherits many features of role playing games. The player levels up their hero and uses gold to buy equipment in an effort to best the opposing team.

Now coming to the reasons why Dota rocks more than any other game:

• 10) It is easy to learn game. You have to control only one hero who have only 4 different power. An advance level of game play requires other basic skills like last hitting(to collect gold), ganking(catching one enemy off guard and whacking him up), warding(placing wards on the map for vision). You are able to play it too although you don’t know english well and you don’t need to be so skillful in controlling your hero.
• 9) There are about 80+ different heroes in the game and scores of strategies for each hero and again scores of strategies for a different combination of team, which makes it totally different game every time you play it. Every game last about 40-45 minutes in which you are able to level up to max level 25. To achieve same level in other RPG will take ages. You don’t need to farm like mad completing same quests over and over again to level up .. Also not to repeat the entire bore thing again if you want to play a different race or class of hero.
• 8.) The replays and live telecasts of the game on GGTV are worth watching and are really amusing. To fully enjoy the replays you need to be accustomed to the gameplay.
• 7) Dota stresses too much on team play and no single person can be a Rambo. Needless to say develops really nice virtue of patience and team work and leadership. If you will say at time of your placements that you are a pro(experienced) Dota player they wont ask you anything about your team work skill.
• 6) Dota can be played on free game servers like Bnet, GG Client and Hamashi with people all over the world instead of banging your head with AI of your computer.
• 5) At competitive level Dota requires much more skill, coordination and innovation then any other game of the present day.
• 4) It is the most played custom map of one of the most popular game series. Moreover system requirements are far far less when compared to other RPGs , RTS or FPS.
• 3) You will have new maps of dota every few months with new heros and items which will totally make your all own strategy to easily counterable strategy.
• 2) There is lots of price money in Dota tournaments held regularly in International level and local pub levels. All you need to do is to master your team work and push your imagination beyond limits.
• 1) Lots of hot chics play Dota.

Source: SoftWarcraft

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

OK reason number 10 is not quite right to my sense. If we compare DotA to something like Counter Strike, CS is definitely much much easier to play, needless to say. But if we compare DotA with other RTS game like Warcraft 3 campaign, yes indeed DotA is easier because it does not really require the skill to control multiple unit (although sometimes needed, if you play as Chen, Rexxar, Meepo, Panda etc). So maybe its easy if you are familiar with warcraft but its pretty hard compared to say CS or pretty much any other non-RTS game.
I totally agree with reason number 9. The variation that each match offer makes DotA fun. Well unless you play with/against the same people over and over again, and pick the same hero everytime (which is pretty retarded).
Reason number one: just a humorous reason =)

Yousei Teikoku: Metanoia

band / artist : Yousei Teikoku (妖精帝國),
album : Gothic Lolita Propaganda
November 2007

Tracklist:

1. Wahrheit
2. Hades:The rise
3. Eternal waltz
4. Haitoku no Hana
5. Purify
6. Heisoku Shinkon
7. hidden truth

available for download here

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The gothic chick is back with her band~ finally, another release by Yousei Teikoku. Listening to all the tracks, I can say that not much really interest me except the first 2 tracks. Still, overall it's a nice mini album =)

Winter 2007/2008 Anime List

2007 has leave us with many memorable series, the excellent newcomer like Hayate no Gotoku, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Lucky Star, great sequel like Genshiken 2, Shakugan no Shana 2 and Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, as well as some of my personal favorite for short series like Myself; Yourself, Ef A Tale of memories, Moyashimon and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. And now the year continue with new series coming for this winter:

December:

• Saa! Iko Tamagocchi - [12/01]
• Ah! Megami-sama! Tatakau Tsubasa - [12/08]
• AYAKASHI - [12/12]
• 25 Year Anniversary ! Ano Macross ga Shuunen Kuruzo SP!! - [12/23]
• Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 3 -Kurenai no Tsuki- - [12/28]

January:

• Wellber no Monogatari Second Part - [01/01]
• H2O~FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND~ - [01/03]
• Rosario to Vampire - [01/03]
• Hatenkou Yuugi - [01/04]
• .HACK//G.U. TRILOGY Perfect Memory Special - [01/04]
• Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de - [01/05]
• true tears - [01/05]
• MAJOR 4th season - [01/05]
• Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - [01/05]
• Shigofumi - [01/05]
• PERSONA -trinity soul- - [01/05]
• Zenryoku Usagi - [01/05]
• Minami-ke ~Okawari~ - [01/06]
• Porphy no Nagai Tabi - [01/06]
• GUNSLINGER GIRL -IL TEATRINO- - [01/07]
• ARIA The ORIGINATION - [01/07]
• Spicy Wolf - [01/08]
• Noramimi - [01/09]
• Hakaba Kitarou - [01/10]
• Koharu Biyori Part II - [01/13]
• Moegaku ★5 - [01/14]
• Yatterman New Series - [01/14]
• OnChan - [01/18]
• Strait Jacket Episode 2 - [01/27]

February:

• Kodai Ouja Kyouryuu King D Kids Adventure Yokuruu Densetsu - [02/03]
• Yes! Precure 5 GOGO! - [02/03]
• Mnemosyune -Mnemosyune no Musume-tachi- - [02/03]

source: http://www.moetron.com/?p=854#more-854

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I personally looks forward to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 2, after the first season shows sheer awesomeness :3 There are some others that I recognise, like Koharu Biyori, Minami-ke: Okawari, Maccross Frontier, ARIA, Gunslinger Girl, Sister of Wellber etc but I'd rather try several episodes before decides whether they should be included in my weekly anime fix.

btw, as far as I know, some series have started to be aired in Japan, and I've tried 3 of them: Maccross Frontier, H2O: Footprint on Sand and Rosario-Vampire. Maccross Frontier, as expected, shows awesome mecha design and great battle scenes. Probably going into my weekly fix. Rosario-Vampire kinda remind me of Kaibutsu Oujo, with some element of Ikkitousen. Looks promising, a boy accidentally attending an all Yokai high school. Also have high chance to be included in my weekly fix. H2o: Footprint on Sand...well, at first it really does look a lot like some casual harem series, but the story may suggest otherwise. So I need to watch several more episode to decide.

Competitive DotA: Winter Summary

Fresh from the press, VP prolonged their title in the Sennheiser MYM PriDe 8 tournament in an exciting final against the MYM.DotA team. An amazing feat, considering it is the third time in a row that they have won this prestigious tournament. As said, MYM ended second with an impressive record throughout the tournament, only losing against VP, and KS, a newcomer to the MYM tourneys ended 3rd, congratulations to all the teams.

details: the final four

The final stage double elimination matches are being played in a best of 3mode. The finals will be a normal bo3 match, but the team that comes from winner brackets starts with 1-0 advantage.

SENNHEISER Prime Defending #8 Top 4:
1. Virtus.Pro
2. MYM.DotA
3. Kingsurf
4. SK.Gaming

#Malaysian team Kingsurf make a very impressive performance in this tournament, losing to none except MYM (and most probably to Virtus.Pro if they ever met). In their first match against MYM, they are heavily beaten even when they are using some of their best heroes (Yamateh with Shadow Fiend etc). However, they do learn from past lesson and bounced back from the loser bracket, beating SK.Gaming yet again, then beat MYM.DotA in their 2nd game, before losing to the perfect strategy of MYM leader, Maelk who take out Lina and Leshrac in their final game, and pick Shadow Fiend in for their first pick, thus leaving Kingsurf with little choice of favorite hero to pick. Most importantly, they pick 3 impale-based heroes (Lion, Na and SK) which really makes everyone wonders, and eventually succumb to MYM thus taking the 3rd place.

Moving to the grand final, Virtus.Pro who win the match against MYM in the winning bracket has 1 win advantage, thus in order for MYM to win, they need to beat VP twice. In the first match (2nd match for overall grand final), VP starts well, dominating the line and kill score, taking out all 6 MYM tower and losing only 1. However, MYM was able to withstand the push with extremely well defending, and gradually able to gain the momentum to push due to advantage from winning fight for Roshan and Shadow Priest' ultimate which hugely save most of their gold upon dying, and eventually won the game. MVP of the match is definitely Mania, who as Tiny, was able to pull some awesome toss (tossing SK into his top base tower, as well as tossing vigoss' Leshrac across the jungle at 2nd mid tower).
2nd match, the decisive match, VP started to be serious and first thing they do is banning Zeus and Bristleback (which are among the key factor of MYM victory). MYM responded by scheming a pushing strategy by pucking Pugna, however due to their lack of pressure given to VP, the pushing strategy somehow failed and VP end up victorious, thus winning the MYM Pride #8 for the 3rd consecutive time.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Just before the new year we would like to congratulate team MYM for winning the Fire in Ice LAN tournament in Chicago. With a flawless record throughout the tournament, they won against the home team eMg in the finals.


eMg's Fire In Ice: Overall Finals

Map Version: v6.48b
Mode: -AP Draft
Round: Finals

eMg vs MYM Replay Download: OverallFinal_MYM_vs_eMg.w3g

MYM, Sentinel

MYM|Maelk (Top)
MYM|H4nn1- (Top)
MYM|Merlini (Middle)
MYM|MaNia- (Bottom)
MYM|p0c (Bottom)

eMg, Scourge

eMg.Rwar (Top)
eMg.Remstar (Middle)
eMg.DOGKaiser (Middle)
eMg.King (Bottom)
eMg.Whisper (Bottom)

# nothing much for me to comment, as there are only 3 teams that really interest me: MYM, Team Pandemic and eMg. FInal match features MYM vs eMg, with MYM having one win advantage due to coming from winner bracket.
# BB+Shadow Priest = GG