Home Gaming The Dota 2 National Trials are a bit of a farce

The Dota 2 National Trials are a bit of a farce

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DOTa2

As you know, this weekend saw the MSSA host the national Dota 2 trials this weekend in Johannesburg, to select a national team to take on Romania in an officially sanctioned test match. We already told you that there was a bit of controversy surrounding it all, thanks to the location and the short notices – meaning that only a handful of the country’s best players could attend.

In fact, it seems that after scrambling to get players up to Johannesburg, only five of the nine qualified teams were able to compete. Fair enough, it includes the veritable “who’s who” of South African eSports; Bravado Gaming, Energy eSports, Roccat Online Community Clan and Rain Gaming. Oh, and a team from St John’s College.

The short notice (just 10 days!) and, importantly, cost of getting teams up to JHB mean that the likes of popular, and highly skilled teams such as Matt’s Fun Buddies and Immersion Bashers were unable to attend. Even the teams that did make it through struggled to get full teams together, with both Bravado and Energy having to find replacement players in order to make full teams. Of the biggest local eSports MGO’s, only ROCCAT’s team had its full team intact for the trial.

On top of that, each of the five teams played against each other in a “best of one” format – which is hardly any sort of decisive way to select national players. Of course, that’s not to take anything away from Bravado Gaming, who managed to win all four of their games to be crowned champions; it’s still quite a feat – but they, and everybody involved in Dota 2 and eSports in south Africa deserves better.

The results are as follows:

  1. Bravado Gaming
  2. Energy eSports
  3. ROCCAT Online Community Clan
  4. Rain Gaming
  5. St John’s College

So that means that Bravado Gaming is now the national team that’ll represent South Africa in the test match against Romania, right? Well, not quite.

“The team that shall represent South Africa has not yet been selected, and shall only be announced by the MSSA once approval to do so from the Protea Colours Board,” says MSSA President Colin Webster.

Brilliant. We welcome and encourage any attempts to further competitive gaming – and gaming as a whole – in South Africa, but for the love of the game, do it properly.

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Last Updated: May 7, 2013

19 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief Achievement

    May 7, 2013 at 15:02

    Oh for farce’s sake

    Reply

  2. Ultimo_Cleric_N7

    May 7, 2013 at 15:14

    Ya this sounds like an unorganised mess really. The Bravado guys are good, but i hardly think that they are without a doubt ‘South Africa’s best”……

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      May 7, 2013 at 16:30

      Actually, the only team that can beat them from here is Energy.
      90% of the comps end up with the finals being Bvd vs En.
      and they each beat each other as many times as they lose, its pretty tight.
      The fact that Clitsybananas couldnt make it up to JHB was already unfair, as one of the top 5 players in the country, that was a major loss.
      Id be happy with either of them representing us. BvD are more reliable than Energy, but Energys have moments where they leave the rest of SA in the dust.

      although a competition without guys like Bashers is just silly, I highly doubt they would have changed the result, it would however have made for a more interesting top 5.

      I think having the event in JHB was silly, out of the top 5 teams in South Africa, 4 of them are based in Cape Town.

      And having a best of 1, lol, not even going to comment.

      Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      May 7, 2013 at 16:30

      Actually, the only team that can beat them from here is Energy.
      90% of the comps end up with the finals being Bvd vs En.
      and they each beat each other as many times as they lose, its pretty tight.
      The fact that Clitsybananas couldnt make it up to JHB was already unfair, as one of the top 5 players in the country, that was a major loss.
      Id be happy with either of them representing us. BvD are more reliable than Energy, but Energys have moments where they leave the rest of SA in the dust.

      although a competition without guys like Bashers is just silly, I highly doubt they would have changed the result, it would however have made for a more interesting top 5.

      I think having the event in JHB was silly, out of the top 5 teams in South Africa, 4 of them are based in Cape Town.

      And having a best of 1, lol, not even going to comment.

      Reply

  3. Yolanda Green

    May 7, 2013 at 15:43

    The trials were announced early Feb… http://www.lazygamer.co/south-africa/dota-2-national-trials-will-decide-who-faces-romania/ hardly short notice :3

    Reply

    • Robert Infy Hart

      May 7, 2013 at 16:04

      AFAIK the date and location were only announced 10 days prior to the event.

      Reply

      • Yolanda Green

        May 7, 2013 at 16:07

        @OddSockZA:disqus @robertinfyhart:disqus Well that’s just plain lame 🙁 I’ve noticed other important trials like this (not necessarily hosted by the MSSA) have short notice as well. Organisers not doing S.A eSports any favors this way 😐

        Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      May 7, 2013 at 16:05

      the trials themselves, no – but the actual date and venue for the LAN were given to players just 10 days before the event.

      Reply

    • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

      May 8, 2013 at 07:39

      Is this a ghost I see before me?!

      Reply

  4. Matthew Figueira

    May 7, 2013 at 15:53

    I still have no idea how this worked xD

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      May 7, 2013 at 16:34

      it didnt.
      but the results arent exactly un-satisfactory.
      doesnt really matter if its BvD or En representign us.

      Reply

  5. Matthew Figueira

    May 7, 2013 at 15:53

    I still have no idea how this worked xD

    Reply

  6. Slade Boender

    May 7, 2013 at 16:51

    thats just fucking shocking…

    Reply

  7. Skyblue

    May 8, 2013 at 06:51

    Dota-Con South Africa…

    Reply

  8. asdasd

    May 8, 2013 at 09:58

    Please explain to this noob why a winning team needs to become a
    national team, and there is not a board of selectors as in Rugby,
    soccer, cricket? Ok Stormers won the SA Conference last year, therefore
    they will all be made boks, and stuff the rest of the failures. Bismark?
    failure, JPP? Failure, Kirchner? ok well atleast thats one passanger
    that wouldnt make it. But still its stupid.

    Reply

  9. jp rheeder

    May 8, 2013 at 10:10

    Please explain to this noob why a winning team needs to become a
    national team, and there is not a board of selectors as in Rugby,
    soccer, cricket? Ok Stormers won the SA Conference last year, therefore
    they will all be made boks, and stuff the rest of the failures. Bismark?
    failure, JPP? Failure, Kirchner? ok well atleast thats one passanger
    that wouldnt make it. But still its stupid.

    Reply

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