Concordia’s Esports team remains winless this season
Concordia’s Dota 2 team couldn’t fight a strong opposing attack by the University of Washington on Oct. 21, losing 2-0 in a two-game series.
The team’s loss this week was mostly due to the pick and ban. Picks and bans—known as drafting—happen before every match in Dota 2. During this time, teams choose which players they want to ban their opponents from using, then both teams choose which hero they will use in the game. This is an intricate part of every match when a lot of planning and strategizing is needed.
“We got outdrafted,” said Concordia team coordinator Michael Di Feo. “Sometimes we get lost in our picks and bans and we don’t know what to do.”
Concordia fell behind early on. Two minutes into the match, Concordia’s Clockwerk, a melee hero, suffered for overstepping into enemy territory. Two opposition heroes pinched him into the lane leading up to the University of Washington’s base, landing a stun and earning the first kill of the game.
Concordia did get a return kill three minutes later when a Washington player roamed too far down the bottom lane towards Concordia’s base. Yet, the game spiraled out of Concordia’s hands shortly after. The University of Washington fought back quickly, securing a double kill in the map’s middle lane. From then on, the Concordia squad lost most of its momentum, losing the game within 19 minutes.
The second match of the night didn’t fare much better, with Concordia lagging behind from the get go. The match had a start similar to the previous one. Within the first couple of minutes, Concordia was down one kill to none. The University of Washington continued to push forward throughout the match. They took over multiple towers in Concordia’s lanes, gaining leads in all three lanes. In the end, the University of Washington pushed down the middle lane to eventually win the series 2-0.
“We need to work on rotations,” Di Feo said, adding that the team did a better job the previous week against the University of British Columbia.
The team has their next game in two weeks. They will be playing against Arizona State University on Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. Until then, Di Feo said they will work on communication and their pick-and-ban system.
