Despite only playing together for a month, team coordinator happy with start
The Concordia Esports Association (CESA) Dota team had their first Collegiate Starleague (CSL) match of the season, losing 2-0 to the defending champions, the University of British Columbia, on Oct. 14.
Dota is a five-against-five battle arena-based game. The objective is to break into the opponent’s base before they get to yours. The game’s map is more complex than that though. There are three main lanes (top, middle and bottom) which lead to the opponent’s base.
In each lane, there are two towers behind one another which shoot at your character, called a hero, when you get too close to the tower. There is also a jungle between the lanes. In the jungle, there are different creatures which, when killed, give the hero experience and gold to unlock in-game abilities.
This was the first time in three years that a Concordia team competed in the CSL Dota
tournament. The current roster has only been playing together for about a month. Despite the odds against them to beat UBC, the defending champs, the Concordia squad managed to put up a decent fight in the first match of the best-of-three series.
“Everything was going well in the early stage with the rotations [of the first game],” said team coordinator Michael Di Feo after the game. One of the team’s best plays came
in the early minutes. Two of the Concordia players managed to grab the first kill on an opponent by punishing UBC’s overly aggressive style in the jungle.
The UBC player was trying to secure his own kill when he moved too far forward, not noticing the second Concordia hero in the area. He was then “shackled up” and swiftly killed.
Even though UBC fell behind because of these small mistakes, they managed to chip at the Concordia defence and, through solid play, ended up taking the first game.
“[During the second match], things fell apart from the start,” Di Feo said. “[There isn’t] much to share except we got completely outplayed.”
The CESA Dota team is now looking ahead to their next match against Washington Esport Dota on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m.
Main photo courtesy of Concordia Esports Association.
