SK won the event.
Weird format though... they substituted the usual "round robin" format for a "points system". Didn't work to bad... except there was no "FINAL" or semi's.
I was involved in competitive DotA for a very long time... Participated in many of the major competitions held in Johannesburg. My team even won the "informal" DotA competition at RAGE in 2007. It was informal because the organisers couldn't secure sponsors.
I was very upset about this... because right until the last minute, Arena77 which normally ran the big competitions, told the community that there would be a headline competition for DotA... unfortunately, they announced at the last minute that there would be no such tournament.
Instead, "The Lair" hastily put together a competition (kudos). Unfortunately, no sponsors and no coverage.
We had to pay in extra to take part so that "fanatacit" could cover his costs of bringing a server machine to host the games. Fair enough...
Over 30 teams registered and took part in the tourney. 30 x 5?
150 people... in an informal tourney!
We played SOLIDLY till 4am every night... and the competition was only concluded at 4pm on the sunday.
I don't remember there being that many CSS, CS 1.6, Quake 4 or even C&C 3 players all together at RAGE. And their games were broadcast on the main screens and got to enjoy the attentions of the journalists and crowds at the main grand stands.
What was the prize money for winning a 30 team, 150 man/boy event?
R500. Thanks for coming! R100 to each team member.
That didn't even cover the cost of the RAGE ticket!
I quit DotA the next day... I realized the sacrifices I had made to achieve victory vastly outweighed the rewards of my efforts.
The prize money for the winning CSS team was over R10000 excluding hardware prizes.
The excuse was that DotA was not an "official" Warcraft III game mode, and securing sponsors would be difficult.
Good to see a bit of a focus shift to DotA for a change. Even though the competition was EXTREMELY small.
SK is used to playing at LAN evnts with THOUSANDS of attendees, there was barely 100 on the weekend. Not sure if we'll be able to attract more international clans with such poor attendance and exposure.
Breakdown of the tournament:
SK won... all their games!
Team South Africa was defeated in a MASSIVE upset by a brave bunch of fellows. I THINK they called themselves FT...
SA came third.
Was nice to see old friends again!
Would love to see DotA enjoy some of the prestige and recognition that it does overseas.
