ILG Season 3 DOTA 2 Minors: Inside The Players’ Minds

In the beginning of August, LXG Bangalore played host to the Bengaluru Minor DOTA 2 tournament as a part of ILG Season 3. With a prize pool of INR 1,00,000, 9 teams seemed ready to battle it out. LXG.TV got a chance to catch up with some of the players at the venue, including Zara ‘PurpleShrimp’ Rebello, Ajay ‘1x’, Nishant ‘MojoJojo’, and Ganesha ‘Anxiety’ Manjunath.

We found out more about their origins in the DOTA 2 scene, along with an insider look into the strategies they use to win games. Set against the backdrop of epic standoffs in the tournament, these players provided valuable insights into the state of LAN gaming in India.

Starting Their DOTA 2 Journey

Everyone remembers the first time they played DOTA. Learning the game, moving up the ranks, and eventually participating in tournaments are fond memories for many veterans of the game. PurpleShrimp said, “I spent a lot of time with my 4 elder brothers, and when they went out to game, so did I. A friend of mine introduced me to DOTA and I was hooked.” 

This then evolved into a passion for the game, she stated. She also said, “I’ve been playing DOTA 2 for the past 5 years. It’s a game that I’m really passionate about.”

1x was put in the same situation as many people starting out in gaming. He stated,”We started going to LAN cafes when we were in college. Along with our friends, we started with Counter-Strike. First it was Warcraft 3, and eventually as our friends began playing different games, we also started playing.”

This then went on to playing DOTA 2. As he puts it, “We started playing DOTA 2, on and off, and then continued playing it.” MojoJojo shares his origin story with many others, simply stating, “I just started playing DOTA 2 five years ago at ZAPAK. It began from there.” 

Anxiety also began with CS, eventually shifting over to MOBA titles. He stated, “I started playing in a cafe. We used to play Counter-Strike, and we got bored of CS eventually. Someone said ‘try out DOTA’, and it looked very boring initially, but once I started learning it, I got good at it and could never stop.”

Go-To Strategies

 As they played the game, their strategies began to evolve with their experience. These gamers began taking on specialized roles for their teams. PurpleShrimp described her go-to role, stating, “I am a position 5 true support. You can count on me for your wards.”

1x, on the other hand, plays a few comfort heroes, especially counting on Ember Spirit. He stated that these are “comfortable for playing pub games”, going on to say, “I tend to not stick to one particular type of hero or comfort heroes, it depends on the draft. We have to be adaptable, and change things up depending on the game. Every game is different.”

MojoJojo boasts of a hyper-aggressive, tanky strategy that few can stand up to. He stated, “ I play offlane, I like run-at-them heroes who are tanky.” 

Anxiety, on the other hand, has picked a hero which is notoriously difficult to master. When asked about his go-to hero, he replied with one word, “Invoker. Except when they play Broodmother or Kunkka. He’s my go-to hero, and I climbed a lot of brackets with him. I’ve played the hero a lot, so I feel good about it.”

Going deeper into his strategy with the hero, he stated, “You can lane well with forge spirit, you can last-hit deny very easily. You can also jungle in the early game. In pubs, it’s easy to split push with Agh’s BoT. It’s easy to pick off with him as well.”

Thoughts on ILG

We asked the players what they thought about the tournament last weekend. PurpleShrimp stated, “I believe ILG is doing a great job of bringing the Indian gaming community together. We don’t have enough tournaments or exposure for gaming in the country, and I think ILG is one step towards building the gaming community in India. I am very happy that we have ILG.”

1x also praised ILG’s efforts in revitalizing the Indian DOTA 2 scene. He said, “It’s nice to have ILG. In the past few years we had very few DOTA events. So having this kind of setup encourages people for many months throughout the year, having one or two seasons. It’s nice for up and coming and new gamers to get into the scene and choose gaming as a career or profession.”

MojoJojo also echoed these sentiments, speaking about the lack of LAN gaming tournaments in Bangalore. He said, “I think ILG is a really good platform because there haven’t been a lot of LAN tournaments in Bangalore. Here, every two months, every 3 months, they’re giving LAN tournaments regularly. I think that helps the DOTA scene to grow a lot and helps people have a good network.”

Anxiety had his professional start with the last year of ILG, resulting in him coming back for this year as well. He said, “I never thought about going pro on DOTA. I never thought there was any scope until last year, at ILG. I came up with random people because I was interested in the game. Within a year, the prize pool has already gone up from 50,000 to 1,00,000. I think ILG is the best.”

As we’ve seen, ILG helps gamers craft their success story and pursue their aspirations. With its low barrier for entry and easy accessibility for gamers everywhere, ILG could be your way into the competitive scene for the game of your choice.