Get Dunked: What we learned from the Nanyang Championships

Team Secret are now on their third iteration and the current version (on paper looking to be the weakest in terms of individual skill) could prove to be the strongest so far. The one constant is legendary captain Puppey, who has consistently called the shots in every successful team he's been in. It seems that Puppey's cool demeanor is working well at keeping EternalEnvy and w33ha in check. Misery and PieLieDie are the two unsung heroes of Team Secret and, for our vote, the two MVPs of the tournament. Misery's Slardar simply wrecked all tournament with a 5-2 record on the hero, with VG respect banning it in every game in the final except the last where it was picked first phase; it was undoubtedly Team Secret's most important hero. PieLieDie was 4-0 on his signature Bounty Hunter and caused havoc in the two games he played it in the finals. It's great to see PieLieDie back on a top team, as a truly unique player he brings a lot of ingenuity to the hard support role.

The Nanyang Championships were an absolute mess on the production side, the audio throughout most of the tournament was a disaster, games were overlapping at the early stages meaning some had no English casters, the presenting team looked lost as if they were getting no cues from production, and the microphones were shocking the casters.

This isn't meant as flame. Honestly, but Digital Chaos are one the worst pro teams in recent memory. Team Tinker at least had some initial success, and weren't terrible once they transitioned into mousesports. Digital Chaos are terrible, and it's heartbreaking to see a TI winner like Aui_2000 now playing in this caliber of team. It is perhaps unfair to judge them on this tournament as they didn't crash out as hard as Fnatic and had to use and standin, but Digital Chaos have achieved very little so far. Their drafts have been consistently poor, especially with Biryu being widely regarded as a great drafter, and TC and Bulba are, sadly, not up to a tier one standard anymore (again not trying to flame, I loved TI3 Team Liquid and cheered like crazy when they toppled LGD). 

With DC not making the Frankfurt Majors, the only thing stopping them from already disbanding is the amount of stable teams on the scene. As soon as the opportunity arises, Aui_2000 will be looking to join a top team again, hopefully he doesn't have a year in the wilderness like his old C9 support partner PieLieDie.

There is no reason that in a tournament like this that players shouldn't be forced to use their official nicknames. There is also no reason that the casters should not be using the official nicknames. When playing, IceIceIce should not be referred to as Daryl, it is confusing to newcomers and unprofessional at this sort of event. There is no problem when, say, in a relaxed event like DreamLeague, where the casters are wearing everyday clothes, Draskyl calls Xcalibur Steve because they are actual friends. I have no idea whether KotLGuy and IceIceIce are close friends, but it doesn't matter in this environment. 

There is no problem for casters to refer to each other by first names, but when in game, or analyzing, player nicknames should be used for consistency. This is something both players, casters and organizers either need to enforce, or stop trying to copy the style of a late night sports show. The mix doesn't work.