After breaking into the Top 10 of CSL’s power ranking for 2019, UCSD’s Dota team has yielded strong results overall, struggling only against the other top ranked schools in heated matches and smashing the rest of the competition with ease.

UC San Diego Dota faced off against UofA Dota on 11/10/2019 in the round robin stage of this year’s CSL Dota Star League. A historically highly-ranked school boasting a locally renowned midlane player, “brink”, UofA Dota proved a fierce opponent, defeating our team through iron-hard tempo control in the first game but losing their late-game cool in multiple pivotal fights in games 2 and 3. While UofA Dota took Game 1 in a convincing fashion after a long choke-out, targeted hero bans in the pre-game team drafting phase and aggressive midlane play from UCSD’s Tahmid “TMK” Khan in games 2 and 3 proved UCSD the stronger team in this match.

A nail-biting 59 minute first game tested the mettle of both teams, but an unstoppable combo from UofA’s carry and dedicated support player proved insurmountable for UCSD’s early-game focused composition, besting the late-game potential of Tahmid “TMK” Khan and carry player Wei “Draray” Di with a wall of unstoppable damage and longevity.

In game 2, UCSD’s draft flexibility, stellar support play from Sam “qorbear” Baik, and Mark “Mangodormu” Zheng’s amazing utility play on the hero Sand King set them up for a resounding comeback, allowing Tahmid “TMK” Khan to exhibit his trademark mid-game dominance in exemplary fashion.

UofA steeled themselves in Game 3, enabling their star midlane player “brink” to take over the game and choke out UCSD’s defensive lineup. Fortunately, the return of Sand King to UCSD’s hero lineup provided key crowd control and an intimidation factor that helped UCSD turn enough fights to race towards the enemy’s Ancient and decisively end the series, to the accompaniment of whoops and laughter from UCSD’s passionate players.

This was one of UCSD’s first encounters with other top-ranked schools in the Dota Star League. The matches proved close, but decisive leadership from Tahmid “TMK” Khan and calm discipline from support NyanYe “Jesus” Tun provided a strong backbone for UCSD’s teamwork to shine through.