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COMPETITIVE GAMING Medford gamer's team wins $6.6 million in e-sports competition Comment By Forrest Roth Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Forrest Roth Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 9, 2015 at 6:56 PM Updated Aug 11, 2015 at 9:26 PM By Forrest Roth Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 9, 2015 at 6:56 PM Updated Aug 11, 2015 at 9:26 PM » Social News The roar of 15,000 fans of the video game Dota 2 greeted Clinton Loomis as he and his team got up from their computers and emerged from their "pod" in the center of a sold-out arena on Saturday. Having just defeated the volatile Chinese team CDEC Gaming 3-1 in a best-of-5 series, the Medford native and his four teammates had won the grand prize of $6.6 million, the biggest-ever payout by far in a gaming tournament. Sparks and confetti flew from the stage and the crowd got to its feet at Seattle's Key Arena as Loomis and his team, Evil Geniuses, claimed the Aegis of the Champions and held it high, crowning them winners of The International Dota 2 Championships. Compared with the spectators, their celebration was subdued: A few hands in the air, sporadic smiles, but above all, their faces displayed the disbelief of what they'd just accomplished. Evil Geniuses already won $1.2 million in Shanghai at the Dota Asia Championships earlier this year, and with this victory, Loomis has likely become a millionaire overnight, even after the winnings are distributed and taxed. After the game, one of the tournament's commentators asked the 27-year-old what he would buy with his new-found wealth. "A million-dollar desk," Loomis quipped. EG captain Peter Dager chimed in, "I think we'll take a vacation, relax, hopefully don't play Dota for at least a month." It will be a well-deserved break. For professional gamers, practicing is a full-time job, and few players have dedicated as much of their lives to Dota as Loomis has. Loomis, a 2006 North Medford High School graduate, has been playing professionally for nearly a decade, and has been regarded as among the world's top players for most of that time. During the course of his career, "e-sports" has evolved from fledgling regional leagues into a lucrative international presence. Even in the past few years, all e-sports tournaments have been dwarfed by The International. Valve Corporation, the powerhouse PC developer that made Dota 2 and organizes the tournaments, is partially to thank. But Valve has also tapped into the players. A digital booklet that chronicles the tournament and grants in-game cosmetic items is available for Dota 2 players to purchase, and 25 percent of proceeds went to The International 2015 prize pool. Through these purchases, players swelled the purse from an initial $1.5 million to $18 million. In Valve's 2011 documentary "Free to Play," filmmakers documented the tension that Loomis' dedication to gaming created between him and his mother, Karen Loomis of Medford. Playing into the early morning hours with his European teammates, Loomis would keep the dog awake, which interrupted his mother's sleep. Loomis now resides in the Evil Geniuses house in San Francisco, where he lives and trains with his team. In 2014, shortly before last year's International, Loomis came down with a form of tennis elbow, causing him intense pain in his forearm and elbow. Evil Geniuses announced that Loomis would have to sit out the tournament, and a substitute player would take his place. Evil Geniuses took third place in the tournament as Loomis watched on the sidelines. Many feared his gaming career might be over. But Loomis — also known by his in-game handle "Fear" — recovered, and returned triumphantly this year to bring his experience to the battlefield. Dota is a game that takes many skills: Strategy, reaction time, communication and coordination, as well as a near-encyclopedic grasp of knowledge about the game's possibilities. Each team of 5 players selects from a pool of 110 characters, called "heroes," each with their own unique and game-changing abilities. The goal is to destroy the enemy team's "ancient," located on the other side of the map. As players land killing blows on computer-controlled monsters or take down enemy heroes, they gain more gold, which can be used to buy items for their characters, making them stronger and giving them more abilities. As various combinations of heroes, items and strategies — and their counters — rise and fall in popularity, it's vital for teams to keep up with this "meta-game." The first phase of the game, called the draft phase, where players choose which heroes to pick and ban, is crucial to setting the pace of the game. Each hero plays a different role on the team, meant to be strong at different stages of the game or assist in others' dominance. Loomis' importance to his team is made clear by his position: He is the "carry," the crucial hero meant to be the most powerful in the late-game and secure his team's victory. At The International 5, Evil Geniuses had performed well in the group stages, giving them a good seed in the brackets of the main event. One-by-one, they dominated opponents with their superior play, advancing to the finals of the upper bracket. Facing off against EG was the hotshot Chinese team CDEC, a surprisingly successful underdog that had advanced all the way from the wildcard playoffs. So far, no team had an answer to their style of play, which featured early five-man aggression, allowing CDEC to secure early kills and destroy defensive structures called towers, giving them an exploitable advantage. In the best-of-three match, EG had no answer either. They dropped the series 0-2 to CDEC, falling to the lower bracket, but bested their opponents there to return for a rematch in the grand finals. This time, EG had done their homework. They answered every five-man play with all five of their own heroes, even bringing in Fear for fights when his hero would normally be elsewhere on the map safely gathering gold. It was no coincidence that the team drafted Fear the same hero in every game. Gyrocopter, with his Rocket Barrage, Flak Cannon and (Missile) Call Down, is a hero that can make an explosive impact in early-game fights. Making a big impact also was the extremely talented "SumaiL," a 16-year-old from Pakistan whose quick reactions and aggression almost always lead to him dominating the mid-game. He's been playing Dota since he was 8. With CDEC on the ropes in Game 4, EG secured a devastating Ice Blast and Echo Slam combo that killed off four of CDEC's heroes as they grouped up to tackle a valuable objective on the map, the monster Roshan. With the final "gg" — short for "good game" — signalling CDEC's decision to concede, EG became the first American team to win The International (two titles have gone to China, and two to European teams). But victory in a big tournament such as this has rarely meant retirement for Dota 2 players. Just as previous champions did, Loomis and Evil Geniuses will likely be back after their vacation to play in more tournaments. Their sights are set on "majors," the beginning of the next Dota 2 season in the Fall. "I just want to thank my team for this amazing experience," Loomis said as The International 5 wrapped up. "We all empowered each other to play better and reached a goal that we all had in mind." Reach digital copy editor Forrest Roth at [email protected] By Forrest Roth Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Forrest Roth Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 9, 2015 at 6:56 PM Updated Aug 11, 2015 at 9:26 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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