Every year around the time of The International I try to start playing DOTA 2 again, and this year has been no different. I’ve played a few online matches since TI7, and for the most part my performance has been terrible. With the way they’ve changed the game to engage new players I’m only allowed to pick from 20 heroes, and the two I’ve played the most as, Doom and Chaos Knight are off limits. So I’ve been playing as Juggernaut, and although I feel like I’ve started getting the hang of him, I haven’t been able to contribute much to my teams. I pretty much play really conservatively and try to keep my lane pushed, but I don’t like engaging with enemy players.

I’ve played around with a few solo bot matches as I’ve tried to get a better grip on Juggernaut’s abilities, and the game I finished up a few minutes ago has been my best one to date. I got more kills than I think I ever have during a DOTA match, and even got my first killing spree. To be fair, I’m playing against easy bots, but it still felt good to win a match where I think I contributed something. I’m sure I still played poorly, but maybe I’ll get better before I lose interest again. Maybe.