Which team are we going to fight with?

This is a very basic question but I realized that pro players take advantage of knowing their opponents. They analyze opponent's previous strategies and predict what would their heroes be in their encounter. Lately, Kuroky said in his interview: "Well, Puppey and I try to create new strategies to surprise our opponents for a match. Mostly we think about different styles, patches and heroes etc. For example, against LGD, I watched their last 20 replays to predict their picks and style, and I actually had a 100% accurate prediction on their bans, and 80% on their picks, and I guessed their lanes again 100% right."

What strategy are we going to use?

Pro players can either rely on a strong strategy they have or counter pick their opponents. In most cases, it is a combination of having their own strategy and countering opponent's pick but they are mostly different. They don't want to be predictable.

Do we have enough strategies?

In tournaments, pro players are always prepared with at least 3 strategies. The first one should be enough to pawn everyone, the second would be an alternative in cases the first strategy is countered or the opponents simply ban the key heroes of that line up. The 3rd one would be for finals. It would often be best of 3 or something making you needs another strategy. Having more teams in a tournament requires you to be equipped with more strategies.

What are my Advantages/Disadvantages?

This is the first question pro players ask themselves in games. This is why they buy items like more branches if they are low hp, they buy more clarity for mana dependent hero, buy more flask if his hero is prone to harassment. This is also why they change play styles in different types of hero. If they are using early painful heroes, they tend to play aggressive and ensure that opponents won’t be farming more gold. When they are using heroes like spectre, their focus would be on how to get more creeps but they still mind supports when they initiate.

What are my opponent's strengths and weaknesses?

The best DotA players in the world detect opponents’ strengths and weaknesses quickly that they control most of their games they play. May it be individual hero, team combo or player's gaming nature, pro players are aware of them.

How to win my lane?

These pro players have great desire to win their lanes that's why they would usually counter opponent’s hero from the hero picking phase. Once they're on their lanes, they won’t allow opponents to have a free lane. They would usually disturb opponents with their goals which for now is also to win their lanes and to farm.

Should I stay or should I roam?

Choosing when to gank and when to stick to lane is very crucial for serious games. From my observations experienced players tend to dominate their own lanes first before roaming to dominate other lanes. Sometimes, when it is impossible to dominate a lane because of poor pick, they tend to roam early to make sure they win other lanes. Sometimes, players focus on one lane, making it impossible for the opponent's hardcore carry to farm. Other questions that come up after this are these: Do other lanes need help? Do they have wards? Do we have the potential to destroy opponent's trilane combo? Who should initiate? Who goes next? These are questions you should consider too to take your game to higher level.

Where are my opponents?

Pro players ask this question to be able to know where they should go. If they think that the opponents might be hiding nearby for ganks, they would either play passively or ask for assistance to take advantage of the opponents wanting to gank by killing them instead. They also want to know where are their opponents to be able to gank them at this stage. Pro players never want to give any gold to their opponents. They try to limit their free farm place as few as possible. They also ask this question to answer the following question: to push or not to push?

Push or Not?

Pro teams want to destroy opponent's tower as fast as possible to gain gold and map advantage but they still ask this question to make sure they won’t get in trouble. If their opponents have early advantage, more likely they won’t push and fight 5v6. Yup: 5 enemy heroes + 1 enemy tower. If they happen to take down a key hero for the opponent, they would often decide to push.

What's his next move?

In a fight, great players would often predict opponent's next move and act according to their judgments. You saw how pro players dodge skills perfectly in their DotA videos. Their goal is not to make a DotA video. Their goal is to evade most of the opponent's skills as much as possible to make them harder to be killed.

How should I react?

They think of situations right before it happens. They judge the heroes combo. What if they are caught, what would be their means of survival? What would they do if a team mate is disabled and focused fire at? What would they do if a shadow fiend with haste suddenly appears behind them? What would they do if they are silenced? Preparation is always better than impromptu.

Is it a bait?

They would always think whether to attack a lone hero or not. They know that they can be wiped out in no time if that hero happened to be bait. Sometimes, I saw them attack bait if they have a follow up plan to attack the entire team, like when they are having a hungry Earthshaker waiting for them to pile up.

Which hero should we take down first?

Plans before clash always have this question present. Who to kill first? They would normally go for the key heroes that are easy to take down. They never plan on taking down a Bristleback first. They may attack a high hp hero if he is offering a free hit or to deceive the opponents making them think that they are going for that hero but when they finally showed up, change targets will happen.

Where should I position?

I believe that success in DotA is all about positioning. Pro players would always want to be in places they should be. It's like a chess game. Your key hero is your Queen. You shouldn't trade that for any lower rank army. Your tanks are your pawns. They should serve the defense and they should make it easy for the team to attack. Supports are your bishops and horse. They should be able to attack as well as to trap opponents. Other carries are your rooks. They should be in perfect place to aid the key hero in getting kills or have the kill by themselves.

Do we have the upper hand?

Late game is decided by early game. If your early game is not that good most probably you are in a level and item gap against your opponents. They ask this question to know if they can play offensive or should they play defensive game.

Can I pressure lanes?

There are heroes that have escape mechanisms that can pressure lanes making it harder for opponents to push but they still consider if they can survive if opponents start to attack. What if opponents have Kunkka? It would be one X-mark away to win the game, especially if that hero cannot buy back.

How can we end the game?

Ending the game is easy if you defeat your opponents badly in items and level. You can just go directly to their frozen throne after stepping on them. But, if the game is a close match, it's not that easy. Sometimes pro players tend to push all lanes to avoid AOE nukes and to pressure the opponent. Sometimes, they hunt first. There are tons of different endings in a DotA game and mostly it is dramatic that's why DotA is such a fun game.

How many times have you said, "Sorry, i thought he was alone."? You got killed by 5 enemies because you tried to kill a worm but it happened to be bait. Unless you can kill him in a second and you can escape safely, it would be fine. But, in reality, you are not playing in 'whosyourdaddy' mode. You have to conceptualize or you have to visualize things happening in your mind before it actually happen. Conceptualizing won’t make players die often because of bait. They would look at the map and after realizing that there is only one opponent displaying himself, they would make an assumption that the other heroes might be hiding through the fog. This assumption makes him don't want to touch that bait. If you want to play aggressively have wards so you'll know when it's bait and when it's not.

Have you ever made a blind arrow on a hero trying to run? To be able to do this, you have to visualize the movement of the enemy and the movement of your arrow. You also have to consider POTM's animation first before releasing her arrow. A good conceptualization makes you successful with your arrows. Not only playing POTM needs this, there are a lot of heroes that can hit invisible enemies like lina, sf, beastmaster, qop, krob, etc. You don't want a hero escaping from you with only 5hp, do you? So have a built in map hack inside your brain which is a good conceptualization.

In playing the captain's role, you need this trait a lot. A captain should imagine the how the game would end. He/she must be end-oriented in every game. Several questions are to be considered by him. Can the game be ended having the heroes you picked in 30mins? What if the opponents got fat? Can it be ended using multiple pushes? What are their counters? How would the team fights be? How would the ganking/ganging be? Good vision of the game is very important in being a highly effective player.

This is actually the most important trait of an effective DotA Player. Having great predictions would make you have successful team fights and lesser deaths. Predicting opponent's next move is very important in most competitions. May it be chess, basketball, or boxing, prediction wins games. Why? Because you know how you would counter a move before it is done. You have to think 2 steps ahead. "If he does that, I’ll do this". The following are some instances that consider anticipation. "If the enemy pushes, we're going to stab them from behind and kill their earthshaker without giving him a chance to move." "If they respond using their disables, I'm going to turn my BKB on." "I would attack him first because he will use his dagger of escape to dodge my magic missile." "I will reserve my coil in this gank because he has teleport scroll and may just tp out from my face." These simple predictions make you have corresponding plans to counter it. Having plans is way more effective than not. You may have seen Hexor placed a torrent where a fighting-for-her-life mirana will surely leap after getting stunned. It is fun to watch players like him who understands the game and evades most damages/disables if possible. He who enters the fight when he knows he won’t enter then dies in one second - every skill that can stop him like stuns are programmed in his head. Once those skills are done by the opponents and it's in cool down time, he acts and does his role. Prediction is easy if you're not day dreaming. You should be alert. Know what might be the dangers in doing your next move. There might be a ganker on the uphill waiting for you to show up. Dying is very crucial. Enemies will have extra gold from your death and from your absence on the lane.

Benjamin Franklin said, "He that can have patience, can have what he will." What does patience really mean? Patience is not waiting passively, it is laziness. Patience is the ability to keep going even the going is hard and slow. A patient man doesn't give up. In the game of DotA, there are just several ways to win fights. I notice players ran out of morale after losing a clash. Losing your confidence is like removing your guard and waiting for the killer blow to be thrown on you. If you lost a clash, think why you did and try another one emitting that error. An example would be you lost a clash because your main carry, a Nevermore, was stunned to death in 3 secs. Next clash, try baiting the enemy with other heroes who have greater tanking ability and make your Shadow Fiend enter the battle after the enemy throw some of their skills. If you don't have tanks, you may try to place observer wards on blind spots and initiate the fight first so you can make a hero or two die without having any use. Patience is so important in this game. Rush the fights without planning; you'll be most likely to have your hero inside the tavern.

Ganking needs a lot of patience. Players tend to say "Ok, I won't gank there are observer wards." Then after 25mins, your team is losing because of an over-farmed enemy Tinker. Ganking wins early game, thus giving you more advantage at mid and late game. So gold spent for sentry wards wouldn't be wasted if you end up winning. After all, supports are picked to have map control and give advantage to your team's carry heroes. Expensive items are not required for support heroes for they already have useful skills for ganks and team fights.

Farming needs a lot of patience too. It doesn't mean that you die often, you won't get fat. Take a look at the legendary player ZSMJ, whose sacred relic was destroyed by the opposing team but didn't get affected. Instead he farmed another one. And it was a quick one. People known him for being a farming machine and one of the things that makes him one is his patience. If opposing heroes are missing, he would play passively and wait for a safe environment before he gets back to farming. He doesn't die often because of "I want to prove that I can farm fast!". 

"The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom." -James Allen

This game is a battle of minds. Concentration is very important in this game because in your mind should be predictions of enemies' plans, your plans of attacks, your plans of escape, and your next move after one move. If you start to panic, the main focus of your mind would be to run when being chased; to throw skills all at once without plans when in a battle; to attack when being pushed. Your mind being one sided is very easy for opponents to predict. Thus your move becomes close to useless. I have watched players who are being chased and run straight through the fountain making him easier for the opponents to chase. Most calm players know that they can use fogs, trees, or they can run to their nearest team mate, or disable the stunner that can catch him, or even kill the one chasing him. Survival needs tranquility. Panicking makes you do what a 5 year old kid would do if a ganker is chasing you. Being calm thus makes you think and predict that opponents may be approaching to gank you. Prevention, really, is better than cure. Prevent being ganked is better than surviving a gank. It is alright to display on the map if back ups are ready to kill your gankers or you have reliable skills/items that will make you survive.

Professional teams entering tournaments always have a surprise hero picks or strategies to beat their strongest opponents. Other teams will watch your games before you even face them thus they are prepared for whatever they've seen. If you're going to do the same thing, they have their counter picks or strategies that focus on your game plan's weaknesses. Almost all things in DotA have counters and good players will utilize these counters to beat their opponents. I watched a local team played very good games. They end the games they played in 30 minutes or less. Their main hero was Axe. Then the finals had come. The game started. -cm was typed. Tic tac tic tac. Turn of their opponent to ban... First ban... Axe... After the game, the team I watched and admired a lot lost. I happened to be that this team didn't have a surprise plan. They were predictable. They really do plan to use Axe until finals.

Team fights and ganks are often studied by good players right after they are picked. So, doing same old ganking and battle styles gives you low chance of winning because these players already experienced them and know how to counter them. Example, you are playing scourge. You have a tri-lane at the bottom and so as the sentinel. The sentinel predicted those scourges will gank mid, so they placed an observer ward where you are going to pass. Then here you come "let's gang mid". You pass through their ward. Now, the sentinel's supports move through the fog behind you. The mid hero bluffs you that he will farm the neutral creeps but before you can make a move, they cornered and killed you both. This is a basic counter for ganking. Some uses TP save. The main point is don't think that the enemies are not learning, especially those good players. You should have several alternatives and choose the best move in given situations.

Michael Jordan, a great basketball player as well as a trash talker, once said "I know the game so well that I can psych out people making it easier to beat them." Once your emotions take over, your focus will be greatly affected. Getting angry at an enemy would lead you to be aggressive in a wrong way. You may tend to gank that enemy without considering that he has backups. You may tend to focus him on a clash first even if his hero is Bristleback with 100K hp. Getting upset with a team mate may have you not save him on some circumstances. When you're having a hard lane and your upset with yourself because you cannot farm, you may tend to rush farming and end up 0-10 in 5mins. This is a mind game not a heart game. You should use your mind to try to win not your heart to whine when losing. Yes, it may not be your fault when you lose but this is a multiple player game. Losing is bitter for those who swallow it. You can choose your response in any situation. There are several people who can't control their emotions. When they lose, it's like an automatic switch for their anger. They have the program --if lose turn anger.exe on-- in their system. Anger comes from selfishness. Not getting what one wants is it's root. You can choose not to be angry or upset in any situation. It's called being proactive.

Learn from your or other player's errors. Simply playing 100 games per day won’t get you better if you are not critical with your errors and you don't work to avoid doing those again. In losing games there are errors you need to find out. Some errors are obvious, some needs more analysis but generally, these errors are present. After you find out what are the errors that cause a game, a gank, or a team fight to end up a 'lose'. You need to learn how to avoid it and do the right things. "Gems cannot be polished without friction." It is natural to make a lot of errors if you want to be a better player. After several errors made and corrected, a Gosu will be born. Experience is your teacher, not your worst nightmare. Like a teacher, you should know exactly what it is trying to convey to you. Not a nightmare that you don't want to go through it again. Losing is like going to class. Some doesn't want to come but those who sacrificed and come to class every day, learned a lot. After several classes, here comes graduation. Graduation, in this case, is your award of being a Highly Effective DotA Player.

Winning was so difficult for us back then. We were panicking and praying that our carry would get farmed up to carry us to victory. But, when I read Maelk's comments on games, he pointed out that in every hero line up, there's a hole. You should find out what's that hole and beat the team using that hole. It is taking advantage of your opponents' weaknesses. Maelk was so good in detecting and countering opposing team's plans and strategies. I tried to study every hero line ups for quite some time and realized that we could really have won easily the games we played before if we played focusing on opposing team's weaknesses. Hero picking contributes a big part of winning. Before the game is played, you'll see how Maelk already beat the opposing team seeing the hero picks. Combined with the team's great talent, he became a well known deadly strategist.

From being arguably the best Queen of Pain player before, he switched to playing support roles and still own. His Chen is the only type of Chen I can't imitate. His level of aggressiveness is simply incredible that he can be safe in every ganks but would still contribute a lot. His versatility lead his team to having fun games and a lot of wins.

One thing I observe on how the MYM became successful is Maelk's great Charisma. The team appreciates him for having great wit and leadership skills. Maelk would show the team how to execute the game plays. He would show the level of play style for them to reach. Inspiring your team makes them want to play more with you and will have an urge to improve.

In an interview, MYM|Mania said: "Of course I think he(Maelk) is the best captain, else I wouldn't play with him through all these years. His strength is his way to think outside the box in a lot of situations in the game, he’s good at taking the quick decisions that occurs through a game, and many times we win because of these tactical moves."

Maelk is a captain who is open for suggestions. He respects the opinions of his team mates. He weighs things up first before making decision. This is the difference between leading and managing. Leading is making your team mates want to do your plans while managing is forcing your team mates to do your plans. It became a lot of fun for all of us when I started switching from managing to leading. I believe that a team is stronger if they all desire a single goal.

Yes, DotA forums are not made for nothing. These are made for discussions towards improvement. Maelk would always read then you'd see him post comments to clarify and enlighten people's minds. Seek help. It's good to be independent but you will find useful things on forums because there would be experienced people who may already have solved problems or queries like what you have now. It is best to learn from others errors for you don't have to undergo the same bitter experience to improve.

It is from Maelk that I realize that there is more to farming, ganking, pushing and winning. There are tons of points to analyze and critically understand. Without him, I'd treat DotA like tetris and I wouldn't be here blogging stuffs about DotA. Every answer from his interview was all new to me and I tried to treat DotA the same way he treated it. One great ability of a leader is being able to solve mysteries for the team. Your team mates may not understand why in the world you have lost. A good leader will find it out and clarify everything to his team mates. Maelk is definitely that kind of leader.

He was the one who formulated MYM's strategy. He analyzes every hero and concluded on what may be the best play style to win games. He is like a hero line up scientist. His strategies are from his own ideas. He was never afraid to try something new. Whenever he feels like a strategy would be successful, he goes for it. Examples are: pudge omniknight lane. This was even used in an important tournament. I remember him saying that he used this strategy because it would be great to try having a free radiance in early game. He also introduces Bradwarden in DotA scene. He also formulated the triple push strategy. Where they defeated an AOE focused team by pushing 3 lanes at the same time. This trapped the opponents at their base having hard time to defend. It is one of the best games I ever watched.

Most people who hated him for being cocky didn't realize that MYM's strength relies greatly on Maelk's confidence. His confidence made his team mates more at ease in the game. Leading a DotA team is a big responsibility. You should have the right amount of confidence because no one will trust you if you, yourself, is in doubt of your skills. Honestly, in the first DotA tournaments we participated at, I was so nervous. I feel like vomiting out of fear. I was the captain and I know top teams are included. I was so afraid to let my team mates down. They were nervous too. So, I was a useless leader because I should be the one making them calm. Good thing I became a follower of Maelk. I changed a lot and lead my team mates to being better players and win a lot of tournaments.

In games where plans have great chance of failing, you should know how to make quick adjustments to still have the game running on your side. This is one trait of Maelk that even his team mates can prove. His judgments are simply so perfect every time, making him decide the best things for the team to do. Teams with leaders like him are so lucky because there will be less confusion and they can act at once. In this game, time is just too precious to be wasted on thinking what to do next. Situations change quickly. Opportunities passes by in a blink of an eye.

We were all dreaming of becoming a great DotA team but we never thought it would be possible. Dreaming is good but if you take no action it is a total waste of time. Pursue your dreams. If you want to reach the moon, go. If you fail, you'd still end up reaching the stars. Maelk didn't directly say this but you'll realize it after seeing his hard work in analyzing each and every heroes to formulate strategies. He worked hard practicing with his team mates that made MYM one of the most successful teams in DotA.

I might have been quite nostalgic about the history of MYM and myself but these 10 things I learned from Maelk had inspired me a lot to become a better player and leader. Right attitude is important in DotA and he can inspire you a lot too to have these winning traits. There may be a lot of other good teams right now you can learn from but I think there is no one who shares a lot of insights like Maelk.