Throughout history, DOTA 2 and League of Legends have always been two games that can be said to be rivals. In fact, the reason lies in the fact that both are MOBA genres, with identical mechanics: divided into two teams, each team has 5 players, and the one that destroys the opponent’s Nexus first wins. Moreover, both DOTA 2 and League of Legends draw a lot of inspiration or are based on the original DotA game from Blizzard. Therefore, conflicts are hard to avoid. Even the biggest tournaments for the two games, the World Championship and The International, occur very closely together.
Recently, a “comical” incident occurred when Mason – a former professional DOTA 2 player who participated in TI 2014 and TI 2017 – had a rather unfortunate “experience” with League of Legends. Specifically, he played League of Legends against bots, choosing the champion Tristana in the Bottom Lane. However, in a surprising turn of events, Mason was taken down by the opposing bot duo Caitlyn – Zilean. Immediately after this incident, he exited the game instantly.
But more notably, Mason did not forget to assert that League of Legends is “terrible” because the bots in League of Legends are too good. “I will exit right away. I refuse this game,” Mason stated in frustration. His actions not only failed to “bring down” League of Legends but also made many viewers laugh because he played a simple champion but still got taken down. And the one who defeated him was a bot – which is always considered extremely weak in League of Legends.
Previously, Mason was also well-known as a rather hot-tempered player. He frequently directed criticisms towards League of Legends. In fact, Mason had been banned by Valve for violating the publisher’s rules. At that time, the former player sent a heartfelt letter to Valve but to no avail. The punishment was still enforced, but currently, Valve has allowed Mason to create another DOTA 2 account to play the game.
Each game, whether DOTA 2 or League of Legends, has its common features but also distinct characteristics that create its own appeal to the gaming community. Comparing or “putting down” any game will not result in fair competition, especially as it can sometimes have a negative impact on the community of that game.