The competitive DotA legacy was started by American teams. Some notable teams at the time were Plug (compLexity), Apex (JaX Money Crew), ADA (Team Pandemic) and WaC (verGe/eMazing Gaming). These were the few American teams that really knew their game. From the basic last hitting, denying and lane controlling to the complex team strategies, these teams had it all. The DotA community can't help but wonder, what happened to that era?

The very first CAL Season of DotA turned out to be a huge success. The next season brought hundreds of new teams trying to earn the number one spot. After countless breathtaking matches from top DotA teams, Apex came through and became the first CAL DotA champions. However, as time went on, these few American teams that really stood out from the rest fell apart. There needs to be more strong/stable and committed American DotA teams to once again reign online tournaments.

Pu "Whisper" Liu from team eMazing Gaming argued about the difference in cultures between America and Europe. He is currently working with the managers of eMg gaming to bring North America's first large LAN tournament.

"American DotA hasn't kept up with the rest of the world partially because of the difference in cultures." Americans keep their gaming habits more hidden unlike Europeans who embrace a gaming lifestyle. "Hardcore gaming is still a social stigma in the United States while it is more embraced in Europe and especially in Asia. While you will rarely see European players use "real life>DotA" as an excuse for poor play or inactivity, most Americans use it all the time."

Higher level teams need to be able to schedule scrimmages with each other for American DotA to be revived. Most players (teams) like to resort to the popular InHouse Leagues for their daily DotA games. There are a few IRC channels dedicated to advertise for clan wars. It has become apparent however, that European teams scrim more than American teams. InHouse Leagues should setup a clan war system much like the one TDA League used to have.

Miky "Samurai" Chea expressed his thoughts about the lack of respect for DotA. Miky recently left team Check Six before it was disbanded.

"North American DotA has been around for a bit, but it hasn't been taken too seriously. Teams like compLexity and Check-6 have done a great job incorporating them." Due to the lack of acknowledgement, he feels American players move on because of it. "However, they get the low end of the stick and their players become occupied with real life issues."

He believes there are a number of reasons adding to this problem. "Bringing that issue up, the potential of having an American DotA organization sponsoring a team that is likely to die is quite low. In my opinion, we just aren't taken seriously enough. I'm sure sponsors think that DotA is a short term thing in America. Over in Europe they have LAN Tournaments that you can just walk to, prize pools that are decent or better, and the audience to watch it."

There are many reasons behind the downfall of American DotA, such as no Large LAN events (Dreamhack and ASUS for example). Fachh, the leader of Pandemic, even mentioned his team's lack of motivation to practice because there were no events for the team to attend. Although more LAN events would help teams practice, Americans cannot solely blame this for their steady downfall though it is a main reason. If teams stay active, participate in online leagues and stay together, the events will come.

Dean "eMg.York" Malmberg analyzed the changes American DotA has seen since the early stages of CAL. Dean traveled to CPL Winter 2006 for the DotA tournament with his team, CLC. There he met the guys from eMg and joined the team shortly after.

"American DotA has been on the decline since cal season 2 after all of the major sponsors picked up teams." After the first generation of sponsored DotA arose, many fell apart. The biggest surprise to the community was the fall of Complexity DotA. "When it first caught the publics attention, it was when Complexity disbanded. Many people had come to think of coL as the premiere DotA team in America (debatable), but it is undeniable that they were a strong presence in the community. After the fall of complexity, almost all of the season 1 cal team sponsored teams were disbanded due to a variety of reasons."

For actual proof, there is a Chicago LAN that is currently being planned for late December. Team Pandemic, thought to be dead in the past, has come out of inactivity and plans on attending. MYM plans to fly out some members all the way from Europe to attend the LAN. With the successful completion of this LAN, American DotA will be back on track to catch up to its European counterpart.

Larry "Fachh" Li has been the long time leader of the Pandemic DotA team. When Pandemic DotA announced it's break, Fachh expressed the team's lack of motivation and the reasons for their break.

"I think DOTA in general isn't growing as fast because a large part of the map making crew is catering to the non-league crowd. Many changes are made for public play." Their biggest problem was the lack of events to attend to. "Secondly, a lack of a major LAN tournament was a disappointing blow for many teams including Pandemic. Once we realized CPL/WSVG weren't happening for DotA we lost the drive to stay at the top of our game. Finally, QQ for me."

What is going to happen to American DotA? Will the main gaming sponsors finally realize that DotA is truly an eSport game? Will American players start taking the game seriously? DotA LANs are starting to be a little more popular, however there has yet to be a major tournament resembling that of Dreamhack.

Andre "Hit0mi" Semmler claims there are two ways American DotA can go. Andre has been apart of a few American powerhouse teams such as Pandemic and Check Six.

"I think we're at a point right now where there will either be large restruction in the NA Dota Clan scene, part of which has happened already." He looks at the recent changes in the community as well as upcoming events. "There has been the disbanding of x6, major roster changes on verge, addition of old experienced members to hi2u and possible remake of tpd. Either that or DotA in NA will fail as a whole for this season. Now which one of these 2 possibilities is going to become reality is highly dependent on how these 4-5 clans (i think XsK's performance will have an influence on this whole thing too) will do in the next 2-3 mym prides and other tourneys."

A few sponsors have stepped up, and shown their true support for DotA, those being eMazing Gaming, Check Six, Verge and Team Pandemic. We can only hope that American players step it up again to revive American DotA's legacy.

We would like to thank aWe)FoX for helping me write this article!