Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.
Fun Fact
Kazakhstan’s Minister of Communications and Informatics has blocked the Tumblr site because it contained 60 sites of terrorism, extremism, and pornography in 2015.
A bunch of photos! I do not use AI, I take all my photos on a Canon Rebel ti7 and then edit stuff in Apple's photos app. I just happen to enjoy make photos that are messed up. Enjoy the messed up reality I present~
Paparazi retires from Dota 2, leaving Xtreme Gaming without legendary laner before TI12
With Zhang "Paparazi" Chengjun bidding farewell and leaving Xtreme Gaming to enter an early retirement, the Chinese Dota 2 community is saying goodbye to yet another renowned player. One of the most productive midlaners in Chinese Dota, Paparazi spent years guiding a fledgling iG Vitality team before emerging as one of Vici Gaming's greatest threats. He participated in four consecutive editions of The International, beginning with TI7, before XG just missed qualifying for TI11 last season.
Since that failed qualifier run, XG has failed to live up to their hype in what started 2023 out as a weakened China region. Even with a strong overall roster led by Ding “Dy” Cong, the team only qualified for a single Major this season and was eliminated in Berlin during round one of the playoffs.
https://twitter.com/Tr1H4rd3rDota2/status/1685923686606688257
Without enough points to qualify directly for TI12 this season, and a poor 15th placement at Riyadh Masters 2023 against a field of soon-to-be TI competitors, it appears Paparazi had seen enough to know his days at the top of Dota were at an end. Though, according to his retirement announcement on July 31, this was something he actually wanted to do prior to this season.
XG noted on Weibo that Paparazi notified the team he wanted to retire following TI11’s conclusion last October—reportedly due to physical issues that limited his ability to play in some way. No details were shared, but the veteran seemingly remained with the team this season because they needed him to do so, though we will have to see if this retirement actually sticks.
This is not the first time rumors of Paparazi walking away from the competitive scene have popped up, and according to CN Dota In a Nutshell, he talked about retiring as recently as July 5.
https://twitter.com/ChrisTEC96/status/1676551509356544000
Multiple other pros and former pros like Somnus also commented on Paparazi’s situation prior to this announcement, noting that he is still a fantastic player but “is defeated by himself in some ways.” Even his current teammate XinQ reportedly said that Paparazi “doesn’t want to play anymore” right before Riyadh started.
https://twitter.com/Tr1H4rd3rDota2/status/1677854124480811008
With Paparazi’s retirement, XG has signed Piggy Killer midlaner Guo “Xm” Hongcheng ahead of China’s TI qualifiers. He is a veteran player who has bounced around between teams like Vici and EHOME since 2017, which will hopefully translate to a quick introduction.
This could also be great news for teams like Team Aster, Invictus Gaming, and Azure Ray since one of their rivals now has to swap players at the last second—potentially opening an easier path to secure the final spot for the region at TI12 when the qualifiers start on Aug. 17.
Read the full article
Here’s what I’ve been working on for the last 3 months!
A hand animated TI7 short film contest entry that tells us all how Juggernaut really got that fancy new arcana of his.
This was made possible with the help of @hexcolour, @wudgiefudgie, and @bladeofavilliva
sorry for the lack of content, but this has been a huge undertaking!
Dota 2’s TI11 Prize Pool Hits $18 Million, But It’s Far Too Late To Catch The Record
The final day of The International 2022 is here and the reception to the related battle pass content has cooled significantly after initially being bashed. However, that initial reaction along with the lack of content driving sales has led to the TI11 prize pool falling so far behind the pace of previous years that it is now impossible for it to catch up.
Following a large uptick in sales, thanks partially to an influx of players from The International 2022 Swag Bag giveaway that saw the game break one million players for the first time in three years, TI11’s prize pool has surpassed $18 million—and is well on its way to crack $19 million too.
This is a marked improvement from the stagnation in growth the prize pool was experiencing before TI11 began, but it isn’t enough to make a difference in the historical standings for both the event and esport as a whole.
Unlike previous years, the 2022 Battle Pass is only adding to the TI11 prize pool for half of its runtime, ending when Part I of its content concludes on Nov. 2. From there, the 25 percent of each purchase that would have gone to the prize pool will instead go directly to Valve—something that the community has been very vocal about when bashing the content lineup for this battle pass.
Due to this cut in time, along with the largely lacking content to push initial sales, TI11 will be the first event in 10 years of The International to not surpass the previous year’s total.
There is absolutely no chance, outside of Valve deciding to extend the pay in period or drop a chunk of cash itself, that TI11 can break TI10’s record-setting $40,018,400 total, the first esports tournament to ever break the $40 million mark. Not only that, but at this pace, TI11 likely won’t even crack the top five esports tournaments of all time in total prize pool.
As it stands, with $18,773,139 in prizing based on $17,173,139 contributed to the base $1.6 million total, TI11 just beats out TI5 for the sixth largest prize pool in esports history, according to Esports Earnings. At best based on the current projections, the most recent event might be able to catch TI6’s $20,770,460 total, but TI7’s $24,687,919 appears too far out of reach.
Even after infusing some life into the 2022 Battle Pass with a new limited level bundle, the TI11 Swag Bag giveaway, and some other small improvements, it seems like the TI-growth streak snaps at 10 years. It is poetic, in a way, that the event’s 10-year anniversary will be the one to hold the record heading into the future, but this decrease does have some fans worried about the competitive future of Dota even with Valve’s recent reassurances.
Read the full article