Hey there Degaz, can you briefly introduce yourself to everyone since I think you’re quite undercover - not a lot of people will know you and your role within Tundra!
Sure, my name is Platon (like the Greek guy!) also known as Degaz. I’m a 21 year old Finnish data science student who is passionate about data analytics. I somehow found myself at this event as an analyst for Tundra Esports.
Great, and how do you interface with the team? Who do you work with primarily?
I work directly with Moonmeander, but also with the players - primarily Pure and Whitemon.
Analysts work differently within teams - what does the workflow look like in Tundra? Do they approach you with a question and you do research for them, or are you proactively researching your own topics and presenting ideas to them?
More the former. Normally they text me with a topic like “what’s the best thing against Lone Druid? (for example)” and based on stats I look up immortal stats, pubs, and all the data we have and write out an essay of ideas.
When I do preparation for specific teams I sometimes put in my own ideas, like insights that I’ve seen from them – for example what they pick and how they can be focused on. It’s always up to the team to decide but I think with more experience within pro teams that can change. I also make printouts for the team to take into the booth.
Tundra made a last-minute change from 9Class to Saksa because of visa issues. Did this affect your preparation at all? Did you feel he was a good replacement for the team?
To be honest, nothing important changed. The only thing that changed was that 9Class wasn’t putting thumbs-up emoji on my Discord messages, that’s it haha! Yeah, Saksa was a good replacement.
The International is nearly over, and that means there’s going to be lots of changes – we’re already hearing rumours of players moving from team to team. Do you have any strong ties to any players, coaches, or to Tundra the organisation for next season? Do you want to keep on doing the role you’re doing, or are you wanting to be more like a coach-analyst?
I’m unsure, still looking at the options. Most of the larger teams have a dedicated coach, and then a secondary role could be anywhere between an assistant coach, an analyst, or even just a scout. For example TheChosenOne in Cloud9 - he’s way more of a coach than anything else, applying his knowledge of the game way more than underlying data or statistics.
I’d like to have a very flexible role within the team. I’m still not sure which sort of “specialisation” I’d like, but I know that I want more personal connections to the team. I didn’t have that much of a personal connection to Tundra, even though I worked with the players.
How many events have you been to this season? Is this your first big LAN or have you been to more?
I’ve been working with the teams only since Riyadh, and this is the first one I’ve been on-site with them.
From a statistics and technical perspective, there’ve been a few new changes to Dota 2 in the last few years - most recently with Facets. In general, do you like the idea of more complicated mechanics and choices, or do you think they’re not necessary in a game as complex as Dota 2?
No, no, no … whatever makes the game more interesting is going to make it more complex. And there is actually a hard balance between complexity and enjoyment, and Valve's addition of Facets was an amazing idea.
How much time do you think you’re spending preparing for each match?
I’d say several hours but it depends a lot on what extra stuff players request. Sometimes just basic things are generating printouts where I have tools to speed it up. If players have more complex ideas then it can take much longer.
Related to the work you do, but from a different angle - in traditional sports there’s a more heavy focus on derived statistics to enhance the viewing experience. For example, in baseball you’ll see so many statistics and scores when you’re watching a broadcast. Do you think Dota is in need of a sort of ‘next generation’ of advanced statistics in the broadcast?
I’m a big fan of F1, and it’s one of the most data-wise sports right now. There’s so much data presented about tire changes and everything, and they even get sponsored by Amazon for presenting this. I think it makes people more interested in watching for sure.
In Dota, maybe more heatmaps would be interesting - so for example where players are at minute seven because that’s when the wisdom runes spawn. Heatmaps are the best way to show information but it’s like the worst for analysis because it doesn’t give you anything useful by itself. It inspires a question which needs more analysis.
With players, you need to do a careful job explaining statistics to the coach and players.
Do you think MoonMeander does a good job of acting as that interface between you and the players? Taking in your insights and giving the key action points to the team?
Yeah I think so, he’s an amazing guy. Top three at TI was a great result.
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