Gaming
The race to 9k is over as Miracle- hits the stunning milestone first – we’ve got the interview.
It has taken some time, but we finally have our very first 9,000 MMR. It’s not who some people would have predicted though, with players such as 'Badman' getting close, but ultimately not making it across the line. Badman was of course famous for playing Spectre in most, if not all games but with the recent introduction of 6.87 the hero is not quite as strong as it used to be and as a result he has not been able to sustain his charge. Ultimately with the introduction of a new gameplay patch and the 'pub-stomping' heroes yet to be discovered, Amer 'Miracle-' al-Barqawi’s achievement is even more impressive.
The game that took him over the line was played on Anti-Mage and instead of the traditional Battle Fury build he went for a fighting build including even a surprise Shadow Blade pick up later in the game. He finished the game with a score of 16 kills, two deaths and 14 assists to become the very first player to reach the coveted 9,000 MMR.
Miracle-’s achievement came whilst OG are in Moscow, competing at the Epicenter LAN. We managed to catch up briefly with Miracle- and find out just how good it feels to be the best player in the world.
Miracle-, on being the first player to reach 9k MMR, said that “it feels really good. I have been thinking about it for a long time now and it has finally happened”. His final game to take him over the 9,000 line was watched by his OG team-mates in their practice room at the Epicenter LAN, but Amer’s concentration was not swayed.
He told us: “I was completely in the zone. I couldn’t hear anything my team-mates were saying behind me because I was so focussed on winning the game. My heart was beating so fast”. The team at Epicenter promised a special surprise for Miracle- should he reach 9,000 MMR whilst at the tournament and sure enough Miracle- informed us that “they sent champagne to our practice room last night. I have heard there are more surprises, but I don’t know what they are yet.”
When Valve first released the ranked system, 6,000 MMR was considered to be extremely impressive. To any normal player, 6,000 MMR is still a dream – but players at the top level continue to push the boundaries and achieve higher and higher MMR. We asked Miracle- if his next step was to push for a staggering 10,000 MMR, but even in his position as the world’s top pub player, he’s uncertain – it may even be beyond his control.
“I don’t know,” he admits. “The biggest challenge is definitely my queue time; it takes forever for me to find a game now.”
While in a previous interview Amer conceded that he generally stays quiet, plays his own game and doesn’t talk to his team-mates in pub games, the game to cross the 9k line was different.
“I was try-harding quite a bit in the game that took me to 9k. I was telling my team-mates exactly what to do and where to go. I really wanted to win,” says the usually quiet Miracle-.
With the new meta now really beginning to take shape, we asked Miracle- to provide some advice for any mortal Dota players on how to climb the ladder. His top tip? “Don’t give up and keep playing”. The heroes for this meta? “Slark and Tinker.”
The majority of the Dota world will never even reach half of Miracle’s MMR and that’s what makes his latest accolade all the more amazing, but it’s reassuring to know that it’s straight forward advice like this that got him to where he is – now who’s next? The race is on.
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