About Raza (Jeff)
Hi, my name is Jeff, aka “Raza”. I was born in a small town in Greece in the early 90s. It wasn’t the most significant era, but I remember the first day that an internet café opened. Every kid in the neighborhood jumped in to unlock this new world. A month later, I remember when my best friend asked me… “Wanna play Dota?” “What’s that?” I responded.
It didn’t take me long enough to get hooked on the game.
Years later, sitting and typing all this, this very “simple” game is part of who I am, and it’s part of my personality; it’s my hobby. Being from a kid to a high school student, jumping into University, and now working full time, this very thing has accompanied me all the way. There was only one problem…I was not good.
Hitting a Wall
For years, I was pretty mediocre. When the MMR system first got introduced, I calibrated at the Ancient level. I would hover around the 4k bracket since I recall myself. I was stuck there. Literally stuck. Occasionally, I would hit 5k and then…BOOM
Lose Streak.
I was playing at the Ancient bracket for years with zero improvements. I would play the game, but without a game plan. I would walk around the map clueless about what I was supposed to do. I would blame smurfs and boosters for beating my ass on the Midlane. I would blame my carry dying when I would pull as support. And every single night, I would play a few more games to compensate for my daily lost MMR.
At some point, I was watching my Dota buff profile when I realized that I had over 4000 thousand games. Having less time at that time, I was thinking, “4000 games, and I am still here?” These thoughts had nothing to do with me going pro or having great expectations. I was following the meta, and I was watching content and pro games all the time. So why am I still here? It only meant two things, and only ONE of those two things was going to be correct:
- The Ancient Bracket was my peak. I would never get any higher. If I were, it would be exclusively due to lack, and I would drop down immediately. It was just a matter of games. Ancient would be the highest I would ever be able to get, and I should accept that.
- I was doing something wrong. It could be in my middle game, my hero selection, my game approach, my thought process, my laning stage, or all of the above. But overall, I was the problem.
Reaching Top 2k Europe.
I chose to make one last try grinding, but this time I would be responsible for everything. The hardest thing is that I felt I had to figure out everything on my own. I didn’t know my problem. People were telling me to have more CS and “farm” more. But, unfortunately, this is not the big picture of the game.
How to see the game globally, understand the fundamentals.
How to think correctly and always make the right decision.
I watched my MMR skyrocketing to 6k and eventually to 7k once I was justifying everything I was doing. Then, a friend suggested starting to help others achieve their goals. Then the idea of the @RC Coaching started growing its roots
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