Eric Van Allen's discussions

Relationships are a two-way street, and it comes down to that here too. A toxic relationship between a pro and their significant other can certainly strain professional obligations that player has, and create conflict. Read more

Move squid, get out the way!

Did some research and it seems the truth is somewhere in the middle. Read more

Love this idea. Read more

It was a very sudden play to call, but sometimes it also helps to do what your opponent doesn’t expect. Read more

Blizzard wasn’t clear on when the dust rollout would happen, but since it would cost 1600, it would only benefit you if you still wanted to play Sylv or Rag in wild. If so, then yes! It would be a 2-for-the-dust-of-1 deal. Read more

Prince Malchezaar! Although you can’t get him from dusting AFAIK, you can only get him through the Karazhan adventure. Read more

The bonus here is that those who own Sylvanas or Rag will get enough dust to pick up new a new Legendary that’s still in competitive. So maybe you don’t get to drop a Rag on the board anymore, but you can pick up a Yogg-Saron or Aya Blackpaw instead, while keeping Rag for wild games.  Read more

No worries on not being an esports guy, everyone was “not an esports guy” at some point! Read more

This is a great example. A lot of Dota’s inherent mechanics, like stacking camps, came from unintentional bugs. Read more

While Smoothie is taking damage, he’s also being Nether Grasped by FlyQuest’s support and is under Miss Fortune’s E ability (the cannonballs you see raining from above). Read more

It can seem a little routine or straightforward from the spectator perspective because we can see the silhouettes in the smoke, but seeing as cajunb not only dropped the smoke in the perfect place, but caught four of the five members completely unaware and off-guard, it was a pretty big power play from one person on a… Read more

Right? That was easily my favorite part of the match, you can practically pinpoint the moment he goes “oh....ohhhhh” and then starts unloading into it. Read more

Lee Sin! That’s a boxer look you can use for him in-game. One of the cooler looking skins in League, in my opinion. He’s got some other ones that feature fighting styles like Muay Thai as well. Read more

It can definitely create situations where more outspoken and brash members of the community might tell someone who’s having a rough game to “go play in the sandbox.” Read more

Ah, showing my age. Noted. :) Read more

Definitely, I had forgotten about his Radiant Dawn variant. Considering how much source material they have to draw from, there’s still a lot of cool mechanics and abilities to play with that could answer units like Takumi. Read more

Kagero seems to be the one making waves at the highest level right now. Really impressive effects and counters the infantry-heavy compositions that are frequently run. Read more

The last few weeks especially have been mostly Warrior/Shaman decks and Reno decks (their natural counters) once you get past level 20, and even in the pre-20's. Had to retire my Jade Druid and Murloc Paladin because they just couldn’t compete. Read more

I really like the idea of cards that are stronger than their mana-cost brethren, but for an added cost.

Totem Golem, for example. You get to drop a 3/4 on turn 2, but you have to give up a mana crystal to work with the next turn. Defias Ringleader is one of my favorites - extremely conditional, and at times worthless,… Read more