Also, the joke may have been a little more clear if the product being advertised was an actual, real-life brand instead of a fictional one. As an outsider it's hard to tell if the joke is in-DotA-universe or not.
I think what some of us are wondering is if this strip is making fun of some specific incident that actually happened, or is it something Jo thinks will happen?
(3/3) ...thus the "Red Mango" energy drink commercial . . . which uses the same kind of ridiculous marketing and makes the same kind of ridiculous claims that real commercials use to cater to sports enthusiasts.
(Does that help?)
(2/3)...the Heroes of the Storm competition, which upset a lot of viewers because they considered games like HotS, DotA 2, and LoL to not be "real sports." The joke is that one part of making video games more like "real sports" is that commercials must also become an aspect of the games. And (cont.)
(1/3) The game reference is to a new item introduced into DotA 2, the Enchanted Mango. Non-stacking consumable that gives +1HP while equipped and restored 150 mana to the targeted ally upon use. The comic itself is making fun of the fact that ESPN recently aired the last few matches of (cont.)
I totally get this one... but for a friend who doesn't watch competetive Dota anymore and doesn't know about the recent dramas surrounding it, can someone explain this comic's reference to him?
Sometimes the comment just fails to appear...
*sigh*
Short version, what am I missing? Haven't been watching tournaments as of late... Heavy advertising?
@Vijay Rajasekar: So it actually was a reference to that. I only watched the games but there was alot of complaining about all the sellout modes in twitchchats. But then again, can you ever trust twitchchats?