Valve missed the boat earlier this year, but the company is finally giving fan-favorite DOTA: Dragon’s Blood character Marci her due.
After The International 2021’s upper bracket finals match between PSG.LGD and Team Secret, Valve showed a trailer to promote the second season of DOTA: Dragon’s Blood. While that would’ve been worthy of excitement all on its own, another trailer was seamlessly added, showing Marci fighting a bunch of Dire-side creeps.
While this seemed like it was setting up DOTA: Dragon’s Blood to actually turn into a game of actual Dota 2, that changed when the trailer morphed from the 2D animation of the show to 3D. After a short while, Valve confirmed that Marci is set to be the next Dota 2 hero and is likely coming soon.
Valve stated that Marci is coming in autumn 2021.
Valve has long planned to have a larger event take place and Marci will likely be a part of that. It’s uncertain when the event will happen but it’s possible it could occur as soon as the days after TI10.
Marci’s addition to the game was very warmly received by Dota 2 fans and pros, who previously lamented the character’s absence from the game. Marci was the most popular original character in DOTA: Dragon’s Blood and will make for an interesting addition to the cast.
Marci was DOTA: Dragon’s Blood’s most popular character
DOTA: Dragon’s Blood added several new characters, with Marci being the most popular among them. Marci serves as a steward and bodyguard for Mirana, offering both wholesome moments and comedy with her expressive animations and complete silence.
The expectation among fans was that Marci was set to be added to Dota 2 in short order, but that didn’t happen for a long while. DOTA: Dragon’s Blood was a big success for Valve l. Unfortunately, the company failed to action on it in-game for months. It wasn’t until Nemestice that a Dragon Knight hero persona skin modeled after his character in the show debuted.
Meanwhile, the new hero added after the DOTA: Dragon’s Blood premiere was instead Dawnbreaker. Though Dawnbreaker is a well-designed character, it was perplexing that Valve failed to incorporate such an obvious tie-in.
There was very little to take from the trailer in terms of what Marci will play like. The character is shown punching and kicking creeps, with a single super-charged punch to a monster as the only “ability” being shown. Marci was portrayed as a fearsome hand-to-hand fighter in the show, but didn’t have any abilities shown other than that.
Steven Rondina
About Steven Rondina
Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.
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