I’ve been experiencing a lot of frustration on stream lately.
I play Immortal Draft, which I know most of you can’t relate to (except maybe my students since you’re all like 15k) Because there’s no role queue (at my rank), people fight over roles constantly.

For a while, I decided to just give in.
I’d play whatever role was asked of me. I still tried to play carry, but if someone else marked carry, I’d just let them have it. If you remember the dual carry days, you still see that happen on streams now.

Carry is my favorite role.
It’s by far my favorite. Out of my last 50 games, I’d only played 8 as carry.

So I started to realize something.
I wasn’t really asking for what I wanted. I was giving away the role anytime someone else wanted it, assuming they wouldn’t work with me. I thought that if I asked or tried to discuss it, it would just backfire.

I talked to the people helping me at the Dojo and my partner.
We realized this frustration is relatable for a lot of players. Even if it’s not Immortal Draft, many people fear toxicity before it even happens. They don’t communicate their needs because they expect teammates won’t cooperate.

In my case, I wasn’t communicating my desire to play carry.
I was being passive, not passive aggressive… just passive. (and sad at the end of the week because I couldn’t play carry)

So we decided to turn it into an experiment.
Recently, I learned that when you label someone as toxic or unreasonable, even subconsciously, they can feel it. If you treat someone like they’re toxic, they have no reason to behave otherwise.

That’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: if I believe everyone around me is toxic, that’s exactly what I’ll see.
So I wanted to test that idea.

My goal was simple:
In the past, my methods for getting carry weren’t great for the community. I’ve done the whole “dual carry with quelling blade” thing when someone first-picked my role. Not my proudest moments.

This time, I wanted to figure out a way to play carry without hurting the community and maybe even helping it.

So I made a plan.
I’d test it over 50 games. I’d mark safe lane and type in chat:

In Dota, “/roll” gives a random number between 1 and 100, so whoever rolls higher gets the role.
No ego, no rank comparisons, just fairness and chance.

If they ignored me or didn’t roll, I’d switch roles.
No arguments, no fights. The goal was to give people a chance to be reasonable.

Nineteen games in, here are the results so far:
Out of those 19 games, another carry player appeared 12 times.

Before this, I had played 8 carry games out of 50.

Out of those 12:

In the past, when I took carry from someone, they’d grief.
They’d jungle Pudge or stop trying. This time, everyone put in effort.

The 2 who refused to roll? One drew Nazi symbols on the minimap, and the other wasn’t exactly friendly. Toxic people exist, but they’re the exception.

Ten out of twelve responded reasonably.
And I’ve now played 12 out of 19 games as carry… compared to 8 out of 50 before.

The biggest realization:
There’s almost no dialogue between players.

How often do you hear streamers (myself included) rant about “toxic teammates,” “unreasonable midlaners,” or “egotistical carry players”?
We talk about people, not with them.

Even a single line like, “I would really appreciate if you did this,” can change everything.

I’ve realized I had my own narrative.
I believed carry players were egotistical and unreasonable.
Instead of communicating, I vented to my viewers or friends about how toxic the community was.

Maybe you do that too. Maybe a lot of us do.

We create stories about what the Dota community is like, and those stories keep repeating themselves.

This isn’t about right or wrong.
It’s not about who’s to blame.
It’s about taking responsibility and asking, “How can I best contribute regardless of how my teammates act?”

I want to be proud of how I handle things.

And honestly, the experiment is already a success.
Even if everyone ignored me, I’d still have proven it’s possible to act with integrity and test assumptions.

So far though, no one has flamed me. The few who didn’t roll just stayed silent.

Funny enough, I had many of these carry players muted before the games even started. I had to unmute them. That says more about me than it does about them.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, but I’d rather talk about it live. Comments are great, but dialogue happens on stream and that’s what this is really about.

I’ll continue the experiment through 50 games and eventually make a full video on it.

At this point, I’ve already played 50% more carry games in 19 matches than I did in 50.
So regardless of how it ends, one thing’s clear:
Stating your needs assertively and politely works (more often than it doesn’t).

See you in the next update.

P.S. This was a transcript from the Brian Canavan channel. Join the Dota Dojo Discord for more