With the International fast approaching and the upcoming Dota 2 Majors series it is pretty safe to say that this year will give away the most amount of prize money in eSports history. I would say that there's a very good chance in the next couple years we will see multi-millionaires coming out of the Dota 2 scene. That being said, as the money increases so does the pressure. Recently, many casters in the scene have been throwing around the word “tilt”. Tilt is a word that comes from the poker world to describe a mental or emotional state that results in suboptimal play. Ask any professional poker player how they became successful and they will generally give two responses. Study and tilt management. So how do you deal with the pressure? We have all seen highly skilled teams full of technically proficient players suddenly make a series of horrendous decisions and cost themselves the game. Often referred to as choking we are looking at a prime instance of tilt. Dealing with tilt takes practice and it probably begins with avoiding tilt in the first place. There are a number of books about this and additional research coming out all the time that shows the brain mechanics during action and the interaction of pressure situations on these actions. In a game especially influenced by the mind like Dota 2, where games are won and lost by good or poor decision making, this seems like an important area to focus. Esports, in general, tend to favor the mind above technical ability even more than most other sports and so the effects of tilt come more to the forefront. Standing counterpoint to tilt is what most sports refer to as “the zone.” We have also seen teams being crushed suddenly charge forward in an incredible comeback stealing engagement after engagement with seemingly magical timing and execution. Study plays a big role here as hours of practice in coordination come into play. However, any form of tilt can quickly disjoint this carefully practiced action. This is why “the zone” or “flow states” are beginning to gain more attention across professional sports. I have worked with a sports training company training professional athletes across various sports including; baseball, golf, basketball and tennis. The results possible by mastering this quantifiable mental state are real and predictable. Interviewing many world class athletes about their “in the zone” experience tends to result in similar answers. In almost every case, time is described as dilating or slowing down. General confidence and well-being tends to increase and the noise and anxiety associated with having to make a great play dissolves. Actions seem to be made more effortlessly and creation of on the spot solutions happen without much thought or editing from the brain. These experiences are now actually being corroborated by neuroscience through EEG brain scans of people in action. In Dota, much of the outcome of the game is decided by team fights which last about 5-15 seconds. Despite the short amount of time, the amount of decisions that must be made during these instances is massive. In a flurry of action and constantly changing scenarios, instinctively interpreting and forming actions can gain a player or team a monstrous advantage. Many other sports share this need for split second, on-the-fly adjustments and those players that make them correctly tend to excel in their field. More than that, those who can make themselves apart from the emotional attachment to the results of an action; unaffected by performance anxiety rise to the pinnacle of performance. As someone who has played poker, Dota and collegiate level sports and as someone who has tilted often and also had numerous zone experiences I can honestly say that this mental aspect is one of the most important areas to focus on if you want to become a better competitor.