I will try my best to address the various questions that you bring up in this thread.
What is the switch for me?
Honestly only you can answer this question. But it is very hard to get a hold of every switch, so I will try to give you a general conclusion from what I have tried and read about. You say you will use this mostly for DOTA style games. I believe that the general consensus is that it is best to have a tactile switch when playing these games because it is crucial that you sure that the key press registered. Blues and buckling spring are the best when it comes to tactility. I would avoid browns. They offer a very very small tactile bump that can barely be felt in my opinion. This means that it doesn't really give you any feedback to if the key has pressed or not, and it almost makes the typing experience worse. In my opinion you either go full on tactile, or go linear.
I will also chime in on the red vs black debate. Again, this is all personal preference. Since you have been using a rubber dome you could go with the black switches because I believe that many of the people that complain about the black switches being too stiff have been using very light mechanical switches in the past. I believe that the force required to press a black switch is similar to most rubber dome keyboards. But really since you are using the keyboard mostly for gaming, you won't have to worry about potential finger fatigue when typing long essays. But like someone before me said, if you go red, it will probably be an easier resell if you don't like it.
I do live in the US. I'm open to pretty much anything under $200.00 + shipping. I've actually looked into the Leopold red board but have found mixed things.
This really depends on if you want TKL or not. If you don't mind a full sized keyboard then I would strongly encourage WASD. They are a relatively new company, which is why you haven't seen many reviews on them, but those who own them tout the quality and customer support to be top notch. And like others have said you can pick between all the common switches and customize your keyboard, which is awesome.
If you want a TKL keyboard and want to spend under 200USD then really the only option for you is a Leopold from elitekeyboards.com. You stated that you have heard some bad things about Leopolds, which I find odd. I own a Leopold TKL and I haven't had any major issues with it. And various keyboard reviews have proclaimed that the quality is on par with the best keyboards out there. If you choose to purchase a Leopold I don't think you will be disappointed.
In conclusion though, almost all of your answers can be be answered with, it's your personal opinion. Although some switches and some boards are touted as "gaming" just keep in mind that any switch and most any board can do anything you ask of it, so again it comes down to personal preference. But if you change from a rubber dome to any of the mechanical boards in this thread, I believe it would be very unlikely that you will regret purchasing a mechanical keyboard.
