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Parity is out of control right now. At the half way mark 11 teams are all within 2 games of one another. No one is officially eliminated just yet, and the top two slots still very much in play. I'd say only VG at 7-1 is for sure going to qualify in the top 10. Everyone else could potentially...

That's really the point. A six slotted naga is scary. Most six slotted carries are. If you don't have one yourself, you're probably going to lose. That's not a flaw in the game. If your team is relying on mid-game semicarries like brew, viper, razor, DP, mirana, etc. you better end the game...

There are lots of ways to deal with Naga's illusions. Tiny, Sven, Tinker, PA, PL, Medusa, Specter, Timber, any melee carry with Magnus, etc. They are just really strong against the current meta of singe target mid-gamers like Razor, Skywrath, Viper, Brew, etc. If I were to do anything it would...

Just like that C9 and DK are tied. Amazing how fast the standings are changing.

Some good games coming up today. The first few series should change the dynamic of the tournament going forward. Some games to watch in them. Series 10: - Liquid v. Fnatic (is Liquid for real?) Series 11: - iG v. EG (how will maybe the top eastern team stand up against a western team...

Good first day. Nice to see all of the NA teams doing well, especially liquid. Qojqva is a beast.

Skywrath's popularity is probably related to Brewmaster. A long duration, long range silence shuts him down pretty hard.

These Korean casters are awesome. I want MVP to go through just because of them.

If you've ever played anything on a more-than-casual level you pretty quickly run into players that are strong. So strong that they can destroy all your months of practice without any effort whatsoever. And that's smallest, local glimpse of competition. Every subsequent level gets bigger and...

Almost every match once phase 3 starts will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional guaranteed money. Phase 3: Round 1 (7 v 10, 8 v 9) - Winners earn a guaranteed top 8 finish and win at least 500-600k, loser is eliminated and gets 50-60k. Round 2 - Not worth anything in...

For some perspective, at TI3 7-8th place brought home around 40k. When it's all said and done this year, the same placement will probably this year will probably put out $600k (about what Na'vi got for 2nd place last year). That's extremely good for the scene. Sure, the people outside of the...

I had hopes that TI4 would be a full roster. For most veterans of WC3 DotA, Earth Spirit is the only truly "new" hero we have seen in the four years since the switch to DOTA2 happened. The platform we have is amazing and is getting better every patch, but it's high time we put this fancy new...

Way better than TA traps. Remote mines have like a 900 vision range and last longer than observer wards. Landmines can also block neutral camps permanently if you put them in the right location. A well played techies isdifficultto counter. True sight only helps so much against him since he...

These emoticons are going to get real old real fast.

DotA 2 has a lot going for it compared to League. It The platform is much, much better, it's supported by Valve, its available on steam, and the core gameplay has been iterated so much that nothing else can match its depth. It also has a trusted and anonymous lead making all of the balancing...

One thing I would like to see is a tweak to early game strategies. It doesn't seem like there is enough of a downside right now to picking a greedy multi-core lineup. If you draft a gank-centric or early team fight lineup, you can often times completely dominate the first 30 minutes of the game...

I'm not a big fan of rat doto, but it's not really ruining the game like it was last year. If that's the kind of strat Alliance wants to run, more power to them. It can be beaten, but it can also be very strong if executed properly. That's the kind of balance I'm looking for. A single "proper"...

It presented some interesting questions, but the execution was horrendous It doesn't make any sense for these supposed "top students" to get so emotionally invested in their thought experiment-selves. It's obvious the purpose of the experiment is to question the nature of what gives a person...

I'm fine with the way it is now. It's not like subjective qualification of teams is unheard of in real sports. I don't really know of any "bubble" team that honestly deserves to go. Valve is getting it right for the most part, and they are still giving the non-invited teams an objective path...

I'd random and repick if you get any of these heroes: Earth Spirit Wisp Elder Titan Phoenix Tusk Morphling Phantom Lancer Templar Assassin Ember Spirit Broodmother Meepo Puck Storm Spirit Tinker Enchantress Chen Rubick Skywrath Mage Enigma Pugna Invoker Visage You'll...

The international has so many games and it is so important you can pretty much watch the meta evolve over the course of the tournament. After both TI2 and TI3 picks and strategies were hugely different afterwards compared to how they were going in. I wonder if a team this year will draw down...

Yeah, after she leaves the hound she wants to get to Jon on the Wall, but no one will take her there. The iron coin is basically desperation and iirc she is pretty surprised it actually worked and how well the ship people treated her afterwards. Once she arrives in Braavos she goes to the house...

In the books that was the case. The Hound was wounded in the Inn fight and slowly deteriorated. Along the way she kept hoping that the fever would take him so she wouldn't have to do it herself.

All they need to do is get hot at the right time. If you place 6th or better in the group stage (which at least one of them will likely do), you're only 4 short BO3s from the grand finals. That said, the format really rewards teams that are consistent in the groups. The top two only need to...

Na'vi just seems lost when they can't overpower their opponent on individual skill differential. Sometimes they put it together and make sparks, but at this point it seems like they are pretty much relying exclusively on winning some crazy snowball inducing team fight. Their drafts are weak and...

From what I understand most of the actors try to avoid spoilers so they can approach the scripts as organically as possible. Foreknowledge would mess up their acting process or something. I have no idea if that is legit or not, but that's what they say.

I'd have to be pretty much incapacitated to miss a chance at a $10 million prize pool.

I'm not sure what you mean. Most of the action that kicked off the start of the series has been completely resolved. Books 4/5 are about dealing with the consequences of those resolutions and starting the second act of the story. Things like the white walkers, dany's dragons, Jon's parentage...

Question for people who follow soccer: How strong are the national teams compared to the professional teams? I'd imagine the national teams of strong countries are stacked with stars, but would the teamwork of a professional team that plays together more often outweigh that? Basically is the...

The increased zoom distance for spectators is pretty nifty. Sort of reminds me of Supreme Commander. I hope casters use it sparingly though, since it kind of takes you out of the action and gives you a more sterile view of everything. When you are at normal view distance with good camera work it...

I think they are probably targeting 8 seasons. Season 5 will cover the remaining books in abbreviated fashion. They'll hit the major points, but they are going to have to cut a lot of the traveling, wall politics, minor POVs, etc. That will let the season be more or less action packed and...

I'd make it as some kind of queue option where you can choose to be matched with people better/worse than you. There are enough people looking to stomp games that you wouldn't need any specific incentive. Of course, ragers/flamers would be an even bigger problem in this mode than usual since the...

Fear once shit on me with the TI2-era Morphling. We even dual-laned mid to try and hold him down. He went something like 18-0-15. I've been playing dota since the ROC era and its incredible to me just how good some players are. It's like they dominate the game so completely that you feel like...

GOT's biggest problem in remaining faithful to the books is they are running out of content. Even with the extra stuff added in to Bran's story, he still only has 1 chapter left unfilmed. Sansa/Littlefinger are pretty much at the end of their story as well since they've already talked the Vale...

GOT's budget has remained around $60 million per season. That's $240 million to produce about 35 hours of content compared to around $280 million (in early 2000s dollars) for 11 hours of extended runtime for LOTR. Any way you slice it, LOTR was significantly more expensive to produce. And...

He certainly did a tremendous job with Lord of the Rings and there is no doubt that it set the stage for shows like Game of Thrones. But adaptation-wise he made there are far more questionable departures from the source material than Game of Thrones has to this point. Granted, a lot of that has...

As adaptions go, Game of Thrones is about as good as you can expect. Its one of the best shows on television and has by and large succeeded in capturing the spirit of the books and portraying a believable world. It's funny that fans of the book can be so fickle. After Tyrion's trial there was...

Those are good points. A good idea might be to give a $2,000 purse for each win in the group stages. That gives an incentive to keep playing, even after you've been eliminated/secured your placement. It also helps distribute a little bit of performance-based money to the lower ranked teams...

I like that Valve isn't afraid to experiment with different formats. It helps keep the event fresh and really, you don't get see non-standard tournaments in many other places. I also don't mind cutting the fat after the group stages. Last year no one in the bottom six of the groups scored a win...

I'm not a subscriber to the poison theory. It reduces the impact of what Tyrion did and doesn't really add a whole lot to the story. Suspects are also lacking. Doran and Oberyn were both probably on the same page about wanting to strip Tywin of everything he held dear before killing him. If...