DOTA 2

Even SC2 designers basically went out and said that starcraft ladder doesn't work for pros, since you can't create matchups accurately and timely for the top 0,1% even in a 1v1 game where all you need is the ratings to be somewhat similar.

Anyone expecting Valve to magically solve this is delusional, the only thing that could help is actively promoting 5-man stacks

Alliance vs EG g2 in D2L: carry silencer+the bulldog play, holy shit

whats gonna happen when fear comes back and EG ends up sucking? they are playing great with mason.

Fear is a much more diverse player than mason. Mason will not take EG past DK, Fear can. PPD/Zai/Universe/Arteezy winning games with mason and envy is what Fear needed to see. He finally has a roster that he can depend on. PPD is a top tier drafter, and the EG support duo impacts games in ways they have no business doing. Universe is playing a strong offlane and Arteezy allows fear to play different types of heros in the "1" role including aggressive trilane picks that don't require fear to have to solve the midgame by just trying to "farm more" To offeset the early/midgame instability. Fear can play any hero mason can play + a pile more of them. It resembles the way TI3 era alliance had bulldog on Prophet/Lone Druid - in many games he could become the 1 position because he could find so much raw farm.

The one thing Mason has been is ridiculously stable, and he gains loads of props for that, but he is not a solo playmaker.


TLDR; Only in a world where people don't watch fear play do they think he's a downgrade.

Don't forget, Fear is a likable person as far as dota 2 goes, and Mason is one of the biggest pieces of shit there is. Total douchebag.

DK taking rat dota to a next level:

Lmao at the omni repelling the tiny so he couldn't be tether/relocated.

Holy shit those relocate/recall timings.

Recall timings were mostly once you get it right the first time you'll always have it. But Io was ballz. Why can't we ever see a pug Io like that.

I once tried Io in a pug. I'd tether a Pudge and he'd immediately start casting a TP scroll to a far-away tower. Or i'd tether him and begin channeling my recall, and he'd force staff himself out of range to "get around the map faster". That was the last time I ever chose Io.

I play Io from time to time in SD/AR, unless you go Yolo with dagon and spirits bombing people left and right, you are at best a walking fountain. It's almost impossible to coordinate ganks and your cary will break the tether all the time since you both have different ideas where to go. You can pull off some nice saves with relocate, overcharge is really badass ability and being the ward and detection bitch for the team, but that's about it.

Are there any good channels to watch games from a player's perspective? I can't watch game in spectator mode, I have no idea what's going on over the whole map. I'd prefer to watch one guy that comments well.

Merlini and IceIceIce's twitch channel for knowledge.
Singsing, AdmiralBulldong, and N0tail's are my favorite for just entertainment.

Moonmeander is hilarious if you enjoy listening to gansta azn's.

Unreal game from his stream yesterday, highly recommend watching:http://dotabuff.com/matches/644895070

Best Sand King play i've seen. Just put the camera in "Player Perspective", then click their hero icon. Voila! You watch from their camera's point of view.

VG is in tippity top form. Both VG and DK are looking really good coming into TI4. Game 1 of VG vs. NewBee was amazing on the part of VG.

Teams that look like shit going into TI4:
Fnatic
Na'Vi
Alliance (oh my gosh stop losing to tier 2 and 3 teams)
iG
C9, at least recently

I know everyone likes to say "na'vi do this every time they'll shape up for TI4" but their performances have been more disappointing this year. Similarly, Alliance needs to come up with some kind of new strategy or something because they are getting shit on.

EG gonna dominate.

As long as it doesn't take the entire tournament for goofy/fun plays to be made, I don't care who wins or how they look pre-tournament. The DTvDK gave me hope that this is going to be a better tournament than last year.

Otherwise I'm content watching highlights and waiting for another goof off tournament a la the Dota Cinema tournament.

Cyni_sl said:

Moonmeander is hilarious if you enjoy listening to gansta azn's.

Unreal game from his stream yesterday, highly recommend watching:http://dotabuff.com/matches/644895070

Best Sand King play i've seen. Just put the camera in "Player Perspective", then click their hero icon. Voila! You watch from their camera's point of view.

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I assume I need the client to watch games from this website?

nite1_sl said:

Why do you feel fnatic looks bad? Didnt they just win 2 tournaments?

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It's cool to win CD, in fact, they might be in the top 3 CD teams in the world. Unfortunately TI4 is entirely CM. They did poorly in Starladder, and the games they won in the Summit group stage looked sloppy. The games they lost were embarrassing. You shouldn't lose to next.kz, especially when next.kz isn't even playing well if you want to do well at TI4. They look strained and uncoordinated--especially within the last week or two when they played c9 (when both teams looked like garbage).

There's time to shape up, to be sure, but right now they're not looking hot. If there are more CD tournaments, I'd certainly bet on them, but the dominant format is still CM which they are having trouble with right now.

The Asia grand qualifier finals for the summit was telling, and I'm hoping the American ones that are coming up in an hour or two are equally so. VG is just in great shape, we'll see if EG is also ready to put the smack down as decisively as VG did.

Draegan_sl said:

I assume I need the client to watch games from this website?

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That's correct. You also won't hear any commentary watching them like this. I prefer watching past videos on twitch for that reason.