DOTA 2
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Dandain
Trakanon Raider
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Coolest thing about all the qualifiers to me, is that every member of the LGD.int experiment (except xfreedom). (G, Pajkatt, Misery, Black^, 1437, Brax) All made it to Seattle, 4 of them are already in the main event and 2 of them are in the play-in tourney. Pajkatt might have just won my fantasy game this week.
Dandain
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I think its really a lot closer than people think. Is VP gonna play their inspired play from their 4 wins today, or are they gonna pick stupid shit like in their 3 losses in a row? Can liquid bootcamp enough to get some really good synergy prior to the play ins? Will MVP.Phoenix pull out the Korean preparation playbook and surprise everyone with some absolutely brilliant pocket strats tailored to their 3 opponents? Does CIS try to play more anitmage and morphling 4protect 1 against VP's hyper aggression or do they attempt to adapt during their practice time.
I think if you rate the chances, CIS is probably the odds on favorites, but every team now knows who will be in the play-in. From a preparation standpoint a 4 man mini-tournament is small enough that you can study, map out, and create multiple ideas to counter each individual team. A 1 month 3 opponent prep time is right in the Korean E-sports wheelhouse. And while that's not me suggesting MVP will win by any means, its just that this is a lot closer than would be apparent. Anxiety is going to play a huge part in this, team psychology will matter a great deal.
I think if you rate the chances, CIS is probably the odds on favorites, but every team now knows who will be in the play-in. From a preparation standpoint a 4 man mini-tournament is small enough that you can study, map out, and create multiple ideas to counter each individual team. A 1 month 3 opponent prep time is right in the Korean E-sports wheelhouse. And while that's not me suggesting MVP will win by any means, its just that this is a lot closer than would be apparent. Anxiety is going to play a huge part in this, team psychology will matter a great deal.
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CIS strat is currently really one dimensional though, pile on black and you pretty much guarantee a win, ignore black and there's a good chance you lose instead. The chinese teams for some reason decided to go into lategame battles and shit, it's like teams that tried to outfarm Burning in the old DK, shit almost never worked and they'd get demolished in lategame.
With that said, it's really hard to call now what will happen in two months. Some of the shittier teams might be stronger, some of the stronger teams might be weaker and shit like that.
With that said, it's really hard to call now what will happen in two months. Some of the shittier teams might be stronger, some of the stronger teams might be weaker and shit like that.
Zaphid
Trakanon Raider
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It's the mantra of the chinese dota - if you are not sure, farm. Inexperienced teams and so on ...
We saw Black in mid, so I wouldn't say they are that one-dimensional. Same goes for Mouz - they give pajkatt Mirana and gank you to death with some very good movement and synergy, screw lategame or split push. Yes, it mostly worked, but VP have figured them out. Liquid - ignore TC, kill qojqva. MVP Phoenix is the dark horse, they might be prepared, but they sorely lack experience and unless they bust out something crazy like quadlanes, I don't see them going far. Their lategame will be weak because that's where experience matters the most, Arrow outclassed them and they aren't exactly the best.
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If the matches were to be played today, I'd give an edge to CIS probably, but I wouldn't be sure VP couldn't take 3games out of them just because VP can play really well, sometimes. I feel their biggest hurdle is making sure Illidan doesn't lose them the game, guy's like Hvost but WAY FUCKING WORSE. Once in a while he plays well but every other fucking time he's just a fucking dead weight. Wouldn't give either Liquid or MVP a chance.
Now in 2months though, it's a different story. I don't see VP improving much, Illidan has been playing like a retard forever I don't think he'll ever get better, maybe they'll stop drafting shit he can't play or shit he can still contributes even if he sucks(like that Silencer pick, great pick, he can still global silence from the fountain after he has died like an idiot).
CIS I don't know but I could see them working on other strats than 4 protect 1, Black isn't just a pure hard carry and shit, but I don't know enough about the other players to say if they have a chance of playing something else well. In this tournament though everytime Black didn't pick a hard carry, they lost, other than the crazy Axe game in the finals.
MVP has the most room for improvement, especially in terms of these particular matches. They might put a fuckton of work on preparing these specific matches, and not as much in whatever happens after. Still can never dismiss koreans in these type of games especially when motivated. I still think it's too early for them to shine but eh who knows.
Liquid tbh I don't see improving. Lots of personalities, poor performances, if this continues it'll just spiral out of control. Even if they go on a winning streak, there's still a good chance they fuck everything up mentally before they even start playing. We'll see but can't say I have any hopes for them.
Now in 2months though, it's a different story. I don't see VP improving much, Illidan has been playing like a retard forever I don't think he'll ever get better, maybe they'll stop drafting shit he can't play or shit he can still contributes even if he sucks(like that Silencer pick, great pick, he can still global silence from the fountain after he has died like an idiot).
CIS I don't know but I could see them working on other strats than 4 protect 1, Black isn't just a pure hard carry and shit, but I don't know enough about the other players to say if they have a chance of playing something else well. In this tournament though everytime Black didn't pick a hard carry, they lost, other than the crazy Axe game in the finals.
MVP has the most room for improvement, especially in terms of these particular matches. They might put a fuckton of work on preparing these specific matches, and not as much in whatever happens after. Still can never dismiss koreans in these type of games especially when motivated. I still think it's too early for them to shine but eh who knows.
Liquid tbh I don't see improving. Lots of personalities, poor performances, if this continues it'll just spiral out of control. Even if they go on a winning streak, there's still a good chance they fuck everything up mentally before they even start playing. We'll see but can't say I have any hopes for them.
Was Mouz trying to hide their blink Slark? IIRC they went down 0-2 then completed the comeback via their Slark play. Wondering if they were trying to pocket that strat.
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Not a new strat though, even just a few days before Loda did blink slark in WPC. They did their slark+troll combo that they played before in the tournament and then slark as a hard counter to drow(basically you're fucking dead as soon as slark blinks on you since you have no escape and your silence doesn't do shit if he darkpact).
First game they lost because they made a very costly mistake when they tried to defend their T2 bot tower and treant ran in into a sentry, got picked off before the fight really started and they still comitted even though they weren't going to win due to delayed TPs, they needed overgrowth to set up the fight and instead got raped. They shouldn't have taken that fight anyway, OD was in no position to teamfight at that point, he had a high net worth but most of it was floating gold and a midas, neither of which does jackshit, while VP had luna aura+ult, brewmaster ult, veno ult, bat ult and dazzle to heal people, they needed to wait for OD to get at least one int item so he couldn't actually eclipse people for dmg and not just mana drain.
Second game they vastly underestimated the lategame potential of VP I think, they didn't force enough and didn't starve them enough and eventually they got overrun by 4carries+AA agh, when their heroes weren't particularily good late.
I think that's why 3rd game they went for a setup that could teamfight midgame and could carry hard lategame. Troll+Slark combo is brutal for that because they're useful heroes very quickly and they scale insanely well together in lategame. One of the last fights slark had fucking 78stolen agi from essence shift due to troll ult. They also had strong supports for lategame and in case shit was going poorly, the 2 supports were able to turn the game around on base defense(AA blast+epicenter can wipe a team even if they're 20k gold ahead).
Then slark as a counter to drow, stupid draft from VP, and then fucking Illidan with the Skadi drow because herp fucking derp.
Elerion
N00b
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It seems weird to pocket a strat until you are down 0-2 in the finals of the qualifiers for the biggest tournament of all time, two months before that tournament. Even if they didn't show it, there's no guarantee blink Slark would fit in the meta in TI.
Was the third game of the finals a remake? The bans on record are weird as fuck, Abaddon/Omni/Magnus as first bans.
Was the third game of the finals a remake? The bans on record are weird as fuck, Abaddon/Omni/Magnus as first bans.
Yeah, they drafted then did a remake, I was only half watching the stream but saw them repick everything so I know it happened but have no idea why. The bans the first time around were legitimate.
Elerion
N00b
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- Queue up 10 times until you find a pub game where you don't have to fight a teammate for mid
- Deal tons of annoying damage by last hitting creeps with enemy behind them, then surprise the fuck out of opponent by invis dodging / refraction negating all his damage when he invariably decides to duel you. Easy kill.
- Farm mid until you get bottle, phase and blink
- Go sidelane, ulti slow, blink -> meld -> hit for easy kill
- Forget farming and just die a lot in failed ganks because you get cocky after two easy kills
- Lose the game
- Repeat
Cyni
Lord Nagafen Raider
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TA is probably my best hero. Feel free to watch my recent games with her to get an idea of the playstyle. If you have any specific questions let me know.
Don't go blink on her imo. It's 2150g with zero stats. You'd be halfway to a deso, which allows you to two shot most supports if you get it before 20 min (I usually aim for 15-16 min as a "good" timing for it). It also gives you the temptation to jump in and initiate which you should NOT be doing as TA. You really want to watch the dot/stun spells fly and THEN go in as a TA. She is surprisingly squishy without refraction up. Trap is enough for chasing in low level games. If you really feel like you're missing kills then go a yasha afterwards for even more chase.
I prioritize farm a LOT on this hero, because you really shoudnt be missing many last hits in the mid lane. If you get a haste, you're almost better off using it to kill the other mid than ganking for two shitters who won't make use of the extra gold anyhow. Once you get deso, you can take towers easily solo, kill any solo heroes that come in to contest, and you two shot creep waves.
My build is typically Bottle -> Phase/Treads (if im the only carry I go treads and farm even harder) -> Deso -> Crysalis -> bkb -> Daedalus
Don't go blink on her imo. It's 2150g with zero stats. You'd be halfway to a deso, which allows you to two shot most supports if you get it before 20 min (I usually aim for 15-16 min as a "good" timing for it). It also gives you the temptation to jump in and initiate which you should NOT be doing as TA. You really want to watch the dot/stun spells fly and THEN go in as a TA. She is surprisingly squishy without refraction up. Trap is enough for chasing in low level games. If you really feel like you're missing kills then go a yasha afterwards for even more chase.
I prioritize farm a LOT on this hero, because you really shoudnt be missing many last hits in the mid lane. If you get a haste, you're almost better off using it to kill the other mid than ganking for two shitters who won't make use of the extra gold anyhow. Once you get deso, you can take towers easily solo, kill any solo heroes that come in to contest, and you two shot creep waves.
My build is typically Bottle -> Phase/Treads (if im the only carry I go treads and farm even harder) -> Deso -> Crysalis -> bkb -> Daedalus