Who, When, Where, How annnnnnd Why!!!!

ok this is what i thought would be a good exercise.

basically. someone writes a draft and where they will lane and why and then the next person writes a counter draft where they will lane and why. then people comment on what would have been better or worse. just a little exercise in counters, synergy and viability.

plus i love the discussion that drafting invokes among us. :)

ok

Kunkka - Mid
Magnus - Offlane
disrupter - roaming/safe lane trilane support
faceless void - safe lane hard carry
Ancient apparition - safe lane support

why?

kunnkka does well against ranged heroes in mid as well as melee.
magnus offlane allows his lvls plus he has an escape.
disrupter roaming and safelane has good ganking potential with glimpse and kinetic field.
faceless void late game wipes the floor
ancient apparition safelane support owns with slows harass and a global presence.

plus .... imagine that team fight...

draft checks?
lategame.
teamfight.
global.
spread.
space creation.
ganking.

ok .....Shoot! :)

counterdraft:
Invoker-Mid
Rubick-Safelane support
Doom Bringer-Jungle
Weaver-Safelane
Lich-Solo offlane

why?
Invoker is a pretty good counter to kunkka due to his passive hp regen and you can't get off any shiny combos if you have no mana, EMP. also provided he stays back can disrupt your wombo combo with Tornado aso giving Rubick time to steal awesome spells
Rubick-Gives the lockdown for weaver to get kills and reduces damage from your high damage heroes, also steals nice spells like Reverse Polarity and ghost ship
Lich-Putting him solo offlane isn't a bad lane due to exelent creep control and the early Chain Frost will be great, you chrono on top of rp, meh Chain Frost and Spell Steal
Weaver-Gives split push and can dodge out of the big wombo combo, also does a lot of damage allowing to take down your many squishy heroes
doom bringer is the tanky component, completely counters initiation and wombo combos as he can just Doom the most dangerous hero. Also like weaver can take down squishy heroes easily and with Devour some really nice bonus auras for the team like an alpha wolf letting weaver dish out huge damage without to many items

edit: forgot doom

I think the doom is legit in fleets draft becouse the ganking potential of smoggels supports is pretty damn bad.

Counter-Counter-Draft:
Position 1 - Wraith King - Aggressive Tri-Lane Carry
Position 2 - Shadow Fiend - Solo Mid
Position 3 - Batrider - Solo Safe Lane
Position 4 - Ancient Apparition - Semi-Support
Position 5 - Vengeful Spirit - Hard Support

Wraith King because not only is he a good Carry with adequate Farm, but he is amazing in an Aggressive Tri-Lane since he can easily secure Kills with Wraithfire Blast, especially with a good Support to follow up with Chain Stuns
Shadow Fiend, because an Aggressive Tri-Lane gives him plenty of breathing space to get Farm and become uncontrollable after a while. Also, if Invoker goes Quas- Wex, he'll have an easier time getting those early Souls at lvl1
Batrider, because he can take any lane, but the Safe Lane + Jungle will give him an easy 8 minute Blink Dagger allowing him to get waaaaay ahead of the Lich in terms of effectiveness. He's also ideal if the Aggresssive Tri-Lane...somehow fails against the Dual Lane + Jungler...pff 8{3
Ancient Apparition, because he has amazing damage output from a lvl1 Chiling Touch, he has plenty of setup for Cold Feet, add in Ice Blast and he really hurts.
Vengeful Spirit, because she offers Vengeance Aura to stack with Vampiric Aura for amazing Pushing potential. She is a powerful Ganker. After getting some Kills on the Weaver and the Doom Bringer, she can march up to Invoker and give Shadow Fiend some easy Kills 8{3

No-Stun-Doto, a common mistake -.-

However, something as greedy as only 1 Support only works as a Counter to Passive lineups, imagine if that Support had to buy Sentries and Dust to counter a Bounty Hunter 8{(

Counter draft for Xyrus's Counter-Counter-Draft:

Position 1 - Anti-Mage
Position 2 - Queen of Pain
Position 3 - Bristleback
Position 4 - Earth Spirit
Position 5 - Lion

• Anti-Mage because Xyrus's team cannot deal with the split push. Split push fast, take objectives, win the game.Also good against the Wraith King and all the magic damage his team can dish out.
• Queen of Pain because she deals perfectly with Shadow Fiend. And, now with the buff to Shadow Strike, she does it even better. Shadow Fiend won't even be able to get close to creeps in the lane.
• Bristleback because again, the burst damage on Xyrus's team is quite high if executed properly. Bristleback has an inate ability to reduce this, and dish out tons of damage around him, while also protecting his allies with a possible Pipe of Insight.
• Earth Spirit because you need someone to actually stop the ability to dish out all the damage they can do. Magnetize + Geomagnetic Grip can silence his entire team, and his Boulder Smash acts like a pseudo Sacred Arrow, allowing for easy ganks mid on the no-escape ability Shadow Fiend. (and in general)
• Lion, because he pairs well with Earth Spirit's initiation, and toghether they make quite the ganking duo. He is also good against the squishy supports Xyrus has, and counters Wraith King with Mana Drain.

I love this, especially the Batrider vs Bristleback Lane. Sticky Napalm + Viscous Nasal Goo == Magic Wand Gaming 8{D

I can't help but feel that there's a better alternative to AM though. He can burn Mana, but only if he doesn't get rekt but Chain Stuns 1st. A Mirana with a Diffusal Blade would be much more fearsome imo 8{3

Fyi, I can deal with Split-Push, it's called Push before they can Split-Push! 8{D

All lies. I didn't pick AM for the Mana Burn, I picked him because Wraith King and Lifestealer (second one kinda irelevant here, but still) both suck against Manta Style users.And even if caught out, Geomagnetic Grip says hi. But he shouldn't anyway.

Wulfstan wrote:

Counter draft for Xyrus's Counter-Counter-Draft:

Position 1 - Anti-Mage
Position 2 - Queen of Pain
Position 3 - Bristleback
Position 4 - Earth Spirit
Position 5 - Lion



my draft

Position 1 - Spectre
Position 2 - Outworld Devourer
Position 3 - Slardar
Position 4 - Disruptor
Position 5 - Silencer

No-stun Doto again!
Anyways, I'm gonna answer with some uncommon picks (besides Brew) because it's more fun. This is the order in which I'd pick them in an average CM match, probably:

Mid lane: Brewmaster as he can build both Shiva's and Cuirass to mitigate the physical DPS and does a lot in the mid game.
Off-lane: Nyx Assassin because he can scout while invisible and get easy kills versus lone Heroes. Plus, he'll punish those late game carries (Spectre) with early game presence.
Semi-support: Sand King because his ultimate will wreck everyone in teamfights and, usually, isn't stopped by the Silencer as he initiates first. SK + Brew should be more than enough to cover early game teamfighting, so the carry I listed below won't need all the damage "common" carries need.
Hard support: Bane because he can keep Heroes in place and helps Nyx, plus he can reduce physical damage and is an excellent roamer.
Carry: Necrophos because - again - he can build Shiva's and an Agh's will make him super strong versus a late game Spectre; he's also good at pushing early towers and forcing early 5-man teamfights with an early Mek. Plus, Necro vs OD... You know OD's Intelligence won't do much to him.

Dunno if that's the best team you could get, but I kinda like carry Necrolyte and all the mid game aggression versus a Spectre + Slardar. I guess they'd run an aggressive trilane, and Necro is also excellent at keeping his lane healthy.


I think Anti-Mage would get wrecked by Xyrus's aggressive trilane.

Is that an offlane slardar or some weird agressive silencer slardar dual lane?
If so then bristle will wreck spectre+disruptor.

A pretty bad draft imo.