The International - what have we learnt?

I'm sure a lot of you have been watching "The International" too, and this year seems to have been a really high quality tournament - a lot of very strong teams has made for exciting and unpredictable games.

Personally I'm very glad the "Rat Dota" style of Alliance seems to have fallen out of favour/been neutralised by various changes in the meta and responses from other teams. Split push is still viable, but seems to be part of a general bucket of strategies that teams are playing now - with no single one particularly dominant?

The most successful teams Newbee and Vici seem to have a varied style and can win different ways, but their primary means has been extremely aggressive early drafts with a push/teamfight edge. Basically:

- Get an early laning advantage
- Pick up a few kills
- Push towers really hard as a group that the opposition don't dare engage
- Force the enemy to engage by attacking barracks etc early
- Win the fight through the accumulated advantage of that early tower + gank gold + hero selection timings

Obviously we'll probably see people try to emulate this in pubs - but the degree of co-ordination necessary might make it extremely difficult - it's not something you can do alone. With the arrival of techies soon that might well shake things up too...

What do you think have been the stand out features of the tournament so far?



How do you think the meta will change post-international?



What do you think the response will be to this kind of early team-push/deathball strats?



Which heroes do you think have really shone at the International?

I'm not sure I learned much but I was surprised by many of the happenings, such as Vici winning both of those game versus EG in roughly 20 minutes, and the DK game having a Sniper and an OD pick.

Well if anything TI4 proved how important Map Control, positioning and momentum are. Newbee and Vici have the perfect blend of aggressiveness, and patience..mixed with a bit of ruthlessness. Just to point out: these two epitomize team play

My takeaways from the International 4:

1. Push strategies, and early aggression seems to be the meta. This naturally counters rat dota, since the heroes that shine at rat dota rely on having their outer towers intact, and their lanes pushed out. If the enemy is taking the fight to your base, rat dota isn't really an option.

2. Previously unused heroes are starting to shine - we have seen a ton of games with Razor, Skywrath Mage, Faceless Void and Viper. My favorite in this group is Viper, who I always felt deserved more presence in the competitive scene, and I'm glad to see that the hero is finally seeing the competitive limelight that he deserves. Faceless Void offlane is an interesting concept since the hero has two build in defensive mechanisms, and provides a ton of utility in the mid game, and can transition to a hard carry during the late game.

3. Teams are focused on including more cores in their lineup to secure the late game if the game draws on. Teams like DK have drafted a 4 position Juggernaut, we have seen Alchemist and Wraith King supports that can naturally transition to a core position late game if necessary, etc.

4. Players have started to drift away from their designated roles. What I mean by this is that, Burning might not always play the 1 position for DK, Dendi taking over the 1 position for Na'Vi in certain games, etc. This might be attributed to strong heroes in the current meta. I've seen Razor played by a lot of 1 position players, while the 2 position players take over harder carries with a dual laning mid, etc. This is refreshing to see, since teams cannot assume during the drafting phase which players are going to play which heroes.

5. Reputation means nothing. The game is constantly evolving, and former champions and top tier teams cannot be complacent. The playoffs emphasized this, when we saw teams like Liquid and Na'Vi US and Titan made it to the main event ahead of teams like Alliance, Empire and Fnatic.

6. Teams with momentum seem to be playing better compared to teams that directly made it to the winner's bracket. Teams that are coming through with a fresh win are toppling teams that made it to the WB during the playoffs. Apparently, momentum has a bigger impact on the result than it seems. By momentum, I don't mean the momentum during a game. I mean the momentum that a team gains playing multiple opponents during the same day, and winning over those teams.

I've learnt that teams can be very unpredictable and anyone can win, that's about it, many teams have impressed me with their performance!

Literally 2 minutes ago I learned that even TI Finals have stomps.

I am going to cri in a corner now.

Literally 2 minutes ago I learned to never again go yolo
http://imgur.com/a/0131x

Lets cry together :D

I think we learned that the pro Dota scene is incredibly adaptable. Alliance stomped last year with their rat dota strategy, and I think everyone was kinda prepared for them this time. The fact that the defending champs didn't even make it to the main event this year shows that teams will figure out what won in the past, and come up with even better ways to counter it.

I also really like the hero picks. A lot of Brewmaster and Skywrath Mage out there, which are both fun to watch.

I think we learned that rat doto, is the only doto.

Very specifically I learned that Glimpse can be dodged by a well timed Phantasm, never would've thunk.