As an ex-player who mostly follows Dota by watching TI every year (and the occasional other big tournament) day one is mainly orientation for me - catching up on what's changed and how the meta has shifted.
Currently watching Aurora vs Liquid game 1, and I'm very curious to see if the Sniper pick works out. Also not used to Mirana being in the meta again. Was she even picked at all last TI?
The Sniper pick did not, in fact, work out. Also looks like we're still (or again?) in Aura meta. Oh joy. Is it gonna be as bad as the Wraith Pact TI, I wonder?
I'll try to find a small interview snippet, but yeah, Aura meta is still a thing. It's not as bad as Wraith Pact since that was just a singular item that was built every match without fail. But now we have Shivas / Guardian Greaves / Pipe / Crimson that all contribute to some Aura effect.
Mirana being in the meta is solely due to her second facet. It's such an insane damage amp.
Aura items are just too good value. I'm glad Wraith Pact got removed, but the meta is looking similar.
I've been seeing more Mirana today, looks very strong indeed. At least as long as Leap is working...
Falcons vs Tundra Game 2. Such an insane game. This is why I love Dota
Absolute cinema. Finals worthy game, and insane to almost see the Luna solved. Ammar is going to have nightmares about that mirror shield.
Gave me big TI8 upper bracket finals vibes. A 2v5 ancient defense is perfectly viable as long as you have the right heroes and use them correctly. Also, isn't it crazy how Topson finds himself in these kinds of games?
This game is beautiful.
The move from Pure to move deeper into fountain then TP to the ancient and clear house after respawning was such a good play.
Team Spirit went 6-0 in the group stage, in a group that had Liquid and Aurora (both of whom made the upper bracket).
Then they lost 2-0 to Nouns.
Can someone explain to me how that happened???
Turns out NA Dota is supreme, just as we all expected.
More seriously, they got outdrafted and choked on execution twice. Didn't pull I'll off Tinker well, severely underestimated Luna. Gave Nouns everything they wanted in game 2 after losing to those heroes game 1.
I think Nouns are a bit underrated. They seem to be beating teams in their own division, but not only that; they also took a game off Falcons and another off Zero (another team that's a bit underestimated as well in my opinion).
Good for them! I really would love to see a resurgence in other Dota regions - while I'm a big fan of WEU dota, this level of dominance is just not good for the game.
Having seen Nouns vs GG, I'm now even more confused about them. Especially after the promising game one. Just inexplicable drafting and poor execution, game 2 was bad enough but game 3 was a legit humiliation.
I think that series was more about whether GG showed up than anything else. Nouns played well, and showed that they can be top teams if those teams don't play at their best. But when they do, they still get outplayed. Gaimin showed a lot more discipline and respect in game 2 to even up the series, and then it seemed like they broke them in game 3.
Nouns are still a good team, and I think with experience, they can continue to improve and place well in tournaments. Fly looks like he's doing a good job captaining them, and they are playing very well as a unit (which is what I think plagued NA teams the most historically). But still, they have a lot of work to do before they can beat the best teams in the world (assuming they give them the respect they deserve).
Maybe, yeah. I'm wary though after game two and three. If it was only a case of choking on execution and being mechanically outplayed by a by all accounts superior team then that's one thing, that happens. Drafting weirdly and poorly when you have to perform doesn't inspire confidence in me. We'll see if they can rally for the lower bracket.
Don't know if Team Zero is that underrated, did you watch the series versus Aurora? That game 3 was an absolute clown fiesta.
Otherwise I agree, it's always better for Dota when there are strong teams from all regions. Feels like we've been lacking a strong NA team ever since what, the heights of EG back with ppd and Fear?
Day 2 and the big game to watch will be Liquid vs Spirit. Currently watching Nouns vs Zero and hoping Nouns can hang in there. It's always fun to have teams from all regions performing well, and Lion was one of my mains back when I played so I can't not root for this draft.
Nouns at least managed a draw, which will be big psychologically for them. Huge throws by BB after clawing back into a commanding position in game two versus Falcons. Tough watch. I guess you still just can't give Ammar Timbersaw.
Have mostly watched Liquid, GG and Talon so far. Still rooting for Liquid a lot. And yeah, it's looking good so far :D but we'll see
Liquid look good, I'm rooting for them too. Would like to see Nisha finally getting an Aegis. Unfortunate for Talon to be the first team eliminated, but they really did look a step worse than even BB Team.
Day 3 and I missed the first series, but not surprised Talon couldn't beat Xtreme who are looking very good. Excited to watch the first Liquid vs BB game, first Medusa of the tournament and it's on Boxi, very interesting!
I've been sleeping on C9 so far (can't really watch every series) but this has been an impressive showing from them against 1w. Really like this game 2 draft, hope we'll see Bane more - has done good work this game. And a well played Nyx is always a treat. Kataomi was doing his best YapzOr impression this game.
Damn, that was a sad exit for Team Spirit. Thought they might have something after the miracle comeback in game one, but realistically they were a step behind all series and that game three was a stomp. It's sad to see because Spirit at their best are amazing to watch - and it's always sad that the reigning champions aren't even on the main stage - but they did this to themselves with that terrible performance against Nouns, and today they were clearly second best.
Well into the playoffs now and C9 continues to impress. I love a team doing their own thing and picking unique heroes when the meta is otherwise looking fairly stale and calcified. Liquid also looking very good, unsurprisingly.
Big talking point is of course Spirit bombing out vs Nouns. Going to be very interesting to see if they can pull off a lower bracket run, they did look very strong in the group stage.
That game 2 of Falcons vs Tundra was absolute peak Dota. Luna has been the hero of the tournament so far, but Falcons almost solved it. Doom has looked pretty bad so far, but that 25 talent is still a powerhouse in the late game and it was so close to paying off here. In fact, the game was arguably a throw as Ammar didn't realise Pure had a Mirror Shield and got Doom reflected on himself in the critical fight. What an epic game that was.
I didn't get a chance to see the earlier matches, but I think Cloud9 could be a sleeper to win it. I was very impressed by Watson in the qualifiers and the rest of the team is playing incredibly well too.
And I really love seeing teams that ignore the meta and just do what they think is strongest. I think that makes the most fun and interesting Dota, and blindly following the meta makes it really boring. I'm cheering for them most, personally.
Cloud9 has definitely been my sleeper hit so far. Picking stuff like Bane, Nyx and Winter Wyvern has been great to see and worked really well for them. I've also been impressed with watson, but their supports have been absolutely insane. Fishman has been terrorising teams with wisdom rune plays and Kataomi has looked fantastic. He had a clinic on Tinker today, basically showing everyone what Spirit tried (but failed) to pull off yesterday.
Nouns are out and the jury is in, I think on balance they were the worst team at this TI. A team can't be measured on the merit of their best games, but on their consistency. They seem to lack any sort of mental fortitude and completely crumbled under pressure both yesterday and today. The match against BB Team was complete humiliation. Yes, it was a bad matchup but they completely messed up even on fundamentals. Stuff like giving away 4 Bounty runes against an Alch team despite having stuns and forgetting about Wisdom runes just shouldn't happen.
It's a shame they couldn't replicate their best performances when it really mattered, but at the end of the day that's what separates the good teams from the bad.