god i feel so EMPTY now, i need more!
I don't think it was in any way turned on its head, pretty much all the games started as 2-1-2 with eventual teamfight around 10 minutes, rosh and then basically running at each other until you are blue in the face. There was no real rat, no splitpush, to win you had to take 5v5. The timings differed throughout the tournament, but even with heroes like spectre you couldn't afford to give up that early rosh etc. There's always the risk that you just get run over in the lanes and lose outright by second rosh, so it makes sense that most teams played it safe from the start. Also the talents and Aghs give some relevance to evey hero, even in the lategame.I do love how OG turned the tournament meta on its head. The main strategy of the tournament was crush lanes, win game. OG lost their laning stage like 90% of the time, and came back in the mid to late game with exceptional plays from Topson/Jerax/Ana (and a couple times from Seb). Reminds me a bit of TI4 where VG waltzed on through with their deathball strategy only for Newbee to be like, "Fuck all that" and just beat them playing their own style.
Also roster shuffle drama is starting early this year, as the break before the new season is much shorter than last year. Roster Shuffle Drama
So I assume Valve won't give a shit about the NA viewers for TI9 which most likely means all the games will be unwatchable live, at least for us East coasters. I understand why they're going to Shanghai but it still sucks. Watching it live is a great experience.
next lebel pley.Geez, just saw this on Reddit. Fucking insane.
For anyone that can't see it (I didn't), click spoiler.
He sells two items during all that, plus the bounty rune, giving him just enough gold for buyback.
r/DotA2 - Unnoticed Ana game saving PL play