DOTA 2

Jox

Molten Core Raider
649
538
LGD was suffocating them in the draft previous 2 games. Got greedy for their tiny combo in last game. Well deserved win.
 

Pescador

Trakanon Raider
234
239
Amazing finals - the three best teams, by far, ended up in the top 3. We got to see another lower bracket underdog story, we got a 5-game final that ended in a nailbiter. I still think nothing can top the tension of the TI3 finals, but this one is probably in the top 3 for me. The whole tournament feels a lot like TI16 (2016), but you can replace Wings with PSG.LGD, replace EG with Secret, and replace DC with Spirit. But having the underdogs win 3-2 in a close game makes this one so much more exciting and satisfying than it would have been to see PSG.LGD win in a stomp.
 

Needless

Toe Sucker
<Silver Donator>
9,382
3,402
A bunch of 18-21 year olds that have made 50k off Dota are now millionaires

good shit, great series this was probably the funnest meta to watch at a TI that I can remember
 

Genjiro

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
5,218
5,066
Typical overall of the Chinese scene, they rarely ever innovate they just copy western strats and make them more efficient. They were riding the Tiny Lycan cheese all the way and didnt know what to do about heroes like Wyvern and Mag who could just break that apart.
 

Lendarios

Trump's Staff
<Gold Donor>
19,360
-17,424
Collapse took Magnus and broke the hero even more. Horn tossing and skewering people over and over again. What he did to sumnail's Tiny on that top line with an aegis and then into the fountain was sick.

He feared no Tiny.
MVP to Collapse.
 

Pyros

<Silver Donator>
11,212
2,362
Typical overall of the Chinese scene, they rarely ever innovate they just copy western strats and make them more efficient. They were riding the Tiny Lycan cheese all the way and didnt know what to do about heroes like Wyvern and Mag who could just break that apart.
They showed they clearly knew what to do against Mag in game 3, and in game 5 they picked Sky to counter it with instant seal, but a bunch of times he was either BKBed, or he horn tosses the skywrath himself cause bad positionning/better vision.

I think they just starved them for kills. The first few wolf tiny, Spirit just ran away without even engaging, they baited them into casting it for nothing. Like I think at least 3 times Tiny ended up jungling for his whole wolf transformation cause there was nothing to do after they got baited into stupid shit.

Also Lycan agh+strong melee like Tiny/Ursa wasn't a western strat, at least I don't think so. First team to play it in the tournament was VG in fact, and potential counters like wyvern were also known super early since on the very first day iG beat EG running wyvern+mag versus lycan+tiny.
 
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Penance

Silver Baronet of the Realm
6,350
8,033
They showed they clearly knew what to do against Mag in game 3, and in game 5 they picked Sky to counter it with instant seal, but a bunch of times he was either BKBed, or he horn tosses the skywrath himself cause bad positionning/better vision.

I think they just starved them for kills. The first few wolf tiny, Spirit just ran away without even engaging, they baited them into casting it for nothing. Like I think at least 3 times Tiny ended up jungling for his whole wolf transformation cause there was nothing to do after they got baited into stupid shit.

Also Lycan agh+strong melee like Tiny/Ursa wasn't a western strat, at least I don't think so. First team to play it in the tournament was VG in fact, and potential counters like wyvern were also known super early since on the very first day iG beat EG running wyvern+mag versus lycan+tiny.
There were a couple big rotations in the beginning that went nowhere due to incredible game sense on the side of Spirit. That along with those amazing mag picks to the barely out of position supports is what felt the most impactful to me. Then there was the team fight bot that went horribly for LGD.
 

Genjiro

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
5,218
5,066
They showed they clearly knew what to do against Mag in game 3, and in game 5 they picked Sky to counter it with instant seal, but a bunch of times he was either BKBed, or he horn tosses the skywrath himself cause bad positionning/better vision.

I think they just starved them for kills. The first few wolf tiny, Spirit just ran away without even engaging, they baited them into casting it for nothing. Like I think at least 3 times Tiny ended up jungling for his whole wolf transformation cause there was nothing to do after they got baited into stupid shit.

Also Lycan agh+strong melee like Tiny/Ursa wasn't a western strat, at least I don't think so. First team to play it in the tournament was VG in fact, and potential counters like wyvern were also known super early since on the very first day iG beat EG running wyvern+mag versus lycan+tiny.
Clearly? The fuck? They picked the entire lineup against Mag and then got Tinkered in g3 since they apparently forgot about that hero -- Notail Ceb and Aui during the draft were all seeing the Tinker pick that Spirit didnt (they last banned Void Spirit). That g3 draft was just all-around bad, and either they dropped the ball or were just super overly confident after going up 2-0. Even Bloodseeker had a complete freelane. No team was able to shut down Mag, the Chinese teams were even saying Mag was the hero that was defining the TI meta and Collapse was the best Mag player and proved it again in g5.

And yea g5 TS knew it wouldnt matter once they had BKB which is why they just took it on the chin early and farmed instead for lategame. I mean, props I guess to LGD thinking they could just counter Mag but it didnt work. Pretty sure Ceb was saying how Mag used to be OP because of empower, then because of RP, and now with horn toss add skewer to that package. Imo they should have just banned it or picked it themselves.
 
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Lendarios

Trump's Staff
<Gold Donor>
19,360
-17,424
Everytime I hear Ceb on anything, I want to turn off the stream. OG is my favorite team, but Ceb just sounds like foler, a dick sucker who inherited a bunch of money and goes around trashing others for being poor.
 
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Genjiro

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
5,218
5,066
Not a fan of him either, his douchey voice is amplified by 100 in the French accent, but he knows dota. And Notail wearing pigtails.....EU.....ugh.