In my opinion the problem is the damage buff the birds get from precision aura (who have a really good attack speed). Not unbeatable though Secret beat IG's drow + visage at Red Bull mostly on the back of a super farmed SF and Zai playing out of his mind on Dark seer (Super excited to see DS back in the meta).

I feel like the patch's change to visage's birds made him too strong. In previous patch the birds would get one shot by a farmed carry (like Juggernaut or Sniper) now they take 4 hits to bring down which makes a huge difference and effectively means Visage scales into late game better (he was already super good early because soul assumption wrecks tri-lanes). I don't think he has a weakness at the moment.

 

You're overrating Visage. Most teams wont give away the Drow combo unless it's picked very early and can be countered, or they have a plan for it, similar to Huskar and Brood, and both heroes have weaknesses that can be drafted around.

Visage's weaknesses are the same as what they've always been when hes picked early: it gives away your support since he's never run as core, it also gives away that you're trilaning since hes pretty lacklustre otherwise, he's useless at tping in to countergank, and he lacks hard CC and initiation.

 

It also relies heavily on reaching level 6 for Drow and Visage. Considering that, the enemy can punish them early because visage is not a lane dominator against everything.

 

People are still first phase banning Visage, so there's clearly something there. It's a strong enough option that it's easier to ban the key piece than to restrict your draft to deal with it.

Was surprised to see LGD beat iG. Any predictions on EG v Secret? I expect Secret to win, but with EG you never know, because Universe doto best doto.

 

Secret seems to have a really good handle on the patch already, EG seems like they just kind of rolled out of bed and came to the summit, they're picking their old staples and relying on raw skill to win.

I'd tip Secret to win the whole thing.

 

As long as they don't do soemthing stupid like picking Ember for Super, I'd still take VG over Secret at this point. Zai is still too much of a liability in the offlane.

 

Visage first pick for secret both game, but drow denied by EG. I'm kind of thinking s4 is baiting them to choose the drow by first picking visage and forcing them into a core they absolutely have to protect.

 

s4 played out of his mind in g1, I think that first kill on the Drow he got solo really ripped that game open for them, it was looking so ugly otherwise with how badly Universe was drilling zai and the failure of secret's safe lane.

VG's better as a team, but Secret has so much individual talent imo, I'd give VG the edge once the patch is more stable and they have strats but I like Secrets chances against them now.

 

The first team fight at roshan pretty much secured their win. The second just nail the coffin. They played exceptionally well against Dazzle's grave and DS position control. But I agree with you, s4 gave them the little push they needed to get some more control on their lanes by forcing rotations from EG and opening the safe lane for RTZ and Kky.

 

So about that super Ember Spirit...

 

Zai was just crazy on that clockwerk and Puppey's chen is always amazing and allows secret to push so fast. They can't let the chen go through against secret, especially with BH ban.

 

I disagree here. If you tp visage plus one hero into the offlane you can usually clean up thanks to soul assumption it's not unusual to get a return kill on a support at least if they dive the offlane behind t1 tower - we've seen it in a few games at Summit already.

Grave chill slow is decent initiation as well (depends what hero the offlaner is playing not so good against a surged dark seer but decent against a clock or axe or similar).

Secrets weakness is usually S4 if he has poor early game the team often struggles. He does so much on heroes like bristleback, Brew and DK problem is those heroes are also hard to burst down. When they lost at DAC and Starladder S4 was ganked repeatedly and had to play from behind - that hasn't happened so far he has usually been top of the networth most games.

 

The way they drafted changed as well. s4 is now the captain and drafter and I think he plays on his strength and RTZ better than Puppey was.

 

IDK agree to disagree I suppose. They have to dive very hard for Visage countergank to do anything, if they're just ganking your mid with smoke he can't do shit, and no matter what he can only ever get a return kill, he can't stun or heal to save the ganked hero, and mostly when he finishes his TP the majority of the damage is dealt and so he won't get charges for assumption.

TPing visage +1 just to get a return kill on most likely a support is already a huge loss, and even that isn't exactly something you can count on unlike say if an ES or some such was tping in.

As for initiation I meant more for ganking mid or initiating on a hero out of smoke mid-late game with like a blink lion, I don't really count grave chill as more than a (very very strong) laning ability.

Did anyone scope out the open qualifiers? Was honestly disappointed to see just the same old t3 teams all made it past the bo1 stages, I was hoping for atleast a couple random groups of pubstars to do something but it seems like not a single t3-t4 team lost to randoms surprisingly, so I'm pretty sure all the open winners will end up bottoming their qualifier.

 

Most of those T3/4 teams are just random pubstars.

 

6.84c out.

Drow/Visage got wrecked.

 

Yeah familiar nerf had to happen - can't tell if Chen change is nerf or buff.

Just had a crazy game playing position 5 Naga I really like the new boots which combine mec and arcane:

http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1485230164

 

Support Naga will probably be the most broken thing in the game if the meta slows down to like TI3 levels ever.

Chen change seems like a very sizable nerf given how popular aoe like gyro which just kills his creeps are atm, but it will make that harpy shit even more annoying for the first few minutes.

 

I don't see the game slowing down unless people suddenly remember how to play the turtle and farm game. Now that the open qualis are done, any predictions on the main qualifiers?

The NA quali is Mouz's to lose, and I would be shocked if they don't make it. China is pretty tough to call, as there are 3-4 teams that could take it. OB, eHome, CDEC, and HGT are all legit contenders there. In EU, [A] are the favorites, but NaVi, Burden, PR, or NiP all have realistic shots at it as well. I'd bet on eHome and Alliance.

 

Yeah it won't slow down this patch, I just mean if any future patch takes it to that level while Naga stays as is she'll be monstrous.

I can't see Mouz losing NA either.

I'd say EHOME or Oldboys from CN, probably Oldboys since CTY always implodes when the game matters. HGT has some of the better lesser known players but ZSMJ just shits on his old legendary carry status every time I see him play in Dota 2. I think the current version of CDEC isn't that good, Wings is probably better.

I'd be shocked if [A] and Navi don't go through as 1 and 2 from EU, not fanboying I just don't rate NiP and Burden, and probably one of the two MVP teams from SEA, or Rave.