Don't forget HellRaisers in EU, if they can get back the their pre-DAC form they're capable of running through that bracket.

 

Alright, I've been away from the DOTA scene since International 2014. I want to catch up with the meta before the International 2015. Any suggestions on what games I should watch?

 

Umm, new patch just released so the meta is all over the place right now.

Go watch the games from The Summit 3 that have teams that interest you. Then watch all upcoming major tournaments. (3-4 before TI5 i think?)

That should sort you out. Previous patch had a completely different meta due to the comeback mechanic. Someone else can explain this for you.

 

If you actually look at the stats, the effect of the rubberband mechanic was overblown, but there was a shift towards more lategame oriented strats. Right now it's kind of all over the place, but we are seeing a lot of Chen again, so people are definitely playing more aggressively.

 

Summit 3 would be good, I-League finals as well. TI Qualifiers are later this week, and are undoubtedly going to showcase a lot of meta-adaptation on the fly. Generally, though, Summit 3 degenerated into mass-outdrafts more than out-plays.

The initial reception to the patch was that it seemed more suited to an early-aggression into late game farming play style (which... doesn't really say much), but what's been happening these past few weeks has been early aggression into 20 minute games, or games dragging out to very late and giving whoever has stronger late-game heroes a win.

So far to me it seems to be that whoever drafts a slightly greedier lineup wins, but drafting a significantly greedier lineup loses you the game (Skill being equal).

 

I don't think this patch is suited to early game aggression so much as that there hasn't been time enough yet for people to figure out this patch.

I mean, how many new items did we get? Don't think I've seen this big a change to dota since I started playing it.

 

Yeah, I watched the Summit finals. The last 2 games were ridiculously fast. I'm enjoying the early aggressive playstyle quite a bit.

 

China qualifier going live. Let the games begin.

 

So EHOME 3-1 CDEC in China, and coL 3-0 NAR in NA. First one was more or less as expected, but mouz dropping the ball in NA was not. Mouz looked terrible and coL completely outclassed NAR.

SEA starts in < 1 hour now, and EU in ~8.

 

To be fair, Mouz was a pretty last minute team.

I'm sad for Black, and I hope he gets onto a much better team post TI5. He really does have the talent.

 

I haven't had a chance to watch a lot of the qualifier games due to my timezone pretty much every game I've seen has had a wisp which kind of skews things (though I'm surprised its not being banned). So I still don't have a good grasp on the meta - Gyrocopter feels first phase ban worthy to me but his win % doesn't seem that high.

Hopefully I can catch up on some of the games this weekend any one have any recommended games so far?

 

Gyro is just insanely strong since they buff his barrage. Basically the character doesn't stop moving when you cast it, which means it's almost impossible to actually flee from him. So strong in early game. Plus, it's the best counter to Undying tombstone (which is a strong hero still current meta).

QoP is the only hero with 100% pick/ban rate at the moment. She's strong early in the lane and mid game.

Those two heroes pretty much kills any chance of wisp being ban first phase. There's also the fact that most team are playing some kind of jungler (chen/enigma) and want to remove BH from the equation since he's fairly strong now that they buffed tracked.

 

I'm really intrigued by Lesh right now. Lots of people are playing him, and with the new items he seems insanely strong. Octarine, I mean.

 

If you guys want to see a good game: Game 2 Na'vi vs. Vega.

Yeah Lesh is very strong right now. Pro players changed his build, they don't level up his 2nd spell until much later, instead putting points into 1-3 and stats which makes him a lot tankier early game and increases his mana pool for his ult. Lot more burst damage and Octarine is basically a satanic for him.

 

Na'Vi don't do things boring.

 

NaVi vs HR game 2 was awesome as well. I missed the Vega game, so I'll have to go back and watch it. This qualifier, is shaping up great as expected, especially group A. 4 matches, of them draws, and it's completely wide open.

I am calling Burden and Alliance to get out. Sing's ember spirit is awesome by the way. Their 2nd game vs alliance was a lot of fun.

 

I can't believe Alliance got out in the groups, and that PR waited until they were confirmed KO'd before pulling out their cheese strat.

Hopefully Navi wins Euro, not having them at TI at this point would be like JKR releasing a next gen HP book and having a passing note about Harry dying years ago in the prologue. I don't want to see it.

 

Welp, pretty much all qualifiers have gone unexpectedly for me.

I guess that's what happens when you stop paying attention to the dota scene.

 

4ASC showing up is the biggest surprise of all, they've been anonymous for the last 3 months or so. Kinda like COL in the NA qualis, the Ex-Fnatic boys have been showing up big. My money would be on Na'Vi to finish top with NIP in second.

 

I've been following the dota scene and I got surprise by that. Hell, even Synderen had Alliance pegged has the winner of those qualifiers and they got rekt with 0 victory.