The International (Dota 2 Championships)

[Joe]

We are just getting started and holy moly is it going to be a good one. Play-offs begin today with a whole lot of matches being played. Yesterday Team Liquid ascended as Runner-ups to the main event, joining the other fifteen teams.

When the playing gets started you can watch all the matches streamed and commentated through Twitch or the Dota 2 client for a more hands-on experience.

Who do you think is going to win the Aegis?

 

[Geostigma]

I watched liquids match yesterday.
That one was great even though it was absolutely the embodiment of the stun lock the game team comp it was still great to watch with the handful of turn arounds.

Watching Alliance vs Titan atm.

Not feeling Titans movements so far. There rotations have just been so inefficient and clunky so far. Its Alliances game to lose for sure.

edit:

Alliance is doing nothing with there kills lol =/

 

[Interslicery]

I'm betting on Liquid. Alliance and Na'Vi are playing pretty poorly. That could always change, but there's been alot of surprise wins today.

 

[Super Mario]

Hey yall whose watching this currently?

 

[Joe]

Liquid are certainly looking stronger than last year's hot teams. Not only have they come from the bottom of the pool, but right now I believe they are unbeaten in the play-offs. Na'Vi US (Or NAR) are also doing pretty friggin' well. Looking forward to watching them play Na'Vi for real.

 

[Interslicery]

God damn, anyone else just watch Na'Vi vs Liquid? Tense as hell game. Liquid were pulling out fantastic plays with chronosphere and shutting down Na'Vi whenever they tried to push into the base, but Tinys dmg was so high they couldn't take advantage of it lest Io relocate Tiny up and melt their racks.

 

[Joe]

Just watched IG vs C9 and holy hell was that a game. Lasted 78 minutes and Ferrari on Ember Spirit picked up three divine rapiers at the end when all of their rax were gone. C9 were so slow with the push because they were frightened of the crit rapier (Ferrari had Daedalus) and took Roshan like five times and tried pushes. Tense as hell, could have gone any way.

 

[Joe]

AND ALLIANCE GO HOME!

They seem to have gone the way of the Brazil football team.

 

[Interslicery]

Liquid just got dominated by LGD, dissapointing way for them to go out.

 

[Interslicery]

Titan's gone. Insane best of 3 games. So many wipes in the past few days

 

[Joe]

Resurrected as it's that time of year again. The Wildcard matches are being played right now and we're already getting a taste of some great plays.

Another thing to point out, Alliance aren't there! The winners of TI3 won't be at TI5 because of their poor play recently. It's an utter shame that their only wins seem to come from NP/LD matches.

Also, prize pool is $16Million+!

 

[Geostigma]

Kind of funny in that Alliance in other games (Notably LoL) also most likely wont be making it to Worlds/ Majors lol this year ol.

 

[Kuroto]

Oh yey, a thread for TI!

I've been watching a lot of the games this week even though most of them are played during the night in Finnish time. I'm really rooting for EG, because they are playing really well. I woke up early to see their game against EHOME. Missed the first game which they lost but I was so glad to see them go through to the semifinals. I really hope to see them in the final.

 

[Joe]

EG finally dropped down today, though they are not out of the game at all. They've secured a 3rd place position at the very least which I'm sure they did last year too.

I think, now that Secret have been eliminated, EG have my support as well. It's all about Sumail, for me. He's such a phenomenal player that really came into the spotlight this year. I'd be happy to see him win.

Still disappointed Cloud9, Na'Vi, Secret and EHOME are out of the running though.

 

[Kuroto]

Yeah, I wouldn't have minded seeing EHOME at the finals either. And I was hoping to see Na'Vi play more than one game. It's a shame they had to drop out already after the first game.

EG's game today was really bad, but I'm still hoping that they get to the finals. Though third place in TI is not a bad achievement either.

 

[Joe]

Yeah, CDEC have still to drop a game during the entire main event. They walked all over EG, I hope they have something they can pull out to surprise the other teams. I also love the visible shift in hero picks. Secret pulled out the Luna and dominated then suddenly we see Luna picks and bans across the board. Fys Rubick plays have also earned Rubick a place in a lot of following games.

Honestly though I don't entirely mind who takes the aegis as long as the games are exciting. Last years finals were really quite a bore, the early push meta left a lot to be desired. This years meta is full to the brim with huge exciting fights, clutch saves and dangerous plays.

 

[Kuroto]

EG did it!!! That was really amazing!

This is the first year that I've watched TI so I can't say anything about last year's finals but this year it was defintiely exciting. The second last game could have really gone either way because it was really close. And in the last game when CDEC went for Roshan and was totally eliminated by EG. Wow!

I really think from the way that EG was playing today, they really deserved to win. I was kinda scared after they lost to CDEC, and especially because CDEC absolutely dominated those games that EG wouldn't even get to the finals, but I think they learned from their mistakes and turned the situation around.

I'm really looking forward to the TI next year. In the meantime I will probably play some Dota myself.

And you're absolutely right about the picks, Joe. I think it was also amusing how Techies was banned in all the games in the final, most likely just because that one game that EG won against EHOME.

 

[Joe]

I'll be giving a proper breakdown once I've gotten some sleep but holy shit what a great god damn series. Shout out to EG as first time winners, but also shout out to CDEC for coming through the wildcard and getting to the finals without conceding a game. Like holy shit what an underdog story.

 

[Geostigma]

Wait.. was grand finals today? =/

 

[Interslicery]

Yeeahhh, it was lol You missed some good god damn games.

 

[Joe]

Spoiler: TI5 Finals

Holy hell what an astounding bo5. We get through an entire tournament of Leshrac bans (barrring a single match) and he manages to make it into three of the four final matches. Not only that but we discover CDEC, who have gone undefeated to this point, don't actually know how to play Leshrac! This is the most powerful hero of the current meta and their approach to utilising this hero was to faceplant him into the ground. I don't even.

Him making it through the banning stages was the result of teams understanding how strong Bounty Hunter currently is (along with respect bans such EGs techies) . It's not that bounty hunter has received any buffs in particular but more that his ult now happens to do a lot more for teams since early and regular teamfights are popular all round. BH can turn any decent fight into a huge gold increase. Even fights where both teams walk away with even trades end up hugely favouring the team Bounty is on. I believe his winrate at the main event was 93% and teams discovered his viability mid-way through the week. He went from barely any bans to being regularly banned to being a top-tier ban every game. What a hero.

Man of the hour went to Universe though. In the four final matches he was drafted Clockwerk three times. Why? Because Universe is a motherfucking legend. His hookshots found targets everytime and there was even an instance where he caught aggressif's Slark mid-pounce. Mid-pounce!!! Suma1l also did work. His skills on the spirits caused Storm Spirit and Ember Spirit to be banned out together by CDEC in the mid-phase. Wasting two bans solely on the respect of another players skill on those heroes is huge.

All power to CDEC though. Through the wildcard entry into a unbeated streak all the way to the finals. Absolute heroes that went from being mostly unheard of to being some of the most paid players in eSports with their second place take. At the end of the day though they got outplayed, and that 'six million dollar dunk' cost them a game they could have taken.

Spoilered incase Gabe wants to go watch it through.

 

[Joe]

It's that time of year again. All my hopes and energy go toward OG. They've really impressed me since their formation last year.