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2009 Talks Dota - Episode 2 (Season 2) Gosugamers.net Subs by CtChocula
Hi everyone. Today I'm bringing commentary of a competitive match.
The match is from the recent RTS (Road to StarsWar).
Both sides are heavyweights.
One side is from Yunnan—I think they're from Yunnan.
It's also a team that won many accolades last year, DK.
The other side is WE, a team that fought their way to the finals of the G-1 tournament.
They fought through the losers' bracket to meet DK.
Recently, they've been particularly worth watching due to the addition of XiaoLuo
which has significantly boosted the strength of the team.
What's interesting is that both sides have the same sponsor i-rocks.
I can't help but add it must be because the sponsor has good taste.
By making these types of videos, I'm mainly catering
to those interested in the competitive side of Dota
because I used some inside contacts to get this replay.
Another thing is that if you guys get bored watching first-person videos
you could try watching competitive match videos to see if there's something worth learning.
This tournament should be the inaugural tournament for version 6.74.
Of course the HFGL tournament running concurrently and maybe some others are also using 6.74
but it's only recently that this version began to be used as the official competitive version.
There have been some changes. Some heroes have been unlocked for -cm mode.
They include Tuskarr, Thrall, Rubick, Wisp and Treant.
That is, all teams can use them in competitions now.
We see DK is pretty conservative here.
They've invested a portion of their time to Dota 2 practice
so they've banned new heroes to prevent their opponent from surprising them.
WE has banned ES, WR and Batrider.
Okay, Panda has made it through the bans.
I'll tell you guys about some of the heroes popular at the moment.
Aside from these traditional bans ES, WR, Batrider as well as the first pick Panda
also popular are AA—
Looks like I can't see heroes in taverns from my perspective.
CK and Furion were two strong, new heroes popularized in the last version.
The proper usage of these two heroes is relatively-speaking slightly complex.
How should I put it... We can understand the current metagame as being centered around
disablers and heroes with AoE spells.
This is because inn a teamfight, if your team has a lot of disables or AoE spells
this means you have a lot of gank potential and teamfight potential.
CK and Furion have very unique advantages.
I did a video on CK recently.
This hero CK's uniqueness lies in his laning strength
His stun in combination with stuns from teammates can easily get kills.
He has high movement speed and base attack, so he can easily team up with a teammate for a kill.
This puts very immense psychological pressure on the opponent.
In mid-game, he has a lot of DPS mostly in the form of single-target DPS and tower-taking speed
because his illusions do 100% damage.
Furion's uniqueness lies in being able to support anywhere on the map.
During laning, he makes lane choices more flexible.
He can babysit, solo the hard lane, jungle and he can use his TP skill
to help teammates get kills.
We see this CK+Lina combination, which will most likely lane together.
DK took Lina third pick.
CK+Lina can lane together well, because CK can E+C followed by Lina's T+D.
With such a 4-skill combo, even if you're laning 2v2 it's easy to gain an advantage.
This is a combination you can try out when pubstomping with friends.
This is something we say often:
"Everything follows from an advantage during laning phase."
For example, if you pick an AM and you're really strong late-game
but you get completely crushed during laning phase, your late-game won't even matter.
This way, Lina+CK+Furion gives a lot of kill potential in that lane.
It's also highly probable that Furion will TP in to support CK+Lina.
Now let's examine the three heroes picked by WE.
Three heroes will pretty much define a lineup's key signature.
For DK that I talking about just now is focused around small-scale fights and fierce ganking.
As for WE, their strengths are more evenly distributed.
Personally, I think they're slightly more ferocious than DK.
Why is that?
Firstly, WE actually also has a dual-stun combination.
KD stun+AA cold feet.
This combo is also imbalanced even if it's not as burst-heavy as the CK+Lina combo;
it also possesses a lot of kill potential.
It's mostly in teamfight potential and mid-game AoE potential where I feel WE's lineup is stronger.
Firstly, Panda, KD and AA are very strong in teamfights.
Compared to CK+Lina, they are stronger in teamfights.
Mostly, it's because KD has firebreath, Panda can stomp+ulti
and AA's ulti has very high burst damage.
These three heroes mean skills will be fairly easy to use in teamfights.
That is, Panda can break the enemy's formation, KD can be very tanky
and AA can support from super long-range with a high burst damage ulti.
So in terms of teamfight potential, WE's three heroes are very strong.
Let's see how they proceed.
WE continued by banning CG and BM.
DK banned Lycan and Pugna.
WE continues to improve their teamfight potential with DS.
DS has gotten nerfed in 6.74
because his Agha doesn't replicate his own teammates anymore.
Otherwise, teamfights would always be 15v5. Where does the 15 come from?
After DS ultis, the five heroes from both sides after passing through the wall result in 10 illusions.
Together with his side's 5 heroes, it makes 15.
This imbalance has been gotten rid of.
Nevertheless, his vacuum works well with Panda's stomp, KD's firebreath and AA's ulti.
It gives very good burst damage in teamfights.
Now let's look at DK's side.
DK already has pretty strong gank.
Indeed they pick TC to improve their teamfight potential
because like I just said, teamfight relies more upon AoE.
They pick TC.
I mentioned TC as well as Furion some time ago.
I mentioned a while back.
I think they can both find their positions in CW fairly easily.
Like TC for instance. The version places greater emphasis on pushing towers.
Now pushing towers has certain prerequisites
because the teams aren't stupid and won't push from bad creepwave positions
that can cause situations where I pushed one lane only to get pushed two lanes by you.
Normally, those situations are non-existent.
That's why pushing towers depends more on whether you can beat the other team.
If you can beat the opponent in an early-game teamfight, you can get more towers
meaning you'll have more gold.
This means you'll have more resources for fights in mid-game
and be in a better position to win the game.
So going to the root, it is a lineup's AoE potential and disables
that determine the team's teamfight ability.
TC is well-suited in both aspects
because he—
Recently, I took a peek at the win/loss stats of VS Platform
and TC actually ranked amongst the top 5 in win/loss ratio
so this hero really is pretty good.
I've also done a first-person video for this hero.
This hero is strong, because he has a certain amount of late-game potential.
His aura can reduce physical and magical damage resistance.
His attack damage after using ancestral spirit isn't bad either i.e. his late-game DPS.
Also, his disable reaches very far. Even though his C+T combo isn't easy to pull off
it has a big range and the AoE potential is very good.
Next is his ulti. His 3-skill combo is amazingly helpful in teamfights.
Let's see.
I think they picked SD to improve an already perfect lineup.
Carry-wise, you have KD.
Disable-wise, you already have a lot:
Panda ulti+stomp, KD's dragontail, AA's cold feet, DS's vacuum.
In every aspect, single-target disable, AoE disable, AoE spells, DPS, you have it all.
Speaking of SD as a support—since WE are missing a support—
he can very effectively...
Even if has no items, he is still pretty useful.
For example, he can use disruption on enemy carries to create two illusions
or he can use soul catcher which is quite significant in late-game.
So as a support, SD can fill this position well.
As for DK, they still have 25 seconds left to consider.
In my opinion, DK won't pick a hard carry here.
CK...
At most, they'll pick a semi-carry like Weaver.
Indeed, they pick CM.
Both teams are showing us they are going with times.
4-protect-1 has become a thing of the past.
What we see now is...
In this version, what we're seeing more of is multiple carry farming
and every hero having strong combat ability.
Let's first look at DK's side.
They are the kings of 2011 and took many accolades.
Let's see who's playing what.
Zippo, an old player on the team is playing CM.
Longdd Lina.
rOtK's TC solo mid.
Furion is played by Super.
Burning's CK.
The positions have been assigned pretty well.
I mean Burning will usually play position 1 (in Chinese Dota, position 1-carry, position 5-support)
and rOtK's style is more taunting of the opponent.
He seems to like playing disablers who seize openings
and isn't very suited for semi-carry INT heroes.
He's more suited for tanky heroes who can bait or disablers who seize openings.
Yueru usually plays the semi-carry INT hero and Burning usually plays position 1.
You also have two experienced supports.
Now let's look at the fairly powerful— the team that's been improving fairly quickly, WE
that's been surprising quite a few people.
Here's Icy, a new player who recently turned pro.
He's playing the position 5 SD.
Neither side has gained an advantage yet, but WE has already placed a ward here.
This ward means they predicted CK would get babysat top
so they resolved to put trilane against trilane.
This 3v3 will be the lane to watch this match.
Both sides perhaps thought it would be 3v3
so both placed lane wards giving them perfect vision.
Let's see how this 3v3 will turn out.
This is Fnty's position 1 KD.
Okay, disruption was used. Let's see if KD can stun him.
He got initiated on by... It looks like KD might be in danger. Let's watch.
KD reacted very fast; he immediately stunned CK.
CM uses frostbite. CK gets frozen.
Another LSA— Very close.
KD's stun came off cooldown.
AA gets first blood. Lina didn't play conservatively at all even when CK fled
because CK only has one spell, he didn't think the situation was good, so he fled and salved
whereas Lina didn't take much damage, so she stayed and used LSA
to take out SD as second kill of the game.
In the exchange of spells, we saw two heroes use two waves of spells.
One was KD who stunned twice; Lina also stunned twice.
We see that being able to use more spells in high-skilled matchups is very...
very advantageous.
Low spell cooldown and good early-game spells.
Let's take a look at middle lane, Panda vs. TC.
Here, Lina placed a sentry to see if she can counter-ward.
This match's tempo is extremely fast.
After first two kills, I almost don't have enough time to look at the other lanes.
Bottom lane is XiaoLuo's DS vs. Yueru's Furion.
I think Furion will have some advantage
because he's ranged and his attack animation is pretty good.
We see DK wants to flank. Frostbite+LSA.
There's a chance SD will die.
SD got killed by CK's stun.
Furion even TPs in.
This TP was a bit useless.
He'll probably buy a TP and go back since he can't afford to lose XP.
Indeed, he does do so and returns to bottom lane.
Furion wasn't able to help CK gain any further advantage—
this was also because WE was swift in their retreat.
Middle lane is Yaodao's Panda vs. rOtK's...
SD uses disruption wanting to initiate on CK, but that was just a sleight of hand.
The cold feet+dragon tail combo was used on Lina.
Disruption was used to scare CK away.
Burning chose to flee, so Longdd gave up a kill.
He had gotten the second kill of he game
but died too, so let's see if he has bought anything.
I don't think so, because he bought chicken+wards, not Boots.
Did he buy Magic Stick? Magic Stick is fairly important in early skirmishes.
We see he already has Magic Stick.
This was another disruption+cold feet+dragon tail combo
this time used on CK and I'm thinking he had damage amplify on him.
AA uses his amazing attack animation to kill Burning.
Furion TPs in to support. Let's see if he can kill someone in exchange.
KD falls, but...
The fight's very scrappy. Looks like it will be a 2-for-2 trade.
Seeing Furion TP in, DS has joined in too.
In the last fight, AA gets a triple kill including CM, CK and Furion.
This way, AA is very fat—already has Boots.
SD and KD return to top lane.
The fates of XiaoLuo's DS and Yueru's Furion were similar.
Both didn't stay in lane and farm, but chose to help in the 3v3.
They did help, but died in the process.
Middle lane is more of a wash.
Following changes in each version, the position 2 n middle lane has changed from
being semi-carry/carry type of hero into a hero who can carry the tempo.
The method by which he carries the tempo is also a bit puzzling—
usually a melee hero is used.
Heroes like Beastmaster, Panda, TC are being used more and more.
KD didn't choose to step up and stun, because he saw CM and Lina.
Here DS didn't choose to return to bottom lane, but went top directly.
This decision might be a disadvantageous one
because there's a ward here.
AA got a sip from the Bottle, so he has enough mana for cold feet.
Let's see, there's 4 heroes here.
Their positioning is very conservative, because a 4v4 fight might break out.
SD couldn't immediately cast disruption, because he got frosbitten.
He still got it off and CM died instantly.
Let's check out Furion. He isn't planning on TP'ing.
Furion plans on farming bottom.
At top lane, both use their stuns and trade lives.
Furion has arrived and so has CM.
Will they be able to fall back safely? This fight should be a win for WE.
TC has arrived. He uses his C+T combo.
Takes out DS.
This way, it was probably a draw at top lane.
Heroes kills came and went to the two sides WE and DK, but in the end the kill score was even.
Furion got more out of it than DS.
Panda didn't leave the lane whereas TC left. DS died, but Furion didn't.
Let's examine the levels.
Panda got a haste rune.
Avoids the stomp. He wants a kill. Panda has his ulti here.
Let's see CK's luck.
This— 4s stun.
From this kill, DK will have a small lead in tempo
because TC got an assist whereas Panda got fogged and got killed.
Overall, DK has a small lead early on.
Let's take a look at WE's carry hero's level.
KD is Level 5, three levels in firebreath, one level in his passive, one level in stun.
As for AA— Wow, AA is really fat.
DS has Bottle. Panda Bottle+Boots+Magic Wand.
SD goes to safe lane to make up some levels.
DS gets swapped to help his team in skirmishes.
WE has made a pretty good tactical adjustment.
We see WE seeks to initiate a fight.
Ion shell around KD. He stuns CM.
CM got killed before she could use any skills.
However, CK's counter-attack— AA didn't actually die.
He runs fast with Arcane Boots.
DS and KD the two tanks, as well as Panda.
There's a very good chance WE can counter-attack.
Lina's very nice ulti takes out DS and gets a killing spree.
Panda uses his ulti.
He looks for Lina who should go down here.
Huh?
Yaodao made a mistake in his micro.
That was pretty nice. Running as soon as he stomped.
A normal attack takes him out. Yaodao got styled on.
Let's see, Panda has a 0-2-1 score.
Yaodao's early performance hasn't been ideal.
As the position 1, CK isn't doing so well.
Okay, SD hasn't joined the last couple skirmishes, but has been catching up at bottom pretty well.
The last fight, WE had a chance to win, but Yaodao didn't micro well.
If his storm panda had used windwalk, he could've killed Lina
but his micro mistakes let Lina kill him instead.
A bit regretful. Let's see how the situation develops.
There was a gritty fight at top lane, but the tower is still intact.
The fattest hero on the map should be—
Here's a small engagement.
The slightly farmed SD and Panda teamed up to get this kill.
WR was also nearby.
SD gets the kill. This way, the support with very poor tempo
instantly regains the lost tempo and is in a comfortable position.
KD's farm has been average and comparable to CK's.
Let's look at the gold. KD has 900 gold. That should be better than how CK is doing.
Here's someone's Bracer.
It should be DS's ward.
Okay, he was using bottle+crow.
This has become a pretty common sight.
That is, if you're not laning too well
you can consider getting a bottle+crow, an investment of just 1000 gold.
You can continuously send regen and the crow is for your dedicated use.
So looking at this investment from a late-game view, it's only a couple waves of creeps' worth
but it can ensure your early-game advantage, so it's something worth considering.
Here, we see professional players doing it too.
Here, the early-game of Burning's CK hasn't been ideal.
At 10min, he only has basic Boots+Bottle.
Let's see if he has any gold saved up. About 300.
WE has indeed been thorough at suppressing Burning.
CM looks pretty pitiful since she still doesn't have Boots.
In comparison, WE's supports are doing a lot better.
However, WE's biggest sacrifice has been in DS's finances.
In comparison, DS's laning opponent Furion is really fat, Boots+Midas.
WE's strategy has been pretty successful. What's regretful has been Panda.
His play hasn't been ideal.
Two engagements in early-game haven't been successful.
Especially one time where he got counter-killed by Lina.
Here WE is showing movement.
They're planning on letting DS push bottom while the other 4 use smoke to try to gank TC at middle.
However in matches between professional teams, as soon as someone on the other team goes missing
there's usually a reaction. I mean if you don't see someone on the map—
3 of DK's heroes smoke up too.
Furion and TC have also retreated very far back.
If you don't see anyone on the map, the first reaction is that the other team must have smoked.
Their judgment has been completely correct and have successfully eluded destruction.
We see a teamfight about to break out at middle lane.
CK initiates. SD's disruption was very nice allowing Panda to escape certain death.
Panda's stomp+ulti. Wow, micro'ing very close to the limit and very close to dying again.
WE won big in this fight.
They took out 3 heroes without losing any.
Of the heroes they killed, two were core heroes: CK and TC.
In this fight, it was once again SD's play which involved some quick thinking
on which hero to use disruption on.
Yaodao's play was also pretty sharp landing a late stomp.
He was very close to not being able to ulti.
Of course, Midas Furion's tempo is also very—
Here, the just arrived CK immediately gets stunned by KD.
Under the effect of SD's amplify damage, he dies almost instantly.
KD wants to turn around and stun someone. This probably isn't a good idea.
SD saves KD again.
KD still manages to stun Lina. AA's ulti lands and they try to bring down Lina.
TC takes out KD, a very fat KD.
We see the KD make a mistake here.
Even though they won the teamfight, he should've recognized that
they no longer had the capacity to expand their lead
because they were low on HP and enemies were numerous.
That engagement should count as a fairly big mistake by the KD.
However from the numbers, we can see DK has a score of 1-2-11.
He has taken part in a lot of fights and his finances are pretty good too, PTs+Magic Wand.
As for over here, Burning doesn't even have PTs yet and only has Magic Stick.
Yaodao denies the tower, Furion gets pulled back, AA ulti.
Furion's path choice was very nice.
Let's see who they manage to kill.
Eh? No one died?
This is why DS's vacuum doesn't deserve the name "hard disable".
Only a stun like KD's counts.
That is, an instantly castable, powerful disable.
Here, they want to try to kill KD again.
Lina's ulti takes him out.
DS picks up the CM, but gets killed himself.
Wow, that sprout locked him in to his death.
These kinds of sprouts are a bit of an artform, because even if you eat a tree you still can't escape.
After this fight, I feel that...
aside from DK's CM who is a pitiful Level 5
it feels like WE initiated the fight prematurely.
Overall, the feeling the current WE gives me is that
they have an abundance of aggression but lack sufficient stability.
We see Furion doesn't waste time at all.
His items: Boots+Midas+4 Branches.
Now he's gone down to 3 Branches+Ultimate Orb.
He's going the Boots+Midas+Guinsoo's route.
It's a fairly offensive item build.
Recently, we've seen a lot of Furions. His should be a position 2 Furion.
A slightly more support Furion might choose Urn or Medallion.
A Furion like this is more carry-oriented building Midas into Guinsoo's
and can transition into late-game DPS.
We see WE actively seeking a fight. They want to kill Burning and killed him immediately.
He gets off a 4s stun before he dies.
KD wants to TP back. His HP was crippled after eating 2 spells.
Oh, I think he was trying to TP bottom lane to farm.
Another disruption tries to save DS, but he himself dies.
This fight, WE killed the enemy carry, but got caught by DK's counter-attack.
The fight was great for DK.
Even though Panda had Dagger this fight, they weren't able to profit from it.
The total kill score is 16-15.
At 15min, the early-game battles have been very intense.
Looking at the big picture, two of DK's carries are very high-leveled.
One is the position 2 Furion; the other the position 3 TC.
Position 1 Burning has died 6 times and is in a pitiful state.
He's the player who has most deaths in the game.
WE is keeping him down very hard this game.
How this game develops might be up to—
Even though WE's KD has died 3 times
he has a certain gold lead over CK.
Of course DK will leave the safest resources to CK.
Furion adds a Medallion after Ultimate Orb.
This item is very suitable for Furion, because firstly its mana regen allows him
to summon treants more often.
Secondly, Medallion can be used to lower the armor of neutral creeps by 6
as well as that of enemy heroes.
This greatly improves his DPS capability and neutralling speed.
The faster he is at neutralling, the faster he is at farming.
Also he has Midas, so his attack speed is quite good.
We see Furion has the highest level in the game, followed by rOtK's TC.
He has Arcane Boots+Headdress.
He's going Arcane+Mek, the same route as recent Beastmasters.
He's going a team support build.
Let's examine Burning's finances.
He should have PTs now. Okay, 17min PTs.
This farming rate is very slow.
This is what I mean when I say that if you pick a hero who has no AoE spells
and you get crushed early-game, then if your teammates don't leave you huge room
in lanes to farm, it will be very hard for you to recover.
However if you have AoE spells, it will be fairly easy
for you to recover in the mid-game.
TC defends by himself.
Furion is farming the lane. CK wants to bait the Furion.
He's waiting for someone to TP in to defend the lane.
If there's someone, they can—
Oh, CK didn't choose to bait.
Maybe he saw WE intending to push bottom
so he activates his illusions and helps Furion to try to trade towers
because trading Tier 2 for a Tier 1 is a pretty good deal.
Burning last-hits a tower to recover his finances a bit.
Burning has TP'd here. Another 4s stun. Panda dies immediately.
This fight— However, KD's stun takes out CK.
Longdd's Lina has been shining.
She LSA'd past the sprout close to its maximum range.
Of course Icy's escape path was pretty good too.
Firstly, it gave him a good chance of escaping.
Also, it allowed his teammates a safe retreat.
They might try to fight Roshan.
Even though main carry CK died, two heroes died on the other team.
Furthermore, they have the magical item for fighting Roshan, Medallion.
This item will make fighting Roshan a lot quicker.
See? This is AoE. CK wouldn't be able to do something like this.
For example, there's a creepwave here. It's impossible for CK to last-hit them quickly
because he has to do it one-by-one, so he's unable to push the lane.
Of course it was already quite dangerous for TC to farm there.
Mofi's AA has gone godlike without anyone noticing.
Of course TC has traded his life for an Aegis.
Eh?
That crystal nova was very nice. It prevented Panda from blinking in.
Panda got pulled back, but blinks out.
Everyone might be surprised at how he could still use blink after getting attacked.
This is a small quirk of Blink Dagger.
It doesn't actually get disabled the instant you get attacked.
It can still be used within maybe 1s after getting attacked.
Of course it will get disabled after 1s has passed. It's like that.
DS looks like he's going Mek.
I don't know what KD is making.
He should have farmed quite a bit of gold, 1900.
As a consequence of DK having gotten the Aegis
the match has entered a relatively peaceful phase.
What's good for DK is that they'll have the advantage of an Aegis in the next teamfight.
What's more the Aegis is on the player who gets killed every fight, Burning.
What's bad for them is their main carry
despite having an Aegis doesn't have much else.
A consequence of being countered pretty hard in the early-game.
Often getting insta-gibbed by KD's stun+AA's ulti.
Wow, we see Furion's farming rate is very good.
I think this match enough room has been given to Furion.
Firstly, because WE's main target this match has been CK.
Secondly, because his laning opponent DS hasn't pressured him at all.
That's why this match, he's been given the chance to shine.
He has an item lead over all heroes and his kill score 2-1-11 is pretty good.
At 23min, he'll have completed Guinsoo's+Midas+Medallion.
This is very fast for Furion in a match against top level opposition.
WE is thinking that having completed Mek on DS+Force Staff on AA, they'll be able to take the fight.
Of course, I also think they can win in spite of DK having Aegis.
Like I've said before, WE has a teamfight lineup.
If they can get a good initiation off
like a DS vacuum+Panda blink+stomp.
Let's look at the positions of DS and Panda. Those two are the initiators.
Okay, Panda gets hasted. Blink+stomp catches two and he ultis.
Vacuum+AA ulti.
We see CK nicely used his ulti to dodge the AA ulti.
After ulti'ing, CK wasn't satisfied with retreating and goes after the KD.
The three pandas didn't just pick off the CM, but the just arrived TC as well.
The full HP Panda stomps Furion.
CK has already fallen and Furion dies instantly.
We notice that as soon as Furion is focused, he pretty much dies instantly.
This hero is pretty squishy, but of course it's against powerful AoEs from WE together with damage amplify.
WE profited a lot from this teamfight.
This is similar to what I was saying—
Did they kill someone?
No, they successfully TP'd out.
It's like I said at the start—
WE picked a very imbalanced hero in this version called Pandaren Brewmaster.
This hero can boost a team's teamfight potential by very, very much.
I skimmed through the statistics of this.
Out of all players on the platform, the usage rate—
That is, out of all the heroes he's the hero least likely to get repicked after getting randomed.
Reality confirms his teamfight ability is very strong.
Another aspect is— I won't speak of that just yet, let's see.
SD saved DS, but gets stunned himself.
Despite saving someone else, SD wasn't able to escape.
CM with high-level frost nova. DS is hasted. Let's see if there's a second C+T.
I don't imagine this DS will escape. C+T.
See? This is the point of having a TC. His disable range is very big.
Longdd is dominating. Let's see his kill score this game.
In a match like this, it does seem fairly easy for position 4 to shine.
For example, Mofi is 9-0-10—a very sick kill score.
Even though he is only Level 10, his kill score is very impressive.
Longdd is similar with 9-2-6.
These two players have been pretty spectacular with their respective heroes
so it's not just the position that makes it easy to shine.
KD hasn't died in the past few teamfights, so he has added a BKB.
He just got it having spent all his gold.
This way, his naturally high armor of 16
together with his Planeswalker's Cloak giving him 15% more magic resistance and BKB
make him very tanky and hard to bring down in teamfights.
In comparison, the CK despite narrowly using his ulti to dodge AA's ulti still died.
It was fortunate they caught a few stray heroes after respawning.
WE continues to seek fights by using smoke, which makes sense since they have a lineup advantage.
DK has noticed WE hasn't farmed the bottom and middle lanes, so they should realize something's up.
Also they've made that mistake once already, so it's not likely they'll make the same mistake.
The best thing to do now would be to stay in base. A position like this—
TC gets brought down instantly. AA goes beyond godlike.
CM's TP location was pretty smart, which minimized their losses.
This—
How'd they know he was neutralling here?
His perception was very good—
after blinking, he realized he'd blinked perfectly into 2 heroes.
Yaodao's Panda was very successful in that engagement.
Let's see if they can kill Furion.
Furion uses sprout.
Panda blinks in.
Here DS has to save his vacuum, because—
Furion casually uses his—
Stomp+auto-attack.
Furion has Guinsoo's+PTs. He'll definitely survive.
A 3.5s hex while a TP only takes 3s.
Furthermore, DS's vacuum takes an animation.
Furion successfully escapes with the help of a 3.5s hex.
WE's gank was very successfully having killed TC.
It's reached mid-game now.
In matches nowadays, the mid-game emphasizes logistics:
which side reveals fewer weaknesses, which side farms faster
which side catches out Roshan more will be more likely to win the game.
The normal pub games you guys play probably aren't like this
but if you play high-skill games where victory is the one objective
it will usually be like this.
It might also be that this is the most reliable way of winning a game.
Eh? We see DS has bought a Blink Dagger.
Maybe he felt he wasn't running fast enough and missing certain opportunities
so he bought a Blink Dagger.
Actually if you think about it, he probably just needs to cast all his spells in one go.
Alternatively with 2000 gold, he could've chosen a Force Staff or...
a more reliable build would have been to buy Shiva's
Vanguard or something practical like that.
Blink Dagger on the other hand means taking an opportunity.
If you can maximize the utility of such an item, its worth far exceeds the price of 2000 gold.
However if you have bad micro and can't maximize its usage, you should play safer.
Build Pipe when you're supposed to, build Hood when you're supposed to
and build Vanguard when you're supposed to.
You could even build Vlad's, because there's two melee heroes on your team.
If you count KD, there's three.
Nowadays, 2 melee and 3 ranged is becoming a common sight in CW.
That is, in competitive matches we often see 2 melee and 3 ranged lineups.
This is something we can fairly easily visualize—
Eh, they want to initiate on this. Blink+stomp on TC.
Vacuum everyone together and AA ulti hits TC.
TC falls right away, but gets off his ulti, which brings AA down to half HP.
They want to take out Furion. CK tried to pull AA back, but he Force Staffs himself out.
The pull wasn't successful and AA's micro was very nice.
Mofi's AA gets pulled in now, but he already has the regen from Mek.
WE was very successful this fight.
They caught a hero on the high ground before the fight began.
Furion bought back.
Let's watch DS. He gave KD a haste, who gets a kill with firebreath.
Of course the beyond godlike AA was killed by Furion.
The bought back Furion shares a similar fate.
I think CK bought back as well and together with Lina, they've managed to defend.
Two buybacks to defend this lane.
KD turns around to stun.
*chuckles* Turning on Janggo to run away.
WE was very determined and resolute this fight.
They prevented the opportunity for the other team to set up a defence.
They dove to kill TC.
The fight was very successful for WE.
KD adds another Mithril Hammer and reaches Level 16. He can turn into a frost dragon now.
Burning's CK is Level 13.
Furion is Level 16.
Longdd's position 4 Lina is Level 14.
His kill score is also quite nice. He didn't die last fight either.
Let's take a look at Burning's gold. See if he can get out his BKB.
It seems he used up all his savings in the last buyback.
This BKB recipe should be his, so he's only missing a Mithril Hammer.
Dota is truly a 5-player game.
No matter how strong you are individually
if you are countered by the other team, there's nothing you can do.
Burning's kill score this game is quite pitiful, 1-10.
He's already beyond ghostlike.
At 31min, he only has— he hasn't even completed BKB.
Why did it turn out like this?
The main reason is that from the start WE has been countering his position.
Aside from this point, we must also realize that each hero has their tendencies.
Furion for example is very fragile in teamfights.
He has also gone straight for Guinsoo's.
Even though his farm early-game was quite exceptional
facing these BKB heroes storming the front, he can't do much.
WE continues to smoke up in order to maximize the fierce nature of their lineup.
KD has also just completed a new item, a Maelstrom.
Burning's perception is pretty good.
He chose a very safe path to avoid getting caught.
Just as I say that, it looks like there's a good chance he'll get blink+vacuumed.
Let's see.
Panda initiates with blink+stomp. After blinking in, he gets stunned for 3s.
Of course AA ulti hits, vacuum+firebreath.
The AoE damage is quite high. After KD BKBs, he stuns TC and adjusts his positioning.
Burning is trying to TP to base.
He gets cycloned by the quick-fingered Panda player.
He's trying to keep running to give opportunities to his teammates.
Longdd's 3-spell combo takes out AA.
Can DS take out Furion? A Force Staff.
WE lost out in the side battle
but managed to take out Burning's CK in the main battlefield;
their enmity towards him goes very deep.
They've focused him very hard.
On the other hand, his teammates and especially Lina have shined.
Furion too lived and managed to pick up kills on AA and DS.
They were Level 13 and 14. This way Lina reaches Level 15 and Furion Level 17.
In a situation like this, Lina's effect on the match becomes very noticeable.
Her items are quite good too— PTs+Janggo+Force Staff.
This set of items together with her passive...
Speaking of which, I don't know if you guys want to watch—
I wasn't recording the other day when I was playing Lina in a pub.
I thought I was playing pretty spectacularly.
That match, I think at 10min—I don't remember the exact time—
I had BoTs+Dagger+Bracer+Magic Wand+Bottle.
I think I was Level 11 around 11min into the game.
Then I got Janggo+Crystalys+Divine Rapier.
I got kills in lane early-game and carried the tempo mid-game.
Then once it got too late for me to carry the tempo, I farmed up a Divine.
In this version, Lina's DPS is pretty strong due to recent buffs to her passive.
Okay, they've entered a contest over Roshan.
KD should have a pretty big item lead over CK.
Let's take a look at Burning.
Where is he? 400 gold.
He should be 1200 off his BKB.
Both sides still have a good chance to win.
WE has a slightly higher chance, because—
KD already has Mjollnir.
He got hasted, because they want him to initiate with his stun!
DS goes in and puts down a wall.
However because he has a Dagger, he's a bit fragile and dies right away.
BKB+Mjollnir KD is doing a ton of DPS.
He gets Force Staffed. Let's see if he can stun anyone.
His stun lands.
Aside from that, CM gets taken down by Panda.
Their teamfight advantage is still quite big
but now Furion is pushing his own advantage.
If you don't have an advantage in teamfights, your advantage must lie elsewhere.
His advantage is being able to leave the battle and go push.
However his teammates are all dead, so it's likely this lane will fall.
Panda returns to defend while others continue to push.
This fight, DS's blink+ulti together with
KD's BKB+Mjollnir item advantage claims their first lane.
After Phase Boots+Janggo+Dagger, Panda also gets a BKB.
Maybe he is thinking with BKB, he can tank a while longer after his ulti is up.
Let's take a look at SD.
This match, it's been pretty hard for SD to shine.
They continue to leave the best lane for Burning
because the last teamfight he again died.
Still can't afford to buy BKB.
Burning is the player in the pro Dota circle that I think
has the most accolades. He's a very low-key player.
In the Dota circle, his reputation precedes him.
Such a player with both capability and previous honours
is rendered helpless when he's focused down like that.
This further leads us to believe that Dota truly is a 5-player game.
One person's influence on the match is truly limited.
However, a team if united can do many things.
Like WE—
Eh, CM's positioning looks like she wants to give up her life.
Let's see if she can buy back.
442 gold.
CM's positioning... KD gets hasted.
Blink. Gets hexed.
They're diving for TC. TC goes down.
This fight is very crucial. Burning has taken down SD.
We see DK got—
BKB Furion this fight. Panda activates BKB.
Burning buys back.
He can blink away.
Wow, he still gets killed.
Burning didn't buy any items, instead choosing to save for buyback.
However, this fight we saw Furion and Lina...
fill a very key role.
In a situation where positions 1 and 3 were killed
Furion's DPS with Lina's ulti combined to kill KD
caused WE's push to end in failure.
I imagine after that fight, Furion has realized he'll probably need some DPS items this game.
Later, he might also get something like Mjollnir to fight KD.
Of course he might also get AC, which will provide better minus armor for his Medallion.
Safety-wise and overall, AC might be better.
However DPS-wise, Mjollnir is better.
Roshan respawns once more.
The failure of WE's push has caused a slight change in the big picture.
Even though DK's position 1 CK is istill n a pitiful state—
at 40min this set of items can be considered pitiful—
Furion's DPS can no longer be ignored.
We need to examine small changes carefully.
XiaoLuo thought about it and thinks he needs to get more items.
He got a Point Booster probably going for Agha
and some tangoes for getting out of sprout.
At the moment, we need to cut the screen to Yueru's Furion.
We see he already has 4400 gold.
CM has Force Staff. TC still has Arcane+Mek.
As they slowly play it out, Furion is turning into position 1.
He's the fattest, Lina is second and only then come CK and TC.
As for WE aside from one blip, KD's play has been spectacular.
Wow, he adds a Reaver. His farming rate is still quite fast.
His finances should be level with Furion's.
It's possible Furion has farmed more gold than KD. Let me calculate it.
Furion has Guinsoo's+Medallion+Midas and 5000 gold.
KD has Mjollnir+Reaver.
Reaver costs a bit more...
After calculating, it does seem Furion is fatter than KD.
Panda adds a Yasha. I think he wants to play a DPS role.
Let's cut back to observer view to watch this push.
They're toning it back a bit.
They might be waiting for the bottom lane to push in by itself.
But there's the presence of Furion.
We see he spends his 5000 gold and has sold Medallion.
Still has his TP.
Oh, I said it wrong. He didn't sell the Maelstrom. He sold the Medallion.
It's easy for the commentator to make verbal mistakes, because they have to move the mouse and stuff.
WE notices that the longer this goes on, the creep position might get worse and worse
due to the presence of the special hero Furion.
You guys have probably noticed some special qualities of this hero, Furion.
Super long-range AoE to clear creeps and maintain a safe margin.
A big battle might start any second.
This fight—
Again, they seize the initiation on a location that was previously revealed.
CK uses his illusions and activates BKB.
He has BKB for this fight.
BKB'd KD takes out CM. Now let's look at CK.
He still wants to bring down the SD.
KD got hexed and is getting hit by the tower.
KD eats a Lina ulti.
This is a Level 16, no—Level 18 Lina.
Panda turns big.
Now, Panda's effect becomes apparent.
The DPS of Phase+Janggo+Yasha Panda is quite high.
TC dies, but he has Aegis.
Can they take barracks?
Since CK and Furion can't buy back, they have some chance.
Let's watch.
There's only two heroes, Lina and TC.
Eh? Just a second.
They chose to retreat.
CK 30s, 20s.
If they didn't retreat, they could've at least taken the tower.
I think WE's decision-making has some problems
because 4 heroes on your side are alive
and key opposition heroes are all dead.
Let me see if they can buy back.
Burning doesn't; he only has 60 gold having just bought BKB.
Furion doesn't have buyback either.
WE has Panda.
Furthermore, AA, SD and DS have some disabling power.
This fight, they could've made a better decision— that is, to continue pushing.
At the very least they could've gotten a tower 4v2.
Although if they continue on like this, WE's chances of winning are still quite high.
The last few fights, we saw the fact that Lina survived was quite important.
She has a Eul's for survivability and a long-range ulti.
Even though KD is quite tanky, he couldn't handle getting sprouted
getting hit by the tower and Lina's ulti.
He's WE's only carry.
Wow, we see Burning has sold everything.
At 45min, PTs+BKB.
KD has a decent amount saved up again.
Heart is already completed.
Heart+Mjollnir+BKB+Planeswalker's Cloak, this KD should be quite tanky.
What's a bit regretful is that he doesn't have any evasion or lifesteal.
In my opinion, this is a decent set of items.
First of all, it's very tanky and gives a lot of DPS.
However, it doesn't have lifesteal. I mean once you choose a fairly high DPS item like Mjollnir
you can't get lifesteal later on. In such a situation, the only thing you can do is make yourself tankier
by getting a Heaven's Halberd or Manta. They're both pretty good.
Change this item to Heaven's Halberd or Manta.
The last item, I don't know. You can pick whatever.
You can consider Pipe or Refresher, which are pretty good too
because you can use ulti and BKB twice.
You could also sell the BKB for a 10s one.
Now let's look at the other side.
Burning is starting to get Bracers at 47min.
Eh? Who BKB'd?
Furion BKB'd.
After getting a pretty high DPS item, he's farmed 2000 gold.
The situation right now is still pretty high-strung.
DS is making his Agha.
Since WE didn't choose to push
I imagine DS+AA+SD will be getting new items soon.
For example, AA has gotten Pipe. SD has gotten Force Staff. DS has Agha.
As for DK, let's go through their heroes.
As a support, CM is unlikely to complete BKB, but she has her dream of doing so.
It's a bit hard to accomplish though.
Longdd's Lina is putting on a good showing until the end.
Similar to AA who is 14-2-20
Lina is 13-3-11. The overall score is 42-29.
Position 4's are fairly easy to shine in.
This is because in high-level matches, it's easy for main carries to get focused
and supports to start feeding non-stop, but position 4 skills are relatively easy to use
and aggro towards them is usually less.
Longdd helps Burning by getting Vlad's.
Burning adds another Bracer.
BKB and 2000 HP.
KD should be a bit tankier.
What's really regretful is that KD didn't get any evasion items.
Of course it could also be he didn't have the money.
If the game went on for a while longer, I think the game would tilt in WE's favour
because KD hasn't reached his full potential yet.
He's still lacking one more item.
KD starts to siege the tower.
We saw that after DS put down the Agha wall
WE's players walked through the wall, but noticed nothing happened.
This might be because they haven't played the new version much yet.
But KD is quite good at harassing the tower.
He gets sprouted. Panda blink+stomps, but stomps two BKB'd heroes.
KD activates his own BKB. Let's see his DPS.
Panda continues to chase, but KD has turned back.
However, Panda's position is a bit behind enemy lines.
KD eats TC's ulti and becomes crippled.
Such a position is very awkward for WE.
Furion TPs in to—
DS vacuums. KD still gets stunned.
SD puts disruption on KD, but—
Wow, Furion's triple kill.
This is a disadvantage of WE's storm the front strategy.
Yellow pings here.
Panda stormed in by himself, but he died there.
The situation takes a sharp turn.
KD doesn't have money to buy back. He has 1300 gold.
Neither of SD and Panda can afford to buy back.
The situation takes a sharp turn in DK's favor.
The main reason is DS didn't understand his skill.
He didn't know his wall can't replicate allied heroes.
There was some confusion in that instant.
Let's see if the wall can defend.
This Furion. This Furion illusion.
But everyone knows that illusions don't benefit from attack speed items, only from stats items.
This is very awkward.
So even though it says illusions do some percentage attack, but in reality it's not as high.
Furion BKB+TPs out.
DK has played this very safe.
This shows there's still some difference between WE and DK.
The difference lies in control of the match.
WE still isn't clear on when...
WE still isn't clear on when they can safely take the match.
52:14. They're reminding themselves of when Roshan was taken.
The Aegis is given to— Furion gets the Cheese
and Burning gets the Aegis.
I think he's going for Heart.
He realized he can't farm that much in one go, so he got 2 Bracers+Vitality Booster.
This match is a very classic one
because firstly, the lineups are very exciting.
We saw many twists and turns in the match.
We also got to saw the morale of both sides as well as
how different strategies fared against one another in this new version.
Personally, it's like I said earlier: WE has a very strong teamfight lineup to storm the front.
However if it gets dragged into late-game, they're not that good at controlling the creepwave
because KD depends on his transformation skill to take the game in one swoop.
This way, he doesn't enjoy the advantage provided by Aegis and...
I think Panda should have been directly attacking the tower
because last fight, he was at the front and KD was in the back attacking the tower.
There was a big divide.
If DS was in the back and Panda+KD were attacking the tower
I think it would've been better.
Also, SD's disruption can get a few more copies of KD to attack the tower with him.
This way even when WE was attacking and DK defending
they can make it feel like WE was defending.
For example, if two of WE's heroes were here attacking the tower
it would be like WE was using a very safe method in a fairly safe location to attack.
Since DK isn't comfortable with their tower being attacked, they would have to be the ones moving in.
For example, Lina might step up to LSA or TC might use his 3-spell combo.
At such a moment, DS or SD could counter-initiate and this might've worked better.
Of course that would've been the result of much training.
Some people have been asking me, "Can I turn pro?"
He really wants to turn pro.
Or someone might ask me how pro teams train.
I can tell you guys my answer to these two questions.
One aspect of it is you guys might really want to turn pro or become a pro player.
I don't recommend you guys do this, because this road is very arduous.
It's very— It requires a lot willpower to take such a road and even then you might not make it.
It's a road like that.
At the same time, the number of things you have to give up is quite a lot.
We see Fnty reaches 3600 gold once more.
My answer to the other question how pro teams train is by
repeatedly scheduling scrims with others teams.
Then after each match to raise a lot of "what if's".
Like "what if I did this at such a moment" or "can we have done this".
Basically raise a bunch of "what if's" and go through their likelihoods (of success).
It's very similar to what scientists do in experiments.
Pro players think of a bunch of tactics and try to come up with a new way of doing things.
Maybe a better way exists. Or they improve their communication.
Here KD has an opportunity to decide what item to get.
Of course DK has Cheese+Aegis.
Furion added Manta.
DK is playing fairly safe.
Even after gaining an advantage, they're waiting for the opponent to make a mistake
and aren't trying to force an opening themselves.
Furion's ulti pushes lanes all over the map.
Once DK gets an advantage, their creepwave pressure will be immense.
It's fortunate KD got Mjollnir which provides pushing power.
We see KD has 4200 gold. DK has taken WE's last outer tower.
WE doesn't consider defending it. Both sides have taken barracks in one lane each.
What's different is that DK has ranged barracks standing.
I will be joining Pika in casting the April 7th G-1 League match.
It happens to be between these two teams, which is interesting.
Both teams are sponsored by i-rocks and I hope both teams will—
Because this RTS competition is just a small league match.
Of course RTS will have many other matches.
This match counts as a small training match.
Of course it also has decent prize money.
The G-1 in comparison is off-line and better tests a team's true strength.
Recently, Danche and PIS have had a dispute on Weibo (Chinese Twitter).
On this topic, I think—
My attitude towards this is—
I actually don't have any opinions on this. It doesn't have anything to do with me.
Before, I also had a dispute.
Young people playing games. They tend to have a lot of vitality.
Wow, he adds a Demon Edge.
This is a sports event and not a traditional—
What's key is the sports culture.
It doesn't represent a mainstream product or consumer product
but it provides entertainment value and fighting spirit.
Everyone likes watching people getting pushed to their limits in sporting competitions
or bouts in willpower between two people. This is something people enjoy watching.
Of course at the same time when people emphasize their fighting spirits, conflicts may take place.
KD has 6800 gold and Mjollnir, which maintains his late-game potential.
You guys might remember when I did a video of WR— They might fight here.
Initiation on CK! We see KD's position is very far away.
He just got Divine Rapier.
This— We see the replay bar is nearing the end, so this may be the last fight.
I'll tell you guys about this fight.
This fight was very sudden by WE. Panda's blink+stomp seeking to kill the CK.
At the moment, CK has Aegis.
Of course Panda choosing CK to initiate on is totally okay.
This is because Panda's ulti can do quite a lot, but the main thing is WE's DPS is concentrated
in KD and he has only just completed Divine Rapier.
Let's see how it goes.
The strong Furion has killed a panda.
After two pandas got killed, Panda can't do anymore DPS.
Let's see if KD can do any DPS.
KD transforms and uses firebreath.
Lina's super long-range— KD was killed.
KD gets disruption used on him. Force Staffed, but not the real one, so he still gets killed.
So young people should pay for their mistakes. This is probably the mantra told by this match.
For their impulsiveness— WE's playstyle is very kill-centric, very aggressive.
However at the most critical moment, KD didn't activate his BKB
and his teammates didn't talk it through.
It concluded a fine match.
As I commentated this match, I already knew the result.
I think this match was very exciting, so I showed it to you guys.
I hope everyone— I'll paraphrase Ma Yun (a Chinese entrepreneur).
"I hope everyone will be cool-headed going forward in games and in real life."
"Only then can you achieve the greatest of victories."
The match is about to end.
We're going to be holding an event on ??? Day.
I hope you guys come support us at xm.xd.com.
I'll give my final thoughts on the match.
Both sides played to a very high competitive standard 43-37 in a 60min match.
Especially worth mentioning is AA's early-game performance as well as Lina's.
However in terms of main carry, we saw WE's Fnty still has—
I should say this match, Fnty has made a large improvement and that is no matter
what mistakes he has committed in game, his farming rate is much faster than before
and his item choice quite farsighted.
However, I can't help but mention that overall team-wise, there's still some distance with DK.
That's why I think the match on the 7th, I think DK's chances are better
but WE still has a chance.
Even though their odds are slightly worse, they definitely have a chance.
Thanks for watching, everyone. My commentary will end here.
Let's meet again next time. Goodbye!