Yes I know, you’ve reached your quota of tolerance towards Dota 2 news long ago, but we are nearly at the end, and by end, I mean the beginning of the main event of The International! The playoffs are done and the teams have been placed according to their performances. Eight teams have been sent packing, leaving the other eight with better odds at grabbing a larger percentage of that $10 million dollar cash pool.
Phase 3 of the playoffs
First off, lets briefly talk about the 3rd phase of the tournament which took place last night and the evening before. In the first group, I was particularly sad to see Liquid go. For a Wild Card team, and the final team to secure a spot in the top 16, they genuinely showed a lot of promise in the early days of the competition. Unfortunately, they got kicked out by LGD. That particular playoff group played out pretty much as expected. Each lower team lost out to the team that had performed better than them in phase 2 of the of the tournament. LGD lost out to Cloud 9, who then went on to lose to DK, who now have a comfortable position in the upper bracket. I chose DK as my second favourite team of the tournament, so I’m quite happy to see them doing well.
The second group of the 3rd phase proved to be far more surprising. NewBee and Titan were right at the bottom, and the loser of their matchup would be sent home. NewBee proved to be too strong, and after sending home Titan, even went on to defeat Na’Vi and iG in the same evening. Its quite the turnaround for them, and they are now in a great position in the upper bracket. The team I favoured to win the tournament is of course, Na’Vi (because I’m a shameless fanboy). They now sit in the lower bracket, something which I really didn’t expect. They have a tough road ahead of them if they want to win the main prize.
(Source)
The Main Event
The International has been great so far. There hasn’t really been a dominant team like in the past years, with no team being undefeated. Granted, there are the teams that are doing exceptionally well, but they have shown weaknesses at some point in the competition. The final tournament layout is as follows:
(Source)
ViCi, NewBee, Evil Geniuses and team DK are in the best positions at the moment. Will they hang on to their advantages? Or will we see one of the four teams from the lower bracket come through to secure that grand prize in some surprise upsets?
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Last Updated: July 15, 2014
Brendyn Zachary
July 15, 2014 at 14:14
I’m very disappointed that you used DOLLA DOLLA BILL instead of HOLLA HOLLA GET DOLLA.
hairyknees
July 15, 2014 at 16:25
Dammit… missed opportunities :'(
William Francis
July 15, 2014 at 14:24
The way Na’Vi are playing at the moment is shameful. They have lost their team dynamic with Xboct(hvost) making silly plays and choosing Razor time and time again, losing almost all the games with him. I don’t believe they will make it this year, as much as I really really want them too. Finals will be EG vs Vici/IG.
hairyknees
July 15, 2014 at 16:26
^^^^ EXACTLY! I don’t know why Razor is picked up so often O_o he is a good hero, but very situational as far as I am concerned.
William Francis
July 15, 2014 at 16:52
Agreed, and the hero’s they are going against have some great counter picks, but they never take them. They are also having a rough time with the bans as every game its Tinker, Batrider and Enigma instabanned. I am surprised to see that Kuro isn’t getting his Rubick, considering he is one of the best Rubick players in Dota 2. Same goes for Puppy and Chen
DrKiller
July 15, 2014 at 17:06
I’m more concerned about Wisp… I have not yet seen a winning match with a IO in it… But ja they were terrible last night…
Matthew Holliday
July 16, 2014 at 09:33
Navi’s wisp-tiny combo was 3-0 untill the playoffs.
what they were planning with some of those wisp combos though, i dont know
Matthew Holliday
July 16, 2014 at 09:32
their Razer is 1-5 at TI4 now.
i would take that as a sign to not yolo pick razor.
hairyknees
July 16, 2014 at 10:17
http://www.dotacaps.com/gag/2269
Matthew Holliday
July 16, 2014 at 12:56
Might be Puppy mindgames.
Might not.
its a risky play, intentionally going to lower bracket means they have to be confident that they can win any time they want.
intentionally losing means that if they drop one game that they intended to win, they go home.
Its riskier than showing your plays i tough games.
Saint_Dee
July 16, 2014 at 10:13
Okay, if I’m not mistaken, Razor has been in the top 5 picks of the tournament thus far, and he was actually only 2nd to Skywrath Mage 2-3 days into the group phase. Having seen a lot of these games where a Razor is involved, I think I understand (to an extent) why he’s become a popular pick at TI4.
Razor is a somewhat versatile hero in terms of what he offers to a game, depending on how you’ve drafted and how you plan to build him.
He’s great with pushing line-ups because buildings are not long for this life with his agh’s upgrade, and even in said pushing line-up trying to defend towers against Eye of the Storm plus another pushing ability like Serpent Wards from Shadow Shaman or Nether Blast/Ward from Pugna can be devastating if not done properly, etc.
He’s also great with line-ups (the better reason to pick him IMO) that are built around fighting because he’s more of an anti-carry and quite durable if built around fighting. You got your Primal Split off after the static link? Well, Razor’s still getting damage from you. Your farmed carry has tons of damage to dish out? Not after Razor’s done sapping it (great counterpick for hard carries that focus on right click damage).
Anyway, the key thing to picking Razor at TI4, is the other cores and support he’s picked with. If you pick Razor as your main core or carry (never mind hard carry), you’re going to have a hard time, and if you pick him with heroes that don’t complement the way you want to play him, you also going to have a hard time, if you pick him for lane dominance, guess what, more hard times. It’s why I reckon EG has had the most success with him (I’m such a fanboy :P) because they love drafts that fight and they pick Razor with heroes like Brewmaster, Faceless Void, or even Tidehunter…
Out of the 76 games Razor’s been involved in at TI4, he’s only got a 38% win rate with both EG and DK having a 100% win rate, while Titan had 75% success. So my thoughts, teams should decide why they pick a Razor, push or fight (I prefer the latter actually), draft around that, and make sure Razor supplements heroes who fit the way you want to play and build him.
Matthew Holliday
July 16, 2014 at 09:46
team dynamic is still there, but i think the reason theyr losing is down to puppy.
Needs to shorten his leash on the team. dives and overextensions are costing them games.
his picks for himself are severely limited. if he doesnt get enigma for himself its gg.
also needs to start reading the draft again. Yolo picking the Razor against a wombo lineup is dumb. if you dont get the bkb off youre stunned for days, no time for static link to build up damage, no castables, all aoe, so the passive doesnt kick in. its just… bleh
Admiral Chief Fairburne
July 15, 2014 at 14:24
GO TEAM [insert random team name here] !!!!!!!!!!!
Hammersteyn
July 15, 2014 at 14:26
XD
hairyknees
July 15, 2014 at 16:27
HAI!
Tom Neil
July 15, 2014 at 14:28
It will be very interesting! Till i wait for Friday i will play some games in http://OwlGames24.com/
Ottokie
July 15, 2014 at 14:39
Go! MOBAzzzzzzzzzz…
Admiral Chief Fairburne
July 15, 2014 at 14:40
Loooolzzzzzzzz