[Game]"Team" Drafting

Well, since it's a joke...

Dire 4th Pick: Elder Titan




Radiant is going to have to get REALLY creative in order to make the TA work now, but...there are some crazy methods that can be tried 8{)

P.S. Spoiler tags are a nice way of hiding your theories until after the Draft has been completed, but it's hard not to look at the contents when you're copying the pretty Draft icons 8{(

Excuses, excuses - you could have copied one from higher up :)

I get to go twice in a row? 8{(

Radiant Final Ban: Puck

Dire 5th Ban: Rubick

Radiant final pick: Slardar.

Dire final pick : Invoker

The puck ban doesnt make sense against TA.

Having a good teamfight controller like Puck or Enigma is really scary with that lineup, though. Invoker was a pretty good pick too, I just realized his Tornados can make ET land all his Earth Splitters if timed right.


Anyway, let's analyze the teams:

The four bans were very common, nothing to say here. The first two picks of the Radiant team were popular Heroes too, pretty solid picks though I usually prefer Clockwerk as an off-laner; but still, Bristleback is even better in this case as you'll read below. The Dire team, instead, has one of the most threatening ganking duos in this meta, and if the Radiant team goes safe trilane they won't have any problems getting pickoffs in the mid.

Second banning stage: the Radiant team is scared of tanky Heroes while the Dire team bans a semi-common carry and a very strong support. This Templar Assassin pick is pretty unexpected, especially versus a Venomancer, and I don't think it's worth drafting her in the first 3 picks unless you have a certain strategy in mind since she has poor lane control and is very level-dependent. Windranger is a pretty decent teamfight controller and adds some nuke damage to the team. From the Dire side, Gyrocopter and Elder Titan mean they'll try to force early teamfights as soon as possible, especially after getting good pickoffs with the supports.

Last bans: Puck because, as said before, another good teamfight Hero would've screwed the Radiant team up, and Rubick because the Dire side didn't want the Radiant team to use their own spells. I don't think it was worth it though, the Radiant team would've needed to run Bristleback as a #1 carry to make space for another support. The Slardar final pick justifies the TA pickup (and makes the armor reduction from Bristleback even more fitting) and means going for an armor-reducing strategy and getting advantage with Roshan kills; Invoker, especially after the Quas- Wex buff, is really annoying because of his disarm from Deafening Blast and his constant mana drain; he's also a pretty good ganker with the QW build. They could also run him with the Quas- Exort build, but I don't think a Sun Strike would change things (Veno + Enchantress + the mid/off-laner are enough to get kills without assistance) and a Chaos Meteor would be pretty much overkill in teamfights with a Gyro and an ET. The Forge Spirits would be pretty decent for pushing with Enchantress though, and the nuking combo is good versus single Heroes too. But, again, this prevents the team from having their maximum strength at the very mid game.

Overall, I think I did a good job trying to balance the Radiant team with a Slardar pick but, sadly, I think the Dire team has the upper hand unless the Radiant goes aggressive trilane, in which case things might change depending on who gets the most kills. Going 3vs3 against a Gyrocopter is pretty scary though, but on the bright side the Enchantress would spend some time jungling leaving them 3vs2.

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Well, I think I'll start the analysis by explaining all my Picks/Bans


Yes, this is why I banned Puck, the best thing for Dire to pick up was something that comboes well in a Teamfight with Call Down and/or Earth Splitter. I chose Puck rather than Invoker because Puck is harder to lock down. This kinda covers my Elder Titan pick too <}3

Also, when you have a Venomancer who can come Gank the TA, who cares about the Laning matchup?

As for Alchemist ban and Crystal Maiden pick, they're fairly obvious, so moving onto Dragon Knight Ban...

Looking at Dire's Supports, 3 things spring to mind:-

- They can Roam and Gank quite easily
- These guys can Push HARD early on
- They're both Supports, but no Stuns means not much chance of an Aggressive Tri-lane with them

So, since they're an elite Ganking combo, this meant that Dire was less reliant on having Mid move around too much, so they wanted a Mid who can Farm effectively. They have a great Pushing lineup already, so a Mid who can Push well would be devastating. Finally, their Mid should have some sort of Disable since neither Enchantress or Venomancer can stop you from using a Town Portal Scroll to escape. Dragon Knight covers this perfectly...and so does Invoker...oh well ._.

Oddly enough, one of the final picks I was thinking of for the Radiant was a Leshrac, so that Windrunner could be run as the #1. It may be crazy, but I believe it's possible with her recent Ulti Buff.

The theory is, that you rush an Aghanim's Scepter on her, so she has full Damage with Max Attack Speed for 20 seconds, every 15 seconds. By the time she has Null Talisman, Phase Boots and an Aghanim's Scepter, she'll do over 100 Damage on each Attack. Multiply this by Max Attack Speed (nearly 3 attacks per second), and an Aghanim's Scepter can give her 300+ Damage per Second with her Right-Click

Crazy, but something I would like to try one of these days ._.

Yeah, the Slardar pick was really smart. I'm not sure how he does 1 vs 1 against an Elder Titan though, as you want the Supports to be Roaming and Ganking Invoker to make sure he doesn't get anywhere near a Hand of Midas, and hopefully, give all your Cores a Lvl advantage over him.

Yeah, I see no other way to go about this. Although, while it is scary to go against a Gyrocopter 3 vs. 3. It's signifiacantly less Scary when there's only 2 Disables in that Lane and neither are on the Gyro's side. 8{3

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Again, anyone can feel free to start the next Draft when they please, just consult the Opening Post for rules, such as the fact that it's Dire 1st Ban to start off this time round. <}3

Yeah after looking back on it I realize that the Templar Assassin choice was not the best. Picking her when dire had a Venomancer in the lineup with the slows and damage over time was just a detriment.
After relooking at it I think a nice choice would have been maybe Outworld Devourer or maybe Queen of Pain.
I'm sort of new to drafting so I'm still trying to learn the ropes. :P

Thanks for the feedback,

-BK