The draft analysation thread.

why dont we create a new room for dotafire people so that we can draft against each other?

I don't know the team you're in, but I'd say the Radiant side has the better draft. Well actually, leaving Clinkz top against a trilane would make him get less levels and experience.

I'd rather put, with that lineup, Jug and WD top just to make things more difficult for TA; even just Jug top would work. I think letting Clinkz farm his Orchid Malevolence and start ganking should be the main priority of the Radiant team: CM, ES and Silencer (and even TA to an extent) are all squishy targets for both Clinkz and Invoker; getting some pickoffs with the Orchid should be super easy.

I don't quite understand the Silencer panic pick from the Dire side: I see the Radiant team has many teamfight spells, but why would you screw up the mid lane (since you already have TA) just for a situational ultimate? I'd rather get someone else with a silence like Doom, Puck (if you still want to play a safe lane TA) or even Night Stalker instead of a squishy Hero whose only role is pressing R at the right moment, which is also pretty difficult sometimes; Lifestealer would've also laughed at a Black Hole. Plus, you have a long range stun ( Earthshaker) and a tanky Hero ( Bristleback) that can easily survive to both Juggernaut's and Enigma's ultimate! I really don't understand this "Silencer counters teamfights" reasoning: the ulti only works for a minimal amount of time and half of the duration is usually lost because of the enemy positioning.



EDIT: http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=d&fp=r&pick=ZS2O1ZJ0ZI1Zm1ZK0Zl1ZM2ZP1M3&ban=jEgZDZTZXZbZuZQY
Assume Slark is top and Faceless Void is bot, I screwed it up.

Short explanation: Void gets his Chronosphere, everyone throws Chaos Meteors, Macropyres and Ice Blasts, we win. The aggressive trilane is focused on Slark's Pounce after which Cold Feet and Ice Path are super easy to land.

The simplest way would be to go into the DOTAfire Steam Group/DOTA 2 Guild and challenge random people in it. I'd love to draft against members of the community. Some people find Drafting to be a snooze-fest but I can't get enough of it <}3

For anyone who dares to challenge me, my Steam Name is The Grand Mustache ' Ò�Ò�Ò�Ò�Ò�Ò�Ò�Ò�Ò�Ò�Ò�

*casually walks over and smacks KoDiDiDumDiDiDumDiDiBaBy's face with a smelly, sweaty glove*

Gonna add you, I love drafting :3

get meracle'd on xyrus.

http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=r&fp=r&pick=ZG1ZL2ZM2D2X0j1S1Zr0H2Zp1&ban=ZSZXZtEzaMPZdZKd

It was a fun battle my dreaded foe, hence, Imma start aseperate thread for it...with a POLL!!!

http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/forum/theorycrafting/draft-battle-4731

Poll here ^

Just had a few games on it, this would probably be the "best" draft of the bunch.
http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=r&fp=r&pick=j2M1Zv2Zb2ZB0ZO1za2x1E1F0&ban=mpYBZKZTqZXlZk
I'm the radiant side and got 1st pick.

In terms of Bans, I'm gonna side with Dire here. In the event that they did pick up a Io, you can always counter it by picking up Defensive Supports like Disruptor with Glimpse or a Naga Siren with Song of the Siren, etc. The Juggernaut ban doesn't make much sense to me either. On the other hand, Mirana is a bit harder to counter (the only true counter to her I can think of would be a Nightstalker with Aghanim's Scepter and a Gem of Truesight). Timbersaw can give their Lanes a lot of problems too.

Advantage:Dire

For the 1st Picks, pretty even on both sides. Alchemist and Elder Titan are both quite flexible in terms of Laning/Supporting, so it keeps your opponent guessing. The Visage pick is slightly better than the Nature's Prophet pick imo, though. Nature's Prophet is eventually going to need to go into the Jungle to get his Farm, and while he can use his Nature's Call to disrupt Stracks/Pulls/Pull Through on the other Team's Safe Lane, competent Supports will be wary of this. On the ohter hand, Visage is a strong Support who keeps Dire's options completely open. Combine that with the Elder Titan pickup and it's the start of a completely open strategy that will most likely win all of the Lanes.

Advantage:Dire





Combined with their earlier Bans, it's obvious now that Dire want to make sure they can let their Carry Farm in peace, Timbersaw would be a pain in the Offlane, Mirana could bring Moonlight Shadow Ganks to the table, an Aggressive Tri-lane with Bristleback and Alchemist would melt everything in it's path and a Treant Protector is the only Lane Support who can Support his Lane without having to be in it. Their Draft is still open, but the Bans are revealing a lot here, they're crying "Please don't go Aggressive and destroy our Carry! T-T", which is still an option for Radiant at this point.

As for the Tidehunter and Gyrocopter ban, it's obvious Radiant understands Dire's potential for a strong Teamfight oriented lineup. With the Nature's Prophet pickup, they've got Rat Dota to fall back on, so why not take out the biggest Teamfight threats. I'm not too sure that Tidehunter was the best choice to ban though. With a Visage already on Dire's side, if they had picked up a Tidehunter, they'd have 2 Supports hungry for lvl6 and lacking any Stuns whatsoever until they got that Exp. It might have been better to ban out Enigma or Magnus, as an Earthshaker would have also needed a lot of Exp for a Support.

Advantage:Radiant

As for the picks, I really don't like this Lion pick. He brings a lot of Disables and Ganking power, but isn't particularly scary until lvl6. A strong Aggressive Tri-lane Support would have been better here, e.g. Enchantress, Windrunner, etc. The Lifestealer pick was an excellent choice though imo. Not only can he go Aggressive on Dire, but he can also fill the Safe Lane Solo role, or even be a good Defensive Tri-Laner who can keep up with a lot of Hard Carries while still being strong in the Early Game, eating an Offlane Elder Titan with ease.

On Dire's side, the Luna pickup is fairly sensible, she brings in the potential to take advantage of a healthy Laning Stage, brings good Teamfight with Eclipse and can transition into the Late Game if she isn't completely battered and broken. The Crystal Maiden fits in extremely well here too. She doesn't require Exp as much as Visage making it easier for him to focus on his lvl6 and together, they make a good Ganking Combo. It's now completely obvious Dire want a strong Defensive Tri-lane, but they've managed to secure it.

Advantage:Dire





Well, the thinking behind the Razor ban was completely transparant. Sapping Luna's Damage in a Teamfight isn't going to do much while she's using Eclipse, and with no Right-Click dependant Heroes in their Lineup, they're obviously protecting their Last Pick. Radiant responds accordingly by banning the obvious Outworld Devourer pick. Having the better Supports (in terms of Ganking) meant it would be difficult to shut down Outworld Devourer if Dire got their hands on him, and combine Arcane Orb's Right-Click power with Sanity's Eclipse's Teamfight potential, and Dire would have been near unstoppable 5 vs 5

Radiant Counter-Banned Dire's arse!

The Puck pickup synergises well with Dire's existing lineup, along with the Damage from Eclipse, Frost Nova and Earth Splitter, they now have Waning Rift to hold Radiant in place in Teamfights. On Radiant's side, the Queen of Pain pick is nice too, but I feel a step in the wrong direction. She brings more Teamfight to Radiant, but Dire have already surpassed them in terms of Teamfight.

Radiant's main advantage lies in Split-Pushing and Pick-Offs. A Tinker might have served a better purpose here, using the Jungle to Farm up, if he was having difficulty against the Puck, and Split-Pushing with Nature's Prophet to ensure that Dire would be too pre-ocupied with Defending their Towers to think of Attacking, as after all, even if a Teamfight did break out, Nature's Prophet and Tinker could be there in no time to help out.

Victory:Dire

Thanks for the analysis Xyrus. Wouldn't have thought of using a Tinker in that situation, as I thought too much of his usefulness to the team was already covered by Prophet. Though I can see how having that much split push, with no counter like Keeper of the Light could perpetually keep them defending towers.

The thinking behind the Juggernaut ban was what carry can have an impact in the early/mid game, as I at that point was aiming toward a mid game win.
The Queen of Pain was originally going to be a Puck until s/he got picked by the Dire, so I thought Queen of Pain would lane decently against Puck and still be able to pull off a Naix bomb.

If you want another to go over. I'm Radiant again.
http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=r&fp=r&pick=q1zb1l2w2ZW0Zi4Zp4Zs0Zv2Zw1&ban=ZxZKIMWVAyOK
I had drafted against this guy twice before, and he liked to stack on teamfight hence the starting enigma ban. Pulled a 180 with this draft.