The draft analysation thread.

Completed this draft today, would love to get some feedback on it. Misclicked the Lycan into Bot lane I meant to put him in the jungle, but oh well.

http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=r&fp=d&pick=j1T2ZH0Zf2Zv2D1Zx3ZG2Zo0B1&ban=gZlZrGZbZKQSZtt

So, you're playing an off-lane Alchemist? I'd rather put him mid and let Batrider go top. Or, simply, go support Alchemist with mid Lion (though I don't recommend doing so). Laning Lycanthrope is actually fine: Glimpse and Earth Spike are enough to catch a running Dark Seer and Hex plus Lycan's autoattacks would make him very easy to kill.

The Dire team is good, but I don't understand the Viper pick: Puck was still in the pool, Queen of Pain too, even Slark! Viper doesn't fit that well in the Dire lineup - as it is more teamfight-oriented - and Lycan actually doesn't get slowed by his DoT. Another pick I didn't like was Dark Seer since he's become pretty useless in my opinion, but he still combos well with Naga Siren and Enigma. I would've preferred to pick a Timbersaw, Bristleback or, again, Slark since they kinda counter both Alchemist and Lycan as they have extra resistance versus physical damage or can simply become impossible to hit.


It's a pretty even match: from the Radiant perspective I would've picked an Orchid carrier because of Enigma (maybe leave Lion and pick Storm Spirit/ Queen of Pain playing support Alchemist?); while from the Dire perspective I wouldn't have picked Viper and Dark Seer. I'd give the advantage to the Radiant team as BKBs counter Naga Siren pretty hard (and both Alchemist and Lycanthrope are good BKB carriers): if they initiate first with Batrider - maybe lassoing Enigma or Gyrocopter - the enemy team won't be able to do anything. Don't forget that Disruptor can Glimpse back the Enigma if he tries to initiate first.

I really liked that Disruptor pick. :D

Thanks for the feedback Peppo :D

I initially grabbed the Alchemist as a response to his Naga Siren pick but I then noticed how it seemed that my opponent was banning out disables such as Silencer and Outworld Devourer. As a response to this I went and grabbed Disruptor to help lock down Naga and counter initiate against his Enigma pick. I have no clue why he grabbed Dark Seer. Maybe to get more team fight ultimates, i don't know.

He may have picked Viper because he thought I'd send Disruptor mid for some reason. Oh well, bad play on his part.

-BK

Agreed, Viper doesn't bring anything here, he's not going to stop a Batrider from Farming. Dark Seer is also fairly redundant, they already had a Naga Siren + Enigma setup that allows them to disengage a Teamfight they can't win, or engage with an easy to land Black Hole. They should have tried to strengthen something else, like Ganking, or Split-Pushing.




The Disruptor pick was really good, it gives you back some control against this Teamfight heavy lineup. The other Team focused too much on Teamfights imo. They have no real Defense against Split-Pushing.

Personally, I would have gone with a Nature's Prophet for the Last Pick instead of a Lion. You're not really desperate for a Lion here, but you can easily punish them with a large amount of Split-Push. Between Lycanthrope and Nature's Prophet, their 5-man potential would be rendered useless.

This ^

Not to mention, since you aren't Jungling, you don't really need a Vladmir's Offering. Just try to Farm a quick Hand of Midas for a faster lvl16 then go Necronomicon and Black King Bar to be nearly unstoppable.

http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=d&fp=d&pick=ZS0E2t4o2ZH1m1ZW1J1ZC0Zp2&ban=ZKZXcZMgZTjZusi
Drafted this up today

Not as good as the others in the analysis department, but I can try :)

1st Ban Phase, Dire 1st pick.

Timbersaw is banned out instantly from the Dire, they dont want competition from the Radiant offlaner, first hints that they want a defensive tri-lane.
Outworld Devourer from the Radiant, fairly standard ban.
Alchemist is next from the Dire, a flexible hero that can carry lategame and be offensive early on.
Bristleback is banned by the Radiant, as part of an offensive tri-lane he would be very difficult to deal with.

1st Pick phase.

Io is picked up by the Dire, giving away that their looking for a Wisp/? combo.
Slark and Crystal Maiden is taken by the Radiant, both very aggressive heroes, lots of potential for early kills between the two. Crystal Maiden could be laned anywhere except mid, so very flexible. Slark is a good reaction against Dire's attempts to shut-down the Radiant offlane, Slark can make a lot happen there as well as transition into a lategame carry.
The Dire picking up Tusk here is a very strange move to me, they lost their opportunity to guarantee the Wisp combo of their choice as well as giving away their strategy. Tusk is a great mid lane ganker with plenty of early burst, massive signal to the Radiant of a ganking early dominance strategy. They should have gone for something like a Chaos Knight or Tiny here, to guarantee Wisp a partner and keep their options open.

2nd Ban Phase

Lich is taken out of the pool by the Dire, again it looks as if their denying heroes that could cause trouble in the offlane. Lich using Sacrifice on incoming creeps is going to be lessening already thinly spread experience among the possible tri-lane.
Tiny is banned by the Radiant, denying a Wisp/Tiny combo.
Next is a Phantom Lancer ban from the Dire. PL can split push and is a slippery target, something that can punish a ganking lineup as well as hard carry. Good ban here.
Nyx Assassin is next from the Radiant, they have cottoned on to the Dire's strategy by now and denied a potential ganker and secondary support.

2nd Pick Phase

Vengeful Spirit, another aggressive support is taken by the Radiant. She fills a couple of roles in the Radiant lineup, she likely will act as secondary support, gives a surprising amount of push potential between her Vengeance Aura, Wave of Terror and naturall carrier of a Ring of Aquila, and provides burst damage and a stun that can pull off easy ganks in the early game. She fits well with Radiants current lineup.
Lina is next for the Dire, they have rounded out their supports and gotten their hands on even more burst damage. Between Io and Lina a tri-lane is possible here. The lingering fact that the Dire still need a carry for Wisp hangs in the air, and they are missing opportunities to get what they need before the Radiant can do something about it.
The Radiant's main carry is picked, Traxex the Drow Ranger. This I feel isn't the greatest pick, Drow is squishy and Marksmanship drops if they get up close. They already have a Tusk who can close distance and deliver tons of burst, their is a Wisp who can Relocate someone on top of you. Picking a hero that is reliant on keeping their distance against this lineup isnt a good choice. A great pick would be Chaos Knight, he is a tanky hero who is a natural BKB carrier against their array of magic burst, and denies Io another potential partner. Lifestealer also deserves a mention here, Rage will protect him from that burst and a Naix bomb with Slark is a thing to be feared. Both would synergize well with the high kill potential from a Radiant defensive tri-lane, though not that Drow could not with Frost Arrows on top of Magic Missile and Frostbite making it very difficult to escape if the Dire offlaner is caught.
A surprise pick from the Dire, they opt for the Death Prophet. Her contribution to the Dire is fairly minimal in my eyes, she adds good pushing capabilities, something that is useful, and teamfight ability which the Dire so far in their lineup would want to avoid. This changes up the established lanes, Tusk is no longer mid, but that puts Dire in a strange position. Tuskarr is not a good offlaner, nor will be best served as the farming carry of the prospective defensive tri-lane. Their carry has yet to reveal itself, the Dire running a great risk leaving it this late with the Io signalling their potential carries, and their laning is now very "messy".

3rd Ban Phase

Clockwerk is banned by the Radiant, recognizing the Dire's lack of a good solo offlaner and capitalizing.
The Dire ban out Huskar here, which I think is a wasted ban. The do remove a potential mid-laner which isnt apparent in the Radiant lineup, but his role is already covered by the Slark. They would have been better off banning someone like Puck considering their teams reliance on spells and lack of good escape.

3rd Pick Phase

Radiant pick up the Batrider, who provides some much needed initiation on the Radiant as Vengful's Nether Swap would be suicidal against this burst heavy lineup as well as still being very coy about their lanes. Bat could jungle, solo the offlane or go mid, Radiant are playing very flexible with their middle and offlane.
However it isnt the greatest pick, Puck would be a better pick here, if revealing an offlane Slark.
Clinkz is the last pickup for the Dire, on their very aggressive ganking lineup. This now puts Tusk in the farming role of their tri-lane and Clinkz in the offlane. The Dire have decided to leave the Io without one of his traditional partners.

They are now lacking any traditional carry, they are now forced to rely on snowballing as a team. The potential for Relocate ganks spotted by a roaming Clinkz is definitely there
My opinion on how the game will turn out, it will be decided by the 15-20min mark. If Radiant have survived this long in decent condition, the Dire wont last long as their late game potential is weak, once Drow Ranger comes online there wont be much to stop her.

I prefer the dire's draft.

For one the radiant has a drow ranger which is essentially a weaker clinkz.
Mid the death prophet should have a pretty good time since slark cant take too much spam. So he cant really go agressive.
Clinkz should be fine against drow and CM. Maiden would want to pull and freeze jungle creeps most of the time.
Radiant does have a better roaming combo so death prophet should have slightly more problems but as long as she keeps slark low she should be relatively ok.

Dire has plenty of ways to close the gap but i dont really know why they run a tusk safe lane. Still i think death prophet can deal with batrider and slark, and there are enough ways to make drow's ult useless.

I figured Tusk would have a pretty solid lane with Io support and I banned Huskar because I felt that their team needed a Str carry, and Huskar would be a solid middle hero + his magic resist would make him hard to deal with with the only viable way to do so would be to send Tusk in to 1v1 him, which with Husky's ability to hit faster the lower his health is, would make him all-around harder to deal with.
I put Tusk in the Safe lafe for two reasons
1- both Io's usual partners were banned out, leaving me with few options, I felt the Tusk would work best.
2- I believed the Ice block with Tusk + Io + Lina's burst damage would give my tri-lane the edge in a 3v2, however I wasn't expecting a 1v3 scenario, much less a Batrider- however the tri-lane has the better roaming gankability with the Wisp.

http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=r&fp=d&pick=ZX1ZA2Zk0ZF1Zt1ZK0P3x2t2Zr2&ban=ZSjZvwiEZuZMDH
another draft, opponent misclicked: Luna/Vengeful Spirit top

Just did this Draft, I am the Radiant.
http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=r&fp=d&pick=q1E2w0Zf2N3Zt1d1Zd2ZY1ZC0&ban=ZKMRXyZGZbZlZQZu
What I did here was to try and dominate the mid and late game by getting a potential carry on every lane, and creating a lot of ganking potential between the heroes.

Drafted against this guy a few times, seems very reactionary to my picks, trying to counter or block whatever I was trying to get rather than build a team of his own. Best example is this (I'm Dire)
http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=d&fp=r&pick=ZG3Zk0Zg2Q2q1ZK0M2m1c1P3&ban=ZbZuyglZSNEsD

Bunch more drafts if anyone feels like some analysing.
http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=r&fp=d&pick=q1Zt1zb1w0r2F0ZG2Zx3O1ZU1&ban=KZbZryBQMtZXY
http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=d&fp=d&pick=p2K2t3ZG1ZQ0ZT2H1P3Zg1ZD0&ban=QZBjZbmZKEwZlF
http://dota2draft.the-cluster.org/show?op=d&fp=d&pick=G0N3q1Zl2Zk2Zb1F0Zt1ZY1ZT2&ban=SDZByZQMZrEZGZS