recap+draftthoughts+metathoughts+powerrankings
Every week I try to have another different little focus to improve either my play in the offlane, or my drafting from the craptain’s chair. This week, I wanted to improve my g2 draft and have at least 2 strategies going in instead of just having 1 plan, executing that, then getting lost for the second game. I don’t think I succeeded this week, as we STOMPED game 1, and fell apart game 2. More on that later….
Here’s the Game 1 draft:
I had 2 drafts planned, a naga+mirana game and a warlock+windranger game. We have had success with both in previous games and scrims, so I wanted to build drafts around those openings. Banwise, it was actually really hard researching this team. They didn’t really have hero trends after looking at what people banned against them and what they’d picked, no hero had been played more than 3 times. That said, we’d had problems with Leshrac’s before, and they definitely played that hero so that got our first ban. It’s also just strong in general, with it also being a flex pick (both core and support) it’s another meta opener. Axe had been banned out against them a few times, and it’s never fun playing against one so I took that out. We were going to ban Skywrath but they took that out for us, so knowing they played Beastmaster (and have first rounded it previously) we took that out. I assume they ban out the Sand King just because it’s another strong 4, and maybe they ban out my Underlord (comfort pick) or maybe they’ve had trouble with it in the past.
So after the banning phase, our draft is actually wide open. We have first pick, so we can go for the Warlock, Mirana, Naga, Windranger, Bane, or really anything. I decide to stick to the plan and take the Warlock (considered taking the Windranger first but thought we’d have a higher chance of getting that 2nd than the Warlock). They take my other draft plan and grab Mirana, but also take Nightstalker instead of a combo hero. We get our Windranger, which we’ve just had a ton of success with.
So entering 2nd phase bans, I take out Viper after having the absolute worst game of the season against one in scrims this week. They also need an arrow combo so I’m either taking out Bane or Naga. Naga sleep too strong, so we ban it. They don’t take the Bane, but instead grab Shadow Demon, which I honestly haven’t seen in many games. It’s already a strong Doom game and we have a Windranger combo to really bully whatever lane they choose. They pick a really questionable Morphling (a hero that’s pretty weak in lane anyway, with a hard Doom counter already in the game). I think this was the big mistake of their draft, they already knew our lane was strong and the SD wasn’t going to do much considering you want a dual lane if you have Nightstalker in your offlane. We thought they were going to grab a Luna (traditional SD combo) or move the Mirana bottom. The Mirana is now locked to either offlane/mid, we grab an OD which can confidently win if she does go mid and also does well against Morph.
Just to be safe (we were pretty sure Mirana was mid) we do ban out the Sniper (a hero polo plays a bit) and is annoying AF. They ban fiery’s PL, but the draft has just looked way too good to pass up a Drow. I hate myself, but I promise it was not the plan going in. We have a frontliner in Doom, a Windranger and OD that LOVES the extra damage, and fiery really likes the hero. We take it and they go Slardar (I don’t really have commentary on that hero choice…). We had also considered running a Bloodseeker because it felt pretty strong against what they had but again, the Drow was too juicy to pass up.
We win every lane handily. AwfulWaffLE and I destroy the Morphling… he has a short attack range, I get boots early and walk up to Infernal him. I’m also able to devour an early Centaur creep (instead of the standard laning satyr) and can lock the Morph down just long enough to get a Powershot from the Windranger in too. I do get cocky and dive the tower for an SD kill that doesn’t happen dying in the process but overall the lane was firmly ours. Morphling leaves to try and find farm top against an equally hard Drow+Warlock who bully them out. We group to push towers (honestly could have grouped a little earlier than we did) but we waited for fiery’s manta before committing to towers. We throw bodies at towers, I hit some key dooms against Mirana and Morph, shaz hits some dope Warlock ults, Ultra runs around last hitting anybody I’m about to solo kill. Very clean game, and other than the dumb dive + strength morphed doom play I think I play a really solid offlane game. Credit to my support though, I think we’re finally gelling in lane and it shows in this game.
So with game 1 complete, we go in to a bit of a break between games as we wait for our last pick to update Dota. Everything crashes, he never joins, and 15 minutes later we’re back ready to run our other draft.
We again ban out Axe + Lesh not wanting to play against either of them, knowing we were going to take the Mirana. Fiery went OFF in a scrim with her, so I was really excited to run her again… but at the same time we knew it could go mid, offlane, or support (everybody on our team plays her). They had previously played a Bloodseeker, and while I didn’t think they’d first round it we didn’t want to risk it. Instead of the Axe and Blood, we actually planned on banning the Skywrath and Warlock (not planning to take either) but they did it for us. Actually the theme of this draft was: we need to ban X, other team bans it for us. We take the Mirana first, they grab the Windranger (honestly would have been a stronger ban for us instead of the Blood). They also take Bane this game, one of our core position 5 heroes. We grab the 2nd half of our opener in Naga Siren, and are overall pretty happy with what we have.
Knowing they could turn around and do the same thing we did to them in Game 1 we take out the Drow, and secure the Viper ban. They ban out Ultra’s SF and fiery’s PL. They take the Beastmaster first out of second round, a really strong offlaner and with a Windranger that’s actually a pretty scary lane. We take a Witch Doctor (the poor man’s Warlock???).
SIDE NOTE: Witch Doctor vs Warlock. In the regional qualifier’s, we’ve actually seen a healthy amount of both, with the Witch Doctor’s taking a level 1 heal instead of the level 1 maledict we’ve had forever. WD seems to give you more kill potential at around level 3 (stun and maledict) and can keep you alive with the heals, but Warlock just feels stronger in lane. Specifically this game, we ran our WD offlane allowing Naga and Mirana to be together (way better for arrow combinations) and while the WD hit pretty hard, it felt like he wasn’t the bully we needed instead being a bit more defensive. Tell me otherwise, I’m down to discuss…
So at this point they’ve got a bunch of control in Wind stun, Bane sleep, Beast stun, and once again my team suggests Abba. It was the pick of the week last week and we had a lot of success with it, so I agree and grab it. Spoiler alert, it did NOT go as well this week. They take a Slark confident that the Bane can give him a good lane. We take out Zeus just because it’s an easy mid hero that can really hurt our Mirana ult movements, they take out OD. We’re actually pretty stumped what we want for mid this game. Ember in the pool feels weak against that lineup (way too much control, and I can’t purge it all). TA feels weak, Sniper is there but we didn’t want it. Mirana could move to mid but it felt like it could be countered pretty hard. OD, Viper, SF all banned, so Ultra asks for Invoker thinking he can switch the build depending on his matchup. They grab fuckin Death Prophet (her AOE silence ends up being the death of us).
I didn’t realize it until I took this screenshot, but we actually won our safelane (Beastmaster + Windranger not winning lane????), we draw mid, but the kicker is our offlane. I really thought Abbadon was going to be stronger against the Bane + Slark with my shield and right clicks, plus a WD heal+stun. It didn’t go well at all, Slark walks up and hits me 2–3 time for every 1 I hit him, getting those essence shift stacks. Bane runs around right clicking and brain sapping. Nightmare isn’t that big of an issue, but the Slark pounce is unpurgeable. Pretty sure I give up first blood, my WD leaves lane to grab bounty runes at the 5 minute mark and I wanted to stay in lane for the valuable xp (REALLY needing my level 6). Unfortunately I fail to realize+communicate that Slark AND Bane both left lane to contest, WD dies, and they get both bounty runes. If I just walk over with him or he leaves maybe we have a better chance in that lane.
The rest of the game is kind of a disaster for me. Slark is running around murdering people with his Shadow Blade. Mirana and Invoker try split pushing since they both have invis escapes (other team smart enough to get dust) and they get caught out. In fights I’m either silenced by DP so I can’t purge anything, or misclicking creeps or losing my Invoker in the mess of a teamfight and unable to keep him alive. It was just a bad game overall. We were also pretty confident we had late game if we could just survive long enough (and we kinda hold high ground) but we take some bad fights, or misplay some fights that were going well and get run over.
META THOUGHTS + ADJUSTMENT TO IT
I think late game lineups are dying. We see this both in our RD2L games and in the pro scene. Whoever wins lanes usually wins the game, and very crucially you gotta win the offlane. It’s been a tough spot to be in since I spent most of the offseason learning how to scrape whatever farm and xp I could from a solo offlane that was always going to lose. Now that dual lanes are back, I’m supposed to WIN my lane. In our loss last week, I played Axe, won my lane, and couldn’t win the game due to a snowball team on the other side that won their offlane. In our loss this week, we aren’t able to pressure the lane, Slark gets a few kills and they snowball even though we win our safelane. I’m not sure if it’s my role on this team or if it’s the current meta or something, but our postgame chats have recently been starting with why I lost us the game. Now it’s all valid criticisms when presented on their own (yes I shouldn’t have initiated that fight, or yes I should have shielded you), but it’s actually a pretty thankless position to be in right now. Offlane needs to win lane if you’re dedicating a support to it, and if we do win the offlane then your carry + mid is winning the game for you. If I lose lane or misuse a spell, then that’s the reason we’re losing the game regardless of how well your mid/safelane did. That said, I am definitely improving, have definitely learned how to play aggressively and confidently in lane, and maybe it’s either just a part of being captain to shoulder the blame, or the current meta. I think fiery has really stepped up in the last few weeks and I’ve figured out how to draft for him. Ultra is constantly doing Ultra things and winning his lane. Shaz and AwfulWaffle have figured out how to play around our cores really well, and our team is gelling right now. Unfortunately due to personal reasons, our last pick MAPPO is off the team due to missing too many weeks, and we’re going to get an FA soon. Hopefully that person plays nice and can adjust to our play style quickly (since we’re bordering on barely making playoffs)… and unfortunately both shaz and MAPPO are extreme value picks for their ranking so it’s possible whoever we get to replace MAPPO will be a downgrade (no offense to whoever is assigned!) Anyway, my main goal for this next week is to really focus on winning lanes (both by drafting better and playing better). It’s pretty dumb, but maybe if we win all lanes we just auto-win games.
POWER RANKINGS
Previous week ranking is in parentheses. Again, only comments are made on the few we’ve played, scrimmed, and a select few others. No order within tiers
TOP TIER
(TOP) GSKW 8–2
(TOP) Danny 7–3 Went 1–1 this week. Like I said I don’t do much research for these rankings, but I assume ts- went off. Did anyone figure out and tell me who is shotcalling for this team? I bet it’s Derpydots, what do I get if I win?
(TOP) Sasquatch 7–3 A ton of 1–1’s this week. Squatch drops a game, but they’re still on top.
(TOP) polo 7–3 Polo wanted me to say something. good job polo, you’re almost guaranteed playoffs
(TOP) Ion_Dissonance 7–3 I said last week I think they’re overperforming, and said that while they’ll make playoffs they may not have as pretty a record as they did previously. A 1–1 is one step towards that being true.
(TOP) Big Fella 7–3 Still love this team, 1–1 aside.
(MID) Lilith 开花 7–3 MJJ draft god.
(MID) [RD] redground 7–3 They keep getting results, but I still really hesitate to put them in top tier. I’m putting them there because they’re drawing against the top teams but one 2–0 in either direction will solidify my opinions on them.
(MID) Gofu 7–3 They move to top tier because they’re 7–3. Don’t have any other insight other than that.
MID TIER
(MID) noah 6–4 Had a rougher week it seems
(MID) a waifu a day keeps society away 5–3
(MID) SMACKTRICKZ 6–4 Why is this kid still an admin?
(MID) waves 5–5 This is the team we played this week. They 1–1'd us, I think we could have 2–0'd them if we played better game 2 (or drafted better). But props for adjusting after a rough game 1, and waves made plays on Slark (but to be fair, also had a couple lul deaths)
(MID) Bruni 6–4
(MID) Ripley 5–5 Staying in mid tier, and will probably end the season here. We 1–1 a team I was pretty confident we could beat, drafts aside we need to 2–0 at least 1 of our series to make playoffs. Can we win G2 after adjustments are made?
(LOW) Truckwaffle 6–4 I said if they win this week they get moved up. They did, still feel weird about it but their record is better than ours so what do I say. TO THE MID TIER!
LOW TIER
(MID) MGHappyhobo 4–6
(MID) bloodninja #roadto4k 4–6
(LOW) CRAP 4–6 krenn is a god
(LOW) skaterx7 5–5
(LOW) Potato Farmer 4–6
(LOW) TheMantis 2–8 We scrimmed them this week. Fiery couldn’t make game 1 so after a long search we found a support player and told him he needed to carry. They draft a Viper and win all lanes and game is over in like 18 minutes. We actually learn nothing from that game; Game 2 we get fiery back, draft well, win. This team can win games, but I don’t think they make playoffs
(LOW) Rabbi- 2–8
(LOW) cesario 3–7
(LOW) Clare ❤ Teresa 4–6 They’d need to get a couple 2–0’s to even have a shot at playoffs, but I think it’s possible
(LOW) Inquisitor35 3–7
(LOW) Kabobrocks 1–9 I believed they’d win a game, and they did!!! However, sounds like things are really falling apart and the team has some toxic kids. Kabo wants to keep them going, but not sure they’ll make it.
DISBANDED
(LOW) DoomCow33 2–4
(LOW) ploopy07 4–2
(LOW) Amane 3–5 Really sad they disbanded, like I said I thought this team could do really well but shit happens
CLOSING THOUGHTS
It’s almost playoffs time. We really need to 2–0 the next 2 weeks to feel good about playoffs, and we’ve got the pieces to do it. I need to play better than I did in Game 2, and continue to improve my drafting and we’ll make it easily. Of course, we need to see who our FA is and how they fit in the team. I really really believe in this team, and feel like we’ve underperformed a lot compared to how we play together and our skill levels. Maybe it really is on me to improve and that’s the last piece of the puzzle. I’m sure there’s more to it, but that’s what I can control. I have some ideas on how to keep improving drafts (thanks regional qualies) and I’ve increased my hero pool to add some of the new meta offlaners. Doom actually was one of my weaker heroes and it felt really good so I can safely say that’s in my pool after my mini captain forcing me to play it a ton of games against my will. Anyway, not sure how many more weeks I’ll do this especially cuz I’m giving out strats but it’s an amateur league so whatever. Hope you all enjoy.
Ripley
