Dota 2: The International 3. Thoughts?

[SomeLameStuff]

So the International just ended a couple of hours ago. Who were you guys supporting? What were your favorite moments? Try to keep it spoiler free for those who may be interested, but haven't watched it yet.

Spoiler

I honestly didn't expect Orange to make it as far as they did. They made some pretty big plays and arguably should have made it to the finals instead of Na'vi if kYxY hadn't flubbed up. Tough luck I suppose.

I must say, in the finals, when s4's Puck landed that Dream Coil onto three and interrupted their TPs, I may have creamed my pants. And when he did it again to Dendi later on, I may have creamed them again.


Also, I'm kinda disappointed that Fnatic didn't make it further in the tournament. I was looking forward to N0tail's Meepo.

 

[Corven]

I didn't watch much of it, only really watched the semi-finals and only 3 parts of the finals, it was pretty cool to watch although I wasn't really rooting for any team in particular, I just want to see people play on a level of skill I'll pretty much never get close to in that game.

 

[endtherapture]

Glad Alliance won because they are TOO GOOD.

Felt so bad for Orange sand that Aegis throw, althrough they probably shouldve pushed and ended sooner.

Chinese teams are so boring to watch.

Na'Vi fans are annoying.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Some of the matches were amazing.

Some of the matches were dumb as hell, though ... over an hour of farming, roshan followed by taking 1 tower, repeat.
I get that turtling is a good way of staying alive, but turtling for an hour hoping for your opponents to screw up, then when they do ... they spend their buyback and farm until they have it again ... that's just fucking retarded.
'cos that's how to guarantee losing, just in a slower and more painful fashion.

 

[The Forces of Chaos]

Loved the fountain hooks, thought its a shame that Abbadon is still not in captains mode pool as well as the other heroes so all we see is the meta bullshit most of the time. Didn't orange make slardar work? that's what I like to see variation on heroes, it's one of dotas strength's.

 

[endtherapture]

Loved the fountain hooks, thought its a shame that Abbadon is still not in captains mode pool as well as the other heroes so all we see is the meta bullshit most of the time. Didn't orange make slardar work? that's what I like to see variation on heroes, it's one of dotas strength's.

Huskar is broken so no surprise he's not in, and the other recently reworked/added heroes have bugs so that's why they're not in.

 

[Razentsu]

Despite me not being a DoTA 2 player, I did watch the grand finals of the event. The last match of the grand finals was hype. I couldn't tell what was going on with all the abilities and spells, but I could tell how incredibly well Alliance played to turn that final game around. It doesn't take much DoTA 2 knowledge to know that Alliance did an amazing job of out-manoeuvring NaVi.

 

[Scott Rothman]

Spoiler

I can't believe Navi blew the game 5 like that.

They had that shit locked down

 

[Andy Shandy]

Even as someone who has no experience with MOBAs at all, damn that final was fun and exciting to watch. I may have had absolutely no idea what was going on, but still, really enjoyable.

 

[Glaice]

Never bothered with it because I don't consider eSports a legitimate sport at all on top of the fact that I can care less about MOBAs in general.

 

[Epidemiix]

It was a very very awesome finish for both team's I thought. Both were pretty even (relatively), and it came down to the little things.

Spoiler

Maybe it was not awesome if you were a diehard Na'Vi fan....I am a fan and I still loved it.

Basically, it was good/great Dota and what I was expecting from the International. Now we get to wait 2-3 months before any of the teams even feel like playing again. XD

Spoiler: Also!

I wished that Mouz got way farther. I really wanted Synd to get something this time around.

And I do not think that Fnatic would have gotten Meepo, H4nn1 was mentioning that they would not play him because of the current strategies they had.

 

[nasteypenguin]

The final match was so very entertaining, but I'm not sure if I should have stayed up to 5am to watch it.

Spoiler: on the first two match drafts

How about them Veno picks? I'm not the most knowledgeable about Dota but I know he's not seen in competitive matches often for a reason. Navi seemed to have a penchant for doing odd picks to throw off the enemy teams this tournament, so maybe that's what they were going for, but Alliance counterpicking Veno second match! Was that just an attempt to prove something over Navi?

 

[Comic Sans]

The final match was so very entertaining, but I'm not sure if I should have stayed up to 5am to watch it.

Spoiler: on the first two match drafts

How about them Veno picks? I'm not the most knowledgeable about Dota but I know he's not seen in competitive matches often for a reason. Navi seemed to have a penchant for doing odd picks to throw off the enemy teams this tournament, so maybe that's what they were going for, but Alliance counterpicking Veno second match! Was that just an attempt to prove something over Navi?

Veno used to be quite popular, and I don't think he changed much. He's like Brewmaster and Nightstalker. Not bad by any stretch, just not as popular as they once were due to being a bit overshadowed by the current meta.

In any case, it was a great final overall. I feel N'avi threw it a bit. I don't know what they were thinking with their picks the first game. And they should have had game 5 in the bag. They screwed up real bad with their mid push. They should have just gone for the gg. They had the tower down, they could have just pushed for gg. And if they insisted on TPing back, they should have moved further back and scattered. Doing it right at the ramp against a Puck was DUMB. And then they chased Puck all over the place, even though they couldn't lock him down. That million dollar coil cost them the game.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

Spoiler

I can't believe Navi blew the game 5 like that.

They had that shit locked down

Spoiler

That was all s4. Interrupting Na'vi's TPs when they tried to defend their top and bottom? Huge. Alliance were able to take both top and bottom sets of barracks.

Honestly, the moment their TPs were interrupted, Na'vi should have just abandoned defense and tried to take the throne straight off. Between Alchemist and a Daedalus PA, they had the ability to do some major damage, and probably force Alliance to abandon taking rax and go back to defend.

The final match was so very entertaining, but I'm not sure if I should have stayed up to 5am to watch it.

Spoiler: on the first two match drafts

How about them Veno picks? I'm not the most knowledgeable about Dota but I know he's not seen in competitive matches often for a reason. Navi seemed to have a penchant for doing odd picks to throw off the enemy teams this tournament, so maybe that's what they were going for, but Alliance counterpicking Veno second match! Was that just an attempt to prove something over Navi?

Spoiler

Venomancer's slow and passive dot makes him incredible for early aggression and kills, and his wards allow him to push down towers. His ult applies a massive dot in a large radius as well. As for why he's not picked up often, he's fragile, is heavily reliant on levels, and being mostly magic based, his damage drops off later and he is hard countered by BKBs.

IMO, there was no reason for Alliance to pick him up in the second game. When Na'vi picked him in game 1, they were going for an early aggression team makeup (which they failed horribly at) so I can see why he was picked, though there's much better heroes available if they wanted to go with that. But with Alliance? Bane would have been a better choice. Or even Enchantress. Rubick was still on the board as well, so I really have no idea why they picked Venomancer.

Spoiler: Also!

I wished that Mouz got way farther. I really wanted Synd to get something this time around.

And I do not think that Fnatic would have gotten Meepo, H4nn1 was mentioning that they would not play him because of the current strategies they had.

H4nn1 hinted that if they got to the best of 3 matches, Meepo might get the spotlight =P

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Was rooting for Na'Vi all the way, but Alliance definitely deserved Aegis. Although Na'vi gave us one hell of a show with Pudge and the best comebacks I've ever seen.
As for other teams, I'm incredibly impressed by Oranges and Liquid. Mushi and Bulba are my new favorites.

 

[synobal]

I thought it was pretty cool, I just started playing DOTA2 my first "moba" and ya watching the TI3 made me realize how much there is to learn and master in this game.

 

[Meatstorm]

TI3 was all in all pretty good:
+ Many really great matches
+ Amount of heroes picked during the whole event
+ Bruno

- Few horrible matches (98min ricing fest)
- Fnatic dropping so early despite doing well in the group phase.
- So much Chen, Visage and Nature's profit

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I haven't the whole tournament from TI3, but I really enjoyed Day 3 and 4, exceptional matches especially from Orange and TongFu and NaVi. Mushi was by far one of my favorite when watching those matches since he was owning with every character he got his hands on.

I became a NaVi fan overnight after seeing them play and I rooted for them when they finally managed to make a fantastic comeback in the set for advancing in the Grand Finals.

That last game between NaVi and Alliance was simply insane and I was a tad disappointed because they lost due to a bad call to retreat back to defend their base. They should of gone all in and take in, they were dominating alliance in the team fights after Dendi got so fed. Going all in would of gotten them the game.

 

[Epidemiix]

H4nn1 hinted that if they got to the best of 3 matches, Meepo might get the spotlight =P

Now I am a bit upset that didn't happen.


Oh well, still got Dendi Pudge!

 

[Tombsite]

I loved the TI3. Cost me way to much sleep and I now have a ton of stuff I need to catch up on but it was (kinda) worth it. Being from Denmark, by Scandinavian law, I kind of had to support [A]lliance,which was not all that hard I have to admit. Never was able to get into traditional sports but I kind of understand the attraction a bit more now.

Spoiler

That was all s4. Interrupting Na'vi's TPs when they tried to defend their top and bottom? Huge. Alliance were able to take both top and bottom sets of barracks.

Honestly, the moment their TPs were interrupted, Na'vi should have just abandoned defense and tried to take the throne straight off. Between Alchemist and a Daedalus PA, they had the ability to do some major damage, and probably force Alliance to abandon taking rax and go back to defend.

No crits no melds on buildings. NA'VI could not out damage [A]liance when it came to buildings or at least they could not be sure so they chose to defend because they where still ahead of the time.