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[umiman]

Oh shit. Malaysians doing work.

[Thexor]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Welp, at least Fnatic finished in the money. They really got my hopes up with that early-game lead, but didn't manage to capitalize on it. The Mag pick turned out brilliantly for Orange, providing that invaluable lock-down for the fairly squishy, but very high DPS combo of AM + Prophet to do work.

Also, apparently there's been a fair bit of controversy over the tactics used by Na'Vi in game 3 versus TongFu. On the one hand, it's a cheesy strategy that can all but guarantee instant kills on pretty much any hero in the game (including a farmed Gyro with an Aegis!), and is almost certainly not an intended interaction. On the other hand, it's a very difficult combo to execute (Dendi missed numerous times), and each time you fail, you're missing out on lots of experience and gold, plus the risk of the enemy team initiating and killing your team while your midlaner is back at the fountain. And it looks damn cool when it happens!

[Stworca]

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I'm happy that it was Burning who took the game off of Alliance. He deserved at least that small win.

In Burning we Trust.

[Heron TSG]

As far as I know, the Fountain Hook tactic has been around practically as long as Pudge has, and nobody's ever raised a stink about it before. In fact, they pulled the exact same trick out (albeit with a different player on Chen) at TI2. And the sheer amount of skill required to get that Gyrocopter in the midst of that many creeps, other enemies, juking allies, trees, and whatnot was absolutely incredible. It's cheesy, but I remember that happening when I played DOTA 1, and it was just as awesome then.

[umiman]

While I would admit it's a bit douchebaggy, there are far more legitimate reasons for why Tongfu failed than just that. I could talk about how fountain hooking is actually very difficult to do and if Na'vi were able to pull it off so many times it speaks more to their skill than anything else, but I won't. I'll talk about why it's normally a really stupid idea.

Every single time Dendi failed a fountain hook, of which there were many, especially to start, Tongfu didn't do anything to counter. Na'vi essentially put themselves 4v5 for a good 30 seconds (or at least 5 seconds while Dendi TP's back), but Tongfu would just go back to their jungle and farm. Why? Dendi pulled off 7 fountain hooks. Success rate was about 50%. So there were at least 7 free chances to teamwipe Na'vi. Even in the occassions where Dendi actually landed a fountain hook, the times when Tongfu decided to attack anyway they still teamwiped Na'vi! Most likely because in those situations Dendi pulled off the hook in the middle of an existing fight so Tongfu didn't have a chance to pussy out.

And this was a thing I noticed them constantly doing. And I say this as a Chinese guy. They're so cowardly and pussy and absolutely refuse to capitalize on mistakes or situations. I remember watching Tongfu in the prelims teamwipe the enemy at Rosh... and then subsequently spent over a minute wandering around the rosh pit. It's absolutely ridiculous. Why do you think their idiotic games take eons to finish? They're just cowards. There's no other word for it. So scared of risk they might as well just go off and jack off into a sink for all its worth instead of wasting our time.

So while I think fountain hooking is kinda dumb... why on earth didn't Tongfu punish them for it? They deserved to lose, in all honesty. They were so far ahead... more than 10k gold and exp ahead. Literally all they had to do was autoattack the enemy's base and they would have won at that point. And they sat around being scared of a nonexistant bogeyman. Worthless cowards.

[Stworca]

DK vs Orange

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What a fucking throw from the Enigma. What was he doing in that bloody rosh pit when there's a mag RP?! ..and then he captures everyone, except for the one guy who can disable him with fiends grip...
He has no place in pro dota scene.

In Burning we trust, but there's a throwing monkey in his team. What the bullshit! I normally don't get emotional when it comes to bloody games that i don't even participate in.. But that was painful. Physically painful to watch.

[umiman]

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MALAYSIA WON!!! WOOOO!!!

If someone told me Ursa could defeat KotL + Cancer Lancer I'd be laughing out my nose. But Mushi did it!

[Alkhemia]

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IG are gone so much for the defending champs

[Stworca]

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No surprise on na'vi vs alliance. Naga is too strong of a support, it directly counters wisp, bkb carries and dominates all roshan fights.
Taking wisp for the second time was a mistake. Not banning naga was another one.

I reckon they'll meet again in the finals, and hope that Puppey will see the light. Bulldog, Akke, s4 and Loda are all great, but EGM's Naga is what is the main pillar. It's their fountain hook. There is no counter to support Naga.
Let Bulldog have druid, it doesn't matter. Let s4 have puck. Ban that Naga. Alliance are no scrubs that let BKB Enigma capture them all after a song. They have the timings down perfectly.

With Enigma throwing the game against Orange, Burning's Anti-Mage will not be there to stop Alliance. Puppey needs to draft better than he did so far. So far it's Naga 2 : Na'Vi 0

[Alkhemia]

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No surprise on na'vi vs alliance. Naga is too strong of a support, it directly counters wisp, bkb carries and dominates all roshan fights.
Taking wisp for the second time was a mistake. Not banning naga was another one.

I reckon they'll meet again in the finals, and hope that Puppey will see the light. Bulldog, Akke, s4 and Loda are all great, but EGM's Naga is what is the main pillar. It's their fountain hook. There is no counter to support Naga.
Let Bulldog have druid, it doesn't matter. Let s4 have puck. Ban that Naga. Alliance are no scrubs that let BKB Enigma capture them all after a song. They have the timings down perfectly.

With Enigma throwing the game against Orange, Burning's Anti-Mage will not be there to stop Alliance. Puppey needs to draft better than he did so far. So far it's Naga 2 : Na'Vi 0

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The thing was that puppy had to pick wisp both game or [A] would of had it then it would have been even worse.

[Stworca]

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Na'Vi can deal with Wisp. All top western teams can, but Na'Vi's early super aggression makes them the best team to counter wisp. Loda's PA + Wisp combo wouldn't be as devastating.

[Rez]

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It's official, Alliance has a retardation beam that they aim at their opponents during drafts, pushes, etc..

navi backing off when they have aegis and everything they need to push rax lost them the game.  This gives alch time to farm his bkb, which means no stuns, no ravage, no impetus.  Na'vi channeling dk by backing off when they were best able to take a fight and end the game.  Terrible ward coverage on the map as well, making their wisp pick pretty useless.

That said, their push strat worked really well when they were pushing.  They maintained the gold lead despite free-farming alch with midas.  However, the midas and chen jungle quickly saw them lose xp relative to A.  They still had a good shot despite this, but dendi never waddled into a fight and ulted.  Good drafting by Alliance picking kotl hurt their push a lot, but they had np to make treants for tanking.

And of course, again, a team lets loda farm completely uncontested while his supports farm jungle.  Do pros never watch their opponents?  This is the exact- I mean exact- same thing [A] does in every single game that I've watched.  Loda freefarms and bulldog goes midas while s4, egm, and akke covers mid-game with their superb play.  They haven't picked a single team that doesn't follow this formula.  The response? Let Loda freefarm, let the supports get what they need to keep the game going until he is 5 slotted at 25 minutes.

BB is very, very poorly balanced understood mechanic.  Alchemist with bkb, ac, shadowblade, and treads needs only 900 gold to bb at 17 minutes.  Similar numbers apply to other heroes, because it is level and time based, not net worth based.  Alliance has realized that BB is insanely strong, because it lets you buy back into any fight and either turn it around completely or at least take a few heroes you wouldn't have gotten before.  They do it every game.  If they're losing, they let the opponent try to break base against their free-farmed carry and 5 bb that can immediately get into the fight.  I think it might be imbalanced, but I really have no idea since no one utilizes it like them.  It's why they favor NP so heavily (aside it being one of Bulldogs 2 heroes).

It seems like everyone sees BB as a tool to stop pushes, while Alliance has perceived that it's much, much better used as a tool for winning teamfights that you flub or the opponent initiates.  And you hit it stworca: giving them naga is huge.  They almost never use it purely defensively or offensively; it's used as a response to starting to lose a fight or when they need to hold someone in place for their bb heroes to get in or others to rotate.  You can never win a fight against [A] with that hero on their team

Did I miss someone playing an aggressive tri-lane rotating into the jungle and mid against them?  Like I said, they put loda in safe-lane, with naga and akke in the jungle farming.  Even on nyx, s4 barely ever rotated out of mid.  I don't see that winning against a classic stronk lane like ck, aa, and visage, especially if you ban chen.   Alliance plays really well, but they're so formulaic.  I can get why eastern teams try to 4p1 them, but it makes no sense to me that Na'vi thought gyro could outcarry alchemist with his 1.0 BAT.

Ed: The midas interaction with safe gold is probably a significant reason why it's picked up almost every game by loda and bulldog.

[Alkhemia]

I wonder what team are going to disband and what teams are going to shift players around especially with the potential loss of Burning for DK.

[Stworca]

What is there left for DK without Burning? Let's be honest here, they have nothing else going for them. Super can land some RP's, and rotk knows where the teleport button is on the nature's prophet. That's about it.

I hope Burning stops that retirement nonsense. His AM play is the only thing so far that stomped [A], and i doubt that will change in the finals. I just hope Pup doesnt give Dendi pudge in the finals, because that won't work. On the other hand, if Dendi is destroyed playing Pudge, maybe the bloody russians will stop picking it every match.
I don't fear pub lone druids, while even a bad Pudge can land a hook sometimes.

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What Na'Vi needs is to play to their bloody strength. Give us Clinkz, give us Storm/Puck, give us Lifestealer. Toss in a good scalling support (Alch ) and Rubick. They are great in chaotic, all over the place fights.
Dendi Tidehunter is just silly. Ban Naga. Let bulldog have his silly bear, aggressive tri it and claim their jungle. Gank a lot and end it fast.

I don't see another way for them to take it. They don't have the carry nor the planning to make 4p1 work.
They do have superior dog fighting, but not when the god damn Naga Equalizer is around

At the same time props goes to Alliance. They appear to be the only team in TI3 who actually did their research, counted the numbers, and the coins. This will change meta-game. And if it doesn't, they will win again.

[ranter]

So, where do you think guys is the nerfhammer going to fall? I think visage is going to be hit a bit hard, alch BAT is going up for sure, bat might be hit if IF finds how to do it without turning him into shit, Huskar maaaaaaybe (He might wreck pubs, but pros will be able to counter him in the draft.) and probably Akke, Loda, EGM, AdmiralBulldog and S4 will get nerfed a bit. That won't stop them from stomping anyway.

Also, buffs to lycan, though not to his old level. Maybe a rework to an ability so he isn't only a rightclicker anymore, kinda like SK.

But what I want to see the most is how is he going to change the game and items. Things like new items or pick/ban order have had huge effects during the last year.