As an ex-player who mostly follows Dota by watching TI every year (and the occasional other big tournament) day one is mainly orientation for me - catching up on what's changed and how the meta has shifted.
Currently watching Aurora vs Liquid game 1, and I'm very curious to see if the Sniper pick works out. Also not used to Mirana being in the meta again. Was she even picked at all last TI?
The Sniper pick did not, in fact, work out. Also looks like we're still (or again?) in Aura meta. Oh joy. Is it gonna be as bad as the Wraith Pact TI, I wonder?
Day 2 and the big game to watch will be Liquid vs Spirit. Currently watching Nouns vs Zero and hoping Nouns can hang in there. It's always fun to have teams from all regions performing well, and Lion was one of my mains back when I played so I can't not root for this draft.
Nouns at least managed a draw, which will be big psychologically for them. Huge throws by BB after clawing back into a commanding position in game two versus Falcons. Tough watch. I guess you still just can't give Ammar Timbersaw.
Have mostly watched Liquid, GG and Talon so far. Still rooting for Liquid a lot. And yeah, it's looking good so far :D but we'll see
Liquid look good, I'm rooting for them too. Would like to see Nisha finally getting an Aegis. Unfortunate for Talon to be the first team eliminated, but they really did look a step worse than even BB Team.
Day 3 and I missed the first series, but not surprised Talon couldn't beat Xtreme who are looking very good. Excited to watch the first Liquid vs BB game, first Medusa of the tournament and it's on Boxi, very interesting!
I've been sleeping on C9 so far (can't really watch every series) but this has been an impressive showing from them against 1w. Really like this game 2 draft, hope we'll see Bane more - has done good work this game. And a well played Nyx is always a treat. Kataomi was doing his best YapzOr impression this game.
Nouns are out and the jury is in, I think on balance they were the worst team at this TI. A team can't be measured on the merit of their best games, but on their consistency. They seem to lack any sort of mental fortitude and completely crumbled under pressure both yesterday and today. The match against BB Team was complete humiliation. Yes, it was a bad matchup but they completely messed up even on fundamentals. Stuff like giving away 4 Bounty runes against an Alch team despite having stuns and forgetting about Wisdom runes just shouldn't happen.
It's a shame they couldn't replicate their best performances when it really mattered, but at the end of the day that's what separates the good teams from the bad.
Damn, that was a sad exit for Team Spirit. Thought they might have something after the miracle comeback in game one, but realistically they were a step behind all series and that game three was a stomp. It's sad to see because Spirit at their best are amazing to watch - and it's always sad that the reigning champions aren't even on the main stage - but they did this to themselves with that terrible performance against Nouns, and today they were clearly second best.
Well into the playoffs now and C9 continues to impress. I love a team doing their own thing and picking unique heroes when the meta is otherwise looking fairly stale and calcified. Liquid also looking very good, unsurprisingly.
Big talking point is of course Spirit bombing out vs Nouns. Going to be very interesting to see if they can pull off a lower bracket run, they did look very strong in the group stage.
That game 2 of Falcons vs Tundra was absolute peak Dota. Luna has been the hero of the tournament so far, but Falcons almost solved it. Doom has looked pretty bad so far, but that 25 talent is still a powerhouse in the late game and it was so close to paying off here. In fact, the game was arguably a throw as Ammar didn't realise Pure had a Mirror Shield and got Doom reflected on himself in the critical fight. What an epic game that was.
