The article was written based on teams’ drafts only for the current 6.84 patch in collaboration with Jaishil “Drifter” Mistry and it highlights their current playstyle.
Team Secret
Achievements:
1st ESL One Frankfurt
1st MarsTV Dota League
1st The Summit 3
1st Red Bull Battlegrounds
3rd DotA Asia Championships
3 - 4th ESL One New York
2nd StarLadder Season 10
3rd The Summit 2
1st Dota Pit League Season 2
7 - 8th StarLadder Season 12
Team Secret are the best team in the world, there isn’t even much of a discussion that. Secret is the scariest team at this year’s International and will be a dreadful matchup for every team. The all-star team has won four straight LANs; just to put things into perspective, this hasn’t occured since 2012 when Natus Vincere won four straight.
In terms of raw skill, Team Secret is one of the best teams ever assembled in DotA; s4 is the best mid laner, Puppey and Kuroky are the best support duo, Zai is one of the best offlaners in the world and Arteezy the best carry in the world.
Secret doesn’t change their picks a lot, it has seven heroes with pick rates betweent 23% and 25%. Secret’s most picked hero is Keeper of the Light for Puppey which is not a surprise considering he is amazing on the hero. Moreover, KOTL isn’t a “famous” hero by any means so it gets through unbanned most of the time. Second on the list is Artour’s Shadow Fiend, his signature hero. Although SF isn’t a “Meta” hero, it still works with most lineups and Arteezy’s able to pull of amazing plays on the hero. Zai’s Clockwork is a staple pick for the squad, he makes plays and gives them great vision across the map which allows them to take fights on their own terms. S4 is a very versatile player therefore has only two heroes in the top ten most picked and those are Queen of Pain and Bristleback. QOP is definitely the most famous hero in 6.84. On the other hand, Bristleback isn’t a very popular pick but is a great tanking hero therefore works well for the squad.
Team Secret are the pre-TI favorites and they have a huge target on their backs. Let’s see if they keep the streak going and win the biggest tournament in the history of all eSports.
Team Secret Roster:
Clement "Puppey" Ivanov
Kuro "Kuroky" Takhasomi
Ludwig "Zai" Wåhlberg
Gustav "s4" Magnusson
Artour "Arteezy" Babaev
Evil Genuises
Achievements:
1st Dota Asian Championships
2nd ESL One Frankfurt 2015
2nd The Summit 3
2nd jD MLG Pro League #1
1st Dotapit Season 3
1st WEC 2014
2nd ESL One New York
1st StarLadder #10
1st DreamLeague Season 2
4th The Summit 2
Evil Geniuses are easily the second best team going to the International this year, it features both veterans and newcomers. They may not be the absolute favorites according to the experts but they have a good shot at finishing first. The American squad has been outstanding this year, from winning DAC to almost beating the best team in the world. The squad is also known for its play in “crunch time” and its level of play increases in high pressure situations.
EG definitely has a mastermind in ppd, a leader and an experienced world class carry in “Fear”, Mr. Consistent “Universe”, undoubtedly the greediest position four in the world “Aui_2000” and SumaiL, a star mid laner with the highest skill ceiling in all of professional DotA2.
Ppd is known for his drafting skills and the combinations he pulls out are sometimes completely unheard of. While the other times they are the “flavor picks” of the Meta.
EG’s most picked hero is Dazzle which isn’t a huge surprise since most teams don’t ban it and ppd plays a great Dazzle. The big breadwinners for EG are mostly signature heroes for their players. Universe’s Clockwork is the best in the world; as soon as he hits level 6, he becomes a constant threat on the map. Queen of Pain which is “THE” hero of the Meta (a 96% pick or ban rate), both SumaiL and Fear play it and is a great pick for either of the two. SumaiL plays it as a farming hero while Fear plays it as a space creater. Another hero that can be played by the two is Earthshaker, both Universe and ppd can play the hero and it has become a guessing game where it’ll go which confuses their opponents.
EG is a very versatile team, it plays both “in” the Meta and “out” of the Meta heroes and also both the farming style and the early snowball style. They definitely are capable of taking games of Secret, as they've shown in the past. It'll be interesting to see if they are able to follow through on their promise and win it all.
Evil Genuises Roster:
Clinton "Fear" Loomis
Syed Sumail "Sumail" Hassan
Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora
Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling
Peter "ppd" Dager
Vici Gaming
Achievements:
2nd Dota Asia Championships
1st Starladder XII
2nd Dota Asia Championships
3rd The Summit 3
2nd I-League Season 3
4th MarsTV Dota League
5th-8th ESL One Frankfurt
3rd WEC 2014
1st i-League
1st ESL One New York
1st The Summit 2
3rd i-League Season 2
2nd i-League Season 3
Vici Gaming were the best team in the world coming into 2015, they had seven top four finishes this year which is still great but they haven't been as dominant as they were at the start of the year. Their level dropped gradually but in the past month they haven't been even close to their usual selves. Although the Chinese team hasn't played its best DotA, its still a favorite for the International.
Vici Gaming has an amazing support duo in Fy and Fenrir, a world class carry in Hao, second best offlaner in the world ice3x and Super is a solid mid laner with consistent performances throughout the year.
VG has picked wisp more than anyone else on this list, it may not be the most famous hero in the meta but fy plays a great wisp. They also pick Leshrac and QWOP often which isn't a surprise since both Super and Hao play it and they are very strong at this very moment. Hao's signature hero is Gyrocopter and VG also has good win rate on it. Only three support heroes are in the top ten, which shows that fy and fenrir are extremely versatile. They also pick Bristleback and Shadow Fiend a lot which aren't the meta heroes but VG seems to rely on them a lot which can be both a good and a bad thing.
Vici Gaming are not even close to the favorites (Team Secret or Evil Genuises) in terms of performance but a lot could have changed since ESL One Frankfurt. Let's see if VG are able to come back to their early 2015 form and dominate in TI like they intended to.
Chen "Hao" Zhihao
Xie "Super" Junhao
Daryl "iceiceice" Koh
Lu "Fenrir" Chao
Xu "fy" Linsen
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