TI13 ended with Team Liquid lifting the Aegis. We look at the tournament's meta through the lens of the tournament games.
The International 2024 (TI13) is in the rearview mirror. The 2023-2024 Dota 2 season has come to an end with Team Liquid lifting the Aegis with a resounding 3-0 victory over Gaimin Gladiators. While not a lot of the matches in the playoffs went to a deciding game, the tournament produced some amazing displays of Dota 2.
A total of 123 games were played at TI13, which includes the group stage, seeding deciders and playoffs. Only 99 heroes were picked throughout the tournament, which is lower than the majority of past TIs. At TI10, the first two days of group stages saw 104 heroes picked in 80 games. But this is probably also due to the new group stage format. The old format had more games, and teams used to experiment more, especially when their place in the upper bracket was guaranteed. Additionally, facets were recently introduced to the game in Dota 2 patch 7.36. The viability of a lot of heroes is based on their facets, and IceFrog and Valve are yet to find the right balance of facets for all heroes. The ones that have strong facets tend to make the cut.
Even though the number of highly contested heroes was concentrated, the drafting in the final few series of the tournament was intriguing due to the mind games of which strong heroes were banned and which ones were let through. Let’s take a look at the overall meta for the tournament based on data from the 123 games, and also concentrate on the final three days a little.
All data has been taken from datDota and Liquipedia Dota 2.
Most Picked Heroes at TI13
The list below shows the 15 most picked heroes at TI13. The last tournament with tier 1 teams before TI13 was Fissure Universe Episode 3, and Dota 2 patch 7.37c was released between that tournament and TI13. But even after a few nerfs, a lot of the popular heroes from that tournament were the heroes of choice in Copenhagen as well. Teams had possibly started their scrims by then, and changing trajectory significantly at that point was not too much of a choice.
Mirana, who was the highest picked hero for Fissure Universe Episode 3, maintained that honour for TI13 as well. Her versatility made her a good pick as a core and a support. But the Solar Flare facet cemented her as one of the most popular heroes of the tournament. After being ignored for weeks, the facet was buffed to a point where Moonlight Shadow, the other facet, was not considered at all. The hero had an extremely good win rate of over 60%.
Other highly picked heroes that had notably positive win rates include Tusk, Kunkka, Shadow Demon and Mars. Tusk was one of Samuel “Boxi” Svahn’s go to heroes, and played a massive role in their grand final victory. Boxi played the hero to perfection, and what made Tusk so good was the Drinking Buddies facet. Mirana and Tusk were two of the five top heroes to watch out for in the final three days of the tournament, and they did not fail to deliver.
An interesting fact about Mars – 9 of his 30 games were by Tundra Esports’ offlaner, Roman “Ramzes666” Kushnarev, who had a 77.78% win rate (7 wins out of 9) on the hero!
(taken from Liquidpedia Dota 2)
Most Contested Heroes at TI13
The list of most contested heroes reveals the complete picture of hero popularity, which is the case for TI13 as well. Naga Siren, Shadow Demon and Sand King were contested in around 95% of the games, and they were banned so often in the first phase, that their picks remained low. But in the games in which they were picked, the impact of these heroes justified the bans. Sand King was possibly the one with the most visual impact, as the hero dominated the lane, farming and team fight aspects of the game thanks to Stinger and the Dust Devil Facet.
A notable absentee from the most contested list is Tinker. He was nerfed in Dota 2 patch 7.37c, after which his win rate and popularity, both started to wane. Others like Lina, Pangolier and Primal Beast also saw a decline in prominence as compared to a few weeks ago.
Overall though, it was a very concentrated set of high impact heroes. The majority of first phase bans were very predictable. In comparison, The International 2023 (TI12) did not have a single hero with a contest rate above 90%, and also had 113 heroes picked.
One of the most entertaining things about long tournaments is the changing meta as the tournament progresses. The heroes above reflect the ones most contested in all 123 games of TI13. But the narrative shifted a little bit when the event got to the final three days, with the top 8 teams playing in front of the crowd in the Royal Arena. The list below shows the most contested heroes from the 22 games played in the arena.
The top three heroes are common in both cases (who had a 100% contest rate in the final three days!), but there is a lot of movement after that. The data shows that as the days went by, teams realized the strength of heroes like Tusk and Mirana, who moved up quite a bit. Invoker, Clockwerk, Lone Druid and Visage, which were not seen a lot in the days before, became crucial in drafts.
Lone Druid is an interesting story. The hero went almost unnoticed for the first week of TI13, but when Gaimin Gladiators showed the strength of his Bear Necessities facet, he shot to the top of the popularity charts, and was either picked or banned in the first phase for all games on the final day of the tournament!
That is where the fun lies in a tournament like The International. New strategies develop as the tournament goes on, which leads to fascinating drafts in the final few days.
Neglected Heroes at TI13
At every Dota 2 tournament, there are heroes that get neglected. In the case of TI13, this was the case for quite a few. Only 45 heroes were picked in 10 games or more. Only 63 were picked in five games or more, meaning 61 heroes were picked in less than five games (Ring Master isn’t in Captains Mode yet), which are the ones shown below. Not all of them were completely ignored – Slark played a role in the lower bracket final, in perhaps one of the most intense games of TI13 (the final game of the series between Gaimin Gladiators and Tundra Esports), and Chaos Knight and Riki made an appearance in the grand final. But the majority of heroes shown below will have no memorable game at TI13, with 25 heroes going completely unpicked. These are the heroes that will require a buff in the next major patch – Dota 2 patch 7.38 – whenever it arrives.
(taken from datDota)
Distribution of Games Based on Time at TI13
The distribution of games based on time has an unusual trend. A similar number of games ended in the 30-35 minute bracket and the 40-45 minute bracket, with a slight dip in the 35-40 minute bracket. On the whole, the distribution is pretty well balanced, showing that the meta favoured neither a deathball nor a very late game strategy. Teams were open to playing their own style. The only exception was when teams played against Gaimin Gladiators. In that case, they had to play fast to match their opponent’s speed!
Even though the Dota 2 meta that developed around patch 7.37c constricted the hero choices, the games were mostly enjoyable. What was a bit of a letdown was the dearth of matches that went to a deciding game. Team Liquid actually won all their upper bracket series without dropping a single game! Unprecedented feat, but not something the viewers want to see, unless you are a Team Liquid supporter. Hopefully, IceFrog and Valve can iron out the issues with facets as we head into the 2024-2025 season, and it will be a much more level playing field a few months from now.
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