With the group stage for The International 2023 complete, we take a look at the team and hero statistics for the tournament.
Image: Fenrirsha on DeviantArt
The International 2023 (TI12) is well on its way, and even though it may officially be termed as the ‘Road to The International’ we all know what it really is! This year’s group stage was a bit different than what we have been used to for the past few years. Phase one of the group stage had four all-play-all groups of five teams each, and the second phase had one best-of-3 to decide which teams started the playoffs in the upper bracket, and which ones did in the lower bracket.
Across both phases of the group stage, 100 games were played (nice number, eh?!). In those 100 games, 104 heroes were picked, and 20 heroes went unpicked. Like every tournament, the TI12 group stages also had certain heroes with very high contest rates. But the overall distribution of heroes seems to indicate the meta is relatively more diverse than in recent tournaments. Let’s take a look at the team and hero statistics for the TI12 group stage games. All data has been taken from datDota.
TI12 Group Stage Team Statistics
Looking at the most played heroes for every team, specific heroes tend to stick out depending on the team. Not every team is gunning for the same heroes, which definitely makes for interesting drafts. The best example is perhaps nouns going for an offlane Witch Doctor in one of their games against Tundra Esports, and successfully using a mid Ogre Magi a couple of times. Come to the playoff games, these kind of niche picks will be seen more often.
TI12 Group Stage Hero Statistics
Total games played: 100
Total heroes picked: 104
Number of unpicked heroes: 20
Most picked heroes:
1) Vengeful Spirit (31 games, 13 wins, 39.39% win rate)
2) Muerta (31 games, 18 wins, 58.06% win rate)
3) Bristleback (30 games, 16 wins, 51.61% win rate)
Most contested heroes:
1) Treant Protector (Picked or banned 89 games 89.00% contest rate)
2) Pangolier (Picked or banned 88 games 88.00% contest rate)
3) Dazzle (Picked or banned 87 games 87.00% contest rate)
Most banned heroes:
1) Dazzle (banned in 74 games)
2) Treant Protector (banned in 65 games)
3) Pangolier (banned in 62 games)
Heroes with the highest win rate (15 games or more):
1) Primal Beast (21 picks, 66.67% win rate)
2) Ancient Apparition (18 picks, 66.67% win rate)
3) Chaos Knight (26 picks, 65.38% win rate)
Heroes with lowest win rate (15 games or more):
1) Shadow Demon (25 picks, 28.00% win rate)
2) Pangolier (26 picks, 30.77% win rate)
3) Sven (22 picks, 36.36% win rate)
Chaos Knight seems to be the breakout carry of the tournament. He has a win rate of over 65% and has even found success against a traditional counter in the form of Sven. Nessaj (Chaos Knight, for those who haven’t played Dota 1) will be one to be banned more in the playoffs.
While Pangolier has been a very heavily contested hero, his win rate is down in the dumps at 30.77%. Teams might start moving away from picking or banning Donté Panlin, which might be easier said than done considering he was a meta hero for so long and has become a comfort pick for many teams. Sven is another hero whose win rate has been impacted by the nerfs in Dota 2 patch 7.34c.
The lower bracket for the playoffs is stacked with some of the best teams in the season, most notably Gaimin Gladiators and BetBoom Team, who were dominating the field a few months ago. Western Europe’s firm grasp on premier Dota 2 tournaments seems to have loosened, and an undefeated Team Spirit is the team to beat. But as The International has shown through the years, the story rarely ever goes in the expected direction, and there are bound to be more than a few this year as well! The playoffs will begin on the 20th and eight teams will be eliminated on the first weekend, while the final eight teams will go to the finals weekend which will start on the 27th of October.
