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October was a busy ass month for dota with the conclusion of the first round of big tourneys. Since I found myself with way to much time on my hands I watched them all and felt like making a power ranking for the top 5 teams.
Honestly, PPD's drafts are ridiculous sometimes. In a tournament where the winner gets over 100g's who the hell picks a carry lina+ Show Spoiler +. His drafting is at times a bit YOLO but nobody gives a damn when you win; and these guys win. A lot. First in WEC (which was technically September), second in ESL One, and first in last weekends Star Ladder finals. $228,847 from those tourneys alone. Arteezy will be able to fund the careers of several terrible musicians if they keep at this rate. Towers usually fall quickly to the boys in + Show Spoiler + blue and it just gets easier from there. Solid play from Universe generally anchors this team when things go awry but lately the secret carry Zai has been my MVP. I don't expect these guys to slow down any time soon and with old man fear at full strength it feels like they have already punched their ticket to Seattle.+ Show Spoiler +It's not even fucking November yet..
2. Newbee Your TI4 champions had a slow start to the "new season" and looked a bit lost without their director. Fourth place at WEC had them feeling vulnerable coming into October but a quick bounce back with a dominating performance at WCA (give me some creativity in the naming china, please?), reminded us why they were the top team in China. Going 9-1 in a tournament is certainly a good way to make a statement. Since then they haven't been seen much, giving up their position at Star Ladder because... Ukraine? Winning their group stage matches against well, everyone, has them on top in The Summit 2. They also qualified for the Synergy finals + Show Spoiler +(the tournament you only know because Arrow played against CSW) . While Newbee seems to have regained their T1 status, I can't help but feel we'd have a better gage on them if they had come to Kiev and done some mortal combat with Secret and EG... Until then, I'll just leave them at 2 and look towards the next lan.
3. Team Secret There's no secret that these guys are talented + Show Spoiler +. The question was whether it would ever transfer to a lan event. Star Ladder was a pretty good answer. Puppey drafted well and Simba/Fly.charliemonolithselloutdota played some of the best dota I've ever seen from him that tournament. The dunks from Notail + Show Spoiler +(yes Notail, I won't say io and I sure as hell aren't gonna say bigdaddy... 'Murica) were ridiculous and damn near won them the finals. Their ability to lose the lane and win the game are almost c9 level. Before Kiev, they dominated Europe from the comfort of their homes but disappointed in New York, getting run over by a dominating Vici squad. While Simba still needs to grow and expand his hero pool before he challenges Scar + Show Spoiler +, this squad now seems able to play with anyone, anywhere, and is definitely the top dog in Europe.
4. Vici Gaming Black is back, and on a good team. Remember when nobody seemed to want Black on their team because he was one dimensional? + Show Spoiler +Well fuck those guys and fuck their couch. Black still hits creeps like it's his job, and it is, but he seems capable of doing whatever his team asks of him. Taking offlane and even midlane when needed, playing heroes other than antimage, the kid does it all with a smile. Throw in iceiceice + Show Spoiler +who has some practice I hear, creating space for a 1 position who likes to farm , stellar supports, and have a wild Super mid appear; that's a pretty solid team. After taking a mediocre fourth place in WCA, they proceeded to take a dump on every team they faced in New York. Beating NaVi, Team Secret, and even our number 1 place EG. Since then though, they have looked solid but definitely mortal, qualifying for the Synergy finals and just barely made their way out of The Summit 2 Chinese group stage. As the rest of the Chinese scene catches up to the patch and adjusts to their new teams, you have to wonder if they will continue as a top 2 Chinese team or if the rubber band effect is too strong. A showing in Ukraine would have been great for seeing their worth and moving them up the ladder but, you know... Ebola.
5. Cloud 9 Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, EE-sama will catch that bouquet one day+ Show Spoiler +the anime they are making about his life said so . Seriously though, these guys can't catch a break. Second at WEC, Second at WCA, 3/4th at ESL One, third at Star Ladder+ Show Spoiler +with a standin that just happened to be around and had a whole... 24 hours to practice with the team? . These guys got into Star Ladder after China decided to censor Ukraine and they certainly made the most out of it. Losing Bone7, not to a visa issue but to his body rejecting non-chicken food stuffs felt like a killer blow. But you can't keep a man[ga] down. The blue and white made a loser bracket run that would have made TI3 NaVi proud. They even managed to take 2 games off EG in the tournament. The greediest kids you know showed that terror blade can still be pretty stronk in the right hands+ Show Spoiler +. Fata has been the rock of this team, giving solid play and time to an otherwise up and down group of cores. Many questioned whether replacing singsing would make the team better, the answer seems to be yes. Solid play from Aui, PLD, and Bone7 has certainly helped in their solid results; but make no mistake, this is EE's team and where he goes, so goes the team.
Honorable mentions + Show Spoiler +or disappointments depending on how you look at it
Team Tinker Star power with mediocre results. It feels like they can be better than they are, but how long can you say they are "figuring things out". Qojqva feels like the best player in the world right + Show Spoiler +seriously go watch his fucking centaur game... right meow now so I'm very interested to see how they change things moving forward.
Alliance A dynasty of a bygone era+ Show Spoiler +. After some moving pieces finally settled everyone was interested to see how this new squad came together. The answer is... still coming. Sometimes they are terrible, other times they feel like Alliance of old. Having their squad whole again will probably help going forward.
Team Malaysia They look like a dwarf among midgets, but they play to their competitions level much of the time. I am glad that Mushi continued playing dota and I hope his return brings the scene some attention and sponsorships+ Show Spoiler +they could use some positive attention after the last month . Hopefully they can find a groove and bring some respect back to SEA.
Rising fast:
4ASC Solid play in most of their games, catch a game or two of theirs; or I'll come to your house and find you...
Disbanderino Incoming:
Virtus Pro But honestly, when isn't it?
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This is actually hilarious and informative. A+, would/10
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Russian Federation194 Posts
No love for IAP My only worry for EG at the top is they remind me of Na'vi last year winning tournaments but not scrimming or bootcamping which might cause issues later in the dota year (TI5 qualifiers to TI5). Could be completely wrong and I'm not flaming EG at all. Glad you threw Alliance in there though, remind me of Newbee last year that didn't look good going into TI4 but if they can get hot at the right moment can be on top.
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The fact that you put EG at #1 and VG at #4 despite VG smacking them the fuck down just shows how biased you are.
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On October 28 2014 11:34 Kashll wrote: The fact that you put EG at #1 and VG at #4 despite VG smacking them the fuck down just shows how biased you are. Nice VG flair
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On October 28 2014 11:34 Kashll wrote: The fact that you put EG at #1 and VG at #4 despite VG smacking them the fuck down just shows how biased you are. Thanks for the input dog.
User was warned for this post
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C9 at 5, honorable mentions to TT and Alliance and no Na'Vi to speak of?
They may not be #2 International material, but I would place them to win against Alliance all day. And, C9 and TT half the day.
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Well to be fair when a team beats another team in a Bo5 finals for a giant tournament how can you say that the team that lost is 3 slots better?
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Cascadia1753 Posts
I feel like you could have added like 3-4 more teams to the disband section...
Fnatic, Denial, basically every CIS team..
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I think vici should be 3, and secret 4. Otherwise, I agree with your ranking. PPD showing how drafting should be done. You base it around your team's strength, and not blindly follow the trends. I like how he experiments ideas on each tournament, but still keeping the generic style the same. Defensive support on him, flashy support on zai, some carry on rtz, space creating hero/second carry on fear, and universe on universe. It leaves their drafts very flexible and hard to counter, a trait the old alliance had.
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5/5 youtube links, 4/5 spoiler jokes. I'll round up...
...this time.
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On October 28 2014 13:10 Kashll wrote: Well to be fair when a team beats another team in a Bo5 finals for a giant tournament how can you say that the team that lost is 3 slots better?
You could do it based on all results against all teams. If you go strictly by "X beat Y so X must be above Y", you end up with very confusing and probably impossible rankings. VG looked great in those finals but have not since then. And even if someone has a different opinion from you, it doesn't mean they're being horrifically biased - it just means that you guys don't agree. Nobody is being harmed by someone blogging their own personal rankings.
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Dwarf among midgets. I'm stealing this if I'm ever going to write something.
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sorry, c9 is actually the best team
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i had fun reading this
except that you put EG over VG
VG best team yow .. and C9 should be placed not for any logical reasons but for traditions sake
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On October 28 2014 18:40 LennX wrote: Dwarf among midgets. I'm stealing this if I'm ever going to write something.
I don't get it though. What does dwarf among midgets mean? Isn't a dwarf the same height as a midget?
Edit: Also need more love for Chinese teams apart from NB and VG. Also also, I think NB/VG are better than EG.
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Dwarf among midgets is the idea that you look better in comparison when the entire scene is weak, not unlike EG as the best western team at TI4
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In general there's no real reason to write both East/West into the same rank, especially when the author seems to know nothing about one of the two scenes.
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On October 29 2014 00:11 Kupon3ss wrote: In general there's no real reason to write both East/West into the same rank, especially when the author seems to know nothing about one of the two scenes. Stole the words out of my mouth.
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Such a gosu ranking
... literally.
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