VGJ.Storm just SHIT on OG in winners bracket first round in 2 stomps. Wow, they look legitimately awesome. Best LGD 2-0 too
NA qualifiers for TI are going to be nuts. I would bet they have 2 qualifier spots again like they did last year.
At this point I'm very worried for EG. Think they need a miracle major finish. Think VGJ and OG both could advance over them.
You know, I'm honestly pro-RTZ more than Sumail. I kinda feel Sumail has held EG hostage. Got rid of ppd for him and then fuckin Universe. RTZ seems to be trying harder and more of a team player which is funny. You put a team player RTZ on Optic with who they have and they're a serious threat imo. They sack CCnC alot so idk how good he is, but Artour as a massive upgrade over their carry.
As much as I love him, I feel like Zai has kind of fallen off the last year or so too. He rarely has that game anymore where he just dominates from the 4 position like he used to and like the best ones at his position do now. Plus he wasn't really very good in the offlane where as when he was on Secret he was a great offlaner. I'm not sure CCnC or Pajkatt could play the Notail/Matumba role if one of them were to get dropped for RTZ/Sumail. CCnC because I don't think he has the hero pool and Pajkatt because his best attribute is farming and not being a pace setter. NA talent is really fragmented right now, so there are a bunch of solid teams but no elite teams. Dream team: Fear Arteezy 33 MSS PPD
Fear is done for sure. He looks awful currently. Zai is still legit I feel. And yes, any dream NA team has to have PPD as the 5. Best captain we have.
i still think zai is good. he's not a playmaking 4 but the meta is shifting away from that imo. 1 - rtz 2 - ? 3 - 33 4 - zai 5 - ppd no idea on the mid. maybe pajkatt can play 1 and rtz can play mid heroes. also not sold on 33 playing traditional offlaners but he's great in this current hotd/pipe meta.
Sumail would never be that sacrificial core that you basically need to have to win now. He even moved to the offlane and is still unbelievably greedy. My line of thinking is that you basically have to pick one of rtz or sumail, and I went with the former.
I think that's just because Io got completely stupid buffs in the last patch. Gonna get nerfed hard in the next one. The top 2 most picked 4's at Changsha are Clock and Tusk, which are pretty much the epitome of "don't farm; do shit" heroes.
Zai is capable, i watched this man juke the shit out of people at TI5 and solo kill 2 people as Dark Seer. His skill is not gone already. He's better than cr1t. Maybe a greedy offlaner like Universe, RTZ carry, CCnC mid would work.
CCnC is a garbage person that, as someone else wrote in here, can effectively play about four heroes.
I don't think Zai is bad or anything, he's just not top 5 at his position anymore when he used to be pretty universally regarded as top 3. I'd put Rodger, Fy, GH, Yap, MSS, Jabz, kaka ahead of him off the top of my head. Point being I don't think adding an elite mid would immediately vault them to tier 1, talent wise.
i think the opposite: optic doesn't ever have a farmed mid who can run around with supports and make plays. even when ccnc wins mid, he's on razor, DP, or DK or something that secures objectives rather than kills into objectives. optic just drafts very safe and predictable imo and it's due to, i assume, being handicapped by ccnc's pool and play.
The way that lanes have changed, you pretty much have to pick a core that you can put in any lane with one of your first 3 picks. That's usually CCnC's hero for Optic. (Fear is that guy for EG, which is why it seemed like he was only playing DP/Viper/DK. It's why DK/DP/Razor/Viper have been top picks for pretty much every team for a while. (and Underlord/Doom and Omni pre-nerfs in the offlane) Not saying they wouldn't be better if they had an rtz/sumail instead, but that's why his picks are so static.
Yeah pretty much everyone is complaining about it. Tether not having a max duration and being able to cast it on spell immune teammates were just ridiculous buffs
Bounty runes are worth so absurdly much now I kind of want to try out a Spirit Vessel/S&Y Nightstalker build where you just run around at max movement speed and grab runes the whole game.
Bounty tune control in the mid game is so important. Those 20,25,30 minute runes are so valuable to completing items.
It’s why you should always hit a creep whenever possible. Achieve max damage and cleave onto all heroes. If you hit on a hero that hero doesn’t take as much damage. Although I didn’t realize cleave on tidebringer now is huge, you are supposed to skip BF now. All Daedalus and rapiers now. That’s a more recent change.
New equation is (50 + (3*Min))5. At 20 minutes that's 550 gold for your team in 1 rune. 700 at 30. 850 at 40. At any point in the game if you get 3/4 runes it's basically a 2 core-hero kill gold swing. You get all 4 and it's like you team wiped them.
Sniper, CK, and Slark are all super OP in turbo, but I think PA is the easiest hero to dominate with in turbo.
Man, really becoming a fan of VGJ. They play like TI5 EG. NA's hope for an enjoyable TI this year. Cause EG is going to suck and go out in like 12th if they somehow make it. Fully expect them not to at this point though.