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15 years ago

GosuGamers Staff

LGD v. DK

The Pick/Ban analysis

First Ban Phase

First Pick Phase

LGD has the first ban.
LGD bans Oblivion, Ancient Apparition and Morphling. Pugna is very strong on the role of a solo hero and able to fit in different types of strategies, having a solid lane dominance as well. They also banned Ancient Apparition for its versatility and global threat. Lastly, LGD bans Morphling, for its evident carry potential. Also, this ban comes from knowledge of what Burning can do with this hero.

DK bans Doom Bringer, Nerubian Weaver and Invoker. The Doom Bringer ban might justify itself if you think that it's ultimate takes one hero away from battles. It is a common ban in chinese DotA, but it's up to discussion if it's still a strong ban - DK thinks it is. Nerubian Weaver is the second ban, and it's a respectable ban considering zsmj is on the opposing team, being such an annoying and hard to kill carry. Lastly, DK bans Invoker, another strong hero that excels at soloing and creating opportunities. DK took a lot of time to find this ban, being left with only 37 seconds of their extra time.

LGD first picks Lich. It's an obvious first-pick, and it's no wonder they picked it. Lich is very useful in all the stages of the game due to his versatility in the laning phase and team-fights. It's a support that keeps strong and useful in all stages of the game.
DK answers by picking Batrider and Visage, bringing lane dominance into their team. Batrider is a good tactical answer to the Lich pick, as he has the potential to take him out of battles. The Visage pick... Well, DK has KingJ in their squad.
LGD continues, picking Clockwerk Goblin and Vengeful Spirit. Vengeful Spirit has excellent synergy with other carries and can be solidly used in many types of games. Clockwerk Goblin brings team-fight control into the game. DK finishes the first picking phase by building a solid trilane and bringing in team-fight potential with Earthshaker.

Second Ban Phase

Second Pick Phase

LGD bans Crystal Maiden. At first, you might think that the Crystal Maiden ban looks wrong, because DK has alredy two supports. But it has meaning, because this ban locks Visage on the support role and deny extra mid game strength for DK. Despite being a strong support, Visage can perform as the carry hero of a trilane, and he's strong in a trilane with Earthshaker and Crystal Maiden, threatening the lane where LGD's carry is. Also, the heroes on LGD side - predicting they'll be fragile and mostly supportive of a huge carry - really allows you to use Visage as a trilane carry.
It's time for DK to ban and they have only 8 seconds of extra time. They have at least two great threats to answer, as LGD picks allows them a mid game push strategy and a late game oriented strategy. So, if DK bans the strong carries, LGD can simply switch to a semi-push game, and if they ban strong semi-push heroes, they can stick to the plan of getting a strong carry.
DK decide to ban Necrolyte, definitely a hero that fits in a semi-push game. However, the ban order looks wrong. Syllabear poses a bigger threat than Necrolyte, as he benefits more from the aura and Frost Armor and has push and carry potential. Banning the most threatening hero first can give you more information to decide if you need to ban another hero that fits on the mid game push strategy.
LGD then bans Storm Spirit. They're sure they'll solo Clockwerk Goblin, but they're still deciding where. If they were to put Clockwerk on mid lane, he would be on some disadvantage against another ranged solo hero. Storm Spirit is one of these heroes that could confront Clockwerk, get a good start and dominate initiative. With Batrider and Storm Spirit, DK would have a very intrusive squad, ready to jump in and kill.
DK bans Lone Druid. This should've been their first ban on this second phase, for reasons already explained. If Syllabear would've been banned earlier, they could've used this ban for another hero. The ban on Storm Spirit tells DK that LGD doesn't want a hero that poses a huge threat to their to-be-picked carry. Should they have had this ban, they could've banned one carry hero or even an utility hero that will fill the last spot on the lineup.

Now, LGD reveals their plan by picking Medusa. She's a huge tank and a very strong hard carry. Everyone knows that zsmj is one of the greatest Medusa players. LGD wants her to win the game with the aid of Command Aura and Frost Armor, with their team giving her the time to farm and get strong. However, Medusa needs a lot of time to become strong, and this must be taken into notice.
DK answers by picking YaphetS' signature hero, Shadow Fiend, bringing a lot of damage to the game. A good placed Requiem of Souls can wipe teams out. With Medusa on the field, the game can become a little static, favoring Shadow Fiend by giving him enough time to farm his items. Considering that they have Fissure, Flaming Lasso and Familiars at their disposal, setting up the Requiem of Souls is possible.
LGD picks Windrunner to fill the last spot, strengthening LGD's mid game potential. With her, LGD has lots of options for laning. Thanks to Clockwerk Goblin, they can scout the lanes and decide exactly how they want to use the lanes. This pick also denies DK from using her.
Finally, DK picks Priestess of the Moon. It is true that Mirana has decent semi-carry potential, but she's less reliable than other heroes - it's hard to count on her arrows. Also, it's up to discussion if Mirana and Shadow Fiend can outcarry Medusa in the late game. Razor is a reliable option here, as he is not only a decent semi-carry, but actually an anti-carry, all thanks to his ability to drain base damage. DK could quickly kick heroes away from the lane with Razor and Visage, enhancing their control.

Conclusion

LGD has a traditional lineup based on Medusa. Their plan is to set her up and use the other four heroes to counterplay and countergank DK, playing defensive and avoiding big fights. On DK's side, they have a interesting lineup with mid-game and team-fight potential. The Requiem of Souls is very important here, as we're possibly talking about the greatest burst damage of the game. They also have Batrider and Earthshaker to initiate and control the enemy heroes, not to mention the familiars. And Mirana can always hit a sneak arrow and disrupt LGD's positioning. Getting a good start and seeking clashes during the mid game is an interesting plan to keep LGD from setting that Medusa up. However, DK needs to figure out a way to deal with the Clockwerk Goblin's threat of hooking key team-fight heroes.

LGD	DK
Bans


Picks



Sentinel LGD.God830(Top) LGD.~YYF~(Mid) LGD.ZSMJ~~~(Bot) LGD.Stephy(Bot) LGD.ChuaN~(Bot)	Scourge DK.Prometheus(Top) DK.YaphetS_____(Mid) DK.Burninggg (Bot) DK.Crow__Kalasi (Bot) DK.iReborn-R (Bot)

The lanes

Top Lane

Mid Lane

Bot lane

With plenty of options for laning, LGD decides to put Lich on the hard lane, facing DK's Batrider. With this decision, LGD hopes that Chain Frost will be avaliable early. It is true that Batrider is very strong in the lane, but LGD can manage this disadvantage and compensate for it later. DK has an advantage here and must keep constant pressure on the lane, as it can force LGD away from it's plan of nurturing Medusa.

On mid lane, Clockwerk will face Shadow Fiend. LGD wants Clockwerk avalaible as fast as possible, and the mid lane is close to both lanes, making it a good option for Clockwerk to get levels and start roaming around. However, being a melee hero, he will be exposed to early harass from Shadow Fiend, allowing him to sit on the lane without having to deal with much pressure.

On bot lane, a clash of trilanes: Gorgon, Windrunner and Vengeful Spirit will fight against Priestess of the Moon, Visage and Earthshaker. DK's hopes is to shut down LGD's trilane and keep Medusa from farming. However, this decision brings only a small advantage for DK, as Medusa can always catch up on the farm. Also, she's heavily protected by Windrunner and Vengeful Spirit, and will not be taken down easily. Windrunner could've been used in one of the solo lanes, but she can fare well in the trilane with her long range disable and nuke, not to mention good attack range and basic damage.

The Game

Quick Overview

This static setup for the lanes (1-1-3 vs 1-1-3) doesn't favor DK because it doesn't hit LGD as their strongest threat. Despite the great start for Batrider and Nevermore, this setup doesn't allow DK to put great pressure on the towers and force LGD to dismantle their trilane. Even if Nevermore and Batrider gets some great early farm, this small advantage will naturally fade away once Medusa gets strong. This laning relives pressure from LGD and gives them time to build their game.

Actions

On the 3 minute mark, after some fourteen or fifteen Sticky Napalms, Batrider simply burns Lich to death like an inquisitor and grabs the control of that lane, having a very strong start. This great start allows him to quickly farm some important items: Dagger and Hood.

"BURN THE LICH!"

At the 11 minute mark, the game is pretty static. LGD is readying themselves to countergank any aggressive movement from DK. Medusa abandons the bottom lane for a while, to avoid the risk of being killed by Visage and Mirana. At the same time, on mid lane, we see the situations where LGD will actively seek a clash: they have four heroes on mid lane against Earthshaker and Shadow Fiend. The combination of Hook, Magic Missile and the Chain Frost is enough to kill both heroes. Before dying, Shadow Fiend is able to raze Vengeful Spirit to death, but LGD is winning this exchange, as the death on Shadow Fiend was necessary to stop his growth. LGD's priority is to protect and set up their carry. When this priority is checked, it's not wrong to seek safe and secure ganks. Leaving this battle with low HP, Lich is victim of a beautiful Mirana's arrow. LGD denies their tower mid and the game is still good for them. DK has a farming advantage, but LGD's plan continues rock solid.

At the 14 minute mark, there is another gank against Shadow Fiend. LGD used three heroes and Smoke of Deceit to give Shadow Fiend a special treatment and a free ticket to the Defiled Fountain of Life, stopping his growth even further. DK tries to answer by forcing a gank on Medusa. However, without Smoke of Deceit, they don't manage to get the necessary position to effectively time their skills. Medusa simply dodges the arrow and hides in the woods, and DK's gank fails. Meanwhile, LGD's top tower is gone.

On the 17 minute mark, another safe clash for LGD to take, four heroes against Visage and Mirana. Shackleshot, Hook and Chain Frost seals the deal, killing both heroes. As LGD threatens DK's bot tower, Batrider finally leaves his lane and goes bottom. We can ask ourselves if Batrider is not being too passive here, as he had possession of the dagger for quite a while and could be useful for getting Medusa in their last gank. It might be true that Batrider is being passive here, but it's also important to remember that it's risky to start jumping without having all your forces ready: Shadow Fiend's BKB was delayed by some precious minutes due to his two deaths,and it might be risky for them to seek battles right now, because LGD has lots of counterplay to offer if DK tries to force clashes. The counterplay from LGD is giving Medusa space and safety for farming.

At the 18 minute mark, Shadow Fiend's BKB is ready and now DK can start pushing and seeking clashes. The whole team goes bottom. Instead of defending that tower, LGD goes mid, with Medusa free-farming top. That BKB on Shadow Fiend is very threatening because of the possibility of getting a sure Requiem of Souls. A bad battle here can put LGD's game into risk, lessening the pressure on DK's side. So, instead of risking a bad battle, they simply exchange towers, leaving DK still pressured. DK damages LGD's second tier bot tower a lot, forcing LGD to defend it. The game is still good for LGD, as Medusa is surely farming a lot. But the game is also interesting for DK, as they're very well farmed and needing a good clash to grab a solid advantage.

At the 21 minute mark, a clash is brewing on LGD's second tier top tower. However, nothing comes from it. Batrider fails to get a good position and brings one of LGD heroes to death, wasting the excellent advantage he built at the beginning. The risk of doing that is understandable, but what is the point of picking Batrider if you can't be aggressive and forceful? DK quickly retreats and kills Roshan, exchanging it for their first tier top tower that is destroyed by Medusa.

A the 24 minute mark, Batrider finally brings some activity to the game, effectively jumping in and lasso'ing Windrunner, allowing his team mates to kill her. Earthshaker managed to stun Clockwerk, Lich and Windrunner down with Fissure. This kill gives DK momentum to push the second tier mid tower. The game is now tied on 5-5, but DK has destroyed more towers than LGD. However, Medusa is still steadily growing and nothing is keeping her from it. At this point, we see that Shadow Fiend has a Butterfly, and we naturally think that he's getting very fat and strong, but that's not entirely true. YaphetS makes a dubious gamble here. Look at the past clash, where only Windrunner was killed. Imagine now that Shadow Fiend used the Butterfly money earlier on a Dagger. With Requiem of Souls, Dagger and BKB, Shadow Fiend can jump in and unleash his huge damage burst . Lich and Clockwerk would be killed, and a clash that earned them just one kill could have earned them three kills. YaphetS opted to not get that Dagger and preferred Butterfly, in order to possess some late game potential. However, this gamble looks wrong. Everything DK needs is a good clash in their favor. So, why not get the best item for creating and grabbing opportunities - Kelen's Dagger? DK is trying to get a favorable clash, but all they achieved was a single kill, not enough to disrupt LGD's game.

Excellent opportunity for a victorious clash, but Shadow Fiend is nowhere to be found

At the 27 minute mark, DK destroys LGD's second tier bot tower, and tries to push the third tower. LGD starts turteling to defend their base. Mirana uses her arrow to scout the base, hoping to hit someone. That's the situation where we see Mirana not being reliable, as this kind of 'Hope Arrow' makes you a player of 'Hope DotA', where you only hope for your plan to be good. By wasting the arrow, they threw away an excellent tool to break LGD's defenses. It feels that Burning's talent is being wasted here. LGD defends their base and forces DK to retreat. A mistake from Shadow Fiend leaves him open for a hug of death from Clockwerk, but feeling pity for poor Nevermore, Clockwerk hooks a tree instead of him. The game is still 5-5, LGD is successfully stalling DK, and Medusa is growing and growing.

"Oh poor thing, I can't kill such defenseless hero..."

At the 30 minute mark, another push on bottom tower. This time Mirana succeeds at hitting her arrow, but it's on Medusa, which is saved by her Linken's Sphere. Also, Mirana is in possession of a BKB, to counter Lich's Chain Frost. Batrider jumps in and brings Windrunner close to a Shadow Fiend channeling his Requiem of Souls, instantly killing her. Despite destroying the tower, DK loses Earthshaker, Visage and is chased away by LGD.

At the 33 minute mark, DK grabs another Roshan, going for another push on bottom lane. DK uses Smoke of Deceit to go straight inside the base, hoping to get a successful clash. They quickly take Vengeful Spirit out, but that's not enough. They lose Batrider and are forced to retreat once more, losing Earthshaker in the process. Once again, DK is stalled by LGD, which is making sure that Medusa will see that her sun shines.

A clash in LGD base that results into a sucessful defense by LGD

At the 37 minute mark, desperate for a good clash, DK wastes a Smoke of Deceit. At this point, DK is being outwarded by LGD. Ideally, what DK needs right now are aggressive wards to see LGD's heroes moving and catch them off guard. However, their wards are not that aggressive and doesn't give them much vision. On LGD's side, their wards are protecting their bot lane and giving them vision of the mid lane, giving them control of the game. DK destroys the second tier top and retreat for the woods, waiting for LGD to give them an opening, but that never happens.

At the 44 minute mark, DK kills yet another Roshan. Now they have not only the Aegis, but also the Cheese. They try once again to push the bottom lane, but they're repelled before they can destroy the barracks, losing Batrider, Visage and Shadow Fiend in the process. With momentum, LGD finally destroys DK's first tier bottom tower.

At the 51 minute mark, Earthshaker finally grabs his dagger. It would be better for DK if they allowed him to get that dagger earlier, as it brings a lot of team-fight potential. You can also ask what is the point of picking Earthshaker if he's going to get such a late dagger. Firstly, if you already have a hero that can initiate fights, you can delay your Dagger and leave all the farm for the other heroes, or even getting some other item. Secondly, due to Clockwerk's threat, Force Staff is ideal to protect himself and his team from Power Cogs. Also, Force Staff has the tactical possibility of breaking defenses by bringing an enemy hero close to you, and this is all that DK needs. Force Staff is also easier to complete than Dagger. With this, you can keep Earthshaker dominant in team-fights without being threatened by Clockwerk Goblin. DK never relieved pressure from Earthshaker.

On the 53 minute mark, Burning shows his great awareness and sense of danger by avoiding a gank on the bottom lane. Any mistake here means losing the game. LGD is ahead here by only a small advantage, but it's enough for them to control the game. Medusa has already almost 500 creep kills, outfarming everyone in the game by at least 150 creep kills. DK kills the forth Roshan on the 55 minute mark and goes for a another push. Mirana dies in the process and DK is once again repelled. Burning decides to buyback, to once again attack, but now Medusa's Divine Rapier is ready. DK finally destroys the bottom lane barracks, but LGD answers by team-wiping them.

Finally, on the 60 minute mark, LGD pushes DK's mid lane. As a last attempt, DK focus all their forces on Medusa, and almost kills her. But a good swap and Satanic saves her life, allowing her to grab a triple kill and once again wipe the entire DK team, earning a solid win for her team.

A precise swap nails DK's coffin and secures LGD's victory

This game was pretty tough. The ban/pick phase was very long and intense, and the game was also very long. DK had a small advantage in the early phase, but couldn't protect or increase this advantage. LGD, on the other side, managed to stall DK and control the match, successfully defending their base and achieving a small advantage with their counterplay. Having this small advantage, they didn't quickly try to win the game, but actually continued playing defensively for more than 20 minutes, increasing their advantage and putting all the pressure on DK's shoulders. By doing that, they're protecting their advantage and forcing DK to play their game. By comparing the hero stats, we can see that not only Medusa outfarmed every hero in the end of the game, but also that LGD counterplay was too strong for DK to deal with.