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DotA13 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

Revisiting game four of ADC Finals

BAN/PICK ANALYSIS

Scythe x Nirvana.my
Nirvana.my bans first
1st phase bans: Batrider / Oblivion / Morphling / Alchemist / Shadow Fiend / Doom Bringer

Nirvana.my ban Batrider, Morphling and Shadow Fiend. Batrider can wreak chaos in the early part of a game, and by banning him, Nirvana.my show that they don't want any trouble during that phase. Morphling is just imbalanced, and there are excellent Shadow Fiend players on Scythe.sg.

Scythe.sg, on the other side, ban Pugna, Alchemist and Doom. Pugna is a strong solo-mid hero, and Doom can take heroes out of fights with his ultimate. Alchemist is simply imbalanced.

1st pick phase: Windrunner / Faerie Dragon Vengeful Spirit / Lich Venomancer / Witch Doctor

We have versatile heroes on both teams. Nirvana.my have Windrunner, the greatest utility hero, and Scythe.sg have Vengeful Spirit, a brilliant support hero that fits in almost any line-up.

We also see teams investing in support and team fight capabilities. Nirvana.my have Lich and Venomancer, hoping to utilise their ultimates together and control battles. Scythe.sg take Puck and Witch Doctor, hoping to control team fights and to set up a possible tri-lane.

For now, both teams are trying to hide as much as they can to avoid committing themselves. No hard carry has been picked yet.

Second ban phase:

2nd Ban phase: Dwarven Sniper / Broodmother / Priestess of the Moon / Earthshaker

Seeing the lack of carries in Scythe.sg's line-up, Nirvana.my starts by banning Sniper, a strong carry hero that Yamateh is known to play often. Scythe.sg counters by banning Broodmother, probably fearing it's power to both push and carry a team to victory. Nirvana.my then bans Priestess of the Moon, a hero that has some carry potential with enough farm, another one known to be played well by Yamateh. Lastly, Scythe.sg bans Earthshaker. They know they'll be seeing some carry heroes in the next picks, and know that Earthshaker is an excellent choice to protect carry heroes and to dominate fights with his stuns.

Second pick phase:

2nd Pick phase: Spectre / Storm Spirit / Demon Witch / Naga Siren

By picking Spectre, Nirvana.my reveal their plan to set-up with a strong carry. With their line-up, Spectre can harvest on heroes after her allies ultimates have been unleashed. We've been seeing Spectre a lot in some games recently, and no one doubts her strength. Nirvana.my hopes to give her a lot of farm to quickly prepare her.

Scythe.sg picks Storm Spirit, hoping to gain the initiative. Being able to force ganks is important here considering they're against Spectre: any kill on her can ruin Nirvana.my's plans. Also, they need to control the influence of Lich and Venomancer, in order to avoid their ultimates.

Understanding that, Nirvana.my quickly try to counter Storm Spirit by picking Lion. This hero can dominate a game in the early phases, thanks to his two disables and his massive burst damage. If Lion is able to quickly take out Storm Spirit (or even Puck) from battles, then Nirvana.my would naturally gain a great position in battles. Plus, Nirvana.my have a great Lion player in Mushi; they know from experience that he can dominate any game with Lion.

But then Scythe.sg make a seemingly crazy move by picking Naga Siren, leaving dear TobiWanKenobi speechless for a second. It's a rare pick that was sometimes seen in the Chinese scene a few years ago, and its definitely not a pick people tend to expect. The fact is that Naga Siren can become really annoying if allowed to farm: she has the ability to lock a hero on the ground for five seconds and a combo-breaking ultimate, not to mention her high damage-per-second (DPS) potential thanks to her huge chance to land critical hits. All of this combines to make Naga Siren a hero that can carry it's team to victory if played properly.

The theme of the game is a battle between Lion versus Puck and Storm Spirit. If Lion can dictate the flow of the game by initiating clashes and taking out key heroes quickly, then Nirvana.my has a great chance of winning clashes, because their line-up is packed with strong ultimates, plus Winderunner's Shackleshot ability. Map-control here is a must for Lion: you want the enemy to feel threatened believing that Lion can jump out from nowhere and instantly take them out. By controlling the flow of the game, Nirvana.my will also allow give Spectre the necessary space to farm. Lion definitely needs a to get Dagger, quickly and the team could benefit from a Guinsoo on Windrunner. It should be noted that Lion is the source of most of the team's disables - if he's out of the picture, then Nirvana.my has only Shackleshot. On the other side of the river, Scythe.sg has Storm Spirit, a great hero to jump into clashes and take key heroes out, and Puck, a hero with the power to dictate team fights. With Vengeful Spirit and Witch Doctor, Scythe.sg wants to take Lich or Venomancer out quickly, to avoid their ultimates and control clashes. And if everything signals disaster for Scythe.sg, Naga can simply user her ultimate to buy her team time. We can expect a lot of farm from Storm Spirit - it's Yamateh after all - and from Naga Siren.


Final Lineups
Malaysia Nirvana.my Singapore Scythe.SG
Lanes
Sentinel
Spectre Nirvana.o0o (Bot)
Windrunner Nv.GIGABYTE.xT (Top)
Lich nirvana.net-| (Bot)
Venomancer Nv.GIGABYTE.CAT (Top)
Demon Witch Mushi- (Mid)
Scourge
Faerie Dragon SCYTHE.Sharky (Bot)
Storm Spirit SCYTHE.YMH (Mid)
Vengeful Spirit DontLagPls (Roaming)
Naga Siren SCYTHE.hyhy- (Top)
Witch Doctor SCYTHE.roy (Roaming)


LANE ANALYSIS

At the beginning of the game, we see both tri-lanes (plus Venomancer, in Nirvana.my's case) moving to the bottom lane, whilst Lion and Storm Spirit stay mid and Puck stays top. Scythe.sg decides to avoid a clash and quickly reorganize their lanes, sending Puck to the bottom lane and switching their trilane to the top lane. Nirvana.my positions it's trilane on the bottom lane, sending Venomancer to deal with the hard lane. We have a scenario where one hero has to deal with a trilane. We call it a 'double-edge' lane set-up, where both teams will have a very weak lane that will be dominated by the other team, thus exchanging lanes and fatally exchanging towers. Theoretically, this is favorable for Nirvana.my's desire to set-up Spectre, as they need to win at least one lane to allow their carry to farm. Whilst Nirvana.my's top lane hero (Venomancer) will have a really hard time, Scythe.sg bottom lane hero (Puck) will also have a lot of trouble. And it's evident that Nirvana.my will benefit the most from this, as Puck really needs levels and a precious Dagger to unleash his full potential. With a clash of trilanes, Puck would naturally grab a quick Dagger, and Lion would need to compete with two other heroes for initiative. However, with Puck being shut down, it's theoretically easier to build an advantage and try to score a win.

GAME ANALYSIS

What we see at the start of the game is the lane exchange that was previously mentioned. Scythe.sg are very efficient at quickly pushing the tower, even last-hitting it. However, in my opinion, the lane exchange clearly favors Nirvana.my, for two big reasons. One is that Spectre is allowed to farm; the other one is that Puck is shut down and had problems in the game. Scythe.sg need Puck to control Venomancer and Lich, with a well-placed silence to avoid both heroes ultimates, but puck needs to purchase a Dagger as fast as possible to have this kind of control. Being shut down early though, means that Puck cannot control the fights, allowing Nirvana.my to build an advantage.

In the mid lane, Lion and Storm Spirit battle for domination. At the six minute point, Lion effectively manages to unleash everything he has against Storm Spirit, leaving him to be killed by Spectre's ultimate. However, Storm Spirit gains revenge by killing Lion in the eighth minute. This is the theme of the battle, with both of these heroes dictating the flow of the game and trying to take each other out as quickly as possible.


Storm Spirit jumps in to get Lion as he uses his stun on Naga Siren.

Puck is having a lot of trouble. He tries something at the middle lane at around 14 minutes into the game, but dies once more, delaying his plans to get a Dagger. Both teams start to avoid clashes. Lion fears being delayed his getting his own Dagger, whereas Storm Spirit wants to get his Black King Bar before jumping into fights. And Spectre is only farming. Scythe.sg tries to gank her, but loses three heroes in the process. Even Naga Siren's ultimate wasn't enough to save them. However, when Lich and Venomancer don't have their ultimates, or a chance to cast them (for example, at the 20 minute mark), Scythe.sg manages to exchange heroes, losing two supports but killing one support and Windrunner.

The game moves on. Spectre is only caught out once. Lion gets his Dagger and Nirvana.my begin to gain some notable advantages in the game. Firstly, with Puck not yet at a high level and without a Dagger, they can control team fights and inflict a lot of damage with Lich and Venomancer. Secondly, they have Lion equipped with a Dagger, ready to kill any hero. Thirdly, Spectre is getting the chance to farm. The first two advantages might disappear as the game goes on, but – crucially – the third advantage is a lasting advantage that can result in Nirvana.my winning. On the other side, Storm Spirit gets his Black King Bar, and Naga Siren gets herself a Diffusal Blade.

At the 38 minute mark, a mistake puts Nirvana.my's advantage at significant risk. The whole team goes to the Scourge woods in an effort to hunt down opposing heroes. However, without wards on the map, they lack the necessary vision to see Scythe.sg killing Roshan, presenting the Aegis to Storm Spirit without any attempt to intervene. This is a mistake that shouldn't have ever happened, as DotA is a game that doesn't forgive small mistakes.

Nirvana.my start to increase their advantage, as they win another clash on top lane just after Roshan's death. Naga Siren uses her ultimate to buy enough time to deny the tower, but she is killed immediately after Nirvana.my's heroes awaken. Puck and Vengeful Spirit also die in the clash. Lion is also picked off in the fight, leaving the score on 16/10, a solid advantage for Nirvana.my. Both the first and second tier Scourge towers on the top lane are destroyed. Things are looking shady for Scythe.sg: even though Puck has finally gotten his Dagger, by at this point its potential is negated, thanks to Spectre being able to block the Dagger from being used with Haunt and Radiance.

With Black King Bar on Lion, Nirvana.my start another clash at around 44 minutes, once again winning the team fight, and killing three heroes while losing only one themselves. Lion quickly disables Naga Siren, not allowing her to sing. However, in the 46th minute, Naga is able to sing in another clash. This leaves Lion - who has already activated Avatar - alone against five heroes, and he dies as expected. With Lion out of the scene, Scythe.sg manage to kill other heroes, setting up a push in which they take out a tower and melee barracks. This is all happens thanks to the Aegis Storm Spirit previously obtained, which made his death on the clash meaningless. And now, Scythe.sg has inflicted a terrible blow on Nirvana.my's plans. Spectre has the gold to buy a Black King Bar, which would have protect her against Song of the Siren, but chooses to save the gold instead. A mistake, in my opinion.


A decisive Swap makes Lion misplace his Finger of Death, allowing Naga to live and unleash Song of the Siren, condemning Lion to solitude and death.

After this, we see Scythe.sg succeeding in most clashes. They manage to kill Roshan another time and quickly win a clash around in the 51st minute. They push bottom, using Naga's song to disable defenses, taking out the tower and almost destroying the barracks. Soon after, they do it once again, destroying the bottom lane barracks. Another kill on Roshan is claimed at around 63 minutes, which finally propels Scythe.sg to victory, as they push top and unleash mega creeps against Nirvana.my.

STATISTICS

On the following graphs are some statistics recorded from the game. Two of these cover farm over time, showing how the gold was distributed among the heroes. We see that Scythe.sg had an optimal farm distribution, where the support heroes had very small farm, leaving all the gold for the carries. As for Nirvana.my, Spectre had a ton of farm, and Lion had enough farm to claim his Dagger and Black King Bar. Lich farmed a small amount of gold - it's what we expect from support heroes. Venomancer, meanwhile, had an interesting amount of farm: almost 200 creeps. However, this farm wasn't converted into something useful that could lock Naga Siren into a chain of disables (for example, a Guinsoo), something that could have been done with Windrunner, if she had an optimal distribution of the gold.



The second pair of graphs shows how the action (the sum of Hero Kills and Assists) was distributed over time. Additionally, they show how Nirvana.my managed to build an advantage in the early and middle phases of the game, and that Puck was shut down early game, only to start to making a difference at the 40 minute mark. Scythe.sg's raising curve on the graph from 40 minutes onwards marks the point where Nirvana.my began to relinquish their advantages.

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