Dota 2: The International 2019

The 2018-2019 Dota Pro Season concluded in Shanghai on Sunday, with a dull Grand Final, but a spectacular event overall.

In case it wasn't obvious, this article will spoil the events of The International 2019.

Aside from a few subplot points, the main story line belonged to the final four teams. Europe, the powerhouse region of the season, secured three of the top four spots. Incidentally the three of them, Secret, Liquid, and OG, also included a number of players seeking to be the first to win two Internationals. The fourth team, Chinese super team and fan favorite, LGD sought to deny the Europeans their repeat.

In a near echo of last year, OG defeated LGD in a tense 2-1 victory in the Winner Bracket Final. Instead of facing LGD again in the Grand Finals, the TI7 winning Liquid squad (sub-Matumbaman) vanquished LGD after dispatching Secret for the third International in a row. The Grand Finals concluded with an uneventful 3-1 stomp by OG.

LGD's successful third place finish wasn't surprising considering their 6th place finish in the Dota Pro Circuit, and their domination of Group A at Shanghai. Secret's fourth place finish was only surprising because they didn't win the whole event. They, along with Virtus Pro dominated the year (more about VP later), but neither team could claim their first Aegis. Liquid's second place finish would have astonished anyone watching the first three Majors of the DPC season, but their 2nd place finishes at the last two Majors (MDL and Epicenter Major), foretold their TI success. Spectators of the 2018/2019 season were not surprised by the victories of these three teams.

No, it was OG's success that should have astonished viewers. Anyone proclaiming their rational reasons for predicting OG's repeat triumph, is lying. N0tail managed a subpar season for OG. They skipped the first Major, couldn't earn a spot at the next two, and only earned a 5th place and 7th place finish at MDL and Epicenter respectively. At the International they channeled another team entirely. They dominated from the first day of the Group Stage, compiling a 23-5 record throughout the entire event. Not only did they crush all opposition, they did it with incredible creativity. After introducing carry Io on the second day to a thoroughly bemused Ninjas in Pyjamas, OG.Ana mauled the competition, going 5-0 with the hero. Only Secret dared to emulate OG's devastating strategy, but they delivered a 1-1 result with the hero. While OG played heroes in the Meta, they employed less popular heroes, to masterful effect. OG.Topson was the only player to win a game with Pugna, going 2 for 3. He performed a masterclass with Monkey King; winning three of his four games on the hero, and earning it 3 of its 4 victories in the entire tournament. OG.Topson may have been the first pro player to buy a Diffusal Blade on Gyrocopter, to devastating effect. N0tail won 6 of 8 games on Grimstroke, a 75% win rate, compared to the hero's 33% win rate for the entire tournament. Jerax and Ceb also used a diverse pool of heroes, like Tiny, Enchantress, and Omniknight to great effect.

By the end, OG was not only the first organization to win two TIs, but the first team of five players to win two TIs, and the first team to win back to back Tis. Many of these records may not be replicated for many years As long as N0tail, Topson, Jerax, and Ceb can convince Ana to remain for another year, one could expect a three-peat.

Every TI contains success, but also disappointment. Ninja's failed the initial test of the Group Stage, but Virtus Pro's failure on the Main Stage superseded ppd's debacle. VP, a team with a 1st place finish, two 2nd place finishes, and a 4th place finish across five majors, and a close second in DPC points, initially struggled in the Group Stage before a final day surge secured an upper bracket berth. This reprieve didn't resuscitate their season, as they lost 2-0 to LGD in the upper bracket, before being knocked out in their next match by Royal Never Give Up. VP's 9th-12th place finish was undoubtedly devastating for the players after a tremendous season.

Virtus Pro was the only one of my top seven teams entering the event to not achieve their expectations.

One other team is worth mentioning. Throughout the season, or at least in the Dota article After Epicenter and Before the TI9 Group Stage, I criticized the weakness of the South American scene. Valve required that each Major organizer invite two teams from every region, but South America never scored better than a 9th -12th place finish, and no team from that region earned enough points for an invite to the International. A new Infamous roster won the South American Regional Qualifiers and surprised many by finishing 7th-8th at TI9. It was an excellent achievement for a team which formed only in the second half of the season, and attended only one Minor.

Analyst Nahaz went so far as to say, this achievement (7th-8th place finish) justified the two South American invites for each Major. I strongly disagree. One, a single team getting a 7th-8th spot proves nothing. But I also want to look at who they defeated to get their spot. In the group stage they only beat Fnatic, and split the best of twos with most teams. In the Main event they defeated the weakest team available for the Lower Bracket Round 1 Best of one, before beating Newbee. Of the four upper bracket losers who dropped into the Lower Bracket Round 2 (VP, TNC, Newbee, Secret), Infamous got lucky with the weakest one. Their inspiring underdog run was finally stopped by Team Secret. Certainly they deserve the admiration for their hard won success against moderately skilled teams, and Valve should include invites to South America, but this single victory for the region proves nothing about what they deserve.

The International experience includes the Battle Pass. Purchasing this program unlocks various competitions, bonuses, visual effects, mini-games, and a Fantasy Draft. It's too much to describe the entire experience here, but I wanted to comment on two sections. One of my favorite aspects is the Fantasy Draft. Prior to each of the ten days of the International, owners pick the five players they believe will play the best that day. Players earn the Battle Pass owners points based on their stats, like kills, deaths, team-fight participation, and observer ward placement. The Battle Pass owners who earn the most points through their picked players receive a bonus to their Battle Pass.
It is a enjoyable experience, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it (I was in the top .5% of owners this season), but it includes the same problem every year (since it debuted in 2017). A player scores points for his best 2 games in a best of 3, and for his best 3 games in a best of 5. But if a player competes in 3 best of 3s that day, he scores a total of six games. On any day during the Group Stage some players participate in three best of threes, while others play in only two. No matter how good a player is, if they play in two best of 3s, they can't earn as many points as a player playing three best of threes. This computation artificially limits the number of viable players to choose from.

Valve's mistake is even more egregious in the Playoffs. On the fourth, fifth, and sixth days of the Main Event the schedule mandates one team will play two best of threes, but the other five teams will only play one. The only viable strategy for an owner of a Battle Pass requires guessing which team will win their first best of three and play a second. It doesn't even matter if the team will win the second; playing two best of threes is incalculably better than playing one. While the Fantasy Draft should reward Battle Pass owners to pick the best players, it actually forces them to select players on the best teams. This may seem like splitting hairs, because the best teams have the best players, right? No! In spite of OG's incredible success, by the end of the Group Stage (where they went 14-2) none of their players was in the top 10 for Fantasy Points. The current Battle Pass Fantasy Draft limits the owners to pick only good players on good teams, with good match-ups, and with a full compliment of games. It drastically limits the viable player pool, and often the superstar players players are overlooked.

My frustration exists because there is a very simple solution to this problem. In fact, there are two! One, players score their two best games of the day, regardless of how many they play. This would resolve the issue for every day of TI except for the first day of the Main Event (where eight teams play best of ones). A second solution solves even that remaining problem. Players score their average game score for the day. Calculate all the points they earn for each game in the day, and divide by the number of games played. Whether a team played one or nine games, they remain a viable pick for Battle Pass owners.
For the last three years the Battle Pass included an alternative game mode. TI7's event, Siltbreaker, was a Diablo like game mode with four players exploring a world together to complete a grand quest. TI8's event, The Underhollow (my personal favorite), featured a dungeon brawler with eight teams of three competing for the ultimate prize. For all their faults, both were innovative games that used the heroes of Dota, but in a new game mode that barely resembled the original game. TI9's, Wrath of the Mo'rokai, failed in every respect. That is not to say no one played it, because playing it upgrades a player's Battle Pass. It failed, because it was a regular game of Dota with a minor variation. Every five minutes each team received an uncontrollable monster. The opposing monstrosities ran at each other, and players could participate or avoid the fights. These creatures barely changed the game. Worse, the event heavily borrowed aspects from the 2014 and 2015 New Bloom Events (celebrating the Chinese New Year). The former allowed teams to battle the Year Beast, while the latter gave each team their own Year Beast in a regular match of Dota. If 2015's event sounds exactly like 2019's that's because it was. The best that can be said, is the developer improved some details since 2015.

In conclusion, the International 2019 did not disappoint, and the Battle Pass was a good product, but with some significant defects.

The Dota 2019-2020 season begins with the first Minor and Major pair in November. Qualifiers will occur earlier, but with no detail about the upcoming events, teams are taking time to shuffle their rosters in search of the next TI champions (good luck if OG remains together).

Next week, Awkward Mixture concludes its three part review of Tyranny.

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