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The fourth Major of the season, the MDL Disneyland® Paris Major started off on the 4th of May and we are already done with the group stages. A total of 44 games were played in the group stages which has brought us to the playoff bracket, which looks something like this.

Image taken from www,liquipedia.com/dota2







But more than anything, in those 44 games, the tournament has set its own meta, not too similar to what was seen at the OGA Dota PIT Minor right before this event. Let’s take a look at what heroes the teams think are the best right now.

Cores

(i) Doom

Doom has been, hands down, the hero of the patch. When I say patch, mean 7.21d, because he started getting a lot of popularity only in the recent tournaments. Doom was contested in 98.33% games at the Minor (59 out of 60) and that has gone up to 100% at the Major (ban 30, pick 14)! The new Devour (relatively new) has surely got a a huge part to play in this. It gives Doom a lot of sustain in lane and with the additional gold for Devour talent, the farm rate is insane. And even though he’s mostly played in the offlane, a lot of games, Doom will end up being the hero with the highest farm in the game. He has also been used as a position 4 or position 5 hero. Going into the group stages, this is one hero to look out for.







(ii) Drow Ranger

Drow Ranger, like Doom, has been a highly contested hero. Contested in 93.18% of the games (ban 27, pick 14), the hero finds popularity in the fact that she is now a standalong carry unlike before, when it was necessary to have ranged cores with Drow to make the lineup work. I mean, it is still extremely beneficial to have ranged cores with Drow, but the hero herself hits very hard with her new ultimate. In an interview with VPEsports, Na’Vi’s Crystallize said in April this year that Drow was the best hero of the patch for pubs, but not so much for professional games. It might have been because of the fact that she is quite a squishy hero. That reflected in the OGA Dota PIT Minor picks with Drow Ranger just being contested in 53.33% of the games. But it seems the big teams have learned to play around hero and Drow has finally arrived at the part. Another hero that is bound to have a huge impact on the remaing games of the MDL Disneyland® Paris Major.







(iii) Dark Seer

How the tables can turn for some heroes. Dark Seer was totally ignored last year, especially when denies meant a lot and the laning stages decided a major chunk of the game. Denying against DS is quite easy and no team wanted that to happen against them. But it’s a completely new meta where the offlaner goes behind the tier 1 tower and takes the creep wave to pressire the opposition safelane tower, and DS has no problem doing that! With 12 picks and 25 bans, this is another hero along with Doom that is being widely contested for for the offlane.







The three heroes that have been mentioned above have been banned most of the games. Coming to the heroes that are being picked up a lot, Leshrac is making a splash in the mid lane. The last time this hero was popular, it was in a support role. Now, it’s more so in a core role, although there can be some mixing up here and there. Lesh has a win rate of 61.54% (8 wins out of 13) and it right now, is the only mid pick with some repeatability. Templar Assasin was popular in the Minor, but that has not transfered to the Major.





A couple of other heroes to look out for are Anti-Mage (6 games) and Medusa (5 games) who both have 100% win rates. I know it isn’t a lot of games, but in the right draft, they can have devastating consequences.







Supports

(i) Nyx Assasin

Nyx Assasin is feared, and for a good reason. He has been banned out in 35 of the 44 games and picked in 7. Of those 7, Nyx has managed to be on the winning side in 6 of the games! Can’t be a conincidence, right? He had a win rate of over 60% at the Minor as well. With heroes like Leshrac and Batrider popular in the current meta, Nyx Assasin provides an easy counter to heroes with uncontrollable damage. Another major reason is Vendetta applying Break for four seconds. That is just like having a Silver Edge, meaning a hero doesn’t have to buy it just for the sake of getting a Break.







(ii) Oracle

Oracle is one of the few heroes who has carried on being popular from the Stockholm Major till now. Nerfed quite a bit in 7.21d, it doesn’t seem like Oracle has taken a hit. Afterall, it never hurts to have a tool to disarm an enemy or give an ally magic immunity, not to mention the ability to keep an ally alive through tonnes of damage. And he has decent lane harrasing potential with his root. It was always confusing why he wasn’t too popular before this.





Other supports that have a contest rate more than 80% include Enigma and Furion (although Furion, like Doom can be position 3, 4 or 5). Batrider, another hero that can go offlane or be played as a support could be turning heads with an 80% win rate (8 out of 10) till now! That’s not too bad. Abaddon, who was being buffed for a long time, has finally found some footing as a support as well with 8 wins in the 12 games he was picked.







Even though certain heroes have seen a lot of importance, a lot of varied picks can be seen. A lot of players, like Complexity’s Zfreek, believe that this is a meta that revolves around a teams play style and not around ceratin broken heroes. This is kind of reflected in the win rates of the popular heroes like Doom and Drow, which aren’t the best. Those heroes might be popular, but getting them is nowhere close to guaranteeing a win.





The main event starts off on the 5th of May and the first day will be followed by a two day break (Battlepass pleaseee!). Its going to be a week of some good Dota 2 which will probably be followed by a new patch.



