The new system of biweekly patches was launched a few weeks ago and it seems to be working great. However, the new patches, even though seemed to bring in small changes, did not really alter the meta drastically. Similar heroes were picked for most parts of tournaments and with there being so many tournaments week after week, no one was really ready to experiment. This changed a bit at the start of April when after DAC 2018, teams got a good three week window where there were no Majors played. There was the StarLadder Minor in Kiev (which Optic Gaming won), but the top teams sat it out with a view to get some rest and scrims under their belt. Now out with new strats and the 7.14 patch, which brought in a lot of changes, there are quite a few changes that can be seen in teams pickings at Epicenter XL. Although we are just been 4 days into Epicenter, the diversity is evident. To make it a bit more evident, let’s take a look at the evidence (sorry, that was a bad one).

Epicenter XL first four day stats:

Total games played: 48

Total heroes contested (picked or banned): 102

Total heroes picked: 92

92 heroes picked in just the first four days! That is just insane. The first day was just the opening match so this actually counts for three days. 7.13 brought in longer games so the same group up, get towers and deathball to the finish is not the strategy everyone is turning to. Let’s take a look at the most contested heroes till now:



Most contested heroes of the first four days of Epicenter XL

Most contested: Io (41 games)

Most picked heroes: Sand King and Leshrac (20 times)

Most banned hero: Io (34 games)

Notice anything weird? No Tiny, no Terrorblade, no Gyrocopter. Just thinking about this sort of puts a smile on my face. The last few tournaments was dominated by these heroes and it had come to a point where it was getting really repetitive to watch these heroes in every game. It’s not that they have been nerfed to the ground, but small nerfs coupled with buffs to others have definitely sent them down the pecking order. Sand King does maintain his position in the top 10, but for how long? In the 20 games he’s been a part of, the team wielding SK has managed to win only 8 times. The minute nerfs from each successive patch have started to add up.

My favorite stat by far has been Terrorblade’s win-loss record.

Games played: 11

Games won: 4

Games lost: 7

Win percentage: 36.36%

The demon is not out of the meta. But he is a lot more counterable than before. Gone is the time where you could first phase pick TB and get away with it (hopefully).

Day wise hero pickings:

Day 1: 24

Day 2: 57

Day 3: 72

Day 4: 67

The number of picks for day 3 and day 4 are quite high. Although day 3 has more picks, my pick of all days is day 4. The reason is today was the day we saw a lot of the newly buffed heroes and they seemed to do pretty well, paving the way for them for the rest of the tournament.

Lina: 5 games (2 wins)

Axe: 4 games (2 wins)

Zeus: 4 games (1 win)

Windranger: 2 games (2 wins)

Slark: 2 games (2 wins)

Dark Seer: 2 games (0 wins)

Lina was a hot pick after Dota 7.00 was introduced, but faded away once the respawn timer cooldowns were removed. With a few recent buffs, teams have started warming up to her (pun intended). Lina has 6 wins out of 11 if all four days are taken into account.

There was a huge uproar that Axe’s Call could aggro the first creep wave and it would make him a hot pick. But Valve immediately fixed that and made sure Berserker’s Call did not aggro the first creep wave. In spite of that, Mind Control and General showed us today that the behemoth is a good pick. General was literally the reason Na’Vi won game two of their series against Virtus Pro. More of him to be seen hopefully!

Zeus does have an appalling win rate on day 4, but the good thing is, he won the last game of the day (which stays fresh in the minds of players). Dendi’s Zeus played a major role in annihilating Virtus Pro’s lineup and especially bursting down Terrorblade.

Windranger has some big recent buffs to her name, not in the form of skills or talents, but in terms of items. Mjolnir and MKB are Windy staples and along with the buffs she has, Iceberg and Dendi showed she can be a formidable foe. These were the first appearances of Windy in the tournament. No one picked her up in the first three days. Definitely, expect to see some Windranger picks through the remainder of the tournament.

Slark was picked up in successive games by Na’Vi against VP and the hero did not disappoint! The high base HP regen takes him through the laning stage when up against an Axe and Night Stalker and once he gets his Aquila and Shadow Blade, he can pretty much start ganking. Better lane sustain and longer games will work in Slark’s favor in the coming days of the tourney.

Dark Seer did have a very good day 4, but everyone has bad days. Not too sure if DS will be a hot pick further on in the tourney and meta. Time will tell!

Nothing is definitive yet as the meta is wide open for interpretation and a lot of Epicenter XL games are yet to be played. But if anything, the first four days have been an indication that the heroes dominating the last couple of months have started falling off and new ones are taking their place. This is the best time to kick back and watch some innovative Dota 2 action, which is just what I will be doing the next few days!

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