Published by Diamond, 1 month ago at 2:27 pm on Sep 28th.



Na'vi Playing it Unconventional



Heavy Aggression From Power Rangers













On the final day of August, 16 teams entered into Starseries season 7. This group included many of the top teams in the world, including both International 3 finalists Na’vi and Alliance. Surely these monsters of competitive Dota 2 would have no problem beating many of the ‘Tier 2’ teams within the group, Power Rangers, a relatively unknown team from Belarus thought differently. Since the tournament began Power Rangers have managed to defeat both Na’vi and Alliance leaving the community stunned and confused. In this article I aim to analyze how they managed this feat and what others can do to achieve the same.It’s no secret in Dota 2 that in order to win you must outplay your opponent, but this doesn’t always means playing your best. Analyzing how a team plays and exploiting their weaknesses can be a highly lucrative way of playing, when executed correctly this can mean even the lower tier teams have a chance at victory. Power Rangers have shown an ability to do this perfectly, with their strategy in both games tailored to getting the most out of their opponent.Against Na’vi, Power Rangers immediately put their plan into action banning out Dark Seer and Io, this left open Puppy’s Chen and with a Batrider ban from Na’vi gave them Natures Prophet at the obvious choice. PR quickly snapped up Naga Siren and Outworld Devourer in response, arguably two of the strongest first picks within the current meta. Banning out Razor and Queen of Pain PR ensured their Ourworld Devourer got the best start possible while at the same time limiting Puppy’s options for Dendi. As a result Na’vi decided to go for slightly more unconventional picks, opting for Troll Warlord and Shadow Shaman. These heroes gave Na’vi an extremely strong early game pushing lineup, but seemingly unphased PR retort with Crystal Maiden, Storm Spirit and Timbersaw to complete their lineup. These late picks cast doubt over the laning choice from PR, with both Outworld, Storm and Timbersaw having the possibility of being ran in the middle lane. In an attempt to best counter the potential 3 lane opponents Dendi is drafted Bloodseeker, providing a much needed Silence to Na’vi’s lineup.From the moment the creeps met in lane Power Rangers were on the offensive, gaining an extremely early first blood on Dendi’s Bloodseeker. This early movement from the supports ensured that Dendi would be behind in his lane and mitigate his impact during the mid game team fights, PR would be so dependant on winning. Over the first 5 minutes of the game Dendi found himself respawning in the fountain time and again, further diminishing his game impact along with his ability to lock down the spell dependant enemies of Power Rangers. Intent on following their game plan Na’vi grouped up as 4 and began to destroy Power Rangers’ first tier towers and with some failed ganks from Power Rangers in bottom lane, things were on the up for Na’vi.Unfortunately Na’vi’s early attempts to save Dendi had cost them dearly in the other lanes, both Outworld and Timbersaw were able to get the levels and farm they needed to deal some serious damage in the mid game. Realising how far behind they had become Na’vi take a risk and attempt to kill Roshan with all five members of Power Rangers still alive. The risk pays off and with the newly acquired Agis on Troll Warlord Na’vi grouped up mid for a push attempt in mid, but a perfect Song of the Siren from Naga allowed PR’s core heroes to swiftly dispatch the entirety of Na’vi. From then on the game became very one sided, Power Rangers had amassed such a huge gold and experience lead that it was only a matter of time before Na’vi’s Ancient fell and they achieved victory.It is important to note that although Power Rangers had technically defeated Na’vi, they had done so when Na’vi didn’t have their full roster missing both XBOCT and Funnik. Although the standins performed well the community at large agreed Na’vi weren’t at their best and Power Rangers’ achievement was diminished. This still left Power Rangers with something to prove and what better way to do it than defeating The International 3 champions fresh back from their post victory holiday, a task easier said than done.As the draft got underway it was apparent Power Rangers had one thing in mind, shutting down Admiral Bulldog. His consistently high performances on both Lone Druid and Natures Prophet have been one of the larger reasons for Alliance’s recent success. Banning out both these heroes early in the draft left Bulldog with heroes he felt less comfortable with, and with the ever popular Batrider left in the pool the choice was easy for s4. Alliance grabbed both supports early with Abaddon and Chen, showing they intended to play a more defensive style game, but Power Rangers responded with Io and Bounty Hunter showing they they intended to do the opposite. The aggressive draft continued from Power Rangers picking up Goblak’s favourite combo, Weaver and Treant Protector and finally Chaos Knight to synergize with Io. Alliance realising they needed some early game power along with a strong late game carry picked up Alchemist and Timbersaw but with both these heroes being so susceptible to physical damage early on it looked to be too little too late.Once again PR tried to go on the offensive right away, looking for an early pick off in their own jungle on s4’s Timbersaw but in the end just managed to burn some of his regen. Similar to their game against Na’vi, Power Rangers aimed to gain an advantage in all three lanes starting with mid lane. As soon as both Chaos Knight and Io were level 2 Timbersaw was Reality Rifted in for an easy kill, making his death the first of many. Unlike Na’vi, Alliance were solely reliant on mid lane for their early game damage, as is often common with their drafts, with the rest of their lineup providing utility and sustain for Loda’s Alchemist. This provided PR with a clear target and with early rotations from Bounty Hunter things were looking bad for Timbersaw.With Weaver free farming on the safe lane and not enough damage to kill Bounty Hunter in the off lane Alliance were all forced into their jungle, a place Alliance is well known to expertly utilize, but having Chen, Batrider and Alchemist all trying to get farm in such a small space it wasn’t long before PR closed in. Bounty Hunter provided the scouting and vision needed for Io’s relocate to provide easy kills time and again, leaving Alliance with nowhere left to go. At just 20 minutes into the game Alliance were already forced back into their base and moving as 5. This gave PR all the space they needed to outfarm Alliance’s lineup and with one final fight at Roshan, Alliance knew it was all over and the gg was called.This isn’t the first time teams like Alliance have lost in this fashion. Just over a year ago, Fnatic fresh from Heroes of Newerth, became reliant on this hyper aggressive strategy to beat the top teams. Unfortunately these counterplay drafts come with major downsides, while they have the potential to work in a best of 1 situation, catching the enemy team off guard, teams can quickly and easily adapt during a best of 3. Throughout the history of competitive dota, teams have learned this the hard way, but that doesn’t mean exploiting your opponent cannot be the way to win games. Ensuring your teams overall mechanics and teamwork are at the highest standard will always be the starting point for any professional team and Power Rangers have shown they aren’t quite there yet. This isn’t to say that they may not be a potential team to watch in the future but for now I believe Power Rangers have a lot of work ahead of them, they have shown they can beat the best teams in the world on a good day but at the same time lose against many of the lower teams on a bad day. This inconsistency is common in esports but given time and further practice I could see Power Rangers as a strong contender in the future.As for the other teams in the western scene looking to take that top spot, I believe they could stand to learn something from this. While it is important to ensure your team is playing a style they feel comfortable with, fully understanding and exploiting your opponents weaknesses will take them out of their comfort zone and put them on the back foot before the game has even started. Power Rangers may not be the biggest upset of the year but they have shown that with solid planning and execution, even the biggest opponents can be defeated.Thank you for taking the time to read this article and if you have any questions or comments regarding anything discussed feel free to let me know on Twitter at @Diamond_Axe and be sure to follow the Denial team at @DenialEsports