ESL One Preview: City that Never Sleeps October 9th, 2014 01:33 GMT Text by TanGeng Graphics by Heyoka ESL One New York

Strategic Shifts



Power Rankings



Staff Predictions



Liquipedia



Focus Mode

Turn off Focus Mode [x] The City that Never Sleeps

Overnight, ESL One will open its doors to Dota fans and host the first ever international Dota2 tournament in New York City at the famous Madison Square Garden. As preview to the tournament, LiquidDota make a quick rundown through the new patch and the new strategies, rank the teams that will feature at the event, and make some fun and interesting predictions on how the tournament might play out.



New Heroes

In addition to the sweeping changes in 6.82, to heroes, to the map, and to aegis, we received two additions to Captain’s Mode, Terrorblade and Legion Commander. In the tournaments that have followed, Terrorblade has become one of the more contested picks and often shows up in the first ban phase—particularly outside of Europe. Legion Commander has made appearances but looks as though teams don’t yet agree on where she fits into a standard lineup. Cloud 9 had the most success with Terrorblade in the recent World Cyber Arena finals, winning all three games they were able to grab the hero and let EternalEnvy split push to victory.



We also lost both Bloodseeker and Phantom Lancer due to significant hero reworks, leaving Riki as one of the most changed heroes to remain in the pool. He has seen only two appearances since the patch, in the finals of Excellent Moscow Cup and in Korean Dota League, so we’re probably only sticking with Terrorblade and Legion Commander for now.





Strategic Shift

There are two camps within the LiquidDota staff, and the two have quite opposing views of the outlook for strategy in the 6.82b era.



The first group believes Terrorblade and split push will be a new story. It will be greatly more viable than in the deathball oriented 6.81 meta thanks to the game slowing addition of the glyph recharge. At the same time, the addition of Terrorblade and his illusion powered pushing proficiency will decided games should he ever slip through the first set of bans. The general slowing of the pace of the game opens the door for greedier compositions and illusion pushing strategies centered around a farming Naga.



For the other camp, nothing has really changed in 6.82, aside from the introduction of the latest incarnation of the hyper-late-game carry that’s strong at all points of the game and doesn’t actually need items to deal infinite damage. The patch changes and the addition of the crimson guard simply shifts the all-in timing from 15 to about 22 minutes into the game where one team can walk up to the other one… and kill them. Albeit now, the risk is slightly greater.



Maybe this can be settled in a 1v1 mid deathmatch...





Power Rankings



Ahead of the ESL One New York Tournament, the opinionated minds of the LiquidDota staff congregated and formed a unified ranking of the teams that will contest the tournament. May the best team win!



#8: Na`Vi.North America

A team with no true lineup, the Korok, Fogged, and Sneyking core have been playing with a host of standins in the past month, from Tralf to Excalibur. Though they’re playing with WayTo and Bulba this event, they have very little practice with these 5 so it remains unknown what we’ll see.



#7: Sneaky Nyx Assassins

The recent run of victories is impressive, but in the relatively isolated North American scene, SNA remains unchallenged and unproven on the world stage.



#6: Na`Vi

As a team that is struggling to regain former glory, the only win in their last two LANs was against LGD.CDEC. New captain FNG has kept their head above water in online matches but has yet to prove they can succeed in a live setting.



#5: Alliance

Alliance rekindled the old split-push formula in 6.82 with Chessie. How they will fare with H4nn1 playing as a standin is a mystery, but as an old friend of many [A] players, the chemistry might be there already.



#4: Vici Gaming

Vici Gaming has topped the Chinese scene in the past month, yet has been extremely erratic, winning against premier competition one series and losing to upstart teams the next. First month of Dota after TI break is notoriously fickle and unpredictable.



#3: Team Secret

Team Secret ran through its inaugural season of Starladder with a clear first place finish and come to New York with an unblemished LAN record. Then again, their first LAN event will finally give us evidence to see what they’re really made of.



#2: Cloud 9

The kings of second place, Cloud 9 are coming off silver medal finishes at World Esports Championship and World Cyber Arena to Evil Geniuses and Newbee, respectively.



#1: Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses roster is a single player upgrade over the 3rd place TI4 team, and in a world of wild roster shuffles, stability rockets them to the top of the pecking order. EG’s been largely unstoppable in their limited showing so far, WEC, Starladder-NA, Dotapit, ESL-One Qualifiers, but strangely vulnerable on occasion, against VG in WEC, against C9 in Gamer24, and against SNA in Starladder. Evil Geniuses heads into ESL New York as the clear favorites.





Staff Predictions



TanGeng While I personally believe that the glyph, EXP, and gold bounty changes haven’t greatly shifted the meta of 6.81. It is simply a hard nerf of the Vici Gaming TI4 all-in push and not too big of a nerf of middle game teamfight lineups. Three teams, EG, Alliance, and C9, in the upper half of the bracket are unrepentant farmers and notorious split-pushers. Fans of action-packed Dota will be grabbing their pitchforks and rising up in fury.



peanuts: With this being the first major LAN for a lot of the teams’ new rosters, as well as for 6.82, I think that this is going to be a hard one to call. There are definite favorites, but with everything in flux, anything can happen. That said, after their performance at WCA, C9 are leading the pack, having adapted to the new hero pool, working with the new mechanics and transitioning smoothly with Fata. Overall, I’m giving this one to the LA Kings.



Kupon3ss: Basically what’ll happen is that the VG will finish second and then we will rejoice in how strong Western DotA is because a Western team was able to win in a tournament with 7 Western teams and 1 Chinese team in it.



Vykromond: In a match of endurance with SNA and Navi.NA on one side and lag and game delays on the other, I favor the lag and game delays to own the ESL Stage longer.



Tephus: Each quarterfinal match has an obvious favourite, but with teams still adapting to 6.82, I’d expect at least one early upset, fueled by a still quite undervalued Spectre or Terrorblade. There is also the issue of teams coming to the LAN with surprising lineups, as BuLba, Wayto, Bone7 and Hann1 are all making unexpected appearances.



Heyoka: Someone will decide to first ban Naga Siren and Spectre against Cloud 9, and EternalEnvy will snag Terrorblade for another showing of what he did in WCA against LGD and later VG. They will appear to be losing the early and mid game until Envy mysteriously finds a enough farm for a Skadi, then he will split push and 1v5 to victory.



fusefuse: Forecast for this week is showing a high chance of 60+ minute storms lasting late into the night. High likelihood of depression in the greater North American area. Encroaching cold eastern front reminiscent of July storms, NY area to be affected most severely, spectators advised to seek shelter.





CREDITS

Contributors: Heyoka, Kupon3ss, Tephus, peanuts, fusefuse, Vykromond

Editors: TanGeng

Graphics: Nixer, Heyoka Overnight, ESL One will open its doors to Dota fans and host the first ever international Dota2 tournament in New York City at the famous Madison Square Garden. As preview to the tournament, LiquidDota make a quick rundown through the new patch and the new strategies, rank the teams that will feature at the event, and make some fun and interesting predictions on how the tournament might play out.In addition to the sweeping changes in 6.82, to heroes, to the map, and to aegis, we received two additions to Captain’s Mode, Terrorblade and Legion Commander. In the tournaments that have followed, Terrorblade has become one of the more contested picks and often shows up in the first ban phase—particularly outside of Europe. Legion Commander has made appearances but looks as though teams don’t yet agree on where she fits into a standard lineup. Cloud 9 had the most success with Terrorblade in the recent World Cyber Arena finals, winning all three games they were able to grab the hero and let EternalEnvy split push to victory.We also lost both Bloodseeker and Phantom Lancer due to significant hero reworks, leaving Riki as one of the most changed heroes to remain in the pool. He has seen only two appearances since the patch, in the finals of Excellent Moscow Cup and in Korean Dota League, so we’re probably only sticking with Terrorblade and Legion Commander for now.There are two camps within the LiquidDota staff, and the two have quite opposing views of the outlook for strategy in the 6.82b era.The first group believes Terrorblade and split push will be a new story. It will be greatly more viable than in the deathball oriented 6.81 meta thanks to the game slowing addition of the glyph recharge. At the same time, the addition of Terrorblade and his illusion powered pushing proficiency will decided games should he ever slip through the first set of bans. The general slowing of the pace of the game opens the door for greedier compositions and illusion pushing strategies centered around a farming Naga.For the other camp, nothing has really changed in 6.82, aside from the introduction of the latest incarnation of the hyper-late-game carry that’s strong at all points of the game and doesn’t actually need items to deal infinite damage. The patch changes and the addition of the crimson guard simply shifts the all-in timing from 15 to about 22 minutes into the game where one team can walk up to the other one… and kill them. Albeit now, the risk is slightly greater.Maybe this can be settled in a 1v1 mid deathmatch...Ahead of the ESL One New York Tournament, the opinionated minds of the LiquidDota staff congregated and formed a unified ranking of the teams that will contest the tournament. May the best team win!A team with no true lineup, the Korok, Fogged, and Sneyking core have been playing with a host of standins in the past month, from Tralf to Excalibur. Though they’re playing with WayTo and Bulba this event, they have very little practice with these 5 so it remains unknown what we’ll see.The recent run of victories is impressive, but in the relatively isolated North American scene, SNA remains unchallenged and unproven on the world stage.As a team that is struggling to regain former glory, the only win in their last two LANs was against LGD.CDEC. New captain FNG has kept their head above water in online matches but has yet to prove they can succeed in a live setting.Alliance rekindled the old split-push formula in 6.82 with Chessie. How they will fare with H4nn1 playing as a standin is a mystery, but as an old friend of many [A] players, the chemistry might be there already.Vici Gaming has topped the Chinese scene in the past month, yet has been extremely erratic, winning against premier competition one series and losing to upstart teams the next. First month of Dota after TI break is notoriously fickle and unpredictable.Team Secret ran through its inaugural season of Starladder with a clear first place finish and come to New York with an unblemished LAN record. Then again, their first LAN event will finally give us evidence to see what they’re really made of.The kings of second place, Cloud 9 are coming off silver medal finishes at World Esports Championship and World Cyber Arena to Evil Geniuses and Newbee, respectively.Evil Geniuses roster is a single player upgrade over the 3rd place TI4 team, and in a world of wild roster shuffles, stability rockets them to the top of the pecking order. EG’s been largely unstoppable in their limited showing so far, WEC, Starladder-NA, Dotapit, ESL-One Qualifiers, but strangely vulnerable on occasion, against VG in WEC, against C9 in Gamer24, and against SNA in Starladder. Evil Geniuses heads into ESL New York as the clear favorites.



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