G-League Finals Retrospective March 21st, 2013 00:24 GMT Text by Kupon3ss Graphics by shiroiusagi

G-League Retrospective Table of Contents



iG Post-Finals Press Conference

Words from the winners





A talk with God

Words from China





Number Crunch

Game 4 By the NumberS





Finals Report Card

Grades of the day







see the teamliquid

G-League Recap





More on





Words from the winnersWords from ChinaGame 4 By the NumberSGrades of the daysee the teamliquidMore on Liquipedia

GL Finals Retrospective



It's been over one week since we saw the conclusion of G-League, and the epic clash between the two titans, LGD.int and iG. As DotA fans, we waited months in anticipation of these finals, and they delivered in more ways than anyone imagined. Now as the dust settles on the battleground, we sit here in retrospection of the events that night.



Immediately following the finals, iG were gracious enough to provide us with this



We hope you enjoy our retrospective back into the G-League finals.



It's been over one week since we saw the conclusion of G-League, and the epic clash between the two titans, LGD.int and iG. As DotA fans, we waited months in anticipation of these finals, and they delivered in more ways than anyone imagined. Now as the dust settles on the battleground, we sit here in retrospection of the events that night.Immediately following the finals, iG were gracious enough to provide us with this press conference , translated by our very own CountChocula. Our new guest translator, dfs, brought to us the translation of a great video interview of LGD.int's God . The last part of our retrospective brings you deeper into the finer details of G-League, as Shostakovich gave us a breakdown on the final stats , while tree.hugger brought forth a player analysis , grading each player based on their performance in the finals.We hope you enjoy our retrospective back into the G-League finals.



iG Post-Finals Press Conference by CountChocula



Source:

Translator: CountChocula





iG Team Photo, courtesy of deviantart



Reporter 1: I'm a reporter with 178.com. First I'd like to congratulate iG on defending their G-League title. My first question is you guys dominated the first two games and got up to a 2-0 lead. You also led in the third game, but then something happened that caused an LGD.int comeback. What was that something?



Zhou: In Game 3, even though we led in kills early on, we were too far behind in other numbers. Their Lycan, Weaver, and Beastmaster kept on split-pushing and then picking us off. We kept being forced back to defend with no time to farm. We were up in kills, but were far behind in terms of net worth. In late-game, once their auras from Lycan and Beastmaster got set up, we couldn't beat them.



Reporter 1: Following up on that question, after Lycan got nerfed his appearances have been few. When they picked Lycan, did you guys make sufficient preparations against him?



Zhou: Lycan's nerf was to his small wolves. Once it gets to late-game, his split-pushing is still very strong. The nerfs to his small wolves mean that it's harder to jungle early-game, but if he gets protection from safe-lane, the nerfs don't mean much. Our strategic mistake was in not going for an aggressive trilane against their trilane.



Reporter 1: The second question is after Game 3, when the score was 2-1. Game 4 was very nerve-wracking and lasted a long time, and iG seemed to be on the back foot. How did you adjust your mentality, because Game 4 could be counted as an iG comeback?



YYF: Our lineup was a late-game lineup. What we were thinking at the time was even if we fell behind early, it wouldn't mean much. As long as we were able to defend high ground, we could come back in the late-game. In the mid-game, we just defended high ground and seized opportunities to counter-push. It was only at 80 minutes that we were able to seize such an opportunity to complete the comeback.



Reporter 1: To the eyes of an amateur like us, lineup-wise it seemed LGD.int had two carries in Juggernaut and Syllabear, but you only had one carry, Phantom Lancer. Why is it that dragging the game out will be more advantageous to you?



YYF: Because compared to other carries PL can DPS more easily. His DPS environment is generated by his illusions and the damage of his real hero isn't bad either, whereas other heroes rely on the real hero or the bear summon to do damage--these can be easily countered.



Reporter 1: In Game 4, Zhou's item build was quite... meticulous. Could you give us your thoughts on the double Heart?



Zhou: All my DPS was on the illusions. If I got an MKB or Daedalus, my illusions wouldn't have benefited at all. With two hearts, my illusions have more HP, can tank more and are more suited for grinding towers.



Reporter 1: My questions end here.



Reporter 2: I'm with replays.net. I'd like to ask in Game 4, when was it that you found you could counter-push or even split-push to pressure them and look for them to make mistakes?



Zhou: It was after our items were acquired. We felt we had the strength to fight them in a direct teamfight. That is to say, we used split-push to find pickoffs and searched for mistakes to take advantage of.



Reporter 2: Was it after you completed your items that you spontaneously thought of this tactic?



YYF: Our disadvantage was always great, so we were always looking for opportunities and waiting for PL's items. We were pressured pretty badly and our farming area was quite small, so it took a long time for PL to get up his items. He had Butterfly and Heart. That was when we were at our strongest, so we pushed.



Reporter 2: That game was 80min long. In your recollection what was the longest match you've played in competitive play?



YYF: In Dota 2, this was our longest match. In Dota 1, I don't remember. There may have been longer matches.



Reporter 3: I'm a reporter with SGamer. In Game 4 after your net worth started overtaking LGD.int's, the phrase "Divine Rapier" could be heard from the audience. In such a situation, do you think a Divine Rapier would have been suitable?



Zhou: In such a situation even though we were starting to acquire small advantages and were able to counter-push them, we weren't in a position to buy a Divine Rapier. Firstly, because a Divine doesn't strengthen PL illusions at all. Secondly, because if it drops and the opponent picks it up, it's not very good.



Reporter 4: I'm a reporter with an esports magazine. In the last game after you won, the audience was very emotional, but you guys were very calm. Why was that?



ChuaN: Tired...



YYF: Because we were tired from playing.



Reporter 4: Very moé, ChuaN-God.



Reporter 5: You're the Chinese Champion as well as World Champion. How do you think Chinese DotA ranks in the international scene?



Zhou: Looking at past Dota 2 results, the best in China are also the best in the world.



Reporter 5: Have you had any higher aspirations such as helping to strengthen Chinese esports across the board?



Zhou: Chinese teams persist together, train together, and amass experience. This is our collective growth.



Reporter 5: Recently, there has been the case that foreign teams have come to China to bootcamp. Do you think foreign teams bootcamping in China will influence Chinese DotA?



Zhou: I think they want to study Chinese strategies and playstyle. If they come to China then of course we will welcome them, because if they come the Chinese esports scene will become better and better.



Reporter 6: Before people have said it's rare for a Chinese Dota 1 or Dota 2 team to develop new strategies because Chinese players are lazy. I think iG is quite prolific at developing new strategies. Do you think there's something right or wrong about this? Do you have any ideas that differ from this view?



Zhou: In my opinion, it's pretty common for domestic teams to develop new strategies nowadays. Maybe in the past, it really was the case that Chinese players were more stubborn choosing to play 4-protect-1 or traditional strategies day-in day-out. We've started a bit of a trend in China of playing two carries or three carries as well as discovering some new heroes. If we're successful, others will also start using them.



Reporter 6: What key steps are involved in developing a new strategy?



Zhou: Developing a new strategy requires one out of the five players to play one particular hero very well. Then you have to integrate that hero into a system.



Reporter 6: There's a common saying that one Chinese person is a dragon, but three Chinese people are a bear (a joke). Then why is it that in individual events the gap between China and the best in the world is very noticeable, but Chinese DotA is the best in the world?



Zhou: In my opinion, it is because the Chinese esports environment for DotA is better than anywhere else in the world, so Chinese players put in more effort, train more than foreign players and the esports scene is quite developed. That's why China is very strong at this event.



Reporter 6: In Game 4, there was a time when the other team had Aegis, two Cheeses and the high ground tower was down, but they still couldn't do anything. How do you evaluate their play? Do you think they were too passive or what do you think?



Zhou: It was because they never had a good initiator to break our formation. It was also because their biggest DPS'er was Lone Druid's bear. Once the bear came up to hit the tower, we would jump on it. Once the bear lost all its HP they naturally lost all their DPS, so they don't dare to go in hastily. We also had an initiator in Batrider. If their positioning was even slightly off it could cause a teamwipe. They had been defeated like this twice before, so they weren't very confident.



Reporter 6: *inaudible*



Zhou: I got a double damage rune from top spawn. Nyx was at top lane and someone else was mid. I thought I could go invisible and Roshan by myself. It happened that NS had Vlad's, so I got him to Roshan with me. They weren't grouped and even if they tried to steal Aegis, we weren't that afraid.



Reporter 6: Someone from LGD.int said earlier that the reason they won Game 3 was because iG's Chen lineup wasn't very practiced. That game Chen's user was ChuaN. I want to ask him the biggest reason iG lost.



ChuaN: It was because of our mistakes.



Reporter 6: Was it because you guys didn't concentrate as much? Because to an observer you guys made some mistakes iG wouldn't normally make.



ChuaN: We thought we could win a fight we couldn't win. We happened to get teamwiped and once we teamwiped, they pushed our rax.



Reporter 6: Good luck in the next season. I hope you continue to work hard and defend your title. Any thoughts about the next G-League season, Zhou?



Zhou: We very much desire to win three straight G-Leagues. We're very happy that we were able to use the Chinese resolve to win the last game and come back from such a huge disadvantage to keep the trophy in China.



Source: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTI0OTA0NzE2.html Translator: CountChoculaI'm a reporter with 178.com. First I'd like to congratulate iG on defending their G-League title. My first question is you guys dominated the first two games and got up to a 2-0 lead. You also led in the third game, but then something happened that caused an LGD.int comeback. What was that something?In Game 3, even though we led in kills early on, we were too far behind in other numbers. Their Lycan, Weaver, and Beastmaster kept on split-pushing and then picking us off. We kept being forced back to defend with no time to farm. We were up in kills, but were far behind in terms of net worth. In late-game, once their auras from Lycan and Beastmaster got set up, we couldn't beat them.Following up on that question, after Lycan got nerfed his appearances have been few. When they picked Lycan, did you guys make sufficient preparations against him?Lycan's nerf was to his small wolves. Once it gets to late-game, his split-pushing is still very strong. The nerfs to his small wolves mean that it's harder to jungle early-game, but if he gets protection from safe-lane, the nerfs don't mean much. Our strategic mistake was in not going for an aggressive trilane against their trilane.The second question is after Game 3, when the score was 2-1. Game 4 was very nerve-wracking and lasted a long time, and iG seemed to be on the back foot. How did you adjust your mentality, because Game 4 could be counted as an iG comeback?Our lineup was a late-game lineup. What we were thinking at the time was even if we fell behind early, it wouldn't mean much. As long as we were able to defend high ground, we could come back in the late-game. In the mid-game, we just defended high ground and seized opportunities to counter-push. It was only at 80 minutes that we were able to seize such an opportunity to complete the comeback.To the eyes of an amateur like us, lineup-wise it seemed LGD.int had two carries in Juggernaut and Syllabear, but you only had one carry, Phantom Lancer. Why is it that dragging the game out will be more advantageous to you?Because compared to other carries PL can DPS more easily. His DPS environment is generated by his illusions and the damage of his real hero isn't bad either, whereas other heroes rely on the real hero or the bear summon to do damage--these can be easily countered.In Game 4, Zhou's item build was quite... meticulous. Could you give us your thoughts on the double Heart?All my DPS was on the illusions. If I got an MKB or Daedalus, my illusions wouldn't have benefited at all. With two hearts, my illusions have more HP, can tank more and are more suited for grinding towers.My questions end here.I'm with replays.net. I'd like to ask in Game 4, when was it that you found you could counter-push or even split-push to pressure them and look for them to make mistakes?It was after our items were acquired. We felt we had the strength to fight them in a direct teamfight. That is to say, we used split-push to find pickoffs and searched for mistakes to take advantage of.Was it after you completed your items that you spontaneously thought of this tactic?Our disadvantage was always great, so we were always looking for opportunities and waiting for PL's items. We were pressured pretty badly and our farming area was quite small, so it took a long time for PL to get up his items. He had Butterfly and Heart. That was when we were at our strongest, so we pushed.That game was 80min long. In your recollection what was the longest match you've played in competitive play?In Dota 2, this was our longest match. In Dota 1, I don't remember. There may have been longer matches.I'm a reporter with SGamer. In Game 4 after your net worth started overtaking LGD.int's, the phrase "Divine Rapier" could be heard from the audience. In such a situation, do you think a Divine Rapier would have been suitable?In such a situation even though we were starting to acquire small advantages and were able to counter-push them, we weren't in a position to buy a Divine Rapier. Firstly, because a Divine doesn't strengthen PL illusions at all. Secondly, because if it drops and the opponent picks it up, it's not very good.I'm a reporter with an esports magazine. In the last game after you won, the audience was very emotional, but you guys were very calm. Why was that?Tired...Because we were tired from playing.Very moé, ChuaN-God.You're the Chinese Champion as well as World Champion. How do you think Chinese DotA ranks in the international scene?Looking at past Dota 2 results, the best in China are also the best in the world.Have you had any higher aspirations such as helping to strengthen Chinese esports across the board?Chinese teams persist together, train together, and amass experience. This is our collective growth.Recently, there has been the case that foreign teams have come to China to bootcamp. Do you think foreign teams bootcamping in China will influence Chinese DotA?I think they want to study Chinese strategies and playstyle. If they come to China then of course we will welcome them, because if they come the Chinese esports scene will become better and better.Before people have said it's rare for a Chinese Dota 1 or Dota 2 team to develop new strategies because Chinese players are lazy. I think iG is quite prolific at developing new strategies. Do you think there's something right or wrong about this? Do you have any ideas that differ from this view?In my opinion, it's pretty common for domestic teams to develop new strategies nowadays. Maybe in the past, it really was the case that Chinese players were more stubborn choosing to play 4-protect-1 or traditional strategies day-in day-out. We've started a bit of a trend in China of playing two carries or three carries as well as discovering some new heroes. If we're successful, others will also start using them.What key steps are involved in developing a new strategy?Developing a new strategy requires one out of the five players to play one particular hero very well. Then you have to integrate that hero into a system.There's a common saying that one Chinese person is a dragon, but three Chinese people are a bear (a joke). Then why is it that in individual events the gap between China and the best in the world is very noticeable, but Chinese DotA is the best in the world?In my opinion, it is because the Chinese esports environment for DotA is better than anywhere else in the world, so Chinese players put in more effort, train more than foreign players and the esports scene is quite developed. That's why China is very strong at this event.In Game 4, there was a time when the other team had Aegis, two Cheeses and the high ground tower was down, but they still couldn't do anything. How do you evaluate their play? Do you think they were too passive or what do you think?It was because they never had a good initiator to break our formation. It was also because their biggest DPS'er was Lone Druid's bear. Once the bear came up to hit the tower, we would jump on it. Once the bear lost all its HP they naturally lost all their DPS, so they don't dare to go in hastily. We also had an initiator in Batrider. If their positioning was even slightly off it could cause a teamwipe. They had been defeated like this twice before, so they weren't very confident.*inaudible*I got a double damage rune from top spawn. Nyx was at top lane and someone else was mid. I thought I could go invisible and Roshan by myself. It happened that NS had Vlad's, so I got him to Roshan with me. They weren't grouped and even if they tried to steal Aegis, we weren't that afraid.Someone from LGD.int said earlier that the reason they won Game 3 was because iG's Chen lineup wasn't very practiced. That game Chen's user was ChuaN. I want to ask him the biggest reason iG lost.It was because of our mistakes.Was it because you guys didn't concentrate as much? Because to an observer you guys made some mistakes iG wouldn't normally make.We thought we could win a fight we couldn't win. We happened to get teamwiped and once we teamwiped, they pushed our rax.Good luck in the next season. I hope you continue to work hard and defend your title. Any thoughts about the next G-League season, Zhou?We very much desire to win three straight G-Leagues. We're very happy that we were able to use the Chinese resolve to win the last game and come back from such a huge disadvantage to keep the trophy in China.





A Talk With God by dfs



Sergey "God" Bragin of LGD.int was interviewed by Ivan "Faker" Demkin and Dmitry "Inmate" Filinov from prodota.ru March 19th, 2013.



+ Show Spoiler +





God Himself



Hello, God!



Hi.



Our condolences for your loss against Orange, but we will return to this topic later. I want to ask you a few questions about your personal life in China.



I don't have one.



How's life in China? How does China differ from Russia?



Basically no difference. I am just trying to survive every day, but here it is more difficult. The food is spicy and there are a lot of Chinese people. ^^ jk More seriously, I don't feel much of a difference, only here, I don't have any life. I almost never leave the apartment.



Is Hangzhou a big city?



It is one hour by train from Shanghai. It is an expensive city, with expensive land and apartments, but it's not too large by Chinese standards.



How much did your English skills improve during this time, living outside of Russia?



Before I went to China my English skills were pretty good. I had good pronunciation, but I was trying to speak better as well. After arriving here, I continued to speak English every day, but everyone already understood me so I became lazy at improving further. Now I have a terrible Russian accent and no motivation to improve my English. This is the harsh truth.



In one interview V1lat said that in China, Dendi had a bodyguard, because of all the Chinese fans. Do you get recognized on the street? How do Chinese fans differ from Russians?



The main difference is that there are a lot more Chinese fans. Sometimes I get recognized, but not too often. China is big, and not everyone is playing DotA. Actually a lot of people are playing DotA, but not everyone knows what a professional player is. Half of China is still playing DotA 1.



Because there are no invites for Dota 2?



There are a lot of invites, but the internet does not allow most people to play Dota 2.



What about you and Chinese girls?



I have no personal life, at all. I don't sleep. I sit at the PC for days. No one knows me, and I am happy.



Where did the tiger go? You had that image for some time.



I forgot how to growl.



Is it true that esports games are shown on TV in China?



When we were in Shanghai, at the G-League Finals, I watched some TV in the hotel. They have specialized esports channels, and they show random streams and random games. I couldn't understand anything, because everything was on Chinese, but I still watched it for half an hour. Usually I don't watch TV, because I don't like it.



You were a part of many organizations: M5, Darer, and now LGD. What are the differences between Chinese and CIS organizations?



Everything here is very serious, so serious that they are probably stunned themselves from all that seriousness. Everyone here is friendly to each other, but everything that is connected to the public like interviews etc. is very tightly supervised. One time I said too much about some team we scrimmed against and our manager went to apologize to them the same evening. I do not understand how you can be so serious.



How's the Russian language training for your teammates is going?



Brax is my best pupil.



Why do teams like Virtus.pro value Gyrocopter, Wisp, and Undying so high, while you guys don't pick them at all and and no one in China picks them?



Differences in picks between regions were always common. Europeans pick one hero, Chinese pick another hero. The winners of the international tournaments often dictate the picks for the rest of the world. It is all about fashion. Believe me, Chinese players know what Wisp is. Not all of them, of course, but everyone knows what buttons to press on these heroes. It's just a matter of habit. Any Chinese team can first pick the hero they want, even if no one else values that hero highly. It is very similar in Europe as well.



It looks like despite the fact that your team is from US and Europe you are switching to a Chinese style of play, why?



GEST Dota 2: The Challenge). We saw what we need to work on. It is one thing when you scrim, as you can always say that not everyone was focused to win. Here, even if it is an online tournament, we still tried, more or less. To be honest we never won against Orange in our scrims. Ever since we came back to China before the G-League Finals we won against them only once.

(Translator's note: here, God suddenly just switched subjects) I wouldn't say we are switching to a Chinese style. You know, I am very glad that we played this online tournament (). We saw what we need to work on. It is one thing when you scrim, as you can always say that not everyone was focused to win. Here, even if it is an online tournament, we still tried, more or less. To be honest we never won against Orange in our scrims. Ever since we came back to China before the G-League Finals we won against them only once.(Translator's note: here, God suddenly just switched subjects)



What is your salary?



What do you mean? Do people get paid for playing DotA?



Are you continuing to troll 1437?



It is a whole different story. No, I won't talk about it. Maybe someone will translate this and someone will get upset.



Are you missing St. Petersburg? (G's hometown)



Yes I am. It is a wonderful city.



Would you like to visit some European tournaments?



I would like to, just meet everyone that I miss. I miss V1lat, the way he commentates, but to come and play against someone… I am happy where I am. I am losing enough where I am, why go anywhere else?



Sometimes you play solo-mid, sometimes you play Clinkz. Why you change your roles?



At first I was playing initiators, heroes that go in first, call who to focus and then die with a clear conscience. That's how we picked in G-League. Now we are trying to think of something new, because we got figured out, and nothing is working anymore.



G-League 2nd place, and now 2nd place in GEST. Did Petersburg's curse reach China? (translator's note: Petersburg curse is a joke about how players from St. Petersburg never win big tournaments)



Not really, I mean, they must have won something… I think… Tell me that they did! Help me, guys! To be honest, if we, a mixed team that just got back from our vacation, would have won against the best team in the world on LAN, then I'd be disappointed in professional DotA.



A question about Na`Vi. They are going to China to bootcamp for a few months. What do you think about the new roster?



I hope they will come closer to Hangzhou, to meet them. I'd like to play against them as well, but I have enough opponents to make progress as it is. It is very bad when you are winning without putting much effort, as then there won't be any progress.



What about the new Na`Vi roster?



I liked the old roster as well. This roster looks more "tryhard," if you can say that. Everyone will spend more hours on DotA than the last roster did. Time will tell what happens. Sometimes people just get bored from each other, and at some point Na`Vi couldn't function with each other. I do not know and do not want to know who initiated the changes, but if they were necessary, then everything will be fine.



A few question about heroes. Lycan and Morphling. Europeans have not picked them for quite a long time. Why?



No one picks Morph. Today I saw him for the first time in my life, and didn't know what he can do. He just rolls somewhere, morphs, is impossible to kill, and is always all around the map. ^^ j/k Seriously though, no one picks morph in China as well. As for Lycan, I was thinking about this back when I was in Absolute Legends. He got nerfed so he can't farm in the forest anymore, but on the lane he is still as strong as he was before. We pick him when we see that Lycan can destroy enemy towers, and take kills.



Morphling was picked in 3 finals, two of which he won. Does that mean he will return to big DotA in China?



No, there are enough heroes here as it is.



What unreleased hero are you waiting for to be ported next?



No one, because I can't play any one of them.



Tauren Chieftan was a common firstpick in Dota 1, though.



I don't want him to be added to Dota 2. I have no idea how to play him, and I will have to be figuring him out for weeks. "How did he kill me? How did he even reach me? What to do about him?"



What about Timbersaw in Captains Mode?



I love to play him in pubs, but the fact is this - he deals some damage, but never enough. He is hard to kill, but he he has no stuns. Maybe someone will pick him, but I do not think he will be picked in some finals in his current form.



Do you know some random TI3 information?



Yeah, do not give away random TI3 information. ^^



When will be your next vacation?



No idea. The new 3-month-long Chinese league will start in April, the participants are not allowed to participate anywhere else. After that there will be The International 3.



Thank you for the interview, and good luck! We will cheer for you!



Big thanks to LGD, Razor, Taobao, and to our fans. Play DotA, or do not play DotA. But watch DotA.



Sergey "God" Bragin of LGD.int was interviewed by Ivan "Faker" Demkin and Dmitry "Inmate" Filinov from prodota.ru March 19th, 2013.



Number Crunch: Finals Game 4 by Shostakovich







(Pretty graphs courtesy of Firebolt 145.)



Let's look at Game 4 from a numbers point of view. To this end, we're going to take into consideration the statistics on iG available at Dota-Academy, statistics on the game gathered by DatDota, and a recent YYF interview on Live on Three.



At some point on Live on Three, YYF told Slasher that iG's plan in the series was to focus on the late-game. With this in mind, we can make some observations regarding the draft. Firstly, iG favored the Batrider, whose Flaming Lasso ignores Black King Bar and remains useful in late game, choosing to allow LGD.int to nab the Nyx Assassin. While superb in the early and mid game, Nyx Assassin's influence tends to fade away in the late game. iG's next picks of the Keeper of the Light (Faith had a 5-1 record with this hero before the finals, an 83% winrate) plus Phantom Lancer (Zhou had played only one official game with the hero before the finals, resulting in a win) gave iG even more power in the late game. KotL as we all know has great defensive abilities and Phantom Lancer is of course virtually unstoppable after you get to the late game.



Take a look at this graph of each team's net worth (counting only items, not extra gold) over time.





Net worth of each team over time



As you can see, LGD.int dominated the early game, outfarming iG in every lane. Zhou’s farm efficiency (DatDota defines this as "an attempt to measure how well a hero farms by comparing it to what a hypothetical hero would get if he sat in lane and last hit every single enemy creep") was .37, while Pajkatt's was .73. Five minutes into the game, LGD.int had a gold lead of 1,000, extending to 2,000 at the 10 minute mark, and 5,000 at the 15 minute mark. This dominance can be attributed to their strong laning and the presence of Nyx Assassin on the game, which forced the whole iG squad to play carefully and thus not achieve optimal farm. Only around the 15 minute mark did iG finally manage to create space for Zhou to farm, choosing to let Pajkatt free farm in exchange for it. The Swedish carry continued to farm like a beast, keeping his farm efficiency over 1.0 for 20 minutes and almost filling all 12 item slots on the Lone Druid.



Now let's have a look at some graphs that show how each individual player's farm progressed throughout the game.





Net worth of iG's players over time





Net worth of LGD.int's players over time



Take note of how G’s gold progression on the Nyx Assassin slowed down considerably from the 20th minute onwards. His farm efficiency was .75 at the 15th minute, .70 at the 20th minute, and only went downhill from then on. 26 minutes into the game, G had obtained a Blink Dagger and Mekansm, at which point his farm completely stopped. 1437’s Rubick also did not get any other items from that time onwards besides a Boots of Travel in the closing minutes of the game. On the other hand, KotL’s defensive abilities (side note: KotL did 33,189 points of damage in the game, second only to Phantom Lancer in terms of damage done) and Phantom Lancer's sieging ability allowed all of iG’s heroes to farm everywhere on the map while forcing LGD.int into a defensive position. Both YYF and Faith picked up a Scythe of Vyse each, ChuaN farmed up a Black King Bar, while Ferrari picked up a Black King Bar of his own as well as a Heaven's Halberd. As a result, in the late game every hero on the iG squad had strong items to help in teamfights, while only MiSeRy, Brax, and Pajkatt had high level items on the LGD.int side. The difference in how each team allocated their farm between their players is clearly visualised in the following graph:





Poor 1437 only recieved 8% of his team's farm



Looking beyond that, Pajkatt had died three times before the 25th minute despite the huge amount of farm he had. In contrast, Zhou had only died once. By the end of the game, Pajkatt had died seven times, much more than his usual deaths-per-game average in the G-League (and in general). Zhou's teamfight participation also tells the story of how iG planned the game around him; he had an 80% teamfight participation while maintaining a good level of farm. From that, Zhou also had the most gold obtained from assists and kills in the game. Furthermore, every iG hero obtained more than 2,000 gold from assists alone, with no player on LGD.int coming close to this. Pajkatt, for example, received only 983 gold from assists despite having a 75% teamfight participation.



As time passed, Pajkatt's farm efficiency declined a little while Zhou's skyrocketed. At the end of the game, Zhou had an advantage of only 3,000 gold in comparison to Pajkatt due to Pajkatt’s early dominance (Pajkatt was still being ahead of Zhou in terms of item worth, because, you know, 12 slot Lone Druid), but overall iG was more than 20,000 gold ahead of LGD.int.



In the end, Zhou finished the G-League leading the tables with the most kills and the highest average GPM. On the whole, the iG squad dominated the top five positions with #1 - #5 in terms of most assists.



The numbers don't lie, Dota fans. iG deserves to be called the best team in the world by a lot of people, and no, that's not just me extrapolating haphazardly from these statistics. If anything, the stats only serve to underline what the games already showed us - iG plays intelligent, well planned Dota. Their players are individually skilled, of course, but they also have an amazing understanding of each other and know how to play as a team, even when playing from behind. Their plan in this game was to focus on Zhou, exhibited by his high teamfight participation, as well as the amount of gold that went his way throughout the game. They stuck to this plan even through the difficult early game, and Zhou rewarded them by carrying them through to a 20,000 gold lead.



This game is about plays, you may say, and not about stats, and yet here, the stats only serve to highlight the plays. If we learn anything from these numbers, it's this: iG plays really, really good Dota.



Sources: www.datdota.com.



(Pretty graphs courtesy of Firebolt 145.)Let's look at Game 4 from a numbers point of view. To this end, we're going to take into consideration the statistics on iG available at Dota-Academy, statistics on the game gathered by DatDota, and a recent YYF interview on Live on Three.At some point on Live on Three, YYF told Slasher that iG's plan in the series was to focus on the late-game. With this in mind, we can make some observations regarding the draft. Firstly, iG favored the Batrider, whose Flaming Lasso ignores Black King Bar and remains useful in late game, choosing to allow LGD.int to nab the Nyx Assassin. While superb in the early and mid game, Nyx Assassin's influence tends to fade away in the late game. iG's next picks of the Keeper of the Light (Faith had a 5-1 record with this hero before the finals, an 83% winrate) plus Phantom Lancer (Zhou had played only one official game with the hero before the finals, resulting in a win) gave iG even more power in the late game. KotL as we all know has great defensive abilities and Phantom Lancer is of courseunstoppable after you get to the late game.Take a look at this graph of each team's net worth (counting only items, not extra gold) over time.As you can see, LGD.int dominated the early game, outfarming iG in every lane. Zhou’s farm efficiency (DatDota defines this as "an attempt to measure how well a hero farms by comparing it to what a hypothetical hero would get if he sat in lane and last hit every single enemy creep") was .37, while Pajkatt's was .73. Five minutes into the game, LGD.int had a gold lead of 1,000, extending to 2,000 at the 10 minute mark, and 5,000 at the 15 minute mark. This dominance can be attributed to their strong laning and the presence of Nyx Assassin on the game, which forced the whole iG squad to play carefully and thus not achieve optimal farm. Only around the 15 minute mark did iG finally manage to create space for Zhou to farm, choosing to let Pajkatt free farm in exchange for it. The Swedish carry continued to farm like a beast, keeping his farm efficiency over 1.0 for 20 minutes and almost filling all 12 item slots on the Lone Druid.Now let's have a look at some graphs that show how each individual player's farm progressed throughout the game.Take note of how G’s gold progression on the Nyx Assassin slowed down considerably from the 20th minute onwards. His farm efficiency was .75 at the 15th minute, .70 at the 20th minute, and only went downhill from then on. 26 minutes into the game, G had obtained a Blink Dagger and Mekansm, at which point his farm completely stopped. 1437’s Rubick also did not get any other items from that time onwards besides a Boots of Travel in the closing minutes of the game. On the other hand, KotL’s defensive abilities (side note: KotL did 33,189 points of damage in the game, second only to Phantom Lancer in terms of damage done) and Phantom Lancer's sieging ability allowed all of iG’s heroes to farm everywhere on the map while forcing LGD.int into a defensive position. Both YYF and Faith picked up a Scythe of Vyse each, ChuaN farmed up a Black King Bar, while Ferrari picked up a Black King Bar of his own as well as a Heaven's Halberd. As a result, in the late game every hero on the iG squad had strong items to help in teamfights, while only MiSeRy, Brax, and Pajkatt had high level items on the LGD.int side. The difference in how each team allocated their farm between their players is clearly visualised in the following graph:Looking beyond that, Pajkatt had died three times before the 25th minute despite the huge amount of farm he had. In contrast, Zhou had only died once. By the end of the game, Pajkatt had died seven times, much more than his usual deaths-per-game average in the G-League (and in general). Zhou's teamfight participation also tells the story of how iG planned the game around him; he had an 80% teamfight participation while maintaining a good level of farm. From that, Zhou also had the most gold obtained from assists and kills in the game. Furthermore, every iG hero obtained more than 2,000 gold from assists alone, with no player on LGD.int coming close to this. Pajkatt, for example, received only 983 gold from assists despite having a 75% teamfight participation.As time passed, Pajkatt's farm efficiency declined a little while Zhou's skyrocketed. At the end of the game, Zhou had an advantage of only 3,000 gold in comparison to Pajkatt due to Pajkatt’s early dominance (Pajkatt was still being ahead of Zhou in terms of item worth, because, you know, 12 slot Lone Druid), but overall iG was more than 20,000 gold ahead of LGD.int.In the end, Zhou finished the G-League leading the tables with the most kills and the highest average GPM. On the whole, the iG squad dominated the top five positions with #1 - #5 in terms of most assists.The numbers don't lie, Dota fans. iG deserves to be called the best team in the world by a lot of people, and no, that's not just me extrapolating haphazardly from these statistics. If anything, the stats only serve to underline what the games already showed us - iG plays intelligent, well planned Dota. Their players are individually skilled, of course, but they also have an amazing understanding of each other and know how to play as a team, even when playing from behind. Their plan in this game was to focus on Zhou, exhibited by his high teamfight participation, as well as the amount of gold that went his way throughout the game. They stuck to this plan even through the difficult early game, and Zhou rewarded them by carrying them through to a 20,000 gold lead.This game is about plays, you may say, and not about stats, and yet here, the stats only serve to highlight the plays. If we learn anything from these numbers, it's this: iG plays really, really good Dota.Sources: www.dota-academy.com;



Finals Report Card by tree.hugger



Dota 2 is a team game first and foremost, but there's still plenty of room for individual expression; that's what makes it a brilliant game. Inspired by the sportswriters tradition in soccer/football of awarding scores for individual players, we took a look at the G-League finals and attempted to boil down four, complicated, stressful games into a single letter grade.



Mind you, each of these players are significantly better than me at Dota, and only they know what really occurred and why. These grades are primarily for fun, and are based in 20/20 hindsight. Still, this recap post breaks down the performances of the individual players, and what better way to do that than incite controversy and debate by boiling the intangible into the tangible and leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces?



Enjoy!



Invictus Gaming

Zhou — A



The reasoning seems simple. Zhou is the carry on the best team in the world, therefore he's the world's best carry. That logic held up under the lights of the Mercedes Benz Arena. In all four games of the G-League finals, Zhou was a rock for iG. Twice, he was barely needed, as iG wrapped up the win before the crushing weight of Zhou's farm could be brought to bear. But when he was called upon to win iG a game four that rested on a knife's edge, he delivered iG the victory and the championship.



The first two games saw Zhou get a significant amount of space, yet he adroitly balanced his responsibilities as ricer-in-chief with an added need to fight five on five to combat LGD's pressure. While he did not lead in kills or airtime, he certainly made sure to lead in farm. Had LGD stood firmer against iG's attacks, Zhou certainly would've crushed them on the back end of both games.



Further proof of Zhou's strength can be found the one time when iG removed him from the action. The decisive fight outside of LGD's second ring tower in the third game of the series went so decisively into the favor of the Internationals precisely because Zhou had just been dispatched home to block Pajkatt's counterpush on Lycan. Without their rock, iG uncharacteristically crumbled and the game was lost.



Little much else needs to be said about game four. Many in the community feel that Phantom Lancer is unstoppable lategame. Without taking a stance on whether that is indeed true, Zhou sure made it look that way. Strong team play from a resurgent LGD ultimately could not withstand the rolling tides of PL illusions, and Zhou ended the finals on top of everyone to plant the iG flag.



Ferrari_430 — A-



In the first two games of the finals, iG put their foot on the gas and roared to a 2-0 lead. The man most responsible for that was Ferrari and his superb play on Queen of Pain and Magnus. Like his namesake, he was flashy and extremely effective. Also like his namesake, he had poor fuel economy, and lost stamina as the series wore on. Still, if the back end of his series wasn't impressive, it only served to highlight what thrillers his opening two games had been.



In the opener, Ferrari hit his stride 20 minutes in and didn't look back, ending the game on a mega kill streak. He opened massive amounts of space for the PL and caused absolute havoc in teamfights. As the game progressed and iG snowballed out of control, Ferrari was constantly jumping headlong into engagements and blowing LGD up.



Game two saw Ferrari perform the initiation role on Magnus in what was his best game of the series. He was patient to wait for his best opportunity, but somehow he always managed to find it relatively quickly. In the tension that a hero like Magnus faces between getting the perfect ult and getting no ult at all, Ferrari seemed gifted to find the perfect reverse polarity without iG ever sacrificing anything to see it happen.



Through the first two games, Ferrari was playing a spectacular series. His next two games were significantly worse. In game three, Ferrari engaged into LGD outside iG's tier two tower with a perfect dreamcoil and Lifestealer delivery to save Chuan's Chen. However he then completely abandoned the engagement, hesitating on the periphery of the fight for several seconds before leaving his teammates to their fate and essentially surrendering the game. It was a baffling decision to engage without Zhou's druid, and even more to promptly ditch the whole situation. It's hard to say that either decision would've been wrong in isolation, but when paired together, they added up to a misplay that cost iG the game.



In the fourth match, Ferrari was handed a heavy impact hero in Night Stalker. He received the opportunity to play a similar role as he did in the opener, but this time he struggled to create any space. It is remarkable to note that both Batrider and NS were picked in tandem twice in this series, (once by each team) and both times they had serious issues finding holes. Ferrari didn't throw the game or feed, but iG was counting on him to make a big midgame impact, and instead their deficit grew during that period. It was a weird end to a brilliant but inconsistent series from Ferrari. The MVP of the opening two games, Ferrari could not maintain the performance that had brought iG the 2-0 lead.



YYF — B+



It's a bit unfair to YYF that he comes after two players whose dominance over the finals were so clear. Still, when you look harder at the games, the mark of iG's offlaner is clear. Just do your best to ignore Ferrari's pyrotechnics or Zhou's blunt force; look more closely, and suddenly you see the yeoman work that YYF put in. His best game may have been the first, where his Clockwerk play was utterly on point. Constantly isolating key LGD heroes like Pajkatt's Lifestealer, landing cute stuns with his hookshot, and just overall avoiding death, YYF kept things under control very well from behind the scenes.



In games two and three, he had a chance at playing a more obvious damage dealing hero in Lifestealer, and he performed solidly despite the differing results. The second set, he farmed hard and his infest combos were devastating. In game three, he had a fine time to a point but was kited to death in the deciding engagement of the game, and he fell off sharply from there. iG could have used a better second core to back up Zhou, but YYF was unable to deliver in that role.



It was in the final game of the series where YYF seemed most adrift. His decision making with Batrider was questionable on occasion. The second member of the Night Stalker + Batrider tempo control dream team, he lost the midgame along with Ferrari, but he also managed to die more times and get less accomplished. LGD did indeed play well to punish YYF for every blink lasso he attempted, but he must still be faulted for his inability to find holes when his team demanded it.



Overall, YYF's performance followed the trajectory of the others on his team; strong opening games and troubled closing ones. But YYF's performance was only really superlative in the first game; the remainder had him completing his assignments admirably, but without fundamentally changing the game, even when he had the chance to do so.



Chuan — B+



Chuan was iG's wild card, playing a variety of support heroes with a number of different uses. Influential in every game, Chuan at his best had the weight of a carry, and at his worst he was merely a typical die-for-the-carry support. Consider his messy but able game four on a fairly unforgiving hero in Sand King, where he was still an important player for iG past the hour mark. Then observe his ridiculous life as Lion in game two, where he tied Magnus for the game's kill lead. With supports like Chuan, it's no wonder iG took the series.



Chuan's Nyx play in game one was strong, although he was overshadowed by the killing potential of Zhou and Ferrari. Yet all those kills wouldn't have happened without Chuan's table setting on what many view as the ultimate table setting hero. Game four saw him initiate well on Sand King, although he rarely lived through the fight. In both these games he functioned as the primary or secondary initiator while Ferrari assumed more damage dealing roles. Game three's deciding fight began with LGD capitalizing on tardy positioning from Chuan's Chen, but iG should've just let him die, thus the errors that caused the fight to turn so dramatically were not Chuan's. Prior to that point, his heals were perfectly timed. Without him, iG collapsed.



A separate paragraph is clearly needed for Chuan's game two Lion. With a 6-1-10 score, he basically carried. If it weren't for an equally inspired entry from Ferrari's Magnus, Chuan would've been the clear MVP. He opened Lion's jack of all trades toolbox wide and dumped it on LGD's head. Stuns, hexes, and judicious, soul crushing use of Finger of Death snowballed iG to their most decisive victory in the series.



Faith — B



On Keeper of the Light, in combination with Phantom Lancer, Faith was everything iG needed. On everything else (Shadow Shaman and Jakiro) he left a good deal to be desired. Then there's his role as iG's drafter, and Faith's picking was a crucial part of their success. He didn't have the kind of dramatic imposition on the game that his support-mate Chuan managed, (especially on the non-KotLs) but Faith's contributions were noted.



The KotL-PL combination has been discussed to death, but Faith did double duty. (A) He picked it, and (B) he executed it to perfection. KotL is a hero with many tools beyond Illuminate, and Faith managed them all well. He smashed in game one, and held fast against the full court press of LGD in game four. In game two, Faith's Jakiro deserves credit for abusing LGD's pushing strategy with an overwhelming teamfight onslaught, but he was still the worst of iG in that series. (A bit like being the stupidest Nobel Prize in Physics winner, but still...) In game three, Faith's selection of Shadow Shamen seemed to be inspired in the opening, but then 1437 stole serpent wards again (and again) and LGD turned the set around decisively. When iG was leading the game, Faith's Shadow Shaman played a big part for the team. When iG fell behind and became pressured, he was easily overwhelmed and became a non-factor.



LGD International



Pajkatt — B



There were a number of questions surrounding Pajkatt going into the final, and they mirrored the questions that surrounded LGD as a whole. A brilliant carry by western standards, could Pajkatt step up to the level of the strongest Chinese carries? It's clear he was beaten by Zhou, but that doesn't mean he played poorly. Like his team, he established himself as a contender, even if highlighting the need for improvement. Like his team, he had a poor opening two games, followed by a much stronger back end. It was a flawed series, but the final image of Pajkatt's rampaging Lone Druid valiantly falling under the weight of swarming PL illusions is an enduring one. In the end, he was bested, but not beaten completely.



Take issue with games one and two however. Pajkatt's Lifestealer was not capable of carrying LGD in the starting match, although some fault can perhaps go to how early the hero was picked and how ably iG responded to him. Game two was the Swede's weakest. His Weaver was massacred, and to add insult to injury, Brax delivered a stronger performance on the same hero a game later.



But then...



Pajkatt got his trademark LGD.int Lycan in game three and throttled the bottom lane. He backed off after the initial pressure which may have been a mistake, but that felt like a team decision above all. When he resumed the pressure, it forced the cataclysmic chain of events for iG that caused them to lose. His push at the bottom dire T3 forced iG to commit Zhou to defense—leaving the rump of iG open to counter attack.



Game four was the first game where Pajkatt truly outcarried Zhou. Brilliant in the game's opening, he held down the fort as long as possible in the endgame. This was drama at its height. As a brutal 4v4 fight developed in the bottom dire lane, Zhou and Pajkatt duked it out in the dire jungle, far away from the action. Watch their health bars, because the camera did not focus on the clash of the titans. Blow for blow, neither could get the better of each other, and the fight ended with both heroes bloodied, but neither falling down. That 1v1 fight was perhaps Pajkatt's finest moment in China. He took on the #1 of the best team in the world and while the sum of his efforts was much less, for that one fight, he was Zhou's equal.



God — B



In previews from both the Chinese and non-Chinese media, God was given a tremendous amount of respect. In the opening rounds, he was a force for LGD, setting a ferocious speed and forcing other teams to respect his potential to such a degree that Pajkatt could operate uncontested. iG seemed to agree, and they devoted a good deal of effort into preventing G's hero from snowballing or creating holes. They were successful, and G was not the difference-maker that he had so often been before. Considering this, it's tempting to rate G lowly. However, several factors suggest he still deserves credit. By measures other than his own, extremely high bar, G was still an important part of LGD's winning combination. Secondly, LGD had switched their play, giving Brax the role that G usually had while adapting G to the utility role. He performed just fine. And third, in playing so tightly and carefully against G, iG opened some space for LGD in other areas, space LGD unfortunately may not have completely taken advantage of.



Game by game, G showed that his hallmark aggressiveness had been tempered by teamwork, experience, and game sense. Largely blocked as Night Stalker in game one, he might be slighted for being too cautious, but essentially he did not feed. In game two, he had a strong early game as Pugna, but could do little against iG's line-up, and his good start was not matched by anyone else on LGD. He was serviceable as Beastmaster in game three, although it was not his best game. It was in game four where he found his groupstage form, playing a terrorist Nyx that broke iG's early game and cast a deadly pall all over the map for the Chinese.



G was outshined by his counterpart Ferrari in middle, but he laned better and had an impact when he could. For a player tasked with making space, it must have been a frustrating series for G. But to a large extent, you can only take space that your opponents give you, and iG was so superb with defensive rotations and reacting to G's sorties that it must be taken into account when addressing his final score. He still had an impact; it wasn't his best, but it may have been all that was available.



Brax — B+



It was a solid finals for LGD, one where they affirmed their place as one of the world's strongest teams, even if they missed an opportunity for something greater. But Brax had a stunning night. His performances built on each other as the games progressed. While his insanely fast blink dagger Batrider in the first game was neutered and he blundered as Sven in game two, he roared to life as Weaver in the third game. Then there was his performance on Juggernaut in game four, which was simply superlative. With the help of a steady diet of dairy products, he was an unkillable force for the foreigners against the might of Phantom Lancer. It was only when Brax fell did the game truly end.



As offlaner, Brax must often content himself with less farm than normal. But iG seemed to prioritize shutting down God mid, and Brax found bushels of farm all series long. He didn't always make the most of it, especially in the first match, where he should've been able to orchestrate more than just one kill. Both he and G's Night Stalker completely failed at opening up the space that their heroes are intended for, but the brunt of the blame probably lies on Brax as the lead initiator. After his second lasso initiation went badly awry, he seemed gun shy and never attempted to make much happen.



Game two has been beaten to death in this analysis, (and will get yet more abuse) but Brax was saddled with a poor pick, and played him poorly. Failing to kill the extremely tanky (and virtually unsupported) Lifestealer on the bottom late twice was an error that set LGD severely behind. A few early Weaver deaths in game three seemed to portend yet more future troubles, but suddenly, Brax became LGD's best player. He was the left fist of LGD's dual push combination and cleaned up in teamfights. With G in less of a tempo setting role as the game wore on, it was Brax who kept the drums pounding.



Then there was game four. Self-evidently a splendid performance, (6-2-13) Brax was on point in all phases of the game. There's little else to say; I'll leave the discussion of great play to those more familiar with it. But against the pressure of KotL-PL, Brax stood (or spun) out as the reason LGD put up such a mammoth fight.



MiSeRy — C+



So instrumental to LGD's success in G-League, the supports of MiSeRy and 1437 were effectively shut down by iG in the finals. Until the finals, LGD had been able to create asymmetric situations with surprising timings and the sudden appearance of overwhelming numbers. The willingness of iG to group up early and fight LGD's fire with fire put pressure on MiSeRy and 1437's execution in even situations. While LGD's dynamic duo acquitted themselves better than nearly anyone else in the world would've, a final analysis shows that they were outplayed in the #4 and #5 role.



MiSeRy was twice on Enchantress, where he has excelled in the past. In game one, his influence on the game was not significant. iG had obviously planned to stop the dual roam strategy that LGD had found success with in the past. While criticisms that LGD was a one-trick pony that relied on that movement were overblown, they still took too long to transition to a plan B. It was clear early that iG's starsense (I don't know of a better word for that in Dota) was on point; they read LGD's movement like an open book.



MiSeRy's second spin on Enchantress was in the victorious game three. This time, he was instrumental in gaining LGD the early lead with a key courier pick-off that lost Ferrari mid, and from ambitious control of iG's jungle. However, he lingered too long and fed iG in the early midgame. As Brax's Weaver and Pajkatt's Lycan began to dictate more of the tempo, MiSeRy once again began to fade from view.



In the two other matches, MiSeRy turned in a mixed record. His turn to play KotL in game two was disappointing when compared with Faith's play on the same hero. However, he played an integral role in game four early and late on Shadow Demon, finishing the series with his best game. He landed several key disruptions to help LGD build a large lead early, and lategame he helped alleviate the stress by disrupting Phantom Lancer's illusions, putting some of the pressure back on iG.



MiSeRy's play in and of itself was fairly solid, even if he failed to maximize the strengths of his heroes in the way he did earlier in the year. But if there's final fault to be found, it was with his drafting. It's been said before, but game two was not a well-considered line-up out of LGD. Game one's draft was fairly lacking as well. Allowing the Kotl-PL combo in game four was also a mistake in retrospect, but LGD had opportunities to win the game and played well with their draft. LGD's most effective heroes in most games in the series actually came from the back end of their draft. The heroes that MiSeRy prioritized were less able to get things done.



1437 — C+



1437 played Rubick three times for LGD in the finals, the most times a player played any one hero. LGD repeatedly prioritized that hero in picking, drafting the magus first in the last three games. Given the emphasis LGD put in picking 1437's hero, his performance can only be viewed as a disappointment. In a finals laden with excellent spells to steal, 1437 rarely got the one he wanted. He wasn't aware of the patched river rune spots that would not allow him to strand heroes, nor could he get the gank train going with MiSeRy. And on his one turn with a different hero, LGD's pocket Crystal Maiden pick in the opener, he was simply not a factor in the game.



His best game was surely the third, where he was able to steal the mass serpent wards of Faith on several occasions. He also played the integral role in the pivotal fight outside LGD's tier two mid tower. Still, he opened the game by trying to trap iG heroes on the rune spots in the river, which was patched before the finals. Not knowing that is a large unforced error.



1437 was solid but not exceptional against iG in game four. Each of his teammates had a more significant role in the game than he. While it's certainly unfair to expect a #5 player to carry his team, we've seen game-changing play on Rubick countless times before, and 1437 struggled to have any kind of impact at all. And when he had his worst game in the second set, it was a huge reason LGD fell so quickly in that match. Jakiro's Ice Path, Magnus' Reverse Polarity, and any of Lion's spells were there for the taking, yet 1437's positioning was often abused by iG and he was unable to steal the powerful spells LGD was relying on. Finally, in the first match of the series, 1437's turn on Crystal Maiden was largely uneventful. He did not play badly, but it wasn't a pick or play that worked out for LGD. iG turned 1437 into a non-factor.



Life is tough as a support, and 1437 is an extremely talented player, but this wasn't the best series for him. iG forced him out of each game, and he and his partner in crime MiSeRy were unable to get the gank train going, or have the same effect as their Chinese counterparts.



Dota 2 is a team game first and foremost, but there's still plenty of room for individual expression; that's what makes it a brilliant game. Inspired by the sportswriters tradition in soccer/football of awarding scores for individual players, we took a look at the G-League finals and attempted to boil down four, complicated, stressful games into a single letter grade.Mind you, each of these players are significantly better than me at Dota, and only they know what really occurred and why. These grades are primarily for fun, and are based in 20/20 hindsight. Still, this recap post breaks down the performances of the individual players, and what better way to do that than incite controversy and debate by boiling the intangible into the tangible and leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces?Enjoy!The reasoning seems simple. Zhou is the carry on the best team in the world, therefore he's the world's best carry. That logic held up under the lights of the Mercedes Benz Arena. In all four games of the G-League finals, Zhou was a rock for iG. Twice, he was barely needed, as iG wrapped up the win before the crushing weight of Zhou's farm could be brought to bear. But when he was called upon to win iG a game four that rested on a knife's edge, he delivered iG the victory and the championship.The first two games saw Zhou get a significant amount of space, yet he adroitly balanced his responsibilities as ricer-in-chief with an added need to fight five on five to combat LGD's pressure. While he did not lead in kills or airtime, he certainly made sure to lead in farm. Had LGD stood firmer against iG's attacks, Zhou certainly would've crushed them on the back end of both games.Further proof of Zhou's strength can be found the one time when iGhim from the action. The decisive fight outside of LGD's second ring tower in the third game of the series went so decisively into the favor of the Internationals precisely because Zhou had just been dispatched home to block Pajkatt's counterpush on Lycan. Without their rock, iG uncharacteristically crumbled and the game was lost.Little much else needs to be said about game four. Many in the community feel that Phantom Lancer is unstoppable lategame. Without taking a stance on whether that is indeed true, Zhou. Strong team play from a resurgent LGD ultimately could not withstand the rolling tides of PL illusions, and Zhou ended the finals on top of everyone to plant the iG flag.In the first two games of the finals, iG put their foot on the gas and roared to a 2-0 lead. The man most responsible for that was Ferrari and his superb play on Queen of Pain and Magnus. Like his namesake, he was flashy and extremely effective. Also like his namesake, he had poor fuel economy, and lost stamina as the series wore on. Still, if the back end of his series wasn't impressive, it only served to highlight what thrillers his opening two games had been.In the opener, Ferrari hit his stride 20 minutes in and didn't look back, ending the game on a mega kill streak. He opened massive amounts of space for the PL and caused absolute havoc in teamfights. As the game progressed and iG snowballed out of control, Ferrari was constantly jumping headlong into engagements and blowing LGD up.Game two saw Ferrari perform the initiation role on Magnus in what was his best game of the series. He was patient to wait for his best opportunity, but somehow he always managed to find it relatively quickly. In the tension that a hero like Magnus faces between getting the perfect ult and getting no ult at all, Ferrari seemed gifted to find the perfect reverse polarity without iG ever sacrificing anything to see it happen.Through the first two games, Ferrari was playing a spectacular series. His next two games were significantly worse. In game three, Ferrari engaged into LGD outside iG's tier two tower with a perfect dreamcoil and Lifestealer delivery to save Chuan's Chen. However he then completely abandoned the engagement, hesitating on the periphery of the fight for several seconds before leaving his teammates to their fate and essentially surrendering the game. It was a baffling decision to engage without Zhou's druid, and even more to promptly ditch the whole situation. It's hard to say that either decision would've been wrong in isolation, but when paired together, they added up to a misplay that cost iG the game.In the fourth match, Ferrari was handed a heavy impact hero in Night Stalker. He received the opportunity to play a similar role as he did in the opener, but this time he struggled to create any space. It is remarkable to note that both Batrider and NS were picked in tandem twice in this series, (once by each team) and both times they had serious issues finding holes. Ferrari didn't throw the game or feed, but iG was counting on him to make a big midgame impact, and instead their deficit grew during that period. It was a weird end to a brilliant but inconsistent series from Ferrari. The MVP of the opening two games, Ferrari could not maintain the performance that had brought iG the 2-0 lead.It's a bit unfair to YYF that he comes after two players whose dominance over the finals were so clear. Still, when you look harder at the games, the mark of iG's offlaner is clear. Just do your best to ignore Ferrari's pyrotechnics or Zhou's blunt force; look more closely, and suddenly you see the yeoman work that YYF put in. His best game may have been the first, where his Clockwerk play was utterly on point. Constantly isolating key LGD heroes like Pajkatt's Lifestealer, landing cute stuns with his hookshot, and just overall avoiding death, YYF kept things under control very well from behind the scenes.In games two and three, he had a chance at playing a more obvious damage dealing hero in Lifestealer, and he performed solidly despite the differing results. The second set, he farmed hard and his infest combos were devastating. In game three, he had a fine time to a point but was kited to death in the deciding engagement of the game, and he fell off sharply from there. iG could have used a better second core to back up Zhou, but YYF was unable to deliver in that role.It was in the final game of the series where YYF seemed most adrift. His decision making with Batrider was questionable on occasion. The second member of the Night Stalker + Batrider tempo control dream team, he lost the midgame along with Ferrari, but he also managed to die more times and get less accomplished. LGD did indeed play well to punish YYF for every blink lasso he attempted, but he must still be faulted for his inability to find holes when his team demanded it.Overall, YYF's performance followed the trajectory of the others on his team; strong opening games and troubled closing ones. But YYF's performance was only really superlative in the first game; the remainder had him completing his assignments admirably, but without fundamentally changing the game, even when he had the chance to do so.Chuan was iG's wild card, playing a variety of support heroes with a number of different uses. Influential in every game, Chuan at his best had the weight of a carry, and at his worst he was merely a typical die-for-the-carry support. Consider his messy but able game four on a fairly unforgiving hero in Sand King, where he was still an important player for iG past the hour mark. Then observe his ridiculous life as Lion in game two, where he tied Magnus for the game's kill lead. With supports like Chuan, it's no wonder iG took the series.Chuan's Nyx play in game one was strong, although he was overshadowed by the killing potential of Zhou and Ferrari. Yet all those kills wouldn't have happened without Chuan's table setting on what many view as the ultimate table setting hero. Game four saw him initiate well on Sand King, although he rarely lived through the fight. In both these games he functioned as the primary or secondary initiator while Ferrari assumed more damage dealing roles. Game three's deciding fight began with LGD capitalizing on tardy positioning from Chuan's Chen, but iG should've just let him die, thus the errors that caused the fight to turn so dramatically were not Chuan's. Prior to that point, his heals were perfectly timed. Without him, iG collapsed.A separate paragraph is clearly needed for Chuan's game two Lion. With a 6-1-10 score, he basically carried. If it weren't for an equally inspired entry from Ferrari's Magnus, Chuan would've been the clear MVP. He opened Lion's jack of all trades toolbox wide and dumped it on LGD's head. Stuns, hexes, and judicious, soul crushing use of Finger of Death snowballed iG to their most decisive victory in the series.On Keeper of the Light, in combination with Phantom Lancer, Faith was everything iG needed. On everything else (Shadow Shaman and Jakiro) he left a good deal to be desired. Then there's his role as iG's drafter, and Faith's picking was a crucial part of their success. He didn't have the kind of dramatic imposition on the game that his support-mate Chuan managed, (especially on the non-KotLs) but Faith's contributions were noted.The KotL-PL combination has been discussed to death, but Faith did double duty. (A) He picked it, and (B) he executed it to perfection. KotL is a hero with many tools beyond Illuminate, and Faith managed them all well. He smashed in game one, and held fast against the full court press of LGD in game four. In game two, Faith's Jakiro deserves credit for abusing LGD's pushing strategy with an overwhelming teamfight onslaught, but he was still the worst of iG in that series. (A bit like being the stupidest Nobel Prize in Physics winner, but still...) In game three, Faith's selection of Shadow Shamen seemed to be inspired in the opening, but then 1437 stole serpent wards again (and again) and LGD turned the set around decisively. When iG was leading the game, Faith's Shadow Shaman played a big part for the team. When iG fell behind and became pressured, he was easily overwhelmed and became a non-factor.There were a number of questions surrounding Pajkatt going into the final, and they mirrored the questions that surrounded LGD as a whole. A brilliant carry by western standards, could Pajkatt step up to the level of the strongest Chinese carries? It's clear he was beaten by Zhou, but that doesn't mean he played poorly. Like his team, he established himself as a contender, even if highlighting the need for improvement. Like his team, he had a poor opening two games, followed by a much stronger back end. It was a flawed series, but the final image of Pajkatt's rampaging Lone Druid valiantly falling under the weight of swarming PL illusions is an enduring one. In the end, he was bested, but not beaten completely.Take issue with games one and two however. Pajkatt's Lifestealer was not capable of carrying LGD in the starting match, although some fault can perhaps go to how early the hero was picked and how ably iG responded to him. Game two was the Swede's weakest. His Weaver was massacred, and to add insult to injury, Brax delivered a stronger performance on the same hero a game later.But then...Pajkatt got his trademark LGD.int Lycan in game three and throttled the bottom lane. He backed off after the initial pressure which may have been a mistake, but that felt like a team decision above all. When he resumed the pressure, it forced the cataclysmic chain of events for iG that caused them to lose. His push at the bottom dire T3 forced iG to commit Zhou to defense—leaving the rump of iG open to counter attack.Game four was the first game where Pajkatt truly outcarried Zhou. Brilliant in the game's opening, he held down the fort as long as possible in the endgame. This was drama at its height. As a brutal 4v4 fight developed in the bottom dire lane, Zhou and Pajkatt duked it out in the dire jungle, far away from the action. Watch their health bars, because the camera did not focus on the clash of the titans. Blow for blow, neither could get the better of each other, and the fight ended with both heroes bloodied, but neither falling down. That 1v1 fight was perhaps Pajkatt's finest moment in China. He took on the #1 of the best team in the world and while the sum of his efforts was much less, for that one fight, he was Zhou's equal.In previews from both the Chinese and non-Chinese media, God was given a tremendous amount of respect. In the opening rounds, he was a force for LGD, setting a ferocious speed and forcing other teams to respect his potential to such a degree that Pajkatt could operate uncontested. iG seemed to agree, and they devoted a good deal of effort into preventing G's hero from snowballing or creating holes. They were successful, and G was not the difference-maker that he had so often been before. Considering this, it's tempting to rate G lowly. However, several factors suggest he still deserves credit. By measures other than his own, extremely high bar, G was still an important part of LGD's winning combination. Secondly, LGD had switched their play, giving Brax the role that G usually had while adapting G to the utility role. He performed just fine. And third, in playing so tightly and carefully against G, iG opened some space for LGD in other areas, space LGD unfortunately may not have completely taken advantage of.Game by game, G showed that his hallmark aggressiveness had been tempered by teamwork, experience, and game sense. Largely blocked as Night Stalker in game one, he might be slighted for beingcautious, but essentially he did not feed. In game two, he had a strong early game as Pugna, but could do little against iG's line-up, and his good start was not matched by anyone else on LGD. He was serviceable as Beastmaster in game three, although it was not his best game. It was in game four where he found his groupstage form, playing a terrorist Nyx that broke iG's early game and cast a deadly pall all over the map for the Chinese.G was outshined by his counterpart Ferrari in middle, but he laned better and had an impact when he could. For a player tasked with making space, it must have been a frustrating series for G. But to a large extent, you can only take space that your opponents give you, and iG was so superb with defensive rotations and reacting to G's sorties that it must be taken into account when addressing his final score. He still had an impact; it wasn't his best, but it may have been all that was available.It was a solid finals for LGD, one where they affirmed their place as one of the world's strongest teams, even if they missed an opportunity for something greater. But Brax had a stunning night. His performances built on each other as the games progressed. While his insanely fast blink dagger Batrider in the first game was neutered and he blundered as Sven in game two, he roared to life as Weaver in the third game. Then there was his performance on Juggernaut in game four, which was simply superlative. With the help of a steady diet of dairy products, he was an unkillable force for the foreigners against the might of Phantom Lancer. It was only when Brax fell did the game truly end.As offlaner, Brax must often content himself with less farm than normal. But iG seemed to prioritize shutting down God mid, and Brax found bushels of farm all series long. He didn't always make the most of it, especially in the first match, where he should've been able to orchestrate more than just one kill. Both he and G's Night Stalker completely failed at opening up the space that their heroes are intended for, but the brunt of the blame probably lies on Brax as the lead initiator. After his second lasso initiation went badly awry, he seemed gun shy and never attempted to make much happen.Game two has been beaten to death in this analysis, (and will get yet more abuse) but Brax was saddled with a poor pick, and played him poorly. Failing to kill the extremely tanky (and virtually unsupported) Lifestealer on the bottom late twice was an error that set LGD severely behind. A few early Weaver deaths in game three seemed to portend yet more future troubles, but suddenly, Brax became LGD's best player. He was the left fist of LGD's dual push combination and cleaned up in teamfights. With G in less of a tempo setting role as the game wore on, it was Brax who kept the drums pounding.Then there was game four. Self-evidently a splendid performance, (6-2-13) Brax was on point in all phases of the game. There's little else to say; I'll leave the discussion of great play to those more familiar with it. But against the pressure of KotL-PL, Brax stood (or spun) out as the reason LGD put up such a mammoth fight.So instrumental to LGD's success in G-League, the supports of MiSeRy and 1437 were effectively shut down by iG in the finals. Until the finals, LGD had been able to create asymmetric situations with surprising timings and the sudden appearance of overwhelming numbers. The willingness of iG to group up early and fight LGD's fire with fire put pressure on MiSeRy and 1437's execution in even situations. While LGD's dynamic duo acquitted themselves better than nearly anyone else in the world would've, a final analysis shows that they were outplayed in the #4 and #5 role.MiSeRy was twice on Enchantress, where he has excelled in the past. In game one, his influence on the game was not significant. iG had obviously planned to stop the dual roam strategy that LGD had found success with in the past. While criticisms that LGD was a one-trick pony thaton that movement were overblown, they still took too long to transition to a plan B. It was clear early that iG's starsense (I don't know of a better word for that in Dota) was on point; they read LGD's movement like an open book.MiSeRy's second spin on Enchantress was in the victorious game three. This time, he was instrumental in gaining LGD the early lead with a key courier pick-off that lost Ferrari mid, and from ambitious control of iG's jungle. However, he lingered too long and fed iG in the early midgame. As Brax's Weaver and Pajkatt's Lycan began to dictate more of the tempo, MiSeRy once again began to fade from view.In the two other matches, MiSeRy turned in a mixed record. His turn to play KotL in game two was disappointing when compared with Faith's play on the same hero. However, he played an integral role in game four early and late on Shadow Demon, finishing the series with his best game. He landed several key disruptions to help LGD build a large lead early, and lategame he helped alleviate the stress by disrupting Phantom Lancer's illusions, putting some of the pressure back on iG.MiSeRy's play in and of itself was fairly solid, even if he failed to maximize the strengths of his heroes in the way he did earlier in the year. But if there's final fault to be found, it was with his drafting. It's been said before, but game two was not a well-considered line-up out of LGD. Game one's draft was fairly lacking as well. Allowing the Kotl-PL combo in game four was also a mistake in retrospect, but LGD had opportunities to win the game and played well with their draft. LGD's most effective heroes in most games in the series actually came from the back end of their draft. The heroes that MiSeRy prioritized were less able to get things done.1437 played Rubick three times for LGD in the finals, the most times a player played any one hero. LGD repeatedly prioritized that hero in picking, drafting the magus first in the last three games. Given the emphasis LGD put in picking 1437's hero, his performance can only be viewed as a disappointment. In a finals laden with excellent spells to steal, 1437 rarely got the one he wanted. He wasn't aware of the patched river rune spots that would not allow him to strand heroes, nor could he get the gank train going with MiSeRy. And on his one turn with a different hero, LGD's pocket Crystal Maiden pick in the opener, he was simply not a factor in the game.His best game was surely the third, where he was able to steal the mass serpent wards of Faith on several occasions. He also playedintegral role in the pivotal fight outside LGD's tier two mid tower. Still, he opened the game by trying to trap iG heroes on the rune spots in the river, which was patched before the finals. Not knowing that is a large unforced error.1437 was solid but not exceptional against iG in game four. Each of his teammates had a more significant role in the game than he. While it's certainly unfair to expect a #5 player to carry his team, we've seen game-changing play on Rubick countless times before, and 1437 struggled to have any kind of impact at all. And when he had his worst game in the second set, it was a huge reason LGD fell so quickly in that match. Jakiro's Ice Path, Magnus' Reverse Polarity, and any of Lion's spells were there for the taking, yet 1437's positioning was often abused by iG and he was unable to steal the powerful spells LGD was relying on. Finally, in the first match of the series, 1437's turn on Crystal Maiden was largely uneventful. He did not play badly, but it wasn't a pick or play that worked out for LGD. iG turned 1437 into a non-factor.Life is tough as a support, and 1437 is an extremely talented player, but this wasn't the best series for him. iG forced him out of each game, and he and his partner in crime MiSeRy were unable to get the gank train going, or have the same effect as their Chinese counterparts.





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