Drafting Practice - Day Six, Straying Away from "Top Meta" Heroes

Draft #1:  Me as Radiant

I was trying here to avoid first-picking the typical Lycan, Razor, Shadow Shaman, Doom, Faceless Void, Viper, Batrider, Invoker, or Tidehunter.  These are VERY common heroes in the current meta, mostly because of their (laning) flexibility.  Shadow Shaman has multiple disables and a great tower-pushing ultimate, which are very effective in a support.

I was expecting an aggro tri-lane, thus my decision to lane this way.  Weaver is an unusual mid, but I chose to take him mid after I saw the very-short-ranged Storm Spirit as the most likely enemy mid.  I believe Weaver would do well harassing Storm Spirit in mid lane, and might even be able to get a solo-kill on him before level 6.

I could easily leave Clockwerk top to get farm.  The enemy combo is good, but probably not enough to bring him down.  He could also use offensive Cogs early to burn away WK's mana, so that he wouldn't be able to Hellfire Blast anyway.  Clockwerk can out-lane WK solo, so that holds Leshrac in lane so WK can farm, which then gives Clock a level advantage and possible kill when he hits Level 6 before his dual opponents.

Since Tidehunter isn't going to be able to threaten DK, I can roam my supports, leaving DK by himself.  Even Storm Spirit will have a difficult time killing DK in the space of his Vortex, and DK can thereafter stun and run or simply TP away.

I think our pushing power is tied, but my split-push is better with Weaver, and my anti-split push is decent with AA Ice Blast and Clockwerk Flare.  Clockwerk isn't the best initiator against Storm Spirit, and initiating on WK is just dumb anyway, but if Enigma or Leshrac strayed in range of a Hookshot, they would make tender pickin's...

My Weaver will be able to attack from range, while DK tanks the front rank damage.

I am happy overall with my draft.  It's not a guaranteed win, but I feel that it's a decent match.

Draft #2:  Me as Radiant

Again, I'm trying to stay away from the "top meta" heroes, because continual drafts with those heroes is boring.

My biggest regret in this draft is not banning the very-obvious Mirana last pick.  I thought my opponent was going to want more hard carry, and while Mirana can carry, I was thinking that my lineup would be threatened more by a heavier-push carry, such as Luna.

In general, I like the lane matchups.  He's not going to be able to roam his Earthshaker unless he wants either Mirana or SD to die a few times.  His main problem with the tri-lane is that he HAS TO have his supports in lane to defend Mirana, or I can use a Nightmare + Hellfire + Missile to stun SD to death.  Nightmare is instant, so he's not going to be able to Disrupt to save himself.  If I can block or disrupt or harass his pulling supports, WK should do okay against even the ranged Mirana.

I don't think NP does well solo against Batrider, but then, no one does, really.   NP should at least be able to get SOME farm, and decent XP.

Gyro should be able to take apart Doom in mid, and if he can't roam his Earthshaker easily, I'll easily win mid.

If I did this again, my Venge should probably have been a CM instead for the tri-lane, mostly for the mana aura.  However, I picked Venge in response to his Batrider, hoping that a Nether Swap might save whomever Batrider jumped upon.

As mentioned by my opponent post-draft, I could also farm on Venge instead of WK, since I have a triple-core lineup (NP, Gyro, WK) to my opponent's dual-core (Doom, Mirana).