Drafting Practice - Day Ten

Draft #1:
As Spectator

No, I wasn't actually drafting this one, but spectating.  Here's my quick analysis on this draft:

Radiant:  I can't really understand the Darkseer pick after Doom.  Both are tanky heroes that need to be in the front lines, and both tend to build similar items.  Yes, Doom with Surge + Ion Shell is effective, but you're still overlapping roles. The Tiny+Wisp combo is potent, and could easily pick off the Sniper if he decided to solo farm... but they didn't know there was a Sniper pick at this point, so who are they aiming for?  Ganking the supports, who aren't likely to be off farming by themselves?  Ganking the Void when he doesn't have Chrono available?  (in which case, why is he farming alone?).  Void is even likely to Backtrack some of the damage and then just Time Walk into the trees and Town Portal away.

The final Radiant pick of Earthshaker isn't bad - a good initiator who can jump onto Sniper, or block the retreat of the two squishy supports.  Still, it still feels like more of the same, as with Doom & Darkseer, and Tiny+Wisp.  I suppose you could go for Toss into Vaccum into Echoslam?  Still, 4 melee heroes + wisp doesn't seem like a winning combination, especially in lane.  Doom will probably lose mid quite hard, and even Tiny+Wisp will probably only hold their own against Clockwerk, and then he'll out-level them both.

Dire's pick are pretty standard for the current meta, although I'm not sure about the Clockwerk + Void, as they tend to get in each others' way.  However, Clockwerk goes especially well with Skywrath, and he's one of the better suicide laners. He's also very effective against melee heroes to zone them out.  The sniper pick as last pick seems very appropriate to me, given what he's facing.  Yes, the Tiny+Wisp combo could cause problems, but given what the Dire player saw in the opponent's draft, he's almost going to auto-win a lane against so much melee.  The Earthshaker could cause problems for Sniper, but similarly, at least one or even both of the Dire supports could roam, as well (Dark Seer is unlikely to solo-kill the Void, especially if zoned out early on).

I favour the Dire draft.

Draft #2:
As Spectator

This draft mainly comes down to the tri-lanes.  I think Pugna and the Earthshaker+Jakiro combos will shut down the aggro tri really hard, with an early level in Nether Ward to drain away mana, and seriously hurt Lina or Skywrath if they dare cast a spell.

Other lanes seem fairly even.

Draft #3:
As Radiant

That's right, I drafted the Ogre.  I'm actually a big fan of him, and he's super-tanky even lategame.

I'm quite happy with my lanes, and they'll all do decent or better.  The enemy Drow is probably dead meat in her lane.  Dire has some nice combos with Sunstrike, however, especially with a Disruption + Curse + Shackle + Sunstrike.  My heroes are all quite tanky, so I'm not terribly worried about even my supports getting picked off during a Chrono, as long as I can keep Void down in farm.

I actually don't mind his draft - it's not weak, and the game would have a lot to do with the skills of the various players.  If Batrider fed at all, for example, Void could get huge.  Similarly, if Drow fed, Bristleback would be fairly unstoppable by midgame.

Draft #4:
As Radiant

I remember this drafter, because he LOVED to roam two supports.

I think Nyx will have a very bad lane with Silence + Ensnare + Ice Path.  However, Tinker doesn't have an escape, and must rely on wards or positioning to avoid ganks from the roamers.  Tide will do decently well against Lycan, simply by spamming Anchor Smash to deny last-hitting power or fend off wolves, and my Tinker should counter his Lycan's split-push.  In turn, his roaming Nyx could threaten split-pushers mid game, and his AA Ice Blast is decent in delaying pushes.

However, other than Brewmaster, the Dire side doesn't have a lot of teamfight.  Not only that, but Song of the Siren could be used to wait out a Brewmaster Primal Split, and then re-engage from an advantageous position (for example, Macropyre down, into Ravage + Ice Path + Exorcism + March).  I believe Naga's Ensnare goes through BKB, so immobilizing Lycan and kiting WK wouldn't be a large problem.

I'd say that neither side has a draft advantage.  Both players have picked very different styles, but it's splitpush+gank vs teamfight+push, and both teams are set up well for their chosen styles.  Dire has a slight advantage midgame, as his heroes come online earlier, but Radiant could take the lategame with Naga as a harder carry than Lycan (due to illusions), and still has pushing power of her own.