Drafting Practice: Day Three, Part One: Defeats

Well, I think I got heavily stomped in today's drafting.  Don't know who the guy was, but he was able to pre-ban my preferred picks, and generally pick the few heroes that I overlooked that would cause me the most pain.

Draft #1:  Me as Radiant - "Wombo combo blues".

Okay, so I ran out of time here / my phone lagged, so my Magnus pick (which was redundant) could have been OD.  It still wasn't a horrible choice, but a bit over the top for the already-strong wombo combo.

I didn't lose this one so badly, as many of my heroes had some anti-push (Jakiro, Magnus), and I think I could have held off his aggro-tri, and Lycan (or his wolves) would have had issues either getting constant farm, or pushing against Dark Seer.

Then again, he didn't have much to counter my big combo, other than DP's ult taking pieces out of people during the Chrono (until I killed her in a Chrono or something).  DSeer's Wall of Replica would be VERY effective against both Viper and Lycan, and a Vaccum + Chrono + Macropyre + Empowered right-clicks would do very well against largely ranged team.

However, I didn't have anything to counter his midgame split push, and DP's and Skywrath's Silences would mess my combos up pretty bad.


I still think his synergy was better, with heavy physical damage, Skywrath to help in the laning phase, and then split push + decent post-teamfight push.  Defensively, he could use Silences and Nether Swap to defeat / reduce my big combos.

Last, his lineup could easily do Rosh, and as Dire, he'd be in a better position to take advantage of it.

Draft #2:  Me as Dire

This was a weird draft for me.  I decide to go PL after him granting me KotL, to counter his heavy push from the Prophets (Death and Nature's).   And yes, I decided to abandon the bottom lane, because it's unlikely that he could push it in too early (without Serpent Wards, and Skywrath sucks at pushing).  He's actually gimping himself by putting Skywrath/Brew/SShaman in a tri-lane, because all of them need levels as well as only a bit of farm.  However, abandoning the lane gives Brewmaster free-farm, and then lets the other 2 supports jungle-pull, and/or roam.

I feel that my top tri-lane would drive NP out of the lane, or kill him repeatedly.  Illuminate would take care of any treants and keep him away or damage him.  Chakra + PL, as we all know, is near-unlimited harass.  Nyx would be free to roam after driving away NP, and then either hunt NP in the Radiant jungle, or make a nuisance of himself mid, hopefully killing DP and preventing her from becoming the big level 11 threat.

Skywrath is heavily countered by Pugna, who could outlevel Skywrath with a good laning phase in mid.  However, Pugna isn't the greatest matchup against DP, and neither hero has an escape, so it would likely come down to how well each team's supports could roam.  Unfortunately, Sky and SS roam really well together, and Pugna would likely get killed repeatedly, unless babysat by Nyx, who would also have his hands full trying to keep the roaming supports from killing Doom in his own jungle, and ganking NP in the Radiant jungle so he didn't get too fat, even after abandoning top lane.

Depending on who got the jump on whom, Brew is heavily shut down by Doom, as are Skywrath and Shadow Shaman - but Doom has to pick only one.  PL's split push is somewhat countered by NP, and until PL comes online, the whole lineup is reliant on Pugna's and KotL's abilities to hold back pushes and delay/prevent full-blown teamfights until the Dire carries get up and running.

I think the two drafts would come down heavily to execution, although the midgame definitely favours my opponent.  There's a glimmer of hope in my lineup, but it's at the end of a long, dark tunnel...

Draft #3:  Me as Dire

I went too greedy towards the end of this line-up.  I started out well, but his final Weaver pick reduced my aggro tri-lane to uselessness.   All of my supports, and Lone Druid, would all be easily ganked by Tiny+Wisp, and even though Silencer MIGHT do well mid, I don't have any good roaming to shut down Doom's jungling, nor drive Tide out of lane.  LD would get good farm until the Tiny/Wisp combo came online, but then that would be it.

My thought process was that LD was a good carry who didn't care about Doom, and would punish greedy lane choices.  Yet, he needs babysitters, and I didn't provide him with any (although the Rubick could rotate to that lane and maybe sacrifice himself to save LD if gankers came), nor did I pick pushers that would force a defensive posture from the opponent, leaving LD to farm in peace.

While Silencer could occasionally shut down ganks from Tiny+Wisp with a global silence, he probably couldn't do it often enough, and then would not have it available for subsequent teamfights against Doom + Ravage.

Started out well, but failed horribly.