In part one, I talked about the offlaners. AR prefers to play more like a semi-carry, and ForTheSwarm prefers to play more tempo-oriented team heroes.
When their teams employ a different strategy, it can looked at as a deviation from the “comfort” strategy.
itachi
Although his profile is private, or he’s playing on another account, I think the heroes he’s shown in the season so far give an accurate picture of how he’s playing right now.
With AR playing more “carry heroes”, itachi prefers tempo-controllers like Void Spirit, Invoker, and Puck. The games where itachi has played harder carries like Shadow Fiend have not been convincing.
Heroes like Necrophos, and even Ember and Storm Spirits, may come out. Otherwise, I don’t think fringe picks from itachi are notable. (Fringe picks from AR, are a different story.)
Barrel Rider has looked comfy on Snapfire. It’s his most played eSports hero, sitting at 70% win rate.
It’s hard to ban the low mmr support. But ForTheSwarm’s team likes to pick Undying, and the Undying-Snapfire dynamic could be a small subplot. Statistically, the matchup favors Snapfire. In absolute terms, Undying has a higher win rate.
Bristleback
They say never to tell a man his tell. I have a sense that itachi is hoping to pick Bristleback this series. Even without any reads, he already showed it against Simple, but he’s probably hoping it will fly under the radar. I don’t think ForTheSwarm would miss it though.
Speaking of ForTheSwarm, he’s been playing lots of heroes, including carries, and including Bristleback.
He’s first picked Razor three times in the last month., and he’s been playing the hero in officials for months. Block-picking with a Razor/Tiny open could be an interesting plan against itachi. One of the bigger anticipations this match is how Razor will be prepared for by both teams.
This is one of the more interesting drafts of the season. This team can throw you some curveballs.
Pretty standard mid player (which is really not so standard at all). Wide pool, with some currently fashionable go-tos, and some cards hidden up his sleeve.
Yolksoup
I think she’s the MVP of the team this season. Enabling the cores, playing solidly, and making some plays. Remember, she only went for 75.
It’s hard to pick out a spot to target her. I might consider letting ForTheSwarm have Dragon Knight (which might flex mid), and banning the support Skywrath instead. Against a Dragon Knight, you know the enemy. Even though I think ForTheSwarm’s game plan looks less organized when he’s playing something like Visage or Death Prophet, sometimes it’s still easier to plan for the enemy you know.
But what about her support Tiny?
Team itachi has some things to plan for.
Clare might be the least valuable player on the team, going for a whopping 160. I’ve only seen one person feed more on Clockwerk. I’m also not convinced by the support Alchemist, but they’ve won twice with it.
Clare did however, get them Zewqew, to replace a $65 player. So he’s valuable in that way? :Package deal:
(You flame the ones you love)
The Finite/AR lane matchup is probably the most important dynamic of the match. The struggle to get an advantage, or prevent one, could very well decide the game. I expect ForTheSwarm could have an edge over George, and if Finite/Clare can hold off AR/toth, that might allow them to come out ahead of the laning phase with a good game position. If AR manages to snowball, ForTheSwarm’s advantage may not be enough.
And of course, both mid players will be trying to swing things for their teams.
But I expect both teams to spend the most :thinking: about what to do in this lane.
In yesteryears, it might’ve been good to try to match ForTheSwarm against AR’s lane. This way, the off-lane could check the opposing off-lane, and Finite could be expected to have an advantage. But these days it’s kind of hard to set up, and it’s not really done I guess.
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I’m tired of writing, GL HF.
Bonus pic for my readers
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