I am going to try to blog about trench pubdrafting, which in my opinion is totally different from what we see in progames. I will try to blog posts with a maximum of 10 textlines for specific draftconcepts, pick&bans, examples and/or additional info I want to share or discuss. In my opinion short reads tend to be nice reads if updated frequently.

DRAFT 311 : ALL GLOBAL

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- Most captains in pubs dont read & react well to picks and bans. You can get away with most of the above picks in 6.83;
- Picking silencer+cm or cm+cw as your first two picks can be a good approach without being 100% committed;
- This is one of the easiest to execute draftstrategies & trenchproof, many teamplays will feel natural for all 5 trenchplayers;
- I let crystal maiden buy all the support consumables whole game because "frostbite". Silencer can become a semi core without farmpriority and get some descent items along the way. When crystal maiden begins to fall off, silencer will have gathered enough intelligence and some key items to transition into a 4th core if need be.

+ Show Spoiler [Example game 1] +

60 KILLS 29

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+ Show Spoiler [Example game 2] +

62 KILLS 22

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teddyoojo

Germany22369 Posts

December 28 2014 16:09 GMT

no furion no aa in a global strat T_T

govie

9334 Posts

December 28 2014 16:14 GMT

That combo takes coordination so it is less likely to be as effective in the trench;) I will try ofcourse, but i need 2 nice examples in my games next week and then,maybe, just maybe i'll blog about that draft one day too.

Chimpalimp

United States1135 Posts

December 28 2014 16:42 GMT

First, I think you have a decent idea with this draft, but I don't think its the ideal lineup for low MMR games. I have drafted a good bit in mid and low MMR games, and from my experience it comes down to easy lanes. Most players in low/mid MMR games don't tend to execute their lanes correctly. A stalemate matchup such as zeus vs dragon knight can turn into a total stomp if the dragon knight player is just flat out better. Additionally, most low/mid MMR games are very momentum heavy, which makes it difficult to recover from a bad laning phase. The supports on either team will probably have very limited roaming, so salvaging lanes is difficult. As a result, I suggest drafting lanes that are greatly favored or as even as possible for my team.

If you are willing to accept the importance of laning over hero synergy, I would suggest avoiding picks like zeus and spectre. Both zeus and spectre are not great laners and they suffer severely if they are behind from the beginning. Since low mmr games are 90% dual lanes and 10% (being generous here) horribly executed trilanes, it is very likely that spectre + 1 or 2 supports will lose to a strong offlane dual lane. Assuming a lack of coordination and a high tendency to rage, I would throw out synergy and go for easy lanes.

Checkm8

Japan627 Posts

December 28 2014 17:00 GMT

If I were in low-mid level pubs zeus and spectre are actually better to pick since all zeus needs to do to contribute is to spam lightning from afar, nothing dangerous and spectre does have terrible laning but has a really good comeback mechanic. Just aim for rad as spec and you're all set in the trenches...
As for laning, either one of the 4 or 5 position supports can support the other laner just fine when the set-up is dual lanes.

govie

9334 Posts

December 28 2014 21:11 GMT

In my experience it is a solid well rounded draft for pubs which can deal with alot of stuff. It has 3 or 4 global (counter) initiation spells which do not require a very high skillcap to execute properly. Mid/late game the spectre ultimate is nice in teamfights cancelling blinkdaggers and he is an descent gemcarrier. It feels solid when playing with mediocre skilled players. I havent encountered multiple hardcounters at mediocre skillevel yet, except maybe better teamplaying opponents executing a descent draft aswell. Dont forget we win approx 50% of our matches so dont expect a >90% winrate with any pocketdraft.

A number of the upcomming ttt-blogs (TenTexTline) will also be about drafts that are more oriented on winning lanes and the early game when playing at a mediocre skilllevel.

TheYango

United States47024 Posts

December 29 2014 18:33 GMT

Amusingly enough, the draft is solid, but it's strength has very little to do with the global ults. It's more the strong teamfight combination of 2 frontline cores with 3 high DPS backline heroes that steamroll up-front fights. The global strength is largely just supplementary to solidify map control when they can't beat you up front, and the Spectre/Centaur give you lategame inevitability. The most notable weakness is the lack of AoE antipush and high dependence of a farmed Centaur/Silencer to play defensive fights, which means the game can snowball into a loss with a well executed push.

Invoker would probably as good/better than Zeus for the same idea, but generally trench-tier players are poorer at playing Invoker, so it's not a big deal. The supports should be more variable because they're honestly the most flexible part of this kind of draft (for example, you have a distinct lack of AoE antipush with this lineup, so some games you're going to have to take something like Lina+Rubick). Alternatively, Morphling is another reasonable frontline core choice that retains the global presence, works well with your other 2 burst damage cores, and has stronger aggressive trilane potential (which is an option you want to keep on the table given the strength of your 2 supports in an aggressive trilane).