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It just feels so quick. Another year, another TI has concluded. Congratulations EG, they are deserving champions. Here are some of my thoughts.
1. Very stacked tournament
I am very happy that every team prepared hard for this tournament. There wasn't any free win teams. MVP HOT6ix may have loss the bulk of their games, but IIRC they were not pushovers even in their losses. It was clear that every team were capable of taking games off the top teams, unlike previous years where arrow/mufc/NARvi/alliance etc were just bad.
It made the main event very interesting. For the first time, we can no longer have a good guess on how the brackets would go. Favourites now appear mortal, with lesser teams showing signs of ability of upsetting them.
2. Surprises
CDEC, what a beautiful story. Those following the Chinese scene would have known of the team's several good placings in recent tournaments, but would have likely attributed them to ig/vici/newbee/ehome poor performances instead. It's sad that they tilted in the grand finals, but I think with more experience they would become a team to be feared.
coL also surprised me with their decent placing. Despite what swindle said, judging from what I see in their games, I think skillwise they are just not good enough. I would attribute their good performances mainly down to good preparations/drafts, and partly on mistakes on their opponents (throwing etc).
MVP Phoenix's run was also nice due to March's impending retirement. I have always said that QO is a beast of a player, and he really showed that in TI5. In the group stages, the team tried to play to the meta and ignored their strengths or styles. You could see the changes later on, where they brought back their Wisp Bristle etc. Still their team are heavily tempo based, and once you don't let them do their aggressive snowball thing, they usually are unable to compose themselves and mount a comeback. kphoenii though was a huge burden to the team. He plays one of the worst competitive nagas I have ever seen While it is understandable that his Radiance timing is slow because his team seldom protects him during that stage, his Song usage is often off the mark. With a better carry, MVP Phoenix could have done even better.
3. Best player
I think easily suma1l was the best player this tournament. I was thoroughly impressed by his performances whenever I watched EG games. Suma1l never seemed to lose his lane, was very active with his heroes, and won EG many games. It's nice for PPD to have a mid player that he can trust. What a debut year for him, and I hope for more to come.
Special mentions to: aggressif, xz, maybe, G, DKphobos and zai. I don't think I noticed any standout supports gameplay wise (excluding drafting/leadership).
4. Ending ceremony
I find it extremely upsetting that it has been 5 years, and there still isn't a good closing ceremony. deadmau5's act took away the spotlight of EG winning the tournament, and hence I think the position of his act was questionable. I also hoped for more recognition to the runner ups for their efforts in the grand finals. I think letting players just pick up the Aegis is extremely awkward, and doesn't bring much hype. You want the host to be leading the ceremony, to be congratulating the players, and then have the trophy presented to them.
5. Team Grades
1. EG - A+
I'd like to say that this was a near flawless tournament by them. I particularly enjoyed PPD's approach to drafting. He was very prepared and able to adapt his drafts according to his opponents. This TI win was different from the other 4 TIs in that EG didn't use a fixed set of strategies that teams were not able to counter. They ran so many different styles which was refreshing to finally see.
2. CDEC - A+
They exceeded everyone's expectations, and it's not like they won games 'dirtily'. They simply outplayed their opponents many times with their aggression and rotations, so it was fun to cheer for them. I hope this will not be a one off performance, and that we can see them establish their presence in the Chinese and international scene.
3. LGD - A
xiao8's leadership and drafting were on point. LGD was probably the most solid team this TI, but I think the problem was that they seldom manage to raise their game. Only maybe showed signs of playing out of his mind. The team as a whole simply played good, but not exceptional.
4. Vici - B
Their group stage would have gotten a C-, and their main event would have gotten a B+. Vici could find their rhythm this TI. It is sad that the undisputed top team in first half of the season slumped so hard near TI. I don't think it was wrong to replace Black with Hao. I think fy ran out of ideas in G3 vs LGD, and decided to just go with his trusty Rubick. Maybe the tournaments prior to TI, fy should have continued drafting instead of Hao. I'm glad that iceiceice woke up in the main event. Still Vici showed that they were not worthy of this year's title.
5. EHOME - A-
CTY showed that he is a mid player to be feared. A strong showing from him this tournament. I didn't really catch much of their games, so I cannot commend further.
6. VP - B+
Overall a good performance by them. I'm glad to see a non-navi CIS team perform well. I particularly enjoyed how fng drafted to his team's strengths, rather than conform to the meta. I think they can feel honoured to see teams banning out their Silencer. VP showed that they could beat any team if they are not respected.
7. Secret - C
Secret should have done better, but I think it is no disgrace losing to both EHOME and VP. Both teams showed that they were strong opponents, and were deserving of their victories and were the better team. I don't think Secret played bad in TI5, but they certainly wasn't at their best. Still, it is upsetting to see s4 play so underwhelming in yet another major tournament. Zai and rtz were the only 2 who played well throughout. I think that their losses so far were more of them playing poorly, then their opponents playing exceptional.
8. MVP Phoenix - A-
The minus is because of kphoenii. Otherwise this placing should be the best that they can achieve.
9. Cloud 9 - C-
Where has c9 gone to? They are not longer visible. The c9 I know have a very unique style of drafting/playing. The c9 I know creates their own meta or niche, rather than follows. I think notail should leave c9 not because he is a bad player, but his style doesn't fit them. I also think the bone7 should not draft anymore, because his drafting has been a disaster even before TI. EE may hate drafting, but I actually think he has been c9's best drafter (even when PLD was there). Perhaps he should start taking more responsibilities.
I think out of all teams, C9 performed the worst relative to their standards. They had zero identity.
10. coL - B+
Basically just not good enough. They did show that good preparation can go a long way, and that's what I liked the most about them. Certainly exceeded everyone's expectations.
11. Empire - C+
The team had their hot and cold moments. Full of inconsistent performances by every one of their players. They should have done better, and it was particularly painful to watch how they threw G1 against LGD away. Drafting wise, they have room for improvement too.
12. iG - C
Only fanboys or those not following the scene would hype iG for a good placing. The team has been crap since their 2nd place in redbull. Faith and Chuan in particular were anonymous. Their drafts were uninspiring. The team simply did not step up their game at all.
13. navi - B
I think it is pretty known that I hype Navi a lot. I think that they could have placed better, but I found their performances in this TI to be commendable. They showed that teams would have to work hard to beat them. Many of their losses were due to them making mistakes when in a good position. Of all the TI winning teams, Navi were the only one able to leave with their heads high.
14. fnatic - C
fnatic was another team that got hyped, but one which I predicted to perform badly. You simply can't do well with 5 core and 0 support players. Their support plays were often lacking, and Mushi was quite inconsistent. I still wonder why they didn't stick with their previous roster of kyxy, mushi, ohaiyo, xtinct and net. This lineup was well balanced, and had the potential to go very far.
MVP Hot6ix and newbee
I really did not watch many of their game, so I can't commend much.
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black^ should have "accidentally" knocked kpii down the stairs and stood in for him 
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Nice write up.
As somewhat of a c9 fan I have to agree, their performance really was not good. It's not even the placement (after all they dropped out to CDEC and VG, 2 teams that did well on the main stage), but rather their drafts and the way they played. In a lot of their games they were pretty much as far away as you could get from the "old" c9. A lot of the time all they could do with their draft really was 5 man, and when they screw up once they can't do much and the games just end up looking terrible.
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Germany3128 Posts
I agree with all things you wrote. Nice summary!
You said you liked PPD's approach to the draft. Then you should be happy because PPD was requested to analyse his draft and will do so when he is back home
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fnatic was another team that got hyped, but one which I predicted to perform badly. You simply can't do well with 5 core and 0 support players. Their support plays were often lacking, and Mushi was quite inconsistent. I still wonder why they didn't stick with their previous roster of kyxy, mushi, ohaiyo, xtinct and net. This lineup was well balanced, and had the potential to go very far.
Net and Xtinct are two of the best supports in SEA. Mushi shouldn't have let them go, no matter the cost. Net's Sand King is just a thing of beauty, capable of carrying games entirely by himself.
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9070 Posts
No standout supports? Mother fucking fy stole the show in every vici game
My favorite single performance in a game would be burning vs secret. It was an absolute AM masterclass in extremely unforgiving situation.
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On August 11 2015 06:06 disciple wrote:
No standout supports? Mother fucking fy stole the show in every vici game
My favorite single performance in a game would be burning vs secret. It was an absolute AM masterclass in extremely unforgiving situation.
Well what I saw was fy god Rubick in several games, and anonymous in many others.
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On August 11 2015 05:36 TheNewEra wrote:I agree with all things you wrote. Nice summary! You said you liked PPD's approach to the draft. Then you should be happy because PPD was requested to analyse his draft and will do so when he is back home
Yea I saw that tweet. Looking forward to his thoughts.
I like PPD draft because he isn't one dimensional likeany drafters, and that's why I respect him a lot.
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Well I think we all agree on the Ending Ceremony.
I mean, just put Gabe in the scene giving the Aegis to the Team Captain and put some fireworks or something when the captain gets the thropy, we will probably naturally rise it.
Gotta say that even if the Ceremony is a very small part of the TI, is an important one. You shoudn't fuck up so hard.
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i just want to make it clear that fear carried the fuck out of the final day for eg
its criminal he doesnt get the recognition he should
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Luo was rly odd in some of the games, feeding some then doing well on the others
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pretty sure sumail lost as many games as he 'won'. His performances were pretty awful past the laning stage, lots of overextension, lot of pub dota.
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I agree with most of your points, except for the navi one. They show a clear lack of leadership especially past 25 minutes.
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On August 11 2015 08:33 Erasme wrote:
pretty sure sumail lost as many games as he 'won'. His performances were pretty awful past the laning stage, lots of overextension, lot of pub dota.
I can't think of a game he threw off the top of my head. I don't think he was the MVP, but I think you are being absurd.
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On August 11 2015 08:16 teddyoojo wrote:
i just want to make it clear that fear carried the fuck out of the final day for eg
its criminal he doesnt get the recognition he should
In the finals his calldowns on Gyro were consistently unbelievable. Absolutely godly. I can think of only one that was kind of a whiff the entire final series.
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Russian Federation40190 Posts
On August 11 2015 09:42 Yamulo wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2015 08:33 Erasme wrote:
pretty sure sumail lost as many games as he 'won'. His performances were pretty awful past the laning stage, lots of overextension, lot of pub dota. I can't think of a game he threw off the top of my head. I don't think he was the MVP, but I think you are being absurd.
I mean, Suma1l did have plenty of pub-level overextensions and yeah, rest of EG had to pull the weight to salvage those in plenty of games, hell, even in finals.
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On August 11 2015 10:30 lolfail9001 wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2015 09:42 Yamulo wrote:On August 11 2015 08:33 Erasme wrote:
pretty sure sumail lost as many games as he 'won'. His performances were pretty awful past the laning stage, lots of overextension, lot of pub dota. I can't think of a game he threw off the top of my head. I don't think he was the MVP, but I think you are being absurd. I mean, Suma1l did have plenty of pub-level overextensions and yeah, rest of EG had to pull the weight to salvage those in plenty of games, hell, even in finals.
It's accounted for in EG's game plan. SuMail isn't a complete player but PPD used him very well. Of course SuMail also does what he likes to do very well.
As an individual, he is similar to what Cty was. Godly in lane but not necessarily strong in other areas. The team just has more than enough decision making to make up for his lack of it though. When SuMail wasn't on Storm or Ember, he was often punished for poor/risky positioning. If CDEC banned Ember and left SF in game 4 of the finals they had a chance.
EG's MVP is most likely Aui_2000. His Techies and Naga were first ban worthy and his Visage completely changes the economic balance between the teams. Watch his POV, he barely misses last hits with low damage birds and Techies. In both of those cases it's pointless to go to that lane to chase the birds or Techies but in the mean time he is maximizing resources that in most cases would be untapped.
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On August 11 2015 11:10 Reson wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2015 10:30 lolfail9001 wrote:On August 11 2015 09:42 Yamulo wrote:On August 11 2015 08:33 Erasme wrote:
pretty sure sumail lost as many games as he 'won'. His performances were pretty awful past the laning stage, lots of overextension, lot of pub dota. I can't think of a game he threw off the top of my head. I don't think he was the MVP, but I think you are being absurd. I mean, Suma1l did have plenty of pub-level overextensions and yeah, rest of EG had to pull the weight to salvage those in plenty of games, hell, even in finals. It's accounted for in EG's game plan. SuMail isn't a complete player but PPD used him very well. Of course SuMail also does what he likes to do very well. As an individual, he is similar to what Cty was. Godly in lane but not necessarily strong in other areas. The team just has more than enough decision making to make up for his lack of it though. When SuMail wasn't on Storm or Ember, he was often punished for poor/risky positioning. If CDEC banned Ember and left SF in game 4 of the finals they had a chance. EG's MVP is most likely Aui_2000. His Techies and Naga were first ban worthy and his Visage completely changes the economic balance between the teams. Watch his POV, he barely misses last hits with low damage birds and Techies. In both of those cases it's pointless to go to that lane to chase the birds or Techies but in the mean time he is maximizing resources that in most cases would be untapped.
Give this man a gold star
Yeah I think overall EG had a massive advantage at the 3,4,5 positions that almost no teams could match (CDEC had a great trio as well but garder could only play like 2 heroes unfortunately) EGs non carry 3 almost always played consistently and did their job: position 10 ppd, aui farming key items and never dying (he died once in game 3 of the finals on swm lol), universe with the big plays on whatever off laner they needed to play (I'm happy he got to play dark seer again)
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I agree with alot of what you written for the most part.
CoL(well they are not good enough but they did considerably ok since they were contending for the 16th spot of TI5 before thetournament lol) and especially CDEC run was pretty amazing .. Fucking CDEC man no one has done that shit,
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On August 11 2015 09:42 Yamulo wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2015 08:33 Erasme wrote:
pretty sure sumail lost as many games as he 'won'. His performances were pretty awful past the laning stage, lots of overextension, lot of pub dota. I can't think of a game he threw off the top of my head. I don't think he was the MVP, but I think you are being absurd.
Ofc you would.
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Pretty accurate, would rank those teams in the same manner. LGD's evaluation is spot on.
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Sad days for VG. They don't seem to have the coordination from 6 months ago.
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On August 11 2015 08:11 uberxD wrote:
Well I think we all agree on the Ending Ceremony.
I mean, just put Gabe in the scene giving the Aegis to the Team Captain and put some fireworks or something when the captain gets the thropy, we will probably naturally rise it.
Gaben should have entered the stage in a Rosh cosplay with the REAL aegis to present to the winner. (the aegis on the penis on stage ended up being a fake-out). Bonus points if he hands the aegis to Universe, in sync with an echo slam stage projection.
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On August 11 2015 08:16 teddyoojo wrote:
i just want to make it clear that fear carried the fuck out of the final day for eg
its criminal he doesnt get the recognition he should
Agreed, Fear was the stand out player for me in EG (with Sumail) , also WTF was that Navi rating ? you realise they finished LAST you gave them a B ? they had a terrible TI in ANY standard you might hold against them , losing close games doesn't make it better , you still lost too many games to think it was a good TI , there is not 1 single member in Navi who thinks it was a B level performance.......
otherwise a good writeup
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EPT
