I don't care what people say, Loda is the handsomest dota2 player of all. I would hug him to death if I met him, crush his torso with my warm, affectionate embrace, then use his skeletonless husk of flesh as a warm pillow.

He's just that cute.

I may not root for alliance as my favourite team, but they always impressed me with their clean, near-perfect execution. Best of luck in TI4, may you have wonderful matches (then lose narrowly to my faves pretty please?)

Nausea

Sweden807 Posts

May 21 2014 21:03 GMT

#23

On May 22 2014 05:09 Hai1Fyre wrote:
Are Alliance bootcamping at the moment? They haven't played for quite some time

Read an interview with bulldog from the 15th I think, and he said they would be bootcamping soon. So it's possible they are atm.

OuchyDathurts

United States4588 Posts

May 22 2014 11:04 GMT

#24

Someone said on the GDStudio stream that a few of the Alliance guys were invited to come hang out for the qualifiers but they declined because they were bootcamping.

opterown

Australia54784 Posts

May 22 2014 11:16 GMT

#25

alliance are playing in WPC ACE soon, it's in less than a week. will be interesting!

goody153

44280 Posts

May 22 2014 17:39 GMT

#26

On May 22 2014 20:16 opterown wrote:
alliance are playing in WPC ACE soon, it's in less than a week. will be interesting!

I want to see some sick alliance pre-TI4.

For some reason I am really hoping they retain their former glory and win TI4 be the first team to win 2 consecutive internationals for some reason. And i want the grand finals to be na'vi vs alliance again just to immortalize the arguably most hyped dota 2 rivalry of all-time.

Moustache Cash Stash

United States222 Posts

May 22 2014 17:46 GMT

#27

I don't really understand all of the changes in Alliance's dominance since pre-TI 3. Granted, a lot can happen in a year of Dota, but Alliance always (and pretty much always) had a gold and experience lead early game from pure efficiency. But in 2014, it just doesn't seem like this happens in every game like it used to, not even in most game against good teams. Why did their efficiency drop off like this? I know 6.79 changed the meta to more early aggression and less of a farm-battle, but even in farm-battle games I see Alliance lose more than they used to. Are they getting sloppier, team are figuring them out, new drafting meta, etc?

Sn0_Man

Tebellong44238 Posts

May 22 2014 17:55 GMT

#28

There are a lot of things in play. For one thing, the professional scene continues to improve at a pace that most viewers really don't get. The efficiency of the competition has improved a lot as they study Alliance, and Alliance hasn't managed to improve faster.

Also, drafts/meta etc have changed. Alliance's bread and butter drafts revolved around a farming offlaner who would spend LONG periods of time recovery-farming while a space-creating mid made sure he could. The changes to the offlane mean that it is now more optimal for teams to run their space creator in the offlane and put a farming role mid, virtually swapping the two roles. Alliance don't seem to have figured out how to align their playstyle to the changes as of yet.

goody153

44280 Posts

May 22 2014 18:03 GMT

#29

My best guess would be that alliance has drafting problem and as Sno_Man said they are not getting along with the meta-game fast enough.

Last year the case was from what i noticed. If s4 space created the other team is usually screwed but if s4 was shut down they had bulldog to back them up. Alliance right now is pretty weird since when s4 gets shut down they normally lose.

I think it's just the drafting and playstyle problem. Since the playstyle they are best known of got heavily nerfed they can't seem to pull off the same as last year. And drafting last year pre-TI3 and TI3 they always have that bulldog advantage from drafting.

And nowadays their draft seems kinda far fetched at times. Not that their teamwork or anything fails they are still top notch in terms of that but they are having questionable draft most of the time.

Idk just my observation though.

Moustache Cash Stash

United States222 Posts

May 22 2014 19:11 GMT

#30

On May 23 2014 03:03 goody153 wrote:
My best guess would be that alliance has drafting problem and as Sno_Man said they are not getting along with the meta-game fast enough.

Last year the case was from what i noticed. If s4 space created the other team is usually screwed but if s4 was shut down they had bulldog to back them up. Alliance right now is pretty weird since when s4 gets shut down they normally lose.

I think it's just the drafting and playstyle problem. Since the playstyle they are best known of got heavily nerfed they can't seem to pull off the same as last year. And drafting last year pre-TI3 and TI3 they always have that bulldog advantage from drafting.

And nowadays their draft seems kinda far fetched at times. Not that their teamwork or anything fails they are still top notch in terms of that but they are having questionable draft most of the time.

Idk just my observation though.

Yeah, I've noticed this. It seemed like their drafts were stronger and had that one hero that you knew they would win with (Bulldog Prophet, S4 Mag, Akke Chen, etc.) but they don't seem to have that magic anymore. And yeah, the drafts just don't seem as strong as other teams and they don't go outside the box much and make it work, like carry Jakiro. Sometimes its seems they pick heroes because they are strong in the meta game, not because Alliance wants to play them.

iv~nk~j

1140 Posts

May 22 2014 19:24 GMT

#31

not trying out unorthodox stuff is not alliance's problem, they have experimented plenty enough with picks like huskar and carry silencer

Yurie

12103 Posts

May 22 2014 21:17 GMT

#32

On May 23 2014 04:24 iv~nk~j wrote:
not trying out unorthodox stuff is not alliance's problem, they have experimented plenty enough with picks like huskar and carry silencer

The also ran Riki and PA when nobody else did, both being buffed since then.

goody153

44280 Posts

May 22 2014 21:56 GMT

#33

On May 23 2014 06:17 Yurie wrote:

Show nested quote +

The also ran Riki and PA when nobody else did, both being buffed since then.

I know the PA game. Loda is a weird carry runs a lot of carry heroes pretty damn well. I remember him as the only who can run 1 position mirana so good that even vs other top tier teams cementing it as a legit tier 1 carry.

I am curious with the riki game. Can someone give the link ? i have seen riki carry but not under alliance

ToastedBagel

Canada93 Posts

May 22 2014 22:22 GMT

#34

Also, carry razor recently. And they won.

goody153

44280 Posts

May 22 2014 22:28 GMT

#35

On May 23 2014 07:22 ToastedBagel wrote:
Also, carry razor recently. And they won.

no carry razor is normal ..

bluzi

4703 Posts

May 23 2014 07:10 GMT

#36

On May 23 2014 02:55 Sn0_Man wrote:
There are a lot of things in play. For one thing, the professional scene continues to improve at a pace that most viewers really don't get. The efficiency of the competition has improved a lot as they study Alliance, and Alliance hasn't managed to improve faster.

Also, drafts/meta etc have changed. Alliance's bread and butter drafts revolved around a farming offlaner who would spend LONG periods of time recovery-farming while a space-creating mid made sure he could. The changes to the offlane mean that it is now more optimal for teams to run their space creator in the offlane and put a farming role mid, virtually swapping the two roles. Alliance don't seem to have figured out how to align their playstyle to the changes as of yet.

but which role needs to adjust ? is it the all team ? i saw a stat on S4 where he went 11-0 (games) on SF (did see him lose 1 after that) , and they went Naga mid (when they pick her up) also he had some wicked Tinker games a while back .
also i saw a lot of games in CN qualifiers going the distance 50+ easily every other game , if its really a meta shift and not just CN thing , it can help [A] i believe as i always admired their late game

ToastedBagel

Canada93 Posts

May 23 2014 17:12 GMT

#37

@goody153 You mean razor is a common pick or he is usually run as a carry? The game I'm referring to he was in the safelane and I'd only ever seen him mid or offlane before, so I thought it was unusual to give him so much farm. But maybe I just don't watch enough dota.

Yurie

12103 Posts

May 24 2014 19:32 GMT

#38

On May 23 2014 06:56 goody153 wrote:

Show nested quote +