Bans are designed to increase the number of viable strategies as well as to enable teams to react and counter enemy compositions. As the hero pool increases, so does the need to add more bans necessary to maintaining the depth new heroes bring into the game. In a recent development update, Blizzard mentioned their intention to increase the number of bans in the second phase of the draft, but there was an immediate backlash.

Professional players took to Twitter en masse and expressed their discomfort. According to them, the extra ban should be placed in the first phase. The reaction was overwhelming, and eventually Blizzard was forced to concede.

However, if the best option was so clear, why did Blizzard initially propose a different draft structure? Blizzard was directing the change to improve the experience of the average player, not of the professional scene. As it turns out, the extra ban has widely different effects depending on whether you play in Hero League or the HGC.

Professional Standpoint

For professionals, bans are a tool to counter strong heroes or strategies, but they are also a way to target specific players and their playstyle. Professionals spend most of their time scrimming and analyzing enemy team compositions. Due to the time spent studying other teams, they can target ban certain heroes they know their opponents excel with. For example, Diablo was commonly banned away from Breez, and even when Medivh was a mere curiosity, teams banned him away from adrd regularly.

Professionals know beforehand what playstyles their opponents will use, and the first ban is often used to reduce or discourage the use of those strategies. If there are more bans in the first phase, teams can target ban more heroes. The result is more hero variety and more room for strategy in the metagame.

Hero balance in professional games is also very delicate. High skill cap heroes with an average win rate in Hero League can excel in the hands of the skilled players and become a must-ban hero. In the case of OP heroes, the team that holds the first pick also holds the first ban, thus enabling them to ban whatever hero they want while forcing the other team to ban the OP hero. In a way, this has the effect of entirely removing the first ban from the second team; they simply have no other choice. Adding a second ban to the first stage would alleviate the issue by giving the second pick team a greater chance to pivot.

Blizzard’s original standpoint

Let's look at it from another angle. Contrary to HGC, Hero League players generally don't know who they're playing against. With the latest changes hiding players' names, you can’t possibly know your enemies' comfort picks. Therefore, first bans are primarily used to ban heroes that are currently strong in the meta or on a specific map.

Players in Hero League may not even have access to the entire hero pool, including that single OP hero. Forced pick order also means that less versatile players won't be able to take advantage of strong heroes. Thanks to these factors, the second team is not forced to waste their first ban.



For your average player, having an extra ban in the second phase is more beneficial because the teams have more information about each other taking into account their previous picks. This allows you to ban heroes that your enemy might actually pick, based on the heroes they have already selected, as well as heroes that could counter your own team composition.

In a recent Q&A Travis McGeathy, Lead Game Designer, explained:



What this means is that while having an extra ban during the first phase promotes more strategies and draft variety in professional games, having the extra ban in the second phase is better for the majority of the players.

Which one is correct?

Having the extra ban in the first stage is the best option for HGC and esports, but having it in the second phase is better for the average player—this leaves us with quite the dilemma. Should bans be implemented in the way that benefits professionals the most? Or should the majority of the player base take priority? It’s a difficult decision, as having either one of the ban structures would have an affect on both scenes.

There’s the option of implementing one structure for competitive and a different one for Hero League, but that could increase the gap in a game where the players are already very disconnected from the professional scene. At the same time, an argument can be made that Team League is the mode that most resembles competitive play, and it should be the one that adopts the ban structure of professionals, leaving Hero League with an extra ban in the second phase.

Let us know your opinion!