Mag: We have a lot of work to do

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

Obviously, due to the pandemic, it’s understandable that organizers want to hold the tournament in the shortest time. On the other hand, teams and players are not happy with the format, since four bo2 are too much, though everyone competes under equal conditions.

This is the first LAN in a long time, of course in the future I think it would be better to add one more day for the group stage, as well as adding a one day-break between groups and playoffs to give the teams sufficient time to prepare.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

I think that the guys from South America - Thunder Predator, surprised the most, despite the fact that they came from second place in their region, they showed a very good performance in the group. They were unlucky with their first opponent in the playoffs, but I hope they will still be able to get into the top 8.

Further, Chinese teams show good stability. Quincy Crew also did a great job in the group stage. It’s interesting to see who will be among the top teams in the play-offs, I think at least 3 Chinese teams will be in the top 8. Personally, I'm very curious to see how Virtus.pro will show themselves in the match against PSG.LGD.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

As for the guys from Nigma, the stand-in and the absences of Mind_Control had a very strong effect. Ramzes could be a very good choice as a stand-in, it is strange that they did not use this chance, even despite the fact that he had already arrived at the tournament and was ready to play.

Of course, I was surprised by the results of teams from Europe, but these were groups, and for example, Liquid still has a good chance in the tournament. And do not forget that the main representative of the EU region at this tournament is Team Secret.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

I think that the guys from Gambit were well prepared and had to take a tough road. They had very tense matches against Vici where they had a high chance of winning both maps but unfortunately lost in the end. And Bo1 vs Liquid for the advance was pure random.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

Before the start of the tournament, the main favorites for me were Secret, VP, and IG. I feel like at least one of these teams will definitely be in the final. Yet, this is probably an obvious prediction. It's hard to guess what will happen in the playoffs, the advantage of teams from the group stage is that they have already had a chance to play in the tournament and will feel more confident in the future. From now on, anything can happen and that's what makes this tournament exciting to follow.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

He's versatile in the midlane, hard to shut down, and good at all stages in the game, plus he can be flexed into multiple roles. Puck is a cool initiator, spells with a small CD, AoE silence in a fight, the ult that holds several heroes, and also works against BKB in late-game with Aghanim. Who else can do that? The hero was popular before Major if you look at the stats in all regions.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

I would not judge only by win rate. In fact, most of the games with him were played by PSG.LGD and Vici who showed themselves very cool in the Wild Card and the group stage, hence the win rate. The hero was forgotten, but the Chinese are very good at using him, he is good against many meta agile carries, as well as popular midrange heroes such as Puck/VS.

He is definitely a strong hero, but strong in the hands of certain teams and players, that’s why this win rate is not an indicator that the hero is imba. By the way, Phoenix at some point in the group stage + Wild Card had a win rate of 100% with 14 or 15 matches played. But now, with 26 games played, the win rate has dropped to 69%.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

I think that many teams and players understood his potential in the core position, there was simply not enough practice, but as we can see, many teams managed to train with him and use him effectively. I'm not surprised, I knew that many teams would play with a carry IO in this tournament. The hero is very strong, he’s one of the heroes that changes the game a lot. I think that he will always be banned in the playoffs against teams that can play him.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

People just started to look at the Dota support position differently. We see more and more unusual heroes in the 4th and 5th positions. Such as Tide / Puck / Gyro / Luna/ Death Prophet and many others. It's a meta + very cool for your draft when you can flex a hero at multiple positions.

Why is Luna strong? Just look at her base armor/move speed, on top of that, the hero has cool talents for the support position through the magic build. So far, in this tournament mostly Chinese teams are playing with Luna, they were the first to actively play with this hero at the 4-5 positions. I'm not sure if we'll see Luna played by other teams though.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

Watched it in one breath, despite the fact that I am not an anime fan, I really liked it. The producers did a great job - the only problem is that the show is too short. I would like to see more episodes!

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

This is one of the main priorities. I think Anime alone is not enough, they need to think more in the direction in which they can improve the game itself for the community. Although it's worth noting that they've started to do a lot more in comparison to the last couple of years.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

To be honest, I haven't gone through training myself, I had a look at it, but I cannot say that I had time to get to know this update well. I think this is a great idea, especially considering that Valve wants to attract new players. Dota is a very difficult game for people who are playing it for the first time. So better late than never :)

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

I will try to come back in the near future, I do not promise to stream a lot, because the second season of qualifications for the Majors will start very soon. But I will try to make some kind of a schedule and find time for it.

Andrey “Mag” Chipenko

We are going to decide it in the near future, I think that we will resume training in the coming days. We have a lot of work to do, especially with all the recent events.