Manila Major Grand Finals and Tournament Stats Recap
The Manila Major has come to an end, crowning OG as its victor. The tournament has had it all: great production value, amazing crowd, interesting interviews and, most importantly, some of the greatest Dota to date.
The final day started off with Team Liquid once again showing that they were the true kings of the lower bracket. One by one they eliminated five teams from the tournament winning Newbee 2:1 in the LB finals, taking the well-deserved Grand Finals spot.
OG had a much more direct route to the Grand Finals. They went through the upper bracket till the very end, each time convincingly destroying the opposition. Similar to Team Liquid, they lost only a single game to Newbee in the UB finals, winning the series 2:1 and taking revenge for the loss in the group stage.
Grand Finals - Game 1
A brilliant draft from Team Liquid has showed its strength early on, with Liquid.JerAx placing an amazing 
Kinetic Field at the top rune, resulting in Liquid taking both First Blood on OG.N0tail Alchemist and a follow-up kill on OG.Fly Lich.
Dedication from Liquid to counter OG.Miracle-’s Lifestealer with both Riki and Disruptor certainly paid off—in this game Lifestealer has never been a huge factor dealing less overall damage even compared to his supports:
Liquid.FATA- on the other hand had a field day. 
Timbersaw last pick against four strength heroes was devastating. Even more so, given it was in a 1v1 scenario against Alchemist. The 
Whirling Death debuff has been applied to the enemy for a total of 5:30 minutes and when the enemy lineup consists mostly of Strength melee heroes, the end result is unsurprising. With a heavily countered Lifestealer, underfarmed Alchemist and a Lich who didn’t have a chance to win the lane, OG lost their first game in the Grand Finals at 37:50.
Grand Finals - Game 2
Learning from their mistakes in the first game, OG drafted a teamfight heavy lineup with Void and Phoenix combo. Strengthened with Juggernaut and Earth Spirit by OG.Miracle- and OG.Cr1t respectively, they managed to get a strong early-game advantage that eventually resulted in their victory.
Interestingly, Team Liquid got its hands on a multitude of their signature heroes. Liquid.MinD_ContRoL was playing Slardar, while Liquid.MATUMBAMAN got his Lycan. Backed up by Liquid.KuroKy Beastmaster and two sets of Necronomicons, they melted towers in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately for them, they never got a chance to go high-ground before the superior teamfight from OG fully kicked in.
Grand Finals - Game 3
A very similar overall draft and a very similar game. Once again, OG took an early lead and pushed to victory with superior teamfight potential. At one point in the game, Team Liquid almost managed to turn it around, but timely buybacks from OG have prevented Liquid from taking highground and they never got a second chance.
Sven by OG.N0tail was especially convincing in this match. Not only did he firmly remain at the top of Net Worth chart for the entirety of the game, but his decision making and beautiful jumps onto squishy enemy heroes left no chance for Liquid to win teamfights, even when 
Chronosphere from OG.Moon was on cooldown.
Grand Finals - Game 4
Both teams were somewhat forced out of their comfort zone in the last game of the tournament. A last pick Lone Druid by Team Liquid was met by a last pick Wraith King counter by OG, who coincidentally made his first appearance in the tournament.
Of all the games in the series this one was the closest, with no team having a meaningful advantage until the very end of the game
Lone Druid by Liquid.FATA- has been amazing throughout the whole game with clutch plays and efficient farming patterns. Even at the end of the game, he remained the top Net Worth hero on the map. However, this gold advantage did not translate into dominance.
With both Wraith King and Phoenix, 
Summon Spirit Bear quickly became a non-factor and since Liquid.FATA- was the basket with most of Team Liquid’s eggs, they eventually crumbled under the pressure from a team with a much more even Net Worth spread.
Tournament Statistics Recap
Heroes
A total of 95 different heroes were picked throughout the tournament. 98 heroes were contested, with Meepo, Storm Spirit and Pugna banned but not picked.
Most Picked
The most picked hero of the tournament has been Disruptor. The hero works amazingly well with many meta-staples such as 
Slark and does adequately even against 
Lifestealer, if your team manages to get a jump on him. His win rate in the tournament was at a very respectable 60%.
Most Banned
The most banned hero of the tournament was Io. Not only does he enable an additional win condition for your team with relocate plays in the late-game, but is also a natural pair to many tanky Strength cores which might lack Attack Speed in the earlier stages of the game. Moreover, he further facilitates this tankiness as well as providing an escape for a teammate caught out of position. In the games he was picked (16) he had a 62.5% win rate.
Best Situational Picks
Enigma, Medusa, Lich, Lone Druid and Sven were the most successful situational picks. They were picked 6-9 times each, with win rates ranging from 83.33% for Enigma to 66.67% for Lone Druid and Sven.
The most surprising hero on this list is probably Medusa, but, as discussed previously, the hero is in a pretty decent spot. She is often coupled with heroes which either decrease the enemy resistance or amplify her damage, as was the case in LB finals with Team Liquid drafting a Drow+Medusa combo
Best “Staple” Picks
The highest win rate “staple” picks were Riki, Lifestealer, Death Prophet, Bounty Hunter and Io. The former was only played in 11 games, but won 8 of them. It is probably the first appearance of Riki in the professional scene as a staple pick, but in a meta where Lifestealer is one of the scariest heroes, it is understandable. Moreover, he was often picked as a Bounty Hunter substitute, whenever the latter got banned.
Death Prophet managed to win 18 games out of 27 she was played in, indicating that the hero is far from being dead, as was assumed after the release of the latest patch notes. She is an extremely self-sufficient mid hero with a huge powerspike in the mid-game and this mid-game timing were often utilised extremely well. Moreover, her speed and natural item progression make for a very elusive hero who can easily kite enemy cores, sometimes even when slowed down.
Most Overrated Heroes
The most overrated picks of the tournament were Puck, Axe, Enchantress, Dazzle and Dark Seer. The first three heroes all boast a sub-40% win rate in at least 10 games, with Puck winning only 2 games out of 12 he was played in. Given how quickly irrelevant his magic damage becomes in a meta dominated by Strength cores it is understandable. What is surprising, is how the hero pick did not die out much earlier in the tournament, with some team still picking him in the playoffs.
Both Dazzle and Dark Seer can boast an almost 40% win rate, indicating that they might not necessarily be the worst picks in the current meta, but might have been misplayed or sometimes misdrafted. The recent go to substitute for Dazzle—Oracle, has only been picked 6 times throughout the tournament with a 50% win rate. Given the popularity of Slardar; however, it is understandable, since dealing with negative armor on multiple targets can get tough.
Players
Highest KDA
LGD.Maybe, MVP.MP and VG.R.END have all shown some of the most impressive performances throughout the tournament. Both LGD.Maybe and MVP.MP had a ~7 KDA, with tne former boasting 11.11 average kills per game.
VG.R.END (formerly known as “zyf”) is a Dota veteran, however it is clearly visible that he has a passion for the game and is still packing a punch. With 6.35 KDA he is a very impressive player, especially given his team’s negative win rate record in the tournament.
Highest Kill Average
Once again, LGD.Maybe makes top of the list with a huge gap between him and the next contestant—OG.Miracle- himself. The latter boasted 8.72 kills per game and is closely followed by Mski.raging-_-potato with 8.43. It is worth noting, however, that he only played 7 games total throughout the tournament.
Highest Assist Average
MVP.Febby, LGD.xiao8 and Na'Vi.SoNNeikO have the highest assists average across all players in the tournament averaging at 17.07, 15.72 and 14.91 assists per game respectively. Given the playstyle of MVP and Na’Vi, it is very unsurprising to see their aggressive roaming supports at the top of the assists chart. For LGD, it is a slightly different story and most of xiao8’s assists came from playing high AoE impact offlaners and setting up his team for a teamfight victory.
Lowest Death Average
Interestingly, OG.Miracle- is not in the top 3 of lowest death average, despite having a perfect run for the first 4 games of the Upper Bracket playoffs. These places are taken by VG.R.END, DC.Resolut1on and Newbee.Hao with all of them dying roughly 2.5 times per game. For comparison, OG.Miracle- died an average of 3.39 times per game.
Final Thoughts
Once again, the tournament has broadened the pool of viable heroes. 87% of the available hero pool has been played in the tournament with 89% contested. This figure is amazing on its own, but is especially impressive in comparison to tournaments of the previous years.
Moreover, none of the heavily contested heroes seemed too unfair or unbeatable, with the exception of Lifestealer, who consistently won almost 70% of his game across a significant sample size. Hero balance-wise this patch is once again among the best in the Dota history, beating an already impressive 6.86 with ease.
What does currently look unbalanced are the teams. The skill gap between OG, Team Liquid, Newbee and the rest of the teams looks massive.
Arguably, MVP.Phoenix are approaching this level, but still lack consistency, while LGD are on the same level, but sometimes too stubborn in their picks.
The rest of the Top 16 are by no means bad teams, but they do pale in comparison. Na’Vi, Fnatic and VG.R have deserved their Top5-8 placements, but it is clear by how much they are outclassed by the opposition. The difference between Top 5-8 (excluding MVP) and Top 9-12 is far smaller than between Top 5-8 and Top5 (MVP included).
Coming into TI, this kind of discrepancy between teams can result in less tension and excitement. Hopefully, the rest of the pack can iron out their strategies and better prepare for the main tournament of the year, The International.
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1st?!....
Crit and Miracle played so well.Specially Crit became a beast.
miracle is god :)
that kid only 19 yrs old and won 2 major (+9k mmr) SeemsGood
Miracle is god??? Pft.... U hav no brain
I'm really looking forward to seeing a good interview with Miracle
RIP Predictions
9k
Good recap, but don't say that a hero *boasts* a low win rate. If it's low, there is nothing to boast about. Maybe "hero X offered a mere 40% win rate" instead.
Most Banned fucking IO FFS, and most picked the fliping disruptor.
RIP PREDICTIONS AND FUCK SECRET WORST THAN MINESKI.
Does wraithking critical does x5 to Lone Druid Bear?
Yes it is a very interesting counter summons but mostly bear
Yes, WK crits the bear for 5x the damage
Can't wait for TI6! 9k is just too good.
9k gg for og
Crit was always a beast. He was just overshadowed by the mighty 9k
My predictions BibleThump
6.88 Is here
Thank you for correct predictions dotabuff :))))))))
And people laughed when SirActionSlacks predicted a disruptor most pick lmao
What about phoenix? his p/b rate?
GG OG well played
Fly's phoenix = autowin for OG
OG WiN ;)
OG !!!!!
@Gurin Jeimuzu lmao i know right, if u think about that now is so sad... Slacks was so right, make him stat guy lol...
Dont forget how good was Moonmeander Batrider,guy playing shit hero that good,awesome :)
but there was star players too like maybe was awesome good with many heros like he was amazing invoker,also chuan was fuckin OP with lion didnt lose any matches with him ,and Jeraax hc with earth spirit, those players on same team,autowin all matches xD
after all of this things you can all ask yourself did best players win ? the players who really was awesomes didnt reach the trophy and prize pool ,so i would say this is unfair sporting :)
GG WP.... Miracle the BOSS...
#VoteWipsArcana
Miracle was good carry but so was Maybe
Is it true that once game is true really balanced no more patches balance will be released?
no its not,always is some reason to put new patch in.
Can you make an article about the 6.88 patch please?
@Quinkerros I think 6.88 was a minor patch and the only things i see that were important was that life stealer armlet is nerfed and clinks will be shooting from a mile away now
Maybe>Miracle
@GoldenNinja103 But I really want a 6.88 patch analysis made by Dotabuff ):
can yall tell valve to fix the low prio system? I got shit to do in life and wining 5 of those bastards is impossible.
giff 6.88 analysis
Shots fired(up in the comments) sad that OG won