Less than a month has passed since the defeat. Virtus.pro in the finale Parimatch Dota 2 League Season 2 and two weeks after arrival Igor iLTW Filatov but the team’s game has already changed dramatically. On the ESL One Los Angeles 2023 – Online Championship Team Alexey Solo Berezin not lost a single series. At this tournament, viewers saw a completely different Virtus.pro – more aggressive and variable. Cybersport.ru tried to figure out how VP managed to transform and become a tier-1 team in such a short time.
Zayac explodes on signature Techies
Not so long ago on Cybersport.ru there was an interview with the streamer TraVoMaH, which became known thanks to the game on Techies. He said that few in the CIS are ready to train a character, since this is a complex process that requires changing the playlist of the entire team. Then this answer of Timur Khafizov puzzled me – why are the teams not ready to overpower themselves, if this can help them surprise their opponent?
Virtus.pro showed that the team wants and can learn something new, and the result was not long in coming. ESL One Los Angeles 2023 – Online Championship matches demonstrated that ignoring Techies could be a joke with teams – Virtus.pro opponents simply did not know how to act against this hero.
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Bakyt Zayac Emilzhanov not only blew up enemies, but also slowed down their pace, forced them to spend money on wards, avoid visits to Roshan and constantly be in suspense when attacking a high ground. Even Og, for which last season no less powerful Miner played – Essay JerAx Vainikka, – was confused on the second map of the finals of the upper grid. Taking a pace peak without a pronounced carry, the team Johann n0tail Sundstein I couldn’t finish the game on time and as a result was defeated. Having met Virtus.pro in the finals, OG did not even try to replay or counter-kick Techies – instead, the European team sent the hero to the ban in the first stage on all five cards.
After the finale, n0tail announced that Techies is one of the most underrated characters at the moment. The fact that only Virtus.pro was able to feel the hero so far is a great advantage for the team from the CIS. While opponents can cope with Techies only with the help of a ban, which also gives the VP bonus in the form of more freedom in the draft.
ILTW and aggressive play style
One of Virtus.pro’s problems with Zaur Cooman Shakhmurzaev was that he for the most part played in the farming hard-carries – Naga Siren, Medusa, Troll Warlord, Phantom Assassin, Slark, Morphling. This forced Virtus.pro to play on the 4 + 1 system, which hindered tactical variation. At the same time, if things were not going well with the team at the laning stage, Cooman could rarely turn the situation around alone. Replacing Kerry significantly influenced the playlist of the team. According to Zayac, iLTW was ideally suited to the aggressive style Virtus.pro wanted to develop. Now the team can even abandon the classic carry in order to quickly seize the advantage and feel more comfortable in mass fights from the very beginning of the match.
Troll Warlord and other hard-carri on Virtus.pro light line no longer appeared. Instead, they took Bristleback, Ember Spirit and Dragon Knight for iLTW, and even the usually avoiding Anti-Mage fights were extremely active in the match against Team Spirit. Filatov showed that he was ready for such an aggressive model – he willingly participates in all the fights of the team and is not afraid to take risks.
Despite the fact that he joined iLTW recently, it is noticeable that he feels his teammates very well. After the lost final of Parimatch League 2, we paid attention to the inconsistency in Virtus.pro’s actions in difficult moments – as, for example, in the case of Pugna (Resolut1on) and Troll Warlord (Cooman), who could not figure out who should beat Queen of Pain . The updated composition of these problems was not. How confidently iLTW behaved on Bristleback on the fifth map in the final against OG, knowing that he would be saved, demonstrates that Filatov joined the team and is on the same wavelength with teammates.
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Resolut1on became a playmaker
A few months ago, Fomink was criticized by everyone – from viewers on Twitch to broadcast analysts. Even Cooman in an interview with Cybersport.ru admitted that Roman Resolut1on Fominok not fully mastered the role that a team should play: “The problem is that the offline player in DotA is now no less important than, for example, Kerry. Because the initial game is built from him. At the moment, I see that a different person, not Rezol, is in control of the game. ”
How are things with the “control of the game” in intra-team communication now, we cannot know, however, the performance of Resolut1on and its style have undoubtedly changed. The sluggish Underlord has given way to the mobile and aggressive Ax, Batrider, and Pangolier. At each of them Fominok showed himself not only as a team fighter and initiator, but also as a solo artist of the highest level. 15/1/27 at Batrider in the finals of the top bracket against OG is vivid proof of this, and his breakthrough on Ax in three heroes to save Sniper came out no worse than the initiation from Sebastian Ceb Debs at The International 2018.
No[o]ne scored insane
At ESL One Los Angeles 2023, Minenko became MVP – this most eloquently describes his performance at the tournament. Vladimir No[o]ne minenko won almost everything, not even the most profitable matchups on the central line. At the same time, capturing the advantage, he did not slow down, did not hit the farm, but immediately realized it fully. If in the composition with Shakhmurzaev No[o]ne was often the second number, performing on Razor, Bristleback or even Omniknight, now he has become the main striking force of the team. Judging by his performance on Templar Assassin and Storm Spirit in the championship finals, the role of the “main tasher” suits Minenko very well.
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