Mind games, upsets and the new meta at the G-1 League Finals

The G-1 League finals in China has been amazing to watch. The world champions iG were the first team to be eliminated, Alliance finished with a perfect 6-0 record and a number of new strategies were unleashed. As the dust settled and Alliance were declared the winners, taking the title from the Chinese in their own backyards, the results and gameplay seen fom the worlds best teams will no doubt have influence throught the Dota 2 community.

 

The Upsets

Whether due to the rumoured internal issues, a lack of tournament practice opportunities or their legacy of G-1 troubles come back to haunt them, but iG was not on form. Able to pick up only one win in the LAN finals against DK they were consistently out-drafted and out-played and seemed uncomfortable against the current Western play style and were surprisingly the first team to be knocked out of the tournament. iG even attempted to run an Io/Chaos Knigh against Alliance with a lineup that didn’t really seem to gel, and although they were able to shut down AdmiralBulldog’s Lone Druid early they were convincingly beaten in the end, unable to take full advantage of Io’s relocate.

Of course iG is still the world champions and can by no means be considered out of the running for TI3. They're still a team of some of the most talented players in the world and will no doubt walk away from this tournament having learned a lot of hard lessons. One thing is certain, next time we see them they will have something to prove.

The real story to take from this tournament of course is that of Alliance. They hit the ground running with a level one Roshan (more on that later) and moved from strength to strength throughout the tournament. They combined the typical Western theme of high individual player skill with the calm and level headed play that is normally the hallmark of a Chinese team. They rarely made unforced errors and by minimising risky plays were able to take the game even if the early game didn’t go according to plan.

No matter where they placed though, every team at the G-1 every team made plays worthy of taking home to tell the grandkids. Liquid.Korok’s Aegis steal was one of the ballsiest moves I’ve ever seen in Dota 2 and Orange’s Witch Doctor play might just inspire other teams to pick him up. At the end of the day every team held their own against the worlds best and each can leave the stadium in Shanghai with their heads held high.

The Mind Games

 

 

 

 

 

Alliance wasn’t just playing well at this tournament, they were almost playing on another level to everyone else. Their teleport in for a level 1 Roshan has been called cheesy, but from a mind games perspective is very clever. Heading out of their comfort zone into a LAN in China, where the Chinese teams are going to be at a home advantage and coming out in their first game with such a bold move whilst all the other teams watch on puts everyone else on the back foot.

This means that for every game afterwards Alliance’s opponents would be holding back, waiting for the tricks that weren't necessarily coming. The level one courier snipe, although more luck than a planned strategy, only added to this sense of Alliance as an unstoppable force that would catch you unawares when you least expect it.

 

The New Meta

New meta is perhaps too strong a phrase, but we saw quite a few unusual picks throughout the G-1 finals as well as some new lane combinations. Much to Aui's delight Visage showed some very strong aggressive trilane presence. His early range and damage is enormous and well placed birds can stun all five heroes for two seconds. We saw him used by several teams, but LGD in particular used him very cleverly in a support trilane with Earthshaker and Jakiro. All of these heroes can initiate at long range form level one and heavily punish even a slight positioning error.

Why this trilane is particularly clever though is because typically the result of the trilane is hugely important and with over half the team there a poor laning phase for a trilane can mean a lost game. However by having three supports in the lane it removes the pressure of having to win the lane as there isn’t a carry to get farmed and the supports can just leech experience. With such initiation distance though LGD was able to use the lane aggressively, taking first blood and severely hampering the effectiveness of Orange’s Io/Chaos Knight combo.

Probably the most important thing the G-1 League has shown us in how closely the Chinese metagame now mirrors that of the West. They’ve seen the power of the Wisp (...sigh, I mean Io) and have been tempted. LGD.int have said that they have about an 80% winrate against iG while using it and pairing him up with heroes like Chaos Knight is something we’re now seeing teams like LGD and iG try to adopt.

Gyrocopter is another hero that Eastern teams have accepted from the West with open arms. Proving even more popular than the beloved Anti Mage he was one of the most popular carries for the Chinese in the tournament, although they don’t seem to have adopted other carries such as Lifestealer with as much enthusiasm. Similarly Nature’s Prophet has begun to appear in their rosters, but once again is a hero they seem uncomfortable handling, perhaps due to their focus on teamwork, something that Nature's Prophet is not famous for.

 

There were also some very unusual picks such as Omniknight, Spectre and the aforementioned Witch Doctor which made sure that every game had something new and exciting to see. We also saw the power of the Chinese Kunkka mid lane strategy, something that has become a standard pick now for a lot of Eastern teams. Will this have had an effect on the overall metagame though? You’ll just have to wait for my upcoming May analysis to find out!

Make sure if you check out the replays if you haven’t already seen the games, and congratulations to all the teams who participated, and Alliance for taking out the win. Thanks too to everyone at Beyond the Summit who have been working hard at all hours no stop between the Eastern Qualifiers, the Dota Super League and the G-1 qualifiers. And as always thanks to you for reading, and until next time happy gaming!