From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

In the sixth round of the round-robin tournament, they faced off against the Diao Ge team and lost.

However, this wasn't a collapse on all three lanes, nor was it Gu Ran's collapse; rather, it was Lu Chen and Jiang Xia's lane that collapsed.

[I take the blame for this game. My proficiency with Tidehunter isn't high enough; I need to practice more. Maybe I should avoid picking it in future matches.]

In today's match, Lu Chen made several very serious mistakes that led to the team fight defeat. He was the first to speak at the post-match debriefing session.

[Tidehunter is still a strong hero in this version, and if we want to pick heroes like Templar Assassin (TA) who provide vision advantage, or carry heroes like Shadow Fiend (SF) in the future, Tidehunter is a very suitable hero for armor reduction builds. Our mid laner Gu Ran can also play this hero, so I think you should practice with him.]

Old Fang spoke calmly, but he still hoped that his offlaner could practice more heroes, because having too few heroes available for the game would negatively impact the team's draft picks.

[I also think this kind of experimentation is very necessary, especially with a hero like Tidehunter, whom we are likely to use in the future. Losing one game isn't a big deal, as it's not the knockout stage yet. If a hero isn't used in a match, we won't be able to see what the problem is.]

Gu Ran also agreed with Lao Fang's idea.

[I did make some mistakes in protecting the lane this time, but I think I've improved a lot after listening to everyone's analysis. Next time we get a big Tidehunter, I'll definitely protect it for you and make you farm well.]

Jiang Xia usually focuses on protecting Lu Chen's three key moves during matches, so it's a bit unusual for him to suddenly be on the same lane as Da Yu Ren today.

Since the team decided to continue the selection process later, Lu Chen didn't say much. He simply practiced solo queuing with Da Yu after the review session ended.

The seventh round-robin match will be against Chalice.

Our team is on the Dire side, and we have the first ban and pick. We ban the enemy's three signature heroes: Puck, Tiny, and Windranger. The enemy bans our Kayn, Druid, Keeper of the Light, and Shadow Fiend.

Our team picked Clockwerk, a hero we've had a good win rate with in recent practice matches, while our opponent immediately picked Axe.

Our team banned Phoenix and Shadow Demon, while the opponent banned Venomancer, a lane bully, and picked Senhai Feixia for position 4.

[I feel like I could still build Tidehunter this game, why do I say that?]

Lao Fang wants to continue picking Tidehunter, a hero that can be used as a flex pick, but he needs to consult Lu Chen's opinion first.

【Sure, go ahead and order.】

After receiving a positive reply, immediately select Ember Spirit and Tidehunter. Both of these heroes can be used in two or three-man combos and both have armor reduction effects.

The opposing team picked Queen of Pain and Enchantress; Queen of Pain is a decent counter to heroes like Tidehunter and Ember Spirit. Our team picked Templar Assassin (TA), a hero that SpringRain has been playing very well with lately, and he specifically requested to pick her.

We then banned Phantom Lancer and Naga Siren, two illusion-based heroes that are good against Templar Assassin, while the opposing team banned Pangolier and Invoker.

[I feel like we can have Ember Spirit in position 4, Tidehunter in position 3, and then add Ember Spirit for you. It's good against Queen of Pain and also helps us control the early game tempo.]

【Can】

So, as our last pick, we chose Ember Spirit, while the opponent picked Terrorblade.

"It feels like Charles's lineup is easy to beat. The opponent can't figure out Terrorblade. He has an advantage against Axe and Templar Assassin, and against Tidehunter. The Dire side must establish a big enough advantage in the early game, otherwise they can't beat Terrorblade in the late game."

Diao Ge, known for his TB skills, shared his thoughts on the lineup, which received unanimous agreement from the other commentators.

However, during the laning phase, both of the Dire's side lanes were at a disadvantage. The combination of Charles and Sen in the top lane exerted great strength, suppressing XS by 500 gold. In the bottom lane, Terrorblade also had an advantageous laning phase against Tidehunter, suppressing him by 800 gold. Only Gu Ran in the mid lane held on, with a 200 gold lead over Queen of Pain.

There were hardly any kills in the early game. At 11 minutes and 50 seconds into the game, the kill score was only 2:1, but the Radiant team's advantage in the laning phase gave them a 3,000 gold lead over the Dire team.

It was almost time for the river rune to respawn in twelve minutes. Lao Fang's Clockwerk was the first to take his position, standing on the right side of the river rune spot. Gu Ran's Ember Spirit also left a soul at the rune spot. The moment Clockwerk saw Queen of Pain coming over, he immediately activated Energy Gear to create a prison around himself. However, he didn't expect that the enemy Squirrel was also nearby. He used a Chestnut Slam followed by Wild Ambush to net Clockwerk, and then activated his ultimate to charge up. Queen of Pain saw this and immediately used Sonic Wave to roar over. Clockwerk took two ultimates and fell down.

Gu Ran's Fire Cat and the sonic shockwave had just ended when he flew over. He used Shadowless Fist and Flaming Rope to bind the opposing squirrel and the little deer that had just arrived. Jiang Xia's Electric Flame Hand followed up with a Cookie and a Lightning Strike, bringing the squirrel to a sliver of health. Gu Ran then used Residual Flame Soul Collision to finish off the squirrel. Afterward, he activated Fire Shield, gave the little deer a large set of ash to drastically reduce her healing effect, and waited for Shadowless Fist to be off cooldown before finishing her off with a punch.

[Firefly is on a killing spree and has secured a double kill!]

This wave brought the economic gap back to 1,000. A minute later, Charles' Axe was standing alone in the woods below the Dire's Tier 1 tower, preparing to cut off the creep wave. However, XS predicted his movement and ambushed him next to the creep wave, immediately landing a stealth attack on Axe. Axe quickly retreated but was intercepted by Clockwerk and Ember Spirit. Ember Spirit used Urn of Shadows, followed by a Taunt combo, and with Clockwerk's control and a Teleport down, Axe was killed. The nearby Enchantress originally wanted to provide support, but seeing Axe fall, she could only retreat quickly.

XS used Blink Dagger to chase after Enchantress, first using Stealth to bring her to low health with a single strike, then almost killing her with another strike. However, Enchantress used her Magic Wand to heal 400 health, leaving XS with no choice but to keep attacking her. When Enchantress reached the tower, she still had 230 health left and had Stealth with an armor reduction effect. At that moment, XS's Stealth had just finished its cooldown again.

A psionic trap is placed between the two, then the user conceals himself and strikes!

The damage bounced off the trap and hit the fawn, taking away its last bit of health.

[XS kills LaNm, gaining 247 gold + 82 gold for a hero]

"handsome!"

"The deer's maneuvering with the trap missiles was very skillful."

The commentators all expressed their appreciation.

However, just as everyone was immersed in TA's amazing play, the Tidehunter in the bottom lane tried to greedily farm some creeps but was tied up by the squirrel, and Terrorblade followed up with damage to kill him.

Eighteen minutes into the game, the Radiant team used Smoke of Deceit to catch and kill Lu Chen's Tidehunter again, and then prepared to take Roshan while Terrorblade's Demonic Transformation was still active. The Dire team was missing a position 3 player, so they definitely couldn't win a head-on team fight, but their position 1 Templar Assassin and position 4 Ember Spirit were near the Roshan pit.

[Xiao Jiang fired the cannons straight in!]

Wang Chunyu's voice rang out, and although Jiang Xia didn't know what he was planning to do, he immediately started firing into the meat mountain pit, where there was no visibility. At the same time, the Clockwork Technician's flare rocket also hit the meat mountain pit.

Inside, Roshan was barely alive, and Axe, who had been tanking the Roshan's damage, was also low on health. Faced with the barrage of attacks, the Radiant team had no choice but to retreat from the Roshan pit, leaving only a full-health Terrorblade to try and contest the Aegis. Gu Ran's Ember Spirit also charged out from his own triangle area, casting a Sleight of Fist and a Solar Lasso on the group, which just happened to bind Axe as he ran out of the Roshan pit.

"TA has Blink Dagger this time, is he going to jump in and try to out-react Terrorblade for the Aegis?"

Feng put down the milk tea he was holding, sensing that something exciting was about to happen.

However, he simply placed a trap near himself inside the Roshan pit, then used stealth to strike the trap!

Shikamaru kills Chalice, gaining 411 gold + 366 gold which is split among the three heroes.

Chalice's killing spree has come to an end.

Each member of the Dire Legion who kills Roshan receives 135 gold.

Oldchicken has seized the Guardian of Immortality.

"Holy crap, he set a trap and stole all the money from the Mountain of Meat!"

Feng Ge then understood TA's thoughts. In fact, he was also wondering if TA would be able to win the team fight if he dared to jump in and steal the shield.

"TA is very calm. It feels like if they jump in, the Dire will have a hard time. Terrorblade also has the ability to trade blows. Even if they manage to get the Aegis, they will likely lose two lives. If they can't get it, it will be even more disastrous."

After a calm analysis, Yanzi concluded that this TA strategy was basically the optimal solution.

This battle ended with Dire's Axe racking up kills and securing Roshan's gold reward, while Radiant's Terrorblade secured the Aegis.