From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

At 47 minutes into the game, the fourth-generation Aegis entered its refresh cycle.

"Even though you might think that Soul Stone is currently leading by 12,000 in economy, it's really hard to say what will happen if we fight head-on."

Although this werewolf has a high economy, his direct impact is definitely less than that of the enemy's big tank. The Dark Seer's economy is also catching up, and Tiny is also doing well. If they were to engage in a 5v5 head-on fight, they might not necessarily win.

Charles analyzed the strength of both sides in this team fight, and he also keenly realized that the Radiant had gained the upper hand in the team fight at this point.

HG's five players initiated a smoke gank on their own high ground and headed towards the Roshan pit on the right. However, Lao Fang's Witch Doctor broke the smoke gank from a high platform in the main jungle. This time, he immediately used Blink Dagger to escape and was not instantly killed by Tiny like in the previous wave.

Radiant realized their fog had broken and immediately gave chase. Big Butt unleashed an Aghanim's Scepter ultimate, landing right in the enemy's triangle area, trapping the last-leaning Witch Doctor in a Abyss of Resentment.

Xiao Hei followed up with damage from behind, and Xiao Xiao rushed in with a Blink Dagger, followed by Avalanche, Toss, and Aghanim's Scepter Tree Throw, instantly killing the Witch Doctor. Kayn, facing the enemy's overwhelming force, could only activate Black King Bar and retreat.

In team fights, Radiant has an easier time. Their grouped lineup makes five-man team fights much easier than the opponent's. They just need to focus on Drow Ranger. However, there are many things to consider on the Spirit Stone side. Theoretically, they need to kite and delay Drow Ranger to get off his Black King Bar (BKB). But currently, Drow Ranger's damage output is extremely high. Even if he enters the fight with BKB active, he might be instantly killed.

[My little wolf and the big black dragon are already sneaking into our base. If they don't go back, our base will be gone. There's no need to rush into a direct confrontation.]

My little fireman is also on the road.

When Lu Chen and Gu Ran's voices came through, the members of the Soul-Soul-Suppressing Stone team did not rush to attack, but instead observed from the vicinity of the Flesh Mountain Pit.

"The Soul Stone team is playing very cleverly. They've realized they can't beat the enemy head-on, so they're using summoned creatures to steal their kill when the enemy team groups up and engages them!"

Just as the commentators were starting to consider how the Dire should approach this team fight, the Radiant team suddenly teleported home.

"Invoker's Fire Spirit stole a ranged barracks on the top lane, and Lycan's Dominator and Black Dragon and his wolves also stole a ranged barracks on the bottom lane! Radiant noticed that the enemy was stealing, and if they didn't go back, their melee barracks would also be destroyed, so they had to TP back to defend. This wave can be said to have been a very successful push strategy by Soul Stone."

By the time the Radiant team went back to clear the creep wave and came out again with Smoke of Deceit, the Soul Stone team had already rushed down Roshan. With the enemy team already having the Aegis, the Radiant team didn't dare to leave their base unattended and engage in team fights again; if they got caught out again, they might end up with super creeps.

"The Soul Stone team has really mastered the minion wave strategy. Their lineup requires an understanding of minion waves, and once they had the advantage, they knew very well that they couldn't win a head-on team fight. So they chose to avoid direct team fights and instead used summoned units to backdoor and force the enemy to defend their base, successfully securing this Roshan.

If the Radiant chooses to send one or two players back to defend the lane, they can't win a 3v5 fight. If the Radiant chooses to send everyone back to defend the high ground, then Roshan will belong to the Spirit Stone.

SDN provided a detailed analysis of the tactics employed by the team using the Soul Stone. They demonstrated that, facing difficult late-game team fights, they opted to use split pushing and kiting to avoid direct confrontation, effectively utilizing the strengths of their own team composition.

After taking down the Aegis of the Immortal, it's time for the Soul Stone to be used again.

[I'll push it to the top, you guys push it to the middle or bottom]

[I have two guys here, Big Butt and Squirrel. I've hit Big Butt with my Blink Dagger, and he's not activating his Black King Bar? Holy crap, he looks like he's about to die...]

Gu Ran was controlling the game while directing his teammates to split push. The enemy Doom misjudged the damage of Gu Ran's Meteor, saving his Black King Bar (BKB) and being burned to death by the Meteor.

[If he doesn't pay the purchase price, we'll demolish three roads!]

Meanwhile, in the mid lane, Lu Chen's werewolf was dismantling the defensive tower, while in the bottom lane, Kai, who had been bitten by the werewolf, was dismantling the last barracks.

The battlefield was extremely chaotic, and Radiant was overwhelmed. In the end, the top lane melee barracks were destroyed, and the mid lane turrets and ranged barracks were also destroyed.

"Is the wicked lord still unwilling to pay the ransom? If he doesn't pay the ransom soon, this high ground will definitely fall."

Amidst the commentators' doubts, the Underlord ultimately refused to give up his buyback, perhaps because he felt that even if he bought back, he couldn't defend all three lanes. He planned to save the buyback to defend the super minions. As a result, the Soul Stone team destroyed all three of the enemy's high ground towers at 51 minutes, and the super minions were created.

After replenishing their resources, the Soul Stone team decided to continue their attack. At this point, the game hadn't reached 60 minutes, neither side had level 5 neutral items, and their economic advantage was at its maximum. They didn't want the game to drag on past 60 minutes.

When we push high ground, we should focus on killing whoever we can. We shouldn't try to trade our lives for the enemy's carry. Even if it's just killing the enemy support, as long as we force them to buy back and then die, we'll have a huge advantage in the front line.

Gu Ran continued to direct his teammates. The problem with this lineup was that they might try to rush Xiao Hei and end up trading blows with the enemy. Since the enemy could buy back and immediately return to the battlefield, while they would have to get Boots of Travel to return to the battlefield after dying, a buyback battle was not ideal. It was better to fight in batches, killing one enemy at a time and then retreating, rather than going all-in with the enemy.

At 51 minutes and 30 seconds, Gu Ran initiated on a squirrel that was about to reel in the wave, followed by Meteor Wave and Skyfire. Tusk came over to try and save the squirrel, but unexpectedly took damage and died.

This is an opportunity. Let's use Smoke of Deceit to rush them. As long as we touch Drow Ranger, Tusk will definitely buy back. If we can kill a Tusk who has bought back, then the enemy team has basically lost half the battle.

Under Gu Ran's command, the werewolf bit Kai, and Kai immediately used his Blink Dagger to rush to the high ground and unleashed a barrage of attacks on Xiao Hei. Tusk immediately bought back to cover Xiao Hei as they fought and retreated.

Meanwhile, the bottom lane Lycan was biting the enemy's backside while it had its Black King Bar (BKB) up, and Witch Doctor also applied Curse and used his ultimate, Death Ward. Even with BKB up, Underlord was brought to low health and eventually took several more bleed combos from the Birdman, finally being cursed and killed in the fountain.

Gu Ran's Karl also found an opportunity, blowing wind to stir up the forest and sea clouds, connecting with the world-destroying meteorite, and taking away the squirrel.

Although we didn't manage to kill Tusk's buyback this time, the enemy Underlord and Squirrel are both dead. We can use our Cheese to replenish our health and mana, and then continue to push them. If we can kill just one of the three—Underlord, Squirrel, and Tusk—who bought back, we'll basically win.

Under Gu Ran's command, the strategy for using Soul Stone was very clear. After a BKB cooldown was over, Gu Ran immediately initiated on the enemy Tiny.

After the wind picked up, Devastation followed by Meteor, then Refresh, then Devastation again, then Meteor again. The map was covered by the effects of the fire magic. The Tusk, who was trying to come to the rescue, took too much damage from the Skyfire and was left with very low health. XS's Kayn found the opportunity precisely, jumped in with Blink Dagger, and killed the Tusk in two hits. HG's first buyback death was achieved.

[You can plant the flag now]

The opportunity to end the game was perfect for Tusk to buy back and then die. The support planted the last Roshan banner in front of the enemy's high ground tower, making all the super minions invincible.

On the Radiant side, only Drow Ranger could activate the battle flag, but he didn't dare to go forward to activate it, so their two front defensive towers were quickly destroyed by super minions.

XS took the opportunity to find a squirrel walking in the nearby woods. After using his Blink Dagger to get close, he first silenced the squirrel with his short sword, then chased it down and attacked it a few times before taking it down. The squirrel then bought back and died.

With both sides buying kills, Radiant was unable to fight back and their base was eventually wiped out by Dire's forces.