Olly
SwagMander, gsk, Olly, Paradoxical, kikjeck
Now, this is obviously a team I drafted, so there’s some inherent bias; regardless, I believe the tricore to be very solid, most notably in the way that it doesn’t have any asterisks in the way I believe most others do. I’m generally quite content with that half of the team.
Where it gets less certain is the support duo of Paradoxical and kikjeck — they were on my shortlist, alongside a couple other fresh faces that I would’ve been equally keen to drag in, based on the nature of their hero pools. Still, it’s hard to know what to expect from first time players — my hope is they’re vibers, because I don’t have that many doubts about this team when considering it as a sum of its individual players and their skill levels.
SgtAverage
Abba, itu, Rodeo, SgtAverage, kot
I’ll lead with the conclusion on this one: I think this is a good team. Experienced players, individual quality, the Dark Willow guy. Wait, the Dark Willow guy? Guh?
While I maintain my personal reservations about Itu and their hero pool, it’s nigh impossible to argue against a second place finish in the season prior, sporting an overall 11–6 winloss record, despite only ever having played Dazzle, Willow, Marci, OD or WR. Add to that the fact that they’ll be dealing with a slightly lower level of play compared to that successful prior season, while retaining the status in the team of not necessarily having to be the one to carry the weight (frankly, I think Abba, Rodeo and Avg make this a good fit for Itu), and it doesn’t look that bad. Quite the opposite. I’ll say contenders.
NaClO
NaClO, samurice, Diddi, h2okay, Erzi
I can understand the desire to play with a specific person at all costs. It’s just unfortunate that said person isn’t, y’know, a high MMR core. I like what h2okay brings to the table — I just don’t 56-coin-like-it, and that purchase has its own implications, most notably about the core roles.
I think NaClO is in a great spot to be a strong core in this division. The duo of samurice and Diddi, I’m less convinced by: both are coming into this team off experience playing in other roles, and when they have featured in the roles they’ll be playing here, the performances average out to what I’d diplomatically describe as “inconsistent” — and that presents cause for concern in my eyes.
muesli
Revenger, Illustral, muesli, Aty, Misfit
As previously noted, this is one of the teams where I’m uncertain about the roles, with the most notable point of contention being the possibility of Revenger and Misfit being swapped here.
Regardless, my feelings stay the same: I feel very good about Illustral in this division, and I think muesli and Aty have come a fairly long way by virtue of playing higher level matches and managing to stand their ground fairly often.
This leaves the matter of the safelane, where I will admit upfront that I may be very influenced by seasons from quite literally a different decade, particularly when I say the following: I’m not sure what to expect from Revenger. I still remember quite vividly him being the shining example of an incredibly value lower MMR support player — and I remember just as vividly watching him valiantly climb the ladder and transition to a core role…and that not quite working out very well in leagues. Sometimes egregiously. But a skim through the Dotabuff affirms that old takes exist to be disproven, and he might well do that. If so? Highly competitive team.
2Face
Mads, Hugh, crashdown, Sadge, 2Face
I’ll cover this one quickly: Mads is good, but if he’s not playing mid and flexing individual skill on much lower MMR players, he’s not really worth the 81 coins. It might’ve not mattered, since there were openings to get immensely capable core partners with the remaining coins (shoutout hungrybrowny), but instead we got Hugh — a stalwart veteran who has undoubtedly and repeatedly outperformed what the MMR might suggest, but nevertheless has, in my eyes, something to prove here.
The rest of the stack is, at the risk of sounding crude, of less import. They will, presumably, do their thing. Feast or famine here doesn’t depend on them, my gut declares — though that might be the coffee not sitting great.
AA
Raffie, Bert, Nevir, Ruski, AA
Role conundrum, the team: Ada wants to play 5, okay, chill. Ruski’s a 4, that’s fine. Nevir is Ada’s friend who wants to play 1 — cool. Raffie is the presumed star player, who wants to play 1 or 2, nice. Bert is the highest MMR player on the team, and they want to play…2. You see where I’m heading with this.
The role concept I’m going with here assumes that Ada knew all of this beforehand and knows more about Nevir than is readily available from the draft sheet. He might also have looked at his midlane-Dark-Seer-playing teammate and said “you are my little offlane buddy now yay”.
Never mind all that; this is an enigma of a team. I have no read. Or, well, my read is that they should probably be worse than a solid multiple other teams at least, based on the odd fit; on the other hand, there’s potentially room for individual skill to do heavy lifting here. Maybe there’s going to be an SnY double-Heart Dark Seer terrorizing the division. Who the fuck knows?
STJ
Terenas, Elora, Mofarah, Nerd, STJ
I think I have the correct read on the roles here; if not this, it’s something drastically different (or, if not, simply a 1/2 swap here). In any case, it doesn’t change all too much — I like STJ and I like Mo and I like the looks of Nerdist (despite being NA, I think there’s significant value in prior league experience, compared to other first timers — and, if I can be entirely frank, in your high MMR support player being presumably a native English speaker).
Where this becomes more difficult to judge is when assessing the tricore in a vacuum. Mofarah is traditionally a support, and while I think (because a Mo-shaped birdie whispered this exact thing into my ear) that his best core role is 3, there might be some catching up to do to stand against some of the better opponents.
As far as Terenas and Elora go, however, it’s a hint more complicated. They’re both working with hero pools that one might opt to describe as…specialized. This could well result in Marceline and eisi waking up one day to an angry post-series DM from a Div 3 player complaining that this Terenas guy is actually gigasmurfing with his Arc Wardens and Tinkers, or a series of utterly disgusting lastpick Necros and Vipers from Elora. Or they might need, like, a normal hero to pick at 15 in the draft and everything starts burning.
My slight lean is towards this team probably being pretty good though.
Fantasmal
Fantasmal, plattttt, falls, Yunai, Mandy
This is a really wild team when you have all the context I do, from a total of like 3 to 4 leagues and half a decade’s worth of play. Every single player here comes with significant strengths and positives, yet also with…immense baggage.
Fantasmal, in their three seasons of RD2L, has sandwiched a Division 2 victory (for as much value as you ascribe to that) between two…less enticing performances — nevertheless, a fairly middle of the pack carry option for the division that should do fine, despite being one of the slightly lower MMR 1 options.
Let’s get to the interesting bit!
Beloved creator of d2pt (which I adore in ways I cannot begin to describe, thank you) plattt is back again after what was a season perhaps best described as tumultuous, based on retrospective accounts — for him in particular, you might conclude from said accounts, as there’s a struggle between passion and frustration at play there that should seem familiar to many a Dota player. Did you know plattt played Breakaway Franchise League? I beat him in lane mid. A bad omen, that.
falls is a more known quantity, though not a less interesting one; for years, he’s been capable of absurd popoffs, grasping games alone from the offlane despite then being at most high 3k. This potential is still very much present, but he’s also very quiet — and when I say quiet, I do in fact mean for multiple seasons he was the singular person on Clarity sheets saying they do not use a microphone. This has changed for Season 11 — a misclick, or will this team get to hear his voice? Someone let me know after Tuesday.
We then get to Yunai, returning after about 10 seasons of Clarity, having risen from low 5k then to nigh-7k (maybe even to 7k), then down to low-mid 4k. A harsh (but kinda funny) journey, one that I doubt has dulled his senses — Yunai is a very vocal player, who I don’t doubt will serve as chief shotcaller here and provide significant direction. He just also has a tendency to…get a bit upset, sometimes. I strongly considered drafting Yunai, provided I could pair him with a gaggle of cuddly little teddybears. Who’s the last player on the team, then?
Yay, it’s Mandy! Cuddly teddy acquired. Good! I won’t speak much on the Dota ability, though. Sorry Mandy. That one team left scars. So — after this lengthy rundown, what’s the final verdict? No fucking clue lmao prolly not great!
Rankings
8. NaClO
7. AA
6. Fantasmal
5. muesli
4. 2Face
3. STJ
2. Olly
1. SgtAverage
