Outpicked - A Drafting Game

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Candadar's thoughts:
Top: Dark Seer
Mid: Batrider
Jungle: Enchantress
Bot: Leshrac/Windrunner

My thoughts during the ban phase were simple. I didn't get first ban, so I got rid of Lycanthrope immediately. Natures Prophet was on my mind, but I wanted to get Tide/Beastmaster off the field. They were definitely two heroes I would not want to face with what I was making. After he first picked Natures Prophet (as expected), I grabbed Leshrac immediately, and with some thought, Enchantress. Leshrac brings obvious pushing and damage as a whole, and Enchantress was someone I also definitely wanted for some early/mid pushing on that bottom lane that I'd toss Lesh into.

Dumbfounded when he took Venomancer and Enigma, and leaving Windrunner open to me, I didn't even have to think when I took her. It was simply too hard to let up, and leave open for him. My last two bans were just me getting Invoker off the field (he did not fit into my lineup I felt, and I didn't want him getting his hands on it) and I wanted to remove any further push options he had, so I got rid of Brood Mother. He then grabbed Pugna, and I noticed I was getting a noticeable advantage in potential teamfight and I decided I wanted to snowball this -- picking up Dark Seer. He also had some damn decent anti-push from Venomancer, and I wanted to match that.

With his last pick as Vengeful Spirit, I decided to go full on speshul taktiks. In the spirit of fun and good competition, I picked up Batrider. He's, by far, my favorite hero in the game and can be a fantastic addition into teamfights as well as being awesome in every single way.

Why do I feel like my team will win? His team lacks direction, I feel. There is no one to, as the game progresses, do the damage. NP can do something I guess, but unless that Venomancer can get some ridiculous farm and feels particularly like a carry that day I don't see it happening. My team will, and I hope everyone else agrees with me on this, annihilate them in the teamfight AND in the push. I feel my weakness of course is Natures Prophet, who can really counterpush and be a real pain in the rear end -- but that's by no means something to freak out over, or gamebreaking. I also feel like they may have better initiation potentially with Vengeful and Enigma's ult, and Pugna's ward can be a real pain in the ass.

However, overall, I do feel like my team has a concise advantage.

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Drazerk's thought:
ok so Furion top with the other 4 going bottom

First ban:

I already knew I wanted an early game pushing strategy so my first plan was to take out anyone who would give me hassle at the low levels. Since I wanted Mealk I banned out CM to deny the aura and frostbite which would of been hard to deal with with the constant fights that would happen during the early lane push. The CM ban would also force a ban out from him of either Lycan or Invoker which I had no intention of using wasting his bans.

Second ban:

I ban shadow demon to prevent losing our team early on to shadow wave or disruption which would cause too much hassle in the early game.

Third ban:

Chen was banned purely to stop any early game jungle ganks provided I could pick up enchantress

First pick:

Basically the first pick allowing me to push lanes efficiently especially at the start

Second pick:

Mealk to give early game dominance in the lane and push back Enchantress and leshrac later on in the game if I failed to get the rax

Third pick:

Engima's conversions are one of the best early game pushing tools in the game and the black hole would provide a good team fight when paired with mealk's ultimate.

Fourth ban:

With the picks of WR/Enchantress I now needed to ban the final hero that could end my plan before it started so an instant ban out of Death prophet to keep the lanes in my favour.

Fifth ban:

Banned out mirana to prevent her carrying with the free farm she would have gotten in mid along with any arrow ganks from the radiant jungle as I push down bottom.

Fourth pick:

Nether blast does great damage against towers early game when paired with enigma and mealk while the nether ward would prevent mana regen of the enemies bottom line up during our engagements.

Fifth pick:

Picked up veng to prevent his team from stopping enigma's black holes in the later parts of the game along with the potential of an easy first blood of enchantress in their jungle. The wave of terror would also speed up the amount of time killing creeps during the early game push.

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Drazerk's thoughts:
Sylla jungle
CM + ES bot
BH mid
Tide top

First ban : Me and grey play constantly so there was little point trying a cheese strategy so sorry for anyone who expected one. I also know he is pretty weak in the drafting stages so knew I could pick up sylla if I ignored him completely during the ban phase so I banned out furion who would of reversed any pushing power sylla would have given me.

Second ban : Lycan was picked due to him getting the dire line up and him being a pain to deal with if not handled correctly throughout the game and the fact that I would be unable to get lycan if I picked sylla as my first pick.

Third ban: At this point I just ban out chen to give myself more power in the team fights and prevent the gank on my top lane which I was planning on soloing at this point.

First pick: As predicted he completely forgot about sylla's existence allowing myself an easy pick up which could either lane in mid or jungle easily enough giving myself a powerful carry and someone who can push the lanes if left unattended.

Second pick: Tide hunter the king of team fights with OP ravage giving myself an easy advantage in the team fights after being left wide open for me. It would also allow for the solo on top granting the easy levels allowing for better early game team fights with the ravage.

Third pick: CM - easy support great versatility and allows for an easy FB if paired with the right person.

Fourth ban: Completely surprised at a first round riki pick I ban out SD who would give sylla and tide issues later in the game and prevent CM from reaching that first blood. While I expected him to ban out either slardar or BH due to his risky early riki pick.

Fifth ban: Beast master was still in the pool and other than a possible enigma pick it was the only thing that could stop the ravage from getting off so another quick ban from myself allowing us to move into the second drafting phase easier.

Fourth pick: He didn't ban out slardar or riki so I pick up the bounty hunter who will be able to track riki during team fights making him less of an issue into the mid / late game and hopefully can be shut down completely. The bounty hunter pick also forces the use of sentry wards / dust / gem which my team would already have to use religiously putting us on an even footing.

Fifth pick: Picked up ES to lane with CM in order to grab an easy first blood while being able to easily pair with tide in the mid to late game for a sure team fight win if they make the slightest mistake.

Game overview: Really the entire game will come down to one question - will enigma get off the black holes?

If he doesn't it is a very easy victory for myself but even if he does every black hole is going to have to count and for a clear advantage to come from them. If his team fails at that it is still very much in my ball park to win.

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GreYMisT's thought:
Dire Lanes: WR solo bot, Enchantress jungle, Riki and veno top dual lane.

Thoughts:

First Banning Phase

I won the coin toss so I chose Dire, because I felt like running a jungler and the Dire jungle is better suited in my eyes for this. I was unfortunately not first pick, so my first 2 bans basically amounted to shit I didn't want to deal with, namely both invoker and antimage. He had first pick, so when I saw him ban Furion, lycan, and chen, I figured he was really afraid of me getting a good deal of pushing power. To me this meant that he probably wanted to do it himself, so I banned dark seer, hoping that he would let me have wind runner.

First Picking Phase

His first pick right out of the gate was syllabear. This confirmed my suspicion that he probably wanted to so some early pushing. I don't know what lane he is running sylla in yet, so I simply counter with a Wind Runner as well as an Enchantress. Enchant's pushing power is incredible early game, so at the very least I trade towers, hopefully I take one faster and maybe even get FB if I grab a good creep with her.

His next 2 are Tidehunter and crystal maiden. This gives him some good early game with the CM, as well as great teamfight with the Tide. At this point his lanes are confusing me a bit. I thought that the sylla would be soloing bottom lane like I see in most games, however with the addition of a support hero as well as a tidehunter that seems to have gone out the window (unless he does something more unconventional). At this point I am seeing the sylla going either solo mid or jungle. I really want to win middle lane, so I refrain from choosing one at the moment. So i Decide to make him respond to me by choosing Rikimaru. This gives me my mid-late game damage, and the smoke cloud will preemptively counter some mid heroes such as Qop or storm spirit.

Second Banning Phase

He begins by banning shadow demon, who I was not concerned with in the first place. I decided that I wanted to ban a good mid/sidelane hero that had great pushing power, so I removed Leshrac. He follows up by banning Beast Master, which would have given me teamfight to counter his ravage. I decide to then ban out Vengeful Spirit, as I wanted to limit his stunning potential, and set up for an Enigma pick later on.

Second Picking Phase

Unsurprisingly he chooses Bounty Hunter to counter riki. I know that I can rely on my Enchantress and whatever support I choose to carry dust and sentry wards, so this isnt too much of a concern to me. The key will be keeping riki safe until track no longer matters. I decide to do this by picking Venomancer. I like this pick because It will give me great counter push against the syllabear, and the slow as well as the wards will help riki get the farm he needs safely. He also helps set up a great first blood attempt at level 2 with riki's smoke/blink strike, Veno's gale, as well as enchantress.

His Final Pick is EarthShaker. At this point im pretty sure that Syllabear is going midlane, so I decide to pick Enigma. I choose him for the teamfight he gives in conjunction with Venomancer, as well as his great pushing ability and his denial.

Laning


The Best way I can figure is Sylla will go mid, Bounty hunter and CM will go bot, and ES and Tide will be top. Any other laning setup I feel will be too in-optimal against what I have. WR is a terrific solo laner, so I feel comfortable sticking her in the bot lane. Enchantress in the jungle is obvious, and Riki and veno will be top. Venomancer will begin to roam when riki can stay in lane well enough with Enchant support. I already discussed top lane a bit in the second pick section. If midlane is Enigma vs Syllabear, I feel confident that Enigma's exp denial, as well as his pushing power plus stun will be able to win. Veno should rotate mid occasionally with enchantress to keep the syllabear underfarmed and under leveled.

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