Kiev Major Group Stage Recap
The Kiev Major’s group stage has concluded and a lot of action has taken place. With upsets and a new meta, these are the main takeaways from the tournament so far.
Midas Gaming
Midas Gaming is back! Over 120 Midases have been purchased on just day1! You know it’s serious when even Anti-Mage starts buying it pic.twitter.com/639DRHNzL0
— DOTABUFF (@DOTABUFF) April 24, 2017
With over 120 purchases on just day 1, Hand of Midas has been the name of the game for this Major so far. The changes to the item in 7.05 made a purchase much more worthwhile, as the increase in gold means that the item pays itself off quicker (10 uses, as opposed to 11 before).
With buffs to tower armor (when enemy heroes are close), taking objectives has become more difficult, which results in longer games. That and the desire to have high level talents early make Midas a really attractive option for many heroes. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be countered though, as proven by Secret when they took down iG with an aggressive Lycan line-up in 32 minutes.
The Return of Split Push
Just a few weeks ago, we noted that split push as a macro strategy was dead. Teams wouldn’t draft for a line-up whose primary win condition was via split push; that has changed with 7.05.
By making towers more vulnerable to heroes who push them by themselves, it makes split push all the more effective. The return of split push also goes hand in hand with the return of many hardcarries who haven’t fit the meta so far, such as Medusa (5 picks), Anti-Mage (5) or Spectre (14). Spectre especially fits the meta quite well, as she cannot only split push well, but she is a force to be reckoned with during teamfights and has an easy entry with Haunt.
Treant is ready for Captain’s Mode
With 39 bans across two days, 
Treant Protector is the most contested hero at the Kiev Major so far. His 50% win rate across the 22 games that he did play is not really impressive, but the overall stats do suggest that the hero is suited for the meta. He can be the bane of split pushers after all, as Living Armor is one of the best spells to deal with chip damage.
While Treant may be the most contested, he is far from being the most picked. 
Monkey King retains his position as most picked hero from DAC, with 31 picks so far. He has to share that title with 
Crystal Maiden however, who has also been picked 31 times. Compared to DAC, where 2 roamers were contesting for most picked, it is now a battle between position 4 and 5. In general, lane supports seem to be picked more consistently now. The two heroes next in line for most picked are 
Vengeful Spirit _(24) and 
Warlock _(24). Granted that Venge can and is played both as carry and support, it still goes to show that teams value a certain stability when it comes to their laning support right now.
It’s also important to note that aside from Venge, no carry is among the top 10 most picked heroes, in comparison to DAC, where both Juggernaut and Lifestealer made the list. Juggernaut and Spectre are the most picked carries in Kiev so far, with only 14 picks each.
Challenging 6.8x & TI6
The International 2016 broke various records as it became the Valve tournament with the most diverse hero pool. Across the entire LAN finals, 105 different heroes were picked or banned in Seattle. In Kiev, 99 different heroes have been picked or banned after only 2 days and some of the remaining heroes are still strong niche picks, such as Necrophos or Ancient Apparition.
Qualifier Teams dominate group stage
8 teams have been directly invited to the Kiev Major, yet only OG has made the top 5 of the Swiss group. Team Secret, Virtus.pro, Invictus Gaming and TnC Pro Team have displayed strong performances and acquired top seeds going into the playoffs. Invites such as Newbee or Evil Geniuses have looked rather disappointing in relation to the expectations going into this event, while teams like Liquid, Random or VG.J have continued their struggle from DAC.
Going into the Playoffs
The real battle begins now, as all 16 teams fight for survival. Invictus Gaming vs. Mousesports will be a repeat of the first round of the groupstage, where iG took it home 2-0. TnC vs. Faceless will see both SEA representatives fight it out in what could be TnC’s worst match-up of the tournament, as Faceless has won 3 out of the last 4 encounters. Thunderbirds vs. Evil Geniuses will see the former Digital Chaos squad take on EG in a battle for supremacy of the NA region, though it is unclear whether Thunderbirds will remain an NA squad after their departure from DC.
In addition to the 3 Million USD prizepool, this Major will be key in determining which teams will be invited to The International 2017. The champion of the Kiev Major and the runner-up are practically guaranteed TI participants and the closer a team gets to that position, the more likely it is they’ll be invited as well.
FIRST!!!
！burning!
aw 3rd!
lucky 4th
i suck cock
6Th MothaFuckaz !
7th!!
8th and counting
shit 9thhhh
In the last 6th paragraph " The two heroes next in line for most picked are hero=vengeful-spirit and hero=warlock."
looks like the author had some problems with the coding lol
MK is most picked FROM DAC. This is very misleading since we are talking about the Major......
XD...thats true angrykuku.
I'd like to point out the fact that even though Monkey King was picked so often, he has an abysmal winrate. However, when he is banned, he has a high winrate (meaning its good for your team when he is banned). This only shows why he is being called out as OP. He is so new to Dota not just in terms of time but in his abilities. No hero can manipulate trees the way he does, even though treant, furion and timbersaw depend on trees to function.
I think what happens is, when picked, he provides the team with so much vision, ganking potential and mobility that he wins the early game for them, but even with a basher and Wukong's command, doesnt do THAT much in the late game. Remember, every time he casts his ultimate, even from a tree, he has to climb down. And with the current popular build, he is very squishy and does end up feeding quite a lot.
When he is banned however, the whole flying vision, ultra mobility roaming support goes out the game. Even if you pick Riki and Earth Spirit, the game isnt the same. So it clearly favours your team, especially if you are the ones who banned it against a strong MK player (eg. Boboka). Either way I think this hero is fairly balanced at the moment and there really are tons of ways of dealing with him. Pub players just need to expand their hero pools and observe pro plays a bit more.
POST UR BRACKETS FOR ROUND 1
IG OVER MOUSE
NEWBEE OVER LIQUID
VGJ OVER DC
VP OVER IGV
FACELESS OVER TNC
OG OVER RANDOM
EG OVER THUNDERCOX
SECRET OVER SG
16th. Just og
@ L0N3Ly
"Monkey King RETAINS his position as most picked hero from DAC"
Please explain how this statement is misleading, since he retains most picked status...
TnC beats NA(EG, Thunderbirds, DC), but they lose to their SEA neighbors Faceless, only 1 win from last 4 matches. And would you look at that; they got drawn against Faceless in the 1st round of the main event. Feelsbadman, from a pinoy xD
At least there will be one SEA team for sure in the quarter finals
Also, why are Liquid struggling so much? Too many 9k pubstars? Shouldn't be happening; Miracle and Matu have been playing in Tier 1 for a quite a while now. Only GH should be excused. "It's Kuroky and Mind_Control's fault, need full team of 9K or GTFO" kappa
Looking at how MK is highly contested but doesn't win much is pretty telling of the situation. He has a unique selling point that is too good to pass up in the eyes of many teams but the problem is that it's clunky in practice. Jumping from tree to tree procs a cooldown where he is stuck to that tree for I think .5 sec and that means you can't react as quickly as you want to, so he often feels clunky, kind of like jakiro or kunkka.
CM on the other hand is finally seeing play. Having a teammate that regularly plays CM has taught me how stifling the game feels when you can't spam your spells when you don't have her aura. She is an early game monster, but more than that, she allows other heroes to be stronger earlier. Example: an offlane weaver can shukuchi whenever necessary especially with the inclusion of shrines, allowing the hero to feel like he has a 4 min farm advantage on the opposing heroes. It translates into far more last hits and a couple extra kill windows on the safelane supports. And every lane gets that. In some situations it removes the need for bottle in mid or allows some heroes to play in mid where otherwise they couldn't.
rat doto is baack nature prophet will eat towers
Spectre can be considered a "counter rat" too.
азаза наве соснули(на самом деле грустно
)
Usually icefrog likes to balance the game...and now with the patch he made for the Midas he must be like....ah shit, midas gold will get reduced again post tournament.
@time
Part of the reason midas is popular right now is the lower amount of farm available across the map. When you reduce the jungle farm available you increase the necessity for heroes to have the item. On top of that, split pushers love midas so it's more that the splitters are popular rather than the midas itself being OP. I think.
Где перевод блять сука
?
35% winrate MK... That happens when you overnerf hero & don't fix clunky tree dance.
How is the playoff games picked from the swiss results?
а по русски?