The International 2019 Predictions: Teams
The second part of our predictions will concentrate on the “teams” tab. Just like the last time, we would like to remind everyone that this isn’t exact science and the thought process and reasoning behind our choices is perhaps more important than the choices themselves.
Winner of the International 2019 — Vici Gaming
It is more or less impossible to be confident in this selection. Team Secret underperformed in the Epicenter, Virtus.Pro is known for their poor TI showings, PSG.LGD doesn’t look as crisp as they did last year etc.
From recent results and overall DPC performance, our vote goes to Vici Gaming as they were the last team to win a Major and had a very strong season, but it is possible to justify most picks in this category.
Alternatively, you could go with the team you want to win the least, so in a worst case scenario you at least get some BP points.
Team with most kills in a game — PSG.LGD
There are three main choices in this category, as we are looking for a brawling team that doesn’t mind or is frequently forced to take the game late. PSG.LGD, TNC and Virtus.Pro are all teams that feature higher than average levels of aggression and frequently have prolonged games.
Of those, Virtus.Pro is probably the most objective-oriented, so their games are often cleaner in their execution, hence lead to the lower amount of kills. TNC is hyper aggressive but they are in the middle of the pack in terms of tournament expectations and PSG.LGD probably outclasses them slightly in overall performance.
That means in a potential LGD vs. TNC match we expect a bloodbath, but we expect it to be won by PSG.LGD, hence our choice.
Team with highest kill average — TNC Predator
This one is kind of easy. TNC Predator had the highest kill average throughout the season, have an aggressive playstyle and are not underdogs in this TI by any means. There is a risky alternative in Infamous, who in their qualifiers run exclusively drafted brawling lineups, but it really depends on how much you believe Infamous to be outclassed by everyone else in this tournament.
Team with fewest deaths in a game — Team Secret
We think that the EU trio of Team Liquid, Team Secret and NiP are all decent choices. All three teams are known for a surgical approach to the game, with less blunt force and more precise attacks and that generally leads to them dying less and winning games earlier. They also have some of the strongest captains in the scene.
While this type of drafts are generally harder to execute correctly and it can sometimes backfire, there is going to be at least a game, where the opponent will be completely outdrafted, out-tempoed and will lose the game with one or two kills at most. Team Secret is probably the strongest of the bunch, so we are going to go with them in this category.
Team with most assists in a game — OG
TNC Predator, OG, Team Secret and Vici Gaming are all good picks here. Their averages are around the same this season, so the question is what team we expect to go far in the tournament and play more grouped up Dota.
The most reasonable answers are going to be either Vici Gaming or Team Secret, since they are the clear favorites this tournament, but we will go with OG. They showed that they should not be underestimated last year, but we feel like many teams might ignore the memo.
They also play a lot more grouped up and rotate their cores earlier than other teams, potentially leading to more assists not through higher kill count, but through more players contributing to every single kill.
Team that wins the longest game — TNC Predator
TNC Predator has the longest game average and them being neither favorites, nor underdogs makes for a good case. They can win a long, brutal game against top tier teams against all odds and they can similarly have problems closing games against the underdogs. That effectively doubles the chances of them having a really long game, so this choice makes sense, with Alliance being a decent alternative.
Team that wins the shortest game — Team Liquid
Chaos Esports and Keen Gaming both have pretty low average game durations in games they win, but they are also an unknown. Sure, Chaos won EU qualifiers, but there weren’t many notable teams left in them after the DPC season. Sure, Keen Gaming got directly invited to TI, but their only notable achievement was top6 in DreamLeague Major. There is a high chance they will find it harder to maintain their lower averages against tougher competition.
It might be rational to go back to our aforementioned EU trio and simply pick the team with the lowest average game duration in games they win. It is Team Liquid and it is going to be our choice.
Team with highest game length average — TNC Predator
It is hard to justify any other choice given the average game time of TNC Predator is more than three minutes longer than the next competitor, Alliance.
Team that picks the most different heroes — Team Secret
This should be more or less self-explanatory. Team Secret is likely to go far in the tournament and have one of the widest hero pools in the game. The other real alternatives are Virtus.Pro, who are hard to bet on during TI, Team Liquid, who with the addition of w33 have added quite a lot of niche heroes to their pool and Ninjas in Pyjamas, who had the highest hero variety this season, but also the most amount of games played.
Team that picks the fewest different heroes
All teams are guaranteed at least 16 games during the group stage, provided the International keeps the same format. That means we are looking for the team that gets eliminated in the group stage without showing much and that means making this prediction automatically belittles the team, potentially influencing their morale in a negative way.
We really don’t want to do that, so just privately pick whatever team you think is the weakest in this TI.
First
fuckin shit, its coming dude
Oh man, the age old question. Is it a dip in skill or is it just keeping your strats hidden so close to TI? Vici certainly did win the major, but it's hard to call them consistent like you could of VP or Secret. PSG.LGD actually might have the best shot as they have laid dormant but not dead, but it still sounds like quite a stretch. It's strange that nobody talks about EG despite their solid performance, yet it's hard to fault anyone for that stance.
Really do think Secret has what it takes to 'overcome' this year, despite their 'poor' performance. You gotta believe Puppey wants it more than anyone has ever wanted to win TI, and it finally feels like he has a team that can live up to the expectations he has during drafts.
TEAM THAT PICKS THE FEWEST DIFFERENT HEROES This could even be for non-weak teams. This could be EG if Bulba is drafting (Terrorblade spam again?)
Fewest heroes played: Infamous ofc
I really respect your decision to leave that last prediction blank publicly!
respected
pick SEA team for kill, long game and any similar... it's sea
You clearly are joking
The last prediction is a really polite way of saying Infamous