cross-posted from: https://feddit.nu/post/22278515
The International 2026
Streams
DotaTV:
Auto-spectate command:dota_spectator_auto_spectate_games 19719Coverage
Schedule
ID | Team | vs. | Team | Result | Cntdown (SGT) | PDT | EDT | GMT | CEST | AEST | Format :–|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: | :–: LBF | Team Yandex | vs | Team Spirit | >!0:0!< | 10:00 | 19:00 | 22:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 | 12:00 | Bo3 GF | TEAM VISION | vs | LBF winner | >!0:0!< | 13:00 | 22:00 | 1:00 | 5:00 | 7:00 | 15:00 | Bo3
Countdown times are in SGT. All times are subject to change based on the length of matches and delays.
Yeah, it’s heartbreaking but the better team did win. I really think they should have drafted differently, but even in this game they had chances. So many small moments - that time Omnislash went into the illusion instead could have kept momentum for Vision instead of shifting it towards Spirit. Also I think Satanic should have itemized differently, he needed Abyssal and Skadi I think, building for an ult that just got Aeon Disked or Ghost Sceptered etc was just bait.
As the casters were saying, Juggernaut basically needed 3 more item slots to feel like a good carry that game. He’s just not a viable hero with her ultimate being what it is. Halfway through the match, I found myself thinking that they should make omnislash a regular ability and make blade fury his ultimate or something like that.
The hero needs something, you can’t have as much of his power budget as this invested into an ultimate that is as easily and cheaply counterable as Omnislash.
Would an Ahgs that gives Omnislash built-in Nullifier be too broken?
Maybe. The thing about nullifier is that any of the other 4 heroes on your team can build it too. And even if you fix that issue, there’s still the fact that there’s still too much of a change that you jump away to different targets.
The problem with omnislash is that it’s just too RNG to be useful in pro matches. You don’t know who you’re going to hit, and you don’t know where you’re going to be when it’s over. That’s fine for pubs, but can’t work in pro matches. And then there’s the balance issue - buff it too much and Jugg becomes a smurf hero, or first phase ban in pro matches. Bounty hunter is another great example of this - it’s either in the dumpster or first phase-banned.
It’s hard to make a hero that works both at 1k MMR and in the pro scene, and at all MMR levels in between too. So we end up seeing a lot of bland heroes in tournaments because it’s really easy to balance the game around all the heroes’ HP pools. The tanky strength core meta (like carry DK that felt like it was meta for 3 years) was really what killed my interest in watching the pro scene.
Well, that was a bit rambly, but with all of that said, this year was a lot better I have to say - really refreshing to see all the magic-based linueups. Seeing teams trying to burst through heroes with just enough mana/abilities/damage amp was really what made all the fights fun to watch.