WEU Dota powerhouse Tundra Esports makes a statement by beating Alliance with the same draft twice in a row!
The new season of the Dota Pro Circuit is upon us! Today, the first Division 1 matchups in the Western Europe region began with highly anticipated matchups. The first one today was Tundra versus Alliance. Tundra has made no roster changes besides adding a new coach, former player and TI winner, Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling. On the other hand, Alliance, has made some big changes, adding three new players: Former Chicken Fighters mid-player Ondřej "Supream^" Štarha, former Vikin.gg position 4 player, Adam "Aramis" Moroz, and former offlaner for Quincy Crew, Rodrigo "Leslão" Santos.
Supreme draft confidence
The match did not go well for the newly minted Alliance roster. Tundra handily dismantled Alliance in a quick two-game series. the interesting part is not that Tundra beat Alliance, but rather how they did it. In both games, Tundra played the same exact draft. According to Dota statistician Ben "Noxville" Steenhuisen, this is only the 34th time since TI 5 that a team has drafted the same heroes in back-to-back drafts.
The draft consisted of both late-game and early-game powerhouses for the Tundra lineup. The team secured the late game with the infinite scaling of Doom and the hard late-game carry of Faceless Void. The support duo of Snapfire, and Adrian "Fata" Trinks' classic Gyrocopter, secured the kill threat of both side lanes. The linchpin of the draft was the mid Earth Spirit. While traditionally a support hero, it can become incredibly powerful when built correctly.
Analyzing the first draft, what made this linchpin so good was that it very easily punished the highly immobile Shadow Fiend. With a plus one, and even by himself, Leon "Nine" Kirilin, was able to easily shut down the game of Supream^. Earth Spirit's high mobility also allowed him to easily control the runes.
Though the side of Alliance had two very active supports in the Tusk and Lion, they were not able to get their game off the ground. Both of the Tundra sidelines put so much threat onto the opposing offlaner and safelaner. With the minus armor of Snapfire combined with Time Dilation, it was very easy to shut down the Mars/Tusk Lane.
If it ain't broke, don't fix It!
It's even more amazing when you consider that in the second game, Alliance tried to adjust their draft. And yet, they still allowed Tundra to get all of the same heroes. As analyst Avery "SVG" Silverman pointed out, it's a scary feeling to see a team that won use the same exact draft as in the last game. Alliance attempted to make some adjustments, picking a faster midlaner in the Lina, as well as the slippery Weaver support. Combined with an Ogre Magi support pickup, these supports could theoretically make better rotations on mid to lock down the Earth Spirit, and also to put more kill threat onto the enemy cores. While in the early game, the side lanes went much better, Tundra still was able to pop off and shut down Alliance.
The season is still early for both of these teams but every series counts with majors on the line. For further coverage of the DPC stick with us here at esports.gg!