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It’s been a long time, but 6.84 is arriving. Icefrog himself confirmed it on dev.dota2.com, saying it is “coming after Starladder”. Look for changes which are targeted towards rewarding mid-game aggression and the reduction of the comeback mechanics once again.

You can come back here for the patch analysis, where I will break down the patch and its implications for you.

As Starladder comes to a close, 6.84 comes into the scene.

That said, Starladder 12 has had some amazing games and upset performances. Crowd favorites Team Secret finished in 7^th/8^th position, much to the surprise of many, many confident punters who have put their hopes on Team Secret.

Team Secret has recently announced Turkish millionaire Mr. Kemal Sadikoglu as their Team Director. Mr. Kemal, who runs a sports retail and distribution company, GPA2 Consulting, played Clash of Clans competitively prior to his entry into the Dota 2 scene.

Image from Team Secret Instagram. From left, 1437, Arteezy, KuroKy, Puppey, s4, zai]

Team Secret was first dropped to the Loser’s Bracket by Team Malaysia with a score of 2-1. Team Malaysia bought South East Asia’s take on the 6.83 meta directly to starladder, and although it worked against Team Secret, they were dropped by iG 2-0 into the loser’s bracket before being eliminated in a close game against Cloud 9, 2-1.

For Team Malaysia, this was a strong showing mirroring the past performance of orange E-sports, who finished 3^rd place in Ti3. For Team Secret, it was a showing that elicited plenty of discussion amongst social media sites and reddit.

Former EG player mason, who represented the team for Ti4, commented that Team Secret’s problem was that they are “not really on the same page”. Personally I think Team Secret has skilled players, let there be no doubt, but they seem to have problems deciding what their game direction will be. At first, when they started out, they had a very clear game plan: farm, avoid ganks, 5-man because we’re a really good team unit.

The feeling you get if you’re a viewer of Team Secret’s games is that every team fight Secret has a chance of winning no matter how far behind they are. Team Secret needs to manage their game pace as a Team, instead of 5 very skilled players kind of doing their own thing.

There can only be one number 1!

Europe has had a poor showing this starladder, with Alliance being eliminated by Cloud 9 in loser’s bracket round two 2-0. China, however, have been wrecking face and cleaning house, iG and VG in the top 3, only dropping games against each other. iG, having been knocked into the loser’s bracket by VG 2-1, faces off against Cloud 9 today, while VG is waiting for the winner in the Grand Final.

iG’s current roster is relatively new, with ChuaN, BurNIng, Ferrari_430, Luo(known as Xi in-game), Faith. Faith and BurNIng were the two new additions to iG in the recent Chinese shuffle in March, and this team is looking crazy strong, only conceding games to the best teams in Dota 2. Consistency and learning how to play from behind is iG’s greatest problem, as both ChuaN and BurNIng are players that thrive on momentum.

The DOTA2 league is an all around the year kind of event.

I predict VG to win as they have beaten each team in the top 3. With the recent addition of hyper-aggressive carry Hao, they are working better and better as a team. A team that is known for ending games pre-20 minutes, VG demands the greatest skill and efficiency to end the game as early as possible.

VG’s problem is their late game, as everything they do is geared towards building a mid/early game advantage. No predictions for Ti 5 yet though, 6.84 has yet to be released!

You can follow me on twitter @TheFreakofnatur and email me at [email protected]. Until next time!

Chen Yiji
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheFreakofnatur