This article is part of our Dota 2 series.
Welcome back to my compendium predictions series. If this is your first time looking into the Compendium Predictions series be sure to check out the first article in the series article while you're here. Today, we will be tackling the Team section of the Compendium Predictions. This section is much less subjective than the previous Hero section and we won't have to go diving too deep into past tournaments to make these calls. And away we go!
Which team will win:
The million dollar question, who is going home with the Aegis of Champions? Well if I knew the answer to that I don't think that I would be writing an article to tell the world. You can really put any team here that you fancy, every team at The International is good enough to take home the Aegis but some definitely have a better chance than others. Virtus.pro and Team Liquid have been dominant. There is only one team who has beaten both of them recently and that is PSG.LGD. This is also an even year which, if you believe in the TI curse, you know that its a Chinese teams turn to win, kind of like the San Francisco Giants and the World Series.
Author's Prediction: PSG.LGD
Team with most Kills in a game:
Once again, when you get down to one singular game over the course of the biggest tournament of the year, you're really just taking a shot in the dark. CIS teams are historically highly aggressive and Iceberg has been racking up the kills recently so WinStrike is a safe bet. TNC.Predator, Fnatic and PSG.LGD are also solid bets.
Author's Prediction: Winstrike
Team with highest Kill avg:
The team with the highest kill average will probably be among the same pool of candidates from whom we selected the team with the most kills in a single game. You want to pick a team that you think will last at least a little ways into the tournament because although every team will play 16 games minimum, chances are a team that goes home early wasn't running up the kill count. Fnatic, TNC.Predator, PSG.LGD and WinStrike are all viable candidates for this category. Im choosing Fnatic since they have a habit of going long with their games and getting scrappy.
Author's Prediction: Fnatic
Team with fewest Deaths in a game:
The team with the fewest deaths in a game is going to be a team who wins it hard and fast, most likely by a complete outdraft. You're also going to want to think about teams who play smart, knowing when to push their advantage but not getting so caught up in a push or fight that they end up getting team wiped. While Virtus.pro fits the first category, they don't really fit the second, though you could get lucky and they might run roughshod over some poor team without making any mistakes. Team Liquid seems to be the best option here as Kuroky is an excellent captain perfectly capable of a strong outdraft and Liquid is just as skilled as Virtus.Pro while being much more surgical and disciplined in how they play.
Author's Prediction: Team Liquid
Team with most Assists in a Game:
When it comes to picking the most assists in a game, you probably want to think about the hero you picked for highest assist average and who is going to be playing that hero or you want to be thinking about a team that rolls as five all the time. TNC.Predator and Fnatic are both solid choices for this category. I'm going with Team Secret as they fight together enough to fit the bill but they also have YapzOr who likes to play Zeus, a hero that racks up assists like no other.
Author's Prediction: Team Secret
Team that wins the Longest game:
The team that wins the longest game is fairly simple, pick a team whose games tend to run long and then pick a team you think is most likely to win one of their long games. Vici Gaming plays incredibly slow but are still quite formidable which is why I have chosen them here. Fnatic and PSG.LGD are also good candidates for selection here, but since VG tends to run long naturally it seems more likely that they will take a long win instead of hoping Fnatic or LGD pull it out.
Author's Prediction: Vici Gaming
Team that wins the Shortest game:
The team that wins the shortest game is only a little bit different from trying to decide who will win longest. Team Liquid and Virtus Pro are both great candidates to just steam roll some poor team, as is PSG.LGD. However, in the past Virtus.Pro has been known to GG out of a game rather than try to play on so if somehow they think they lost the game at 13 minutes in, you might see someone completely random take this category.
Author's Prediction: Team Liquid
Team with highest Game Length avg:
While it should be that a team who wins the longest game is probably the most likely candidate to have the highest game length average, I'm going in a different direction here. Vici Gaming usually has their games go long, but I don't expect them to make a deep run in the brackets. I think Fnatic could go a lot further and by nature have more of their games go much much longer and give them the edge over Vici Gaming. PSG.LGD is also a solid pick here.
Author's Prediction: Fnatic
Team that picks the Most different heroes:
A team that picks the most different heroes is likely going to be a team that makes a deep run into the tournament that isn't just a one trick pony. In such a diverse meta, there are so many teams that could fit the billing for this category. Liquid, Virtus.Pro, PSG.LGD, Fnatic and Team Secret are all good choices here. I am taking a bit of a risk selecting VGJ.Storm. This team has a deep hero pool that they are not afraid to use and Resolut1on will play whatever hero he needs to get the job done.
Author's Prediction: VGJ.Storm
Team that picks the Fewest different heroes:
The team that picks the fewest different heroes can go either way, the team could make a deep run into the tournament running a singular style of play with a small number of heroes, think 2013 Alliance. Usually the team with the fewest picked heroes is a team that is eliminated first. Winstrike, Pain Gaming, VGJ.Thunder, Evil Geniuses, Invictus Gaming and Mineski could all find themselves in this position. I personally am selecting Pain Gaming as W33 has been fairly one dimensional in his hero choices and is a focal point of that team.
Author's Prediction: Pain Gaming
