The International 2018 Compendium Predictions

Making Predictions for The International is not a simple task in the slightest. Even the best Dota 2 analysts get most of the predictions wrong. There are many reasons for this. Every LAN tournament has its own meta. Many teams even save some strategies just for TI. Moreover, TI 8 is the first major LAN tournament that is going to played on patch 7.19, making it even harder for us to predict the meta that is going to be formed at the tournament. Nonetheless, we must put our efforts for those sweet, invaluable battle points.

The predictions that I have shared in this article are mostly based on my intuition, my understanding of the game, and a little bit of analysis. I’m far from expert at this, so if you feel that my predictions are wrong, please feel free to comment down below. Let’s begin.

Hero Predictions:

Most picked hero: Phoenix.

It’s clear that pros have recognized how good phoenix is throughout the game and not just during the laning phase. At Summit 9, Phoenix was picked for a total of 12 games and had a whopping 75% win-rate, and he just got a very minor nerf in 7.19.

Most banned hero: Crystal Maiden

One of the most popular laning supports right now. No one wants to play against the annoying Crystal Nova spam.

Hero with highest win-rate: Huskar

Heroes with the highest win-rate are always the niche picks. These heroes are picked in a very few games, and in these games they mostly dominate. Teams will definitely find a chance to draft Huskar in games where he will have close to no counters and he will stomp these games, resulting in a high win-rate.

Hero with highest kill average: Templar Assassin.

One of the most popular mid-lane heroes right now and has an extremely high kill potential throughout the game.

Hero with highest assist average: Zeus.

Zeus is quite popular right now and he always gets a lot of assists due to his ult.

Hero with the lowest death average: Broodmother.

One of the peskiest heroes to gank. Broodmother has a very high chance of having a low death average especially because she is last pick material. This means she will not have many counters in the game, which will amplify her survivability.

Hero with the highest last hit average: Medusa.

Medusa is just one of those heroes which farms incredibly fast. There are other heroes who farm faster than her, like TA for example. But teams with a high GPM TA will finish the game really quickly unlike teams with a Medusa, which is a hero that needs atleast mid-late game to peak.

Hero with highest XPM average: Meepo

Hero with most kills in a game: Storm

SumaiL is going to get his Storm Spirit and he’s going to kill everyone. Its going to happen and you read it here first.

Hero with most last hits in a game: Medusa.

Team Predictions:

Which team will win: Team Liquid.

Make history Liquid. Be the first team to successfully defend the TI Winner title! I’m a Liquid fan-boy, can’t help it.

Team with most kills in a game: Virtus.pro

The most aggressive team at TI 8. They like to dive towers together and kill people, more than taking objectives. Just kidding of course, but you get the point.

Team with the highest kill average: PSG.LGD

Another very aggressive team. But while being aggressive, LGD is also very disciplined. VP’s aggression sometimes gets punished and LGD is better at controlling their aggression, hence I think their average will be higher.

Team with the fewest deaths in a game: Virtus.pro

When VP’s aggression pays off, games will end very fast and they will have very little number of deaths.

Team with most assists in a game: PSG.LGD

I am choosing LGD here because of fy. I believe he is going to have a massive impact in each of their games.

Team that wins the longest game: Fnatic.

Its common knowledge now that Fnatic likes to play for the late-game. There’s a very high chance that they will win the longest game.

Team that wins the shortest game: Virtus.pro

As I said, when VP’s aggression pays off, games will end very fast.

Team with the highest game length average: Fnatic.

Team that picks the most different heroes: Team Liquid.

I just chose the team which I think is the most versatile and has the biggest hero pool.

Team that picks the fewest different heroes: Fnatic.

I have a hunch that Fnatic will come to the tournament with a limited number of strats and they will try to implement them in all their games.

Player Predictions:

Player with the highest Kill average: No[o]ne

Extremely aggressive and a beast of a player. When No[o]ne gets a good start, he takes the game under his control. Moreover, VP is in a very good form and they are one of the favorites to win TI 8.

Player with most kills in a game: SumaiL

As I said, SumaiL is going to get his Storm Spirit and he is going to kill everyone.

Player with lowest death average: Miracle-

Miracle- has a high impact in every game he plays. He always manages to find farm and his mechanical skills are godly. He is also the player who is the least susceptible to ganks.

Player with highest assist average: fy

As I mentioned before, fy is a very high impact player and position 4 players are generally the ones which end up with the most assists in a game.

Player with most assists in a game: fy

Player with highest last hit average: Arteezy

Arteezy has been one of the best farming players in the scene for quite a long time now.

Player with most last hits in a game: Sccc

Sccc is the best Medusa player out there and I’m sure that’s the hero which will the most last hits.

Player with most GPM in a game: No[o]ne

I predict that No[o]ne’s TA will get the highest GPM in a game. And this game is going to finish really fast.

Player with the highest GPM average: Miracle-

One of the best farmers in the scene and Miracle- consistently has high impact.

Player that plays the most different heroes: RAMZES666

An extremely versatile player. RAMZES666 has a very high chance of taking this one.

Tournament Predictions:

Total number of games played at the tournament: 50 to 54

Total number of heroes picked: 101+

I have to say, Patch 7.19 might just be the most balanced patch Dota has ever had. I would really not be surprised if all the 115 heroes get picked this time.

Total number of heroes banned: 91 to 100

Most combined total kills in a game: 101 to 110

Longest game of the tournament: 100:00+

Shortest game of the tournament: 15:00 to 19:59

Most kills by a hero in a game: 26+

Most deaths by a hero in a game: 15 to 17

Most assists by a hero in a game: 36+

Highest GPM by a hero in a game: 900 to 999