The International 2022 Teams and Stats Overview
The International 2022 starts in a couple of hours. It’s perfect time to review the stats for TI11 teams, as well as go through the TI meta and take a quick look at TI Qualifiers stats.
For this year I prepared three separate Pre-TI11 profiles:
- Pre-TI11 Last Chance Qualifier (not really useful at this point)
- Pre-TI11 Teams Stats Recap, covering teams’ stats during official matches starting with DPC 2022 Season 2
- Pre-TI11 Teams Ranked, covering ranked stats of TI11 participants (not including smurfs, but including LCQ players)
This year’s reports have some new features, as well as focus on the teams and players specifically, so they are even better for making decisions regarding your precious compendium predictions. It also has a new and improved Diversity metric (I wrote about it here), which gives a much better representation of how diverse a team’s picks are.
In this blog post I will go through each of TI11 teams, covering their stats and playstyles. Every team also has its own Meta Graph, visually representing the team’s picks and bans.
Before that, I will take a look at TI11 Qualifiers stats, including Last Chance Qualifier.
As a side note, I would also advice you to check these things out:
Qualifiers Recap
It is important to take a look at the qualifiers stats first. While the meta already chaged throughout the qualifiers and is likely to change again, it’s important to look at for some context, especially since Pre-TI team profiles are using data for a much bigger period.
You can also explore the same data (and more) in the TI2022 Qualifiers report.
Total Stats
Marci quickly took the lead, being the most picked hero in general and the most banned (as well as most contested) during LCQ, but we’ll get to that.
Enigma, Batrider and Undying took the lead in bans. And the Outraged Dandelion wasn’t picked even once during all the qualis.
While there are many popular duos, two pairs are far from everybody else: Marci + Viper and Morph + Undying.
Interestingly, three of the most contested heroes (Marci, Undying, Primal Beast) ended up being among the most flexible heroes (and remaining two were rather popular as well).
One thing that interests me the most is the list of the best ranked heroes for each position. Pudge ends up being the best carry (Morph, SF, Faceless and Slark being in top-5), Enigma and Visage are the best offlaners, and Lina dominates the midlane.
While best supports are dominated by Marci, Undying, Nyx, Disruptor, Chen, Omniknight and Clockwerk (for both positions 4 and 5).
And as for records… Topson took the most of them. But it’s not as important for us right now (it’s just a fun bonus).
And to refresh the memory, here’s the grid of the regional meta we had before LCQ happened…
Last Chance Qualifier
…and now let’s take a look at the LCQ stats.
In a way LCQ can be seen as a mini-TI of sorts. It’s happening pretty close to TI in terms of timing, so naturally meta is going to be more similar to this event.
During LCQ Marci absolutely CRUSHED the event, having 100% contest rate. And, well, there are definitely a lot of tanky punching heroes at the top.
Undying and SF ended up being the most picked at LCQ. Marci, however, lost her spot as the most picked to get the most banned spot, moving Enigma to the 2nd place.
Thoughts about meta
However there are two things to keep in mind. First, these are Qualifiers stats, and the teams who already got to the event might have a different vision of the game. Second, the meta tends to evolve over time, even during the same event. So I would expect it to shift once more.
Pre-TI Ranked Stats
One thing that might come in handy is looking at what the players are playing in Ranked. High MMR meta tends to be pretty close to competitive: it’s also pretty high level of skill and coordination, and competitive players often tend to use their pubs to practice heroes they want to play at the tournament. Even their secret strategies, be it Carry Slardar, Marci, Leshrac or Chaos Knight.
For this I made a special Pre-TI11 Ranked Recap Report, covering the ranked stats of TI11 players and what they were practicing in pubs.
Some of the most intriguing heroes at the moment are Disruptor, Leshrac, Shadow Fiend, Clinkz and Doom. While at some point Marci was the most practiced hero in ranked, she quickly fell off in popularity after LCQ, as people started looking for a response which you can actually pick.
At the same time, Shadow Fiend and Leshrac were practiced a lot even before LCQ, and they really seem to be good candidates to become most picked heroes at TI. Morphling and Primal Beast also seem to be rather popular and they were picked a lot even during the qualifiers, but I’m not as sure in them as they are banned a lot as well.
Top-5 most banned in ranked are Batrider, Enigma, Marci, Undying and Faceless Void. And while Batrider and Enigma already kind of fell off in popularity and Marci took the spotlight during LCQ, I would expect either Undying or Enigma to take the most banned hero spot once again.
As a side note, you can also use the same report to look up average stats of the players in ranked matches (like kills, deaths, assists, pings, etc) and also there is an interactive party graph which shows what players tend to play together a lot.
Did you know:
- The most diverse players are Faith_bian, Affliction and Whitemon
- CoLLapse has the highest winrate (71.6% over 67 matches, 19 different heroes), compared to other TI players with more than 10 matches played since the 19th of September
Teams
Now let’s get to the teams.
A few explanations before we roll:
- Diversity is a new metric, described here. It represents how diverse the team’s picks are each game
- Special Heroes are heroes specific for this team, meaning this team picked these heroes more than most other teams
And, as usual, you can explore all the stats and full profiles here: https://stats.spectral.gg/lrg2/?league=pre_ti11
Team Liquid
Team Liquid is the most recent addition to TI11 teams lineup, as they are the last team to join the competition through Last Chance Qualifiers. They were pretty close to the invite twice: once during DPC season, taking 14th place in the ranking, and second time during WEU Qualifier, ending up with the 3rd place.
Team Liquid is famous for their farming duo (MATUMBAMAN and m1CKe) being flexible enough and also able to give more resources to each other. Before the team also used to prioritize better lineup for MATUMBAMAN, but now (judging by the players’ draft order) it’s no longer the case, since the last pick is pretty much equal split between all three cores.
Their drafts are usually based around teamfights, which might also be their weakest spot. However, they compensate it by having a strong emphasis on the map and vision control, having 2nd highest average number of wards placed and 6th highest average number of wards destroyed per game. While this might be a side effect of playing longer games on average (5th highest average duration), it still shows a lot.
Team Secret
Team Secret has a lot of similarities with Team Liquid. Both came from LCQ, both went through WEU Qualifier (Secret took 2nd place), but they also didn’t show any results at all during the DPC Season.
Even their hero pools with Liquid are pretty similar (even their special heroes), which is not as surprising, considering their playstyles. Secret also have a bigger emphasis on teamfights. However, Secret tend to give more attention to their star player Nisha, trying to secure the best matchups and leaving last picks to him. They also have very high diversity (3rd highest), which means they have a bigger variety of strategies at their disposal.
They also tend to play longer games (1st highest average game duration) and while not utilizing vision to the same extent, they seem to be more efficient with their farm and teamfights execution (1st highest average XPM and 4th highest average kills).
Talon
Talon is the first team on the list to successfully get through the regional qualifiers. They didn’t have much of a chance to compete during early DPC seasons to get their points, but quickly showed their all-star roster is capable of competing at the highest level.
Their drafts are heavily centered around 23savage, their main performer. And while they too love to play around good teamfights, they tend to pay more attention to vision (4th best wards and dewards) and generally play be more careful. They usually abuse lanes pressure and try to win some time until their core (who is usually rather greedy, but efficient) comes online. Only after that they will be able to show their true power, but this approach might also play against them.
Royal Never Give Up
Royal Never Give Up truly played up to their name. They had a rough time during this competitive season, often playing with standins or not being able to compete properly. And while this might have made them look weak on paper, they are a force to be reckoned with.
RNG prefer to have a strong start and establish their dominance on the map, denying enemies of any map control or vision when possible. While their hero pool is rather big, their diversity is not, which means they usually stick to what works and play the same heroes more often.
They are also quite reckless with their vision (1st highest average wards lost per game and low sentry usage efficiency). This might be a sign of their more aggressive playstyle (sentry usage and their 5th highest average Roshan kills also tell us about this), but also might be a sign of their weakness.
BetBoom
BetBoom (ex. Winstrike) went through the EEU Qualifier with a striking 80% winrate. And, well, the team quickly became the star roster of the region, even kicking Outsiders (who were seen as the strongest team of the region before) out of the competition. They are even praised (somewhat jokingly, somewhat serious) as godlike players, especially the team’s star player Daxak.
Their staple is playing fast. Like really fast. They love picking aggressive supports and strong pushers (usually for Daxak), while backing it up with a strong kill potential core (usually from Larl). Surprisingly, their draft aren’t as focused around Daxak as one would expect, splitting the last draft stage priority equally between all three cores. This usually shows high flexibility in terms of playstyles, as well as smooth teamplay.
Entity
Entity got some roster changes throughout the season, but managed to find their spark with the addition of Pure, and for many this roster is seen as one of the strongest teams at TI11 at the moment. This comes with no surprise, since aside from their carry, there are also three pub stars on the same team (Stormstormer, Tobi and Kataomi), as well as legendary captain (Fishman) and genius coach (MeTTruM), who did a lot for the team’s success and takes this very seriously.
Throughout the DPC they usually left the last pick priority to Tobi, making his hero choice and matchup the most important for the team. This also ends up shaping the team’s meta: they love to play fast and aggressive dota with high emphasis on pushing and “anti-carries” (core heroes who are best at shutting down the enemy core, while not being mediocre in general). They also tend to know their timings well, which allows them to play at their own pace.
While they have the 2nd highest average hero damage per minute, they (weirdly) are lacking in terms of average tower damage, being among the worst teams by this metric. They are also not very flexible, having 5th worst diversity, which might become a problem for them in the future.
Hokori
Hokori came through the SA Qualifier and became the second team from the region at the event.
There isn’t much to say about them in terms of outstanding performance. One thing about them is they tend to fight. A LOT. And also die a lot. Their games tend to turn into the real massacre, with constant teamfighting, midgame oriented cores and aggressive playstyle with emphasis on map control.
They also tend to play around their carry a lot. This and their overly aggressive playstyle might be both their strength and their weakness.
Soniqs
Soniqs (ex. Quincy Crew) is the team of the legendary players of North America. I can’t remember a TI without them since the team formed, and it was weird to think that they came from the regional qualifier, meaning they were close to losing this spot.
While all the players on the team are legendary and famous for their great performance, there are two players shaping the meta of the team. The first is Yawar, who is the center of attention and the priority player on the team. The second player is Quinn, who is famous for his outstanding skill on midlane.
Having a strong core player and a lane dominating mid already hint at the optimal playstyle for the team, with one of the team’s strongest sides is high diversity (2nd highest). And LESLAO, being among the most diverse players at this TI, along with supports, complete the picture by usually playing a teamfighting offlaner with a strong early to mid game and aggressive teamfighting supports.
Fnatic
Fnatic is the first team on the list who got here by DPC points, while also being another one of the staple orgs at the tournament.
While there are many famous and strong players on the team, J is the one, who takes the spotlight and ends up taking the biggest priority. They are also the most diverse team (1st highest diversity) and the team with high objective stats, but low to average kills and hero damage. This means they usually tend to avoid unnecessary fights, while winning time by controlling the map with creep waves.
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses and Arteezy can also be seen as necessary for TI11. And with addition of Nightfall, as well as return of Fly, this team looks as strong as ever.
Their star player is, of course, Arteezy. Not only he gets better lineups, but the team plays around him, and not without a reason: he still remains one of the best performers at this level. On the other hand, there are Abed, a very strong midlane player, who excells at playing fast and aggressive early to mid game, as well as Nightfall, who is also great at this, but also tends to play heroes with a great lategame potential. This, along with the playstyle of their supports, creates a strong emphasis on 4+1 midgame, teamfights and eventually dual core lineups.
They might look weak on paper, since their average kills, assists, XPM and GPM are either worst or close to it. However there is a reason for this: they have everything under control. With a relatively high winrate, they have both 2nd shortest game and win durations. Another strong side of the team is their diversity (4th highest).
Gaimin Gladiators
Gaimin Gladiators are similar to EG in many ways. Both teams have a strong emphasis on their carry, both teams have pretty low average stats, but also low games duration (with a lower winrate, however).
They seem to pay a lot of attention to their safelane matchup as well, but to a lesser degree, since difference between all three cores in regards of last pick priority is much lower.
Tundra
Last year Tundra losing out on TI was upsetting. This time, however, they finally are able to show what they are capable of.
This is the third team on the list with pretty low averages, but also low game duration. In case of this team, however, the explanation is much more obvious: the team is famous for picking “zoo” heroes and pushing. Nine usually ends up getting the last pick priority, but generally speaking the team tends to efficiently manage all the resources, spreading them equally between all the cores.
TSM
TSM are known for their love for pushing (1st highest tower damage), which is also reflected in their hero choices: a lot of aggressive mid to late game heroes with illusions, summoned units and direct tower damage. They also among the teams, who tend to abuse Chen’s power.
TSM’s last pick priority is equally split between Timado and SabeRLighT-, depending on the strategy and lineups. And while generally they tend to play aggressively, their vision usage shows, that they are more thoughtful about it and prefer to accumulate resources first and play defensively.
BOOM
BOOM are among the more interesting teams. First, when investigating the parties graph I found out that BOOM players have the most matches played together in pubs compared to everybody else. Second, their hero choices, while still staying mostly true to meta, quite often might contain some exotic picks.
Their playstyle is mostly based around pushing and strong start. They also have a strong priority for the carry’s matchup and generally like picking aggressive core heroes for safelane to suit their invasive and fast playstyle.
Thunder Awaken
Thunder Awaken is another team that loves fighting. They have the highest kills and assists (and also pretty high average deaths and the highest average damage per minute), while also having pretty high tower damage per minute and taking a lot of objectives, while preferring shorter games.
Pakazs gets the highest priority in terms of drafts, and his playstyle defines the playstyle of the team. Thunder tend to wait until they are ready, while also playing strong utility-ish heroes with map control capabilities (and, naturally, good teamfight). However, their hero choices are quite limited, which leads to the worst hero diversity compared to other TI teams.
Aster
The player photos above are slightly outdated. Notably, photo used for 皮球 is wrong. Thanks to /u/vinzoo92 for pointing this out.
Team Aster seems weird on paper. While their favorite picks suggest midgame domination into long games, they generally prefer to play quickly and pressure opponents until their carry is ready, with midlaner taking the lead in the meantime. This is also reflected in their draft priorities: Monet usually gets a better matchup, with Ori on the second place.
This is all while their offlane heroes are great at teamfighting and map control, while also scaling well into the lategame. With all this, however, the team is losing out on objectives in the meantime, but compensates it by being able to efficiently accumulate critical mass of resources.
beastcoast
Beastcoast is the fan-favorite team with a quite unique playstyle. They might not be good at fighting, but they are strong at accumulating resources and efficient farming, as well as fast games. And they tend to utilize this to their advantage.
While K1 gets the highest priority and the most love, the rest of the team is busy with stacks (3rd highest by stacks), while also picking the most annoying and hard to deal with heroes and abusing this to create space for their carry, until everybody is online.
Team Spirit
Team Spirit are the defending champions. Their stellar performance was a surprise for many, but this time there is much more pressure on their shoulders, as people already know what they are capable of.
While TORONTOTOKYO is rather strong and aggressive on midlane, two players who equally share the last pick priority are Yatoro and CoLLapSe. This comes with no surprise, as these two players have the most impressive pub stats, while also being the team’s strongest core and the playmaker respectively.
They are quite efficient at applying pressure and winning time, while also denying enemies of any vision while being very efficient with their own. They also tend to play a lot around their strong teamfight (once again, thanks to CoLLapSe), while also being great at drafting and feeling the game tempo. On the weak side, they tend to play very long games (which might backfire on them), while also not being very flexible in terms of their drafts.
OG
Small note to clarify. During most of the recent matches Chu was playing for OG instead of Misha, which is why he is shown on the graphic. The stats of the team were affected by this, which is why I did not replace Chu with Misha. However, everything else still holds true.
While this OG lineup is not the same as the one that won TI, it’s still very similar in spirit and playstyle.
OG is one of the most diverse teams at the event (5th highest), while also preferring fast games and very aggressive fighting. Another staple of the team is very efficient farming (2nd highest XPM and 3rd highest GPM) and three farmed cores with great scaling and teamfight, as well as efficient vision and map control.
PSG.LGD
And the last team to talk about is PSG.LGD. This team was expected to win TI again and again and again. Year after year they were the strongest across the board, getting to the highest places, but still not able to get the Aegis. Nobody knows if this time is different, but their stats sure are stellar.
While having short average game duration, their average farm and damage stats are either highest or close to it. They are disciplined, everything they do has a purpose. Ame and especially Faith_bian are among the most versatile players at the event. Their drafting is also at the top, with the legendary xiao8 covering LGD’s back.
Closing thoughts
That’s about it.
This was a very hard (and sad) year to say the least. And while none of the teams I work with got to TI, there are still plenty of people I knew for a while, who finally got to compete at this level, and I am very happy for them.
Of course, my judgement of the teams and their playstyle is not the final truth you can find, but hopefully this blog post will guide you though the event and help you understand it better.
I am also happy to work at The International once again, so stay tuned on the English stream during Main Event for some numbers and storylines.
Until the next time comes, you can follow me on Twitter or join my Discord. You can also make a donation here to support my project if you like what I do and would like to help, I really appreciate that.
(or you can help by donating to humanitarian mission in Ukraine instead)
P.S. Oh, and here are my compendium predictions based on my Pre-TI reports. At the moment of writing they are almost locked, but maybe somebody will be interested.
