DotA like never before..

Team KS.int has just won the DotA League Masters Offline tournament. They beat MYM in the winners bracket finals & again at the grand finals. But the amazing part is their game-play. Both the matches against MYM are lessons that the DotA community can learn from forever. Especially the grand final, where KS picked Banshee, Tinker, Tauren, Rylai & Nerub. That line-up alone is enough to explain how KS is taking the game to the next level. There is neither a carry nor even a hero who can do considerable attack damage with items.

MYM had Riki, Warlock, Crixalis, Lina & Broodmother. Considering how riki is in 6.57b, I was really surprised when neither teams banned him. But none of that mattered when KS started ganking. Tinker went with Tauren & Banshee was mid solo. Then again, it is logical considering that they needed Banshee's ulti to push early since they didn't have a carry. Early game obviously belonged to KS considering that they were facing the likes of Riki & Brood who can't do much damage without their basic items.

Once the game reached the 20th minute, all hell broke loose. KS started pushing as if they were being chased by a stampede of buffaloes. With Rylai, Nerub & Tauren, they instantly killed heroes without even going near them. When those 3 spam their spells, any hero would die & if that didn't kill a hero, there is always a Tinker with a BoT who jumps into every fight from nowhere. It was a massacre after that. The way Banshee & Tinker moved in & out of the battles was amazing. By 40th minute, the game was over & Tinker had farmed more than 200 creeps when his teammate Tauren had 18 creep kills.

At the end, Tauren didn't have dagger, Rylai didn't have BKB but Nerub did have his dagon & Banshee had Hex. Not to mention, Tinker had BoT, Shiva's Guard & BKB. There was so much action from the 20th minute that, it was more exciting than a Hollywood blockbuster action movie. KS has really shown the community how exciting DotA can be, opposed to the boring ‘Carry hero must farm' strategy. The grand final was a victory not just for KS, but for DotA itself as a whole, simply because KS brought out the full potential of DotA. This match is how exciting DotA can be & should be.

Rylai's beauty is a Deception!

Crystal Maiden (Rylai) became the new favourite among the top international clans when her ranged aura was turned into a global aura. It passively adds 3 mana regeneration at level 4 to all allies. This obviously gives a lot of advantage to the team, but still, it is hard to play Rylai. She is too slow, fragile & she can't even opt for stats early game since she has to go with the aura. Apart from that, she also has a channeling ulti. So, I used to hesitate in picking Rylai for serious matches, till now.

I just saw the replay of a ESL match between DTS & SK. The famous SK.Loda weirdly played support this time & his hero of choice was Rylai. I wanted to know whether Rylai was even playable and so, I saw the whole replay in Rylai's perspective. Damn! how wrong was I!! Yes, she is weak & slow, but if you manage to keep a distance from the fight, she can do everything from owning the lane to ganking to nuking the enemies in team battles.

All you need to do is get a bunch of stunners. Loda's lanemate was DK in mid and his allies were Puck, Crixalis and Zeus. Since he had a stunner with him & was facing a solo hero, he was able to own that lane. He quickly got a bottle & picked up every single rune. Then, he got boots & his ganks were that easy. He even took her ulti at level 6 & used it to kill. After bracers & Ogre Axe, he went for Dagger. When he finished BKB, it was GG!