MOBA Madness: was it the draft that cost Mineski their SEA qualifier match?

Many dreams were shattered during the SEA qualifiers, but perhaps none more violently than Philippine team Mineski‘s.

What cost Mineski a possible chance to attend The International 2014 (TI4)? Many said it was because they gave away LaKelz’s Morphling, as it was MiTH-Trust’s key to victory. But right after that, the Korean team MVP Phoenix showed us that Thailand’s so-called key to victory was definitely beatable. So was it the execution or was it the draft? Let’s take a closer look and see what the bans and picks were trying to say during the draft.

The draft

First ban phase

The first ban phase didn’t reveal much about the team’s plans, as they were heroes that are too good in this meta and they didn’t want to play against it.

First pick phase

The first pick for Mineski was Treant support hero, which didn’t say that much about Mineski’s plan except they now had the ability to globally heal towers and allies with Treant and good damage in Viper. Mineski’s performance with these heroes had been good so far in the tournament, and it’s a possible factor that they were riding on this momentum this game as well.