Infographic: Team DK’s 6.78 and 6.79 drafting

Accepting change is one thing. Coping with it is a different story. That’s pretty much what happened when the Dota 2 competitive scene met the 6.79 patch update. But that’s what competitive Dota is about — skill, strategy, and adaptation. It’s been around three months since the great Chinese shuffle and well over a month since the new patch was implemented. With the help of the data acquired from DatDota.com, let’s take a look at how the top Chinese teams’ drafting has changed so far.

First off, we have Team DK. This team blew minds when it was first formed with its new powerhouse lineup sporting the best imports from Malaysia and Singapore. In fact, the team went on to stomp competition with an unbeaten streak up until it met 6.79. The update seemed to have rattled the juggernaut team and it has suffered several losses since then. Of course, that doesn’t mean it has spiraled into failure. In fact, it recently made it to the grand finals of MLG Columbus. So how has Team DK changed so far in terms of drafting?

Although I know that Venomancer has become a rather common pick in today’s meta, I was still surprised to find the hero in the top bans and even in the most contested. This could be attributed to the buff it received from Venomancer’s Plague Wards. On the other hand, Bat Rider has made a disappearance thanks to the nerf it received from 6.79.

Looking at the player roles, Team DK also seems to favor Luna as a carry, as most teams do after 6.79. The solo mid role doesn’t seem to be much since the top spots seem to rotate among three heroes with an addition of Nyx Assassin. However, this is Mushi we’re talking about here. Rest assured that this happened because he plays a variety of heroes thanks to his insanely large hero pool (How many pros do you think can play Shadow Shaman solo mid?). Some of those heroes were played less than five times, so they couldn’t be included in the infographic.

I would also like to point out the prominence of Io in this team. Those who have been following the scene know that the Chinese did not see Io as a viable pick until the Europeans used it against them in The International 2013. However, also worth mentioning is the Tiny-Wisp combo by EHome (LaNm’s team at the time) that threw Team Orange (Mushi’s team at the time) out of The International 2012.

Team DK has yet to win a championship after its reformation. The closest it got to a championship win was the grand finals of MLG Columbus 2013, which it ultimately lost to Speed Gaming. The upcoming tournaments it will be competing in include G-League, HyperX Dota 2 League, and WPC-ACE Dota 2 to name a few, so there are still plenty of opportunities for the team to excel.

UPDATE 29-11-13: Updated the information on unique heroes and added total number of unique heroes since roster change.