ESPORTS: The Berlin Major By The Numbers

It’s a topsy-turvy meta after patch 7.33b.

The Berlin Major, the first big tournament after the New Frontiers update, is behind us. It was a steep learning process for the players, with those who were able to adapt the quickest coming out on top.

The sheer amount of changes introduced by the patch guaranteed that we were going to see a different meta. As such, what emerged was a massive shift in priority among the pros. Here are just a few interesting stats that caught our eye.

Stats were taken from Liquipedia.

The Top Five Picks

Crystal Maiden (48.69%)
Keeper of the Light (42.41%)
Underlord (38.74%)
Rubick (38.74%)
Doom (38.22%)

Compared to the Lima Major earlier this year, the top five picks are all different except for Rubick. Even then he falls down from first to fourth as heroes with stronger utility dominate the Berlin Major.

The Winning Side

Radiant (105 wins, 54.97%) – Dire (85 wins, 45.03%)

Another big shift from the Lima Major, which heavily favored the Dire side (40.93% – 59.07%). Considering the massive changes brought by the New Frontiers update, this shift could just come down to player unfamiliarity with the patch. Sloppy map movement and mistakes in pick priority does a lot to even the scales.

Zero to Hero

Alchemist was definitely good in the Berlin Major — (*Image credit: Valve*)

Medusa (75% win rate and 12.57% pick rate – up from 0% for both)
Alchemist (65.08% win rate and 32.98% pick rate – up from 0% win rate and 1.04% pick rate)

These two absolutely skyrocketed to the top thanks to individual buffs in the patch. Brawls were also everywhere in the Berlin Major and these two were able to thrive in such an environment. In particular, Alchemist was a ticking time bomb for his opponents as his ability to passively gain gold meant that he would always be ahead of the curve in terms of items.

The Biggest Losers

Lina 0 ercent pick rate berlin major — (*Image credit: Dota 2 Wiki*)

Nature’s Prophet (53.42% win rate and 37.82% pick rate – down to 0% for both)
Lina (61.11% win rate and 27.98% pick rate – down to 0% for both)

How the mighty have fallen. From the top two carries from the Lima Major to not even being picked or banned in the Berlin Major. One could argue that they were problematic heroes in the last patch but it’s rather unfortunate that the overall changes of the 7.33b would reduce them to this.

Bonus: Secretly OP?

Dawnbreaker, Meepo, and Spritbreaker have a 100% win rate in the Berlin Major

Considering that there are only five games played between the three of them, it’s safe to say that it’s probably not them doing the heavy lifting in their wins.

Banner image from ESL One.