"We lacked a ban for Naga". ArtStyle on Team Liquid, PSG.LGD, and TI8

Virtus.pro's coach Ivan "ArtStyle" Antonov analyzed all five maps of the final against Team Liquid and named favorites of The International 2018.

What was the aim of your first game's pick and why did it fail? What was the main problem in the first game?

The first game's biggest problem – same goes for the third and the fifth – is the first pick. So much depends on it, especially on such high level. The problem lied in our playstyle: we picked well and executed the game plan properly, even though they countered Invoker with Naga. Solo did a great job on midlane. All lanes were doing well. We won all three of them, but their in-game pressure was great. We couldn't adequately hold against it since we kept getting picked off before fights.

You repicked Beastmaster and Bane in the second game. Why? And what is Windranger's strength in this composition?

It was the first pick: we mainly were counter-picking enemy heroes. On the last stage, we took Bloodseeker for two lanes. All in all, everything was going great for us, even though the analysts gave us three losses. Beastmaster was a major deciding force in this final.

Your draft in the third game looked very strong, why did the game end faster than the two previous maps? When did you realize the impossibility of the comeback?

The comeback wasn't really impossible: in fact, we did it, the game should have ended in our favor. Due to some sort of miraculous desync we just couldn't hit our spells in the most crucial moment. Liquids created immense pressure on lanes and managed to push us back. Despite all that, they hesitated and gave us a second chance – some sort of a comeback. After that, we were in the lead. They wouldn't be able to deal with our heroes anymore – had we simply hit our spells. But then the chaotic top lane fight happened near the bounty-rune, and everything went downhill after that.

Why was Pangoliers performance better in the fourth game, and not in the third?

Pangolier performed better because his lane was easier. He wasn't zoned early by Warlock, he simply faced Mirana 1 on 1. Pasha is a beast on Pangolier, too. In fact, he solo carried that game. Besides that, Banshee laned well, Solo did a lot. Again, everything depended on the First Pick in this final, so that's why it turned out like this.

You had all the advantage you needed in the fifth game. What went wrong in the midgame, could you turn the game around in late?

The fact that we left Naga for our opponents to take – that's what went wrong. We perform really badly against her. Naga is a beast. We knew what they'd pick, we followed our strict ban-list which we've prepared for the final. It was Lycan, Wisp, Chen – if not for the first pick. We didn't have room for Naga because of it. So she showed up, screwed up a lot of team fights, messed up our game – we lacked a ban for Naga.

Who is currently looking stronger: LGD or Team Liquid? Who's the main favorite of the TI at this point?

aI think that both these teams and we are the current TI favorites. But again – everything may change, there's still a lot of time left. The meta will shift a couple of times, some line-ups will pick up the slack. Someone from the named trio may experience a slump, but I doubt that would be us. LGD or Liquid? I consider them both very strong teams. I'd rate them the same. In some moments LGD shines, in some – Liquid. We had great games today against both of them, and the scoreboard reflects that.