TI8 All-Star Teams Clash in Mutation Mode

One of the highlights of The International 2018 was an all-star match featuring the new Mutation mode.

Since Danil “Dendi” Ishutin’s taunts in The International 2013 All-Star match, the hype for the show match has grown along with the community. What makes this year’s All-Star game thrilling is seeing new game mutations on the main stage.

The TI8 All-Star players were Song “Sccc” Chun, Per Anders Olsson “Pajkatt” Lille, Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi, Damien “kpii” Chok, and Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka for Team BurNIng, and Team rOtK players Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao, Danylo “Kingrd” Nascimento, Artour “Arteezy” Babae, Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng, and Alexei “Solo” Berezin.

Before the match, each team picked three different mutations. Team BurNing chose “Super Blink Dagger,” where players have blink daggers that do not go on cooldown even when they are taking damage, “Hero Glyph” which fortifies all heroes, and “Death Explosion” with its associated area of effect damage.

Team rOtK opted for a farm-oriented strategy with their “Pocket Towers,” a consumable Tier 1 tower item for each player, “Team Runes,” where all runes picked up apply to all heroes, and “Pocket Roshan,” where Roshan drops a consumable item that creates a new Roshan.

Tipping enemies also dealt pure damage depending on the amount tipped, while tipping allies would heal them.

The match started with Team BurNIng messing up their initial strategy when they tried taking the enemy jungle with Pocket Towers, but the neutral camps spawned ancients, thwarting the attempt. The lane disruption was also not enough to counter high mobility heroes from Team rOtK and their “Super Blink Daggers.”

The compendium level also favored Team rOtK, giving them the advantage in tipping enemy heroes. At the end of the game, it was an easy win for Team rOtK.