There were a lot of surprises at The International 2019, including Elder Titan being the hottest pick, OG dominating the competition with Tiny, and Team Liquid boasting the largest hero pool at the tournament.
With the event in the rearview mirror and the new season approaching soon, it’s worth taking a look back at the numbers of The International 2019.
The most-banned hero was Alchemist, while the most-picked was Elder Titan.
Dota 2 players at all levels know that a good Alchemist game can be very difficult to overcome. The hero can generate absurd amounts of gold, exaggerate the net worth gap, and take over the entire map. It’s the same at the pro level and teams preferred to ban him, rather than deal with that slippery slope.
On the other hand, Elder Titan offers tankiness alongside strong team fight tools in Echo Stomp and Astral Spirit. The hero can set up a fight from afar and save its cores from death. The top three teams in The International 2019 all had Elder Titan as a go-to pick. Two-time TI Champion OG played nine games with Elder Titan.
However, the team’s most picked hero is Tiny. In the grand final series against Team Liquid, Dota 2 fans saw OG pick the hero in each game.
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OG used the hero as a mid laner for Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen but also used him extensively as a roaming support for Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka. Other teams even opted to use him as an off-laner. This added together to make Tiny one of the most versatile picks in Dota 2.
Speaking of versatile, Team Liquid had the most heroes played of the tournament. With 62 different heroes played, the team proved that it can play any style of game. That number is partly inflated by how they made it to the grand finals after a prolonged trip through the lower bracket, but there is no questioning their skills.
Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi and Team Secret’s Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng shared the record for most heroes played
Templar Assassin was one of the most picked heroes for Team Liquid. A popular mid-lane choice due to her early peak and solid late-game scaling, the hero got the highest number of last hits in the entire tournament.
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