Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko, the midlaner for the Dota 2 team PARIVISION, shared his perspective on the current state of top professional teams. Minenko conveyed his thoughts during a stream, and a clip was subsequently published in the LEGENDWP DOTA 2 Telegram channel.
“I think in Dota there is a pool of six, possibly even seven teams now. Aurora has joined this group, and they are definitely capable of winning tournaments. There are minor gaps between them. However, for example, the gap between a team like Tundra and Aurora, or between us [PARIVISION] and Aurora, is significant. This is because we are often a top-3 team in all tournaments. That`s just an example. Hypothetically, the gap between us, Spirit, Tundra, Liquid, Falcons, and BetBoom Team is not very large, mainly because Aurora has just recently joined this top echelon. Yet, each of these teams has the potential to win any given tournament.
And ultimately, what determines the outcome the most at this level is entirely dependent on the player`s mood, their preparation, the tournament`s meta, how a player feels individually, the team`s overall vibe, and the specifics from one tournament to the next. At this stage, other teams fall short precisely in these subtle details, but now… …the core point is that there are practically no skill gaps among all the tier-1 teams. Players have become so proficient in this game and have long since mastered all the intricate details.
If in the past someone could pick… you come to `Int` [The International], pick Necrophos, and everyone would be like: `Wow, what do we do? How do we counter-pick this?` Now, if you pick `Necro`, you`ll essentially be out of the game immediately. That`s merely an illustration because teams are prepared for all heroes and all possible situations. All teams understand how to effectively play their own style of Dota, and so forth.”
Finley Holt