Lich bans and Dark Seer picks: the way VP plays in TI7

How many heroes did VP use in the group stage? These are the numbers that tell everything about Virtus.pro's tactic in TI7.

Virtus.pro's most popular bans were Night Stalker (8 bans) and Lich (7 bans). Interestingly, VP only started banning Lich after their defeat by LFY. Chinese team picked Lich for their support ddc two times over the course of the match, which undoubtedly played a big part in their victory over Virtus.pro G2A.

Virtus.pro's preferred bans

  • Night Stalker – 8 bans
  • Lich – 7 bans
  • Puck – 6 bans

In group stage, Virtus.pro G2A played 42 unique characters, among them the most popular are Dark Seer (6 picks) and Sand King (5 picks). Leaving Dark Seer open is a dangerous move for VP's opponents - Pavel “9pasha” Hvastunov boasts an impressive (78%) win rate on Dark Seer. In group stage alone, Dark Seer carried 5 games out of 6 picks.

If Sand King appears in picks of Virtus.pro, he is most likely to be played by Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk. Despite the winrate of only 50% during TI7, Crixalis helped to secure the victory in one of the games in the series with OG during The Kiev Major 2017, and showed a spectacular performance in Dreamleague Season 7 and EPICENTER: Moscow Season 2 (in the match again Team Liquid).

Virtus.pro's preferred picks

  • Dark Seer – 6 picks
  • Sand King – 5 picks
  • Sven /Dragon Knight – 4 picks

Against VP, the most banned champion is little Io (whopping 10 bans), with Batrider and Night Stalker sharing second place at 5 bans. During the group stage, VP only managed to pick Io 2 times – both times against NewBee, with only 50% win rate.

Io's popularity isn't surprising – he's one of the most used heroes in arsenals of Alexei “Solo” Berezin (67% win rate) and Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk (62% win rate). Io was frequently used during The Kiev Major 2017 (victories against Team Random, iG.V and iG) and then during EPICENTER: Moscow Season 2 (victories against ODD and iG).

Popular bans against Virtus.pro

  • Io – 10 bans
  • Night Stalker – 5 bans
  • Batrider – 5 bans

Complete list of heroes picked by Virtus.pro in the group stage:

  1. Ogre Magi
    Faceless Void
    3. Earth Spirit
    4. Batrider
    5. Viper
    6. Dark Seer
    7. Sven
    8. Disruptor
    9. Dragon Knight
    10. Nyx Assassin
    11. Sand King
    12. Jakiro
    13. Troll Warlord
    14. Sniper
    15. Venomancer
    16. Templar Assassin
    17. Silencer
    18. Weaver
    19. Puck
    20. Bloodseeker
    21. Shadow Demon
    22. Kunkka
    23. Centaur Warrunner
    24. Antimage
    25. Earth Spirit
    26. Witch Doctor
    27. Death Prophet
    28. Night Stalker
    29. Crystal Maiden
    30. Necrophos
    31. Enchantress
    32. Ursa
    33. Luna
    34. Warlock
    35. Invoker
    36. IO
    37. Chaos Knight
    38. Lycan
    39. Queen of Pain
    40. Ember Spirit
    41. Legion Commander
    42. Spirit Breaker
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