Brazil1429 Posts
Excellent write-up. But I don't think that 'early aggression' is the best way to describe what the chinese do. It's aggression, but a very particular kind of aggression based on a principle deeply rooted in chinese classical philosophy and martial arts: the idea that opposing force with force is not optimal. What is optimal is to act naturally and adapt to circumstances. To force unnatural situations means bringing death close to you, while acting natural means you'll live longer. What's amazing about chinese Dota is that they try to be as natural as possible: they'll avoid as much as possible to force an artificial advantage, they'll put a lot of focus on item progression and will wait for the best timings. You look at them and you might think they're not being aggressive, but the truth is that they're putting a knife in your throat. You could say, in a very chinese way, that they're being aggressive by not being aggressive. That also means avoiding at all costs having pre-conceived ideas interfering in your read of the game. A lot of times you'll see teams trying to force unnatural advantages, or reading something that's not extracted from the game but from pre-conceived ideas.
Good read.
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