On Drafting

                Let me first say that it is impossible to be outdrafted unless you choose to be outdrafted. This thought can be justified with the following logic; the hero pool is so large at this point that no matter what the other team picks there will always be a viable set of heroes that will allow you to compete with them. Often people mistake problems with other things for problems with the draft, it's far too easy and convenient to simply say "We had a weak draft, if we'd taken such and such a hero instead we would have won" 

                One should always look to what could have been done with the heroes that actually were picked. If the situation can be rectified without replacing any of the chosen heroes then the problem was not with the draft at all.

                As an example one game I recall playing we had a trilane with an Enchantress against a Beastmaster while we had Tidehunter offlane against two with a Chen in the forest. This game was a disaster, no serious advantage was gained with our trilane and their trilane quickly started to brush up against our barracks. However had we done the trilane against theirs things could have been totally different, Tidehunter can handle a solo Beastmaster very easily and Chen would have real trouble with Enchantress and her buddy in the forest.

                After this particular game there was a very heated discussion about why we had lost, one argument brought up was "You never let them get both Leshrac and Chen in the same lineup". This is a copout. To simply say that they won because they had those two heroes ignores the greater problem of why things did not work. Not to say that Chen and Leshrac are not excellent heroes and very capable of an extremely fast push. But to say that it's a problem with the lineup is to ignore all other arguments and deeper reasoning for our failure.

                There is a limit to what you can do during the draft. Even if you knew what the other team was going to pick with one hundred percent certainty beforehand you can never completely outpick them.

                The last sentence I made wasn't entirely correct, it is possible to be outpicked but it's not something that the other team does to you. It's something you do to yourself. Through your own lack of vision you can pick yourself into a corner, by setting your sights on one particular hero that has no real replacement then him getting banned/picked up by the other team, or by giving away completely what you want to do early on.

                Let me briefly say what I mean by outpicked. I mean when a lineup neatly counters the entire enemy lineup, for example a very mana heavy, teamfight lineup can be almost completely countered with heroes like Pugna and Silencer.

                When you put all your eggs in one basket, when the other team decides to target that particular basket you're not left with much in the way of recourse. However even when you do this to yourself there is still hope to turn things around in game, even a weak lineup can win with clever play.

                I'd like to speak briefly now about how one should go about picking the heroes. I believe you should take a very Zen stance toward it, yes it is wonderful to have competent people around you to make informed suggestions, oftentimes they pick up on things that you yourself would miss. However if you get too bogged down in your team's banter then you risk your lineup losing focus, this is the same with any other thing, as an example if a movie has too many screenwriters it will become a nonsensical mess. If a draft has too many major contributors it will become a confused and unfocused mess.

                Like Frankenstein's monster it will have parts of various different lineups that its contributors had in mind that simply do not work together. This is another way of allowing yourself to be outpicked.

                When you're in the captain's chair it is your duty to listen to your teammates, it is a poor leader that cannot hear another's point of view. However you must let their opinions flow around you as a river does, you are aware of them and can take their ideas how you see fit but you may also ignore the ones that you dislike.

                If you get that feeling in your gut that says "This hero is not going to work with my lineup" then you usually should not ignore it.

                That's all I wanted to write for now, no doubt some other brilliant ideas will come to me later in the day. Thank you very much for reading.