I think about DOTA 2

A niche pick

Match ID: 8817248835

About the witch doctor pick in the pari vs liquid game, I think that the wd's biggest impact is not what he did but what he made the opponent not be able to do. Usually when I see tidehunters, they get the safelane T1 and feel comfortable enough to take over and farm the opponent's safelane jungle.

In this game, not once did he drag the wave behind the tower and farmed it with a pull camp. He actually maybe only once farmed one of the pull camps, which is usually a contested area between the 1 and 3. The one time he got too close to the tower (11:07), he almost died. And very few heroes can do that to a tide. Witch doctor is a hard counter to him because his passives don't work vs him. Maledict isn't dispellable and is really good vs tanky heroes and death ward goes through kraken shell. And because he understands the matchup, he played conservatively to farm and not feed, which isn't ideal for a tide.

Tide running away.jpg

Regardless, the networth difference wasn't that high at first. The rest of what happened in the game is of course pretty relevant to its outcome, but an accumulation of disadvantages will eventually have an impact.