Team Mineski Preview: ESL One Manila
Mineski are one of the oldest teams, having been created back in the early days of Dota 1. The team have been at the forefront of the establishment and popularization of the eSports scene in the Philippines.
While traditionally strong at home, Mineski’s influence in the SEA region has waned of late. They have recently been absent from the international stage, whereas not so long ago they used to be regular participants in major tournaments.
The team have made some recent changes, adding Benhur “Ben” Lawis and Jun “Bok” Kanehara to replace the departed Carlo “Kuku” Palad and Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa.
The two Supports – Julius “Julz” De Leon and Jessie Cristy “JessieVash” Cuyco – have been with the team since early 2015, while the captain and team Carry Ryan Jay “Bimbo” Qui has been a crucial part of Mineski since November 2014.
Roster
Ryan Jay “Bimbo” Qui (c) – position 1
Benhur “Ben” Lawis – position 2
Jun “Bok” Kanehara – position 3
Julius “Julz” De Leon – position 4
Jessie Cristy “JessieVash” Cuyco – position 5
Mark “Cast” Pilar – Sub
Recent achievements
MarsTV Dota 2 League Winter 2015 – 9-10th
BTS Southeast Asia #3 – 3rd-4th
BTS Southeast Asia #4 – 9-16th
Win rate
April – 0% (0 wins, 2 losses), March 45.5% (5 wins, 6 losses)
Patch 6.86 – 50.0% (26 wins, 26 losses)
Top 5 most picked heroes (patch 6.86)
| Hero | Pick % | Times Picked |
| Vengeful Spirit | 59.6 | 31 |
| Witch Doctor | 48.1 | 25 |
| Invoker | 44.2 | 23 |
| Nature’s Prophet | 32.7 | 17 |
| Outworld Destroyer | 30.8 | 16 |
Top 5 most banned heroes (patch 6.86)
| Hero | Pick % | Times Banned |
| Bounty Hunter | 50.0 | 26 |
| Invoker | 44.2 | 23 |
| Chen | 42.3 | 22 |
| Batrider | 40.4 | 21 |
| Outworld Destroyer | 38.5 | 20 |
Mineski tend to use heroes that are currently popular in the meta game. One example of this is Vengeful Spirit – a well-rounded support who is mostly used for his ganking and team fighting abilities.
The most successful hero for Mineski in the 6.86 patch has been Outworld Destroyer, particularly when deployed as a solo mid (67% win rate, 8 wins and 4 losses). In contrast, their second most popular pick, Witch Doctor, when being used in dual safe lane, has only delivered a 33.3% win rate over 9 games (3 wins, 6 losses).
In the laning phase, Mineski usually plays with a formation consisting of a solo mid lane, dual hard lane, offlaner and a roamer (a role played by JessieVash or Julz). This allows them to try and make rotations and successful ganks early-on so as to build an early advantage and provide space for their Carry.
Bok and Ben will refresh the roster and offer new opportunities for hero picks. Ben’s strong heroes are Queen of Pain, Juggernaut and Razor, while Bok is quite handy with the Faceless Void. Using Queen of Pain as a solo mid hero has resulted in this becoming one of the team’s most successful heroes in the current patch (75% win rate, 6 wins and 2 losses) so Ben could really boost their play here.
The effects of the inclusion of the two new players are yet to be seen and will be key to whether Mineski will become internationally competitive again. Playing at home, they will certainly try to do their best to impress the fans in Manila.
The team haven’t had the best of starts to the month, suffering two losses in their first games in April. They also failed to qualify for EPICENTER and ESL One Frankfurt.
While it’s too early to say, it seems that they are not ready to step up and regain their spot as a top SEA team, let alone compete against the top Dota 2 teams. Consequently, despite the home advantage, Mineski will most likely fail to make an impact in the tournament and so expect elimination in the group stages.
Dafabet will be providing competitive odds on ESL One Manila.
