This is an invitation to discussion and not me just preaching. Also, allat warning
The past couple of seasons we've seen teams have their perma-picks and their perma-bans. But, certain teams seem to be leaning against having these picks and instead focus on either counter-banning or having multiple strong maps that they would not miss if they were banned. I only have SEN as a notable example, but I'd love to see if anyone can find similar scenarios in the other regions.
I know LOUD vs SEN isn't over (as of me writing this it is 2-0 SEN on maps and 8-10 LOUD on Icebox, I will edit this after), but SEN vs NRG also shows what I mean -- SEN is strong on plenty of maps. Split is the obvious example, but they also have had incredibly strong matches on Sunset and Lotus during the few matches they were picked. They do have a permaban in Icebox, and this current match is the first time they're playing on it because they did not ban it (this will be important later). But, why weren't these strong maps (especially Split) banned in their matches instantly?
Because the other teams (in this case NRG and LOUD) are more worried about their bad maps than SEN's good ones. NRG's permabans this tourney were Bind and Icebox -- they banned them every match. But, because SEN banned Icebox, they weren't sure what to ban after. They didn't ban Split even though SEN has been notably strong there, and they didn't ban Lotus where SEN had a strong performance. I do think NRG were in a catch 22 during this ban pick. They wanted Bind and Icebox gone so badly and they probably weren't comfy with the lack of info they had for Lotus that they were willing to let Split through. That was obviously a mistake.
Similarly with LOUD. Breeze is LOUD's permaban -- they banned it every match including the one they're currently playing. But that meant Split was a free pick for SEN because it was BO5. Meanwhile, SEN banned Ascent instead, not Icebox. So LOUD's strongest map was out of the series, and SEN's strongest was in. And even if SEN loses on Icebox, their permaban... they're putting up a fight!
So what does this imply? That permabans are potentially becoming a major weakness, because now teams are adapting and are diversifying their map pool to read into the permabans and potentially antistrat the other team. NRG let Split through because they really wanted Bind gone and got 13-3d. LOUD let Split through because they wanted Breeze gone and got 13-3d, and they also don't get Ascent. SEN, meanwhile, has played on every map in the map pool this tourney at least once (once this Icebox game finishes). Not as strong a point, because SEN has also played the most matches. But, still an interesting point.
What do you all think?
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