Cover-Credits:
Two-time TI [The International] winner Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov of Team Spirit is arguably one of the best Magnus players in the professional Dota 2 scene. His skills as an offlaner have been reflected in his achievements and have been acknowledged by the Dota 2 community.
In the recent DreamLeague Season 22 series against Shopify Rebellion on 5th March, Collapse put on a show with his Mars in game 2 and had a moment where he made a Venn Diagram out of Mars’ Arena of Blood. Although heroes like Mars and Magnus may have been a necessity for the team, Collapse in a post-game interview with Brian "BSJ" Canavan revealed which hero he likes to play.
“You’re Always Going to Win the Lane,” Says Collapse
“Probably Centaur, you’re always going to win the lane if you play Centaur,” said Collapse while revealing to BSJ and to the world that Centaur was his favorite offlaner to play. BSJ asked Collapse what made Centaur so strong in the lane and why it was a favorite amongst the offlaners.
Collapse replied that Centaur’s stats had a big role behind his strength including his health regeneration. Collapse said, “his regen [health regeneration] but he has low armor but you can buy rings of protection to cover it. I think he has kind of the best spells for offlane heroes. He has stun, he has stampede. You can save your team, you can help with initiation and I think he’s just that hero that kills everyone with his broken nukes and broken ultimate.”
Unlike traditional Centaur players, Collapse has a unique approach to the hero and usually plays the hero offensively rather than becoming a tank machine. In the first game against Shopify Rebellion, Collapse chose to max out his Hoof stomp first and max his Double Edge skill second. Interestingly, he chose not to max his Retaliate skill, a build that he has been following throughout the tournament. Collapse has played Centaur 60 times in professional games and has a mighty win rate of 71.67%.
According to Liquidpedia.net, at the ongoing DreamLeague Season 22, Centaur is the 6th favorite pick of the tournament and has been picked in 45 games out of the 162 games played. Team Spirit has played with Centaur five times in this tournament and has won three games with the hero. Additionally, according to Dotabuff.com, the hero is currently favored by the Dota 2 community as a meta offlane hero and has an average pick rate of 8.47% with a win rate of 51.95%.
While Centaur may be enjoying the high tides, Collapse’s Team Spirit is struggling to secure its spot in the ongoing DreamLeague Season 22. The team currently is tied with Shopify Rebellion and only has two more games to ensure it claims a spot in the playoffs.
