Dota 2 Getting Crazy Custom Matchups Next Week

During last night's all-star game at The International 2015, pros teamed up with members of the audience to showcase a new custom setting that will be hitting Dota 2 next week – a setting that allows for up to 24 players in a single match. While last night's game was only 10v10, 24-player support means we'll be seeing 12v12 matches next week at home. If last night's game is any indicator, these games will be absolutely wild, even if they don't resemble core Dota 2 in any way.

Last night's game showed both teams converging in the middle lane, and with double the players, Dota 2 is a markedly different experience filled with tons and tons of death. Certain abilities are absolutely insane when the player count is doubled, as Dendi's Pudge racked up a massive amount of strength by being in proximity of so many hero deaths, and there was an amazing Tusk snowball-delivered Techies explosion that blew up almost the entire enemy team. 

Our Take
It's great to cool down after a few heated ranked Dota 2 matches with something a little less serious, and custom modes like this should offer a nice goofy option after you've been farmed into oblivion for 40 minutes by a Phantom Lancer. It's cool to see hero values change in modes like this, as characters with global/area-of-effect abilities (like Zeus!) should get pretty crazy; I can't wait to see an Ancient Apparition ice ball blow up a 12-man push. As a big time Undying player, I can't wait to create a massive legion of zombies and sap strength from an obscene amount of targets.