Dota 2’s metagame changed overnight with patch 7.34, only two months before The International 2023. Hand of Midas was one of the items that saw tweaks in the update, and the item can now hold two charges. Shortly after reading the patch notes that dropped on Aug. 8, Dota 2 community members invented a new gold-farming strategy that looked better on paper.
Fans who loaded into the game’s Demo mode found out that Hand of Midas’ latest version didn’t share a cooldown with duplicate versions. This means that players could purchase more than one Hand of Midas, and they would all have separate cooldowns. As a result, Ogre Magi suddenly became everyone’s favorite hero, with players farming three or more copies of Hands of Midas on the hero.
Even Shopify Rebellion’s Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek joined the craze, accompanying his three gold makers with a Refresher Orb. But despite turning Ogre Magi into the richest hero on the map, the strategy ended up hurting Ogre Magi’s win rate.
Related: The biggest winners and losers of Dota 2 Patch 7.34
In a report released by STRATZ.com, Ogre Magi was ranked highly in the list of patch 7.34’s top losers. The hero’s win rate dropped below 50 percent after suffering a substantial loss of 4.7 percent.
Though the strategy looked solid on paper, the Hand of Midas strategy prolonged the time Ogre Magi spent away from his teammates. Considering his tanky nature and impactful spells, Ogre Magi is a hero who is required to take an active role around the map, especially during the early game.
The Hand of Midas route nullifies Ogre Magi’s early game effectiveness, and by the time he has all the tools in the shop, the enemy team gears up to finish the game.
