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Update 7.23 has changed the Dota 2 metagame in some major ways, like making it easier than ever to take control of a game in the early stages and stay in control until the match ends.
And according to datdota, more than 40 percent of all games end before the 30-minute mark.
Over 231 matches, mainly consisting of qualifying matches leading into the DreamLeague Season 13 Major qualifiers, 7.23 has an average match duration of 33 minutes. That is down from the 37-minute average from the first two weeks of 7.22 and continues a trend for Valve trying to maintain that sub-40-minute sweet spot for each game.
It is very likely that the match time will spike slightly after the qualifiers are over and teams actually have time to tweak their hero pools with the new changes that the update has added. That 40 percent total translates to roughly 103 of the 231 matches ending at or before 30 minutes.
The numbers right now are a little skewed because the open qualifiers for the Dota Pro Circuit are single-elimination through the round of 16, which means there is less of a data pool to pull from. That is also the stage where established players and rosters prey on new stacks, which typically result in quick routs.
And as the more competitive rosters start to match up with each other in the closed qualifiers, there will be more 40 to 50-minute matches because both sides have mastered their craft and can play at the highest level, despite not knowing all of the changes.
Up to this point, there have only been eight games that have lasted 60 minutes or longer, with more than half of them occurring in the last two days, which already shows the trend moving slightly.
The longest match of the current patch is currently a game between Gambit Esports and Team Spirit that took place in the closed qualifiers for Dream League Season 13. That match lasted 1:08:27 and saw Spirit split the series against one of the stronger teams in the CIS region.
Meanwhile, the shortest game also came from the closed qualifiers, as Chaos Esports Club decimated DoZe Esports in 13 minutes. That capped a series in which Chaos won both games in less than 20 minutes each.
There are still slightly over seven days until the patch hits the two-week mark, which means we will have to wait and see where the data settles once that period and Major qualifiers are over.
