Dota 2 fans have witnessed many professional players dazzle us with highlights that push the boundaries of what is possible — miracle plays you might call them.
However, there is no professional player who is better able to pull off miracles than Team Nigma’s Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi, who more than lives up to his name.
Miracle- has dedicated his entire career to outplaying his opponents — previously as a mid laner, and now as a hard carry player, and he has the highlight reel to prove it.
Join us as we take a closer look at what makes Miracle- one of the greatest players of all time.
5. Outworld Destroyer Solo Rampage
Team Nigma vs Forward Gaming, ESL One Birmingham 2019
While many players are capable of outplaying one or two enemy heroes, Miracle- has the uncanny ability to outplay an entire team thanks to how incredibly good he is at reading his opponents. Combine this with his ability to consistently process and quickly make the best possible decisions in high-pressure situations and you end up with plays like this one.
In this match at ESL One Birmingham against Forward Gaming, Miracle- systematically hunted down Forward Gaming heroes one by one, as he read the situation perfectly and single-handedly earned himself a 1v5 Rampage with his Outworld Destroyer.
4. Spectre fountain dive
Team Liquid vs Fnatic, The International 2018
No matter what hero he’s playing, Miracle- knows how to maximize its potential to the absolute limit. Even in potentially disastrous situations, Miracle- is able to process what he needs to do to give himself and his team the advantage.
In Team Liquid’s match against Fnatic at TI8, Miracle- dove into the Radiant fountain knowing that both the enemy Io and Gyrocopter were extremely low after their Relocate play.
This was an insanely high risk-high reward play however and Miracle- lost a lot of HP in the process. Miracle- also needed to Haunt teleport into another enemy hero to get out of the Radiant base alive.
What was even more surprising was that Miracle- decided to jump straight into another Fnatic core hero during his escape. He then helped his team take the enemy Tiny down.
We dare you to name another player with the sheer confidence to go for a play like this and actually pull it off, on the biggest stage in Dota 2 no less.
3. The greatest escape you’ll ever see
Team Liquid vs Alliance, DreamLeague Season 6 2016
Miracle- isn’t just an elite offensive talent, he knows when to turn on the defense, and is a master escape artist, which makes him one of the hardest players to kill in any game. Just when enemy teams think they have him dead to rights, he will make it as difficult as possible for them to capitalize on anything against him.
This highlight from nearly five years ago might be the best escape play we’ve seen in any professional Dota 2 match. In a matchup against Alliance, Team Liquid found themselves overextended in the Dire base after their opponents used their buybacks.
Miracle- then got left behind as Alliance heroes swarmed around him. His death looked inevitable and most assumed the fight was lost and that Team Liquid would have to wait for him to respawn to regroup, however Miracle- had other plans.
After his TP was canceled by Alchemist’s Unstable Concoction, Miracle- activated his Manta Style and tricked Alliance into chasing after one of the illusions as Miracle- ran away to safety.
To make matters worse for Alliance, they then used Warlock’s Chaotic Offering ultimate in an attempt to secure the kill on Miracle-, only for him to dodge it by using his Blink Dagger.
With all the space Miracle- created, his teammate Maroun “GH” Merhej had already respawned. GH then used Io’s Relocate ultimate to bring Miracle- back to the Radiant base safely.
2. Spells on spells on spells
OG vs TNC Predator, The International 2016
Miracle- has one of the widest hero pools on the Dota pro circuit, and can play practically every hero in the game at an incredibly high level. In fact, before he was a pro player, he was known for using the most difficult and creative plays possible.
Early in his career, Miracle- showcased his incredible mastery of Invoker, one of the most mechanically challenging heroes in the game, back in TI6 against TNC Predator.
After one of his teammates was taken out of the fight, Miracle- swooped in and chained Invoker’s Tornado, EMP, Chaos Meteor, and Deafening Blast in a combo.
He didn’t stop there and used his Refresher Orb to cast a second round of Chaos Meteor and Deafening Blast spells to decimate TNC Predator’s heroes.
1. “That’s just Miracle- being Miracle-” — w33
Team Nigma vs Alliance, Omega League 2020
This play needs to be seen to be believed, and even after you’ve seen it, you won’t believe what you just saw.
Even Miracle-’s teammate, Aliwi “w33” Omar, was unable to precisely describe what was happening during the match. “That’s just Miracle- being Miracle-,” he told ONE Esports.
At last year’s OMEGA League tournament, Miracle- was able to save Team Nigma’s Dire Ancient by perfectly timing and casting Arc Warden’s Magnetic Field, which prevented Alliance from ending the game.
Alliance was up by 18,000 gold and had Team Nigma in desperation mode as they attempted to focus down the Dire team’s exposed Ancient. Since Arc Warden’s Magnetic Field prevents incoming damage to allied heroes and buildings within it, Miracle- was able to keep the Dire Ancient alive by perfectly timing these Magnetic Fields with his Tempest Double.
What made it even more impressive was that Alliance used their buybacks and teleported back into the Dire base as they attempted to end the game then and there. This probably would have worked against any other team, but Miracle- managed to continuously save his team, leading to Team Nigma team wiping Alliance in back-to-back succession.
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