My thoughts on some of the 6.86 changes: Icefrog is getting rid of bullshit

6.86 came with a raft of changes, four new items and several hero modifications. The changes and items pertinent to my following point is:

1. Faceless Void's loss of Backtrack, and gain of damage undo in Timewalk.
2. Outlaw Defenstrator's changes to Astral Imprisonment and Arcane Orb.
3. Aether Lens, giving +200 cast range.
4. Dragon Lance, giving +130 attack range to ranged heroes.
5. Removal of most common cliffing spots.

Additionally, consider that the movement speed across the board has gotten slower: Boots provide slightly less movement speed, and Yasha is now only 8% bonus. This makes things like the buffed Drum more valuable, as well as 522+ skills (Surge/Stampede, Shapeshift etc.).

Initially, I was mortified at the changes to Outbound Demonstrator, because it destroyed the existing rational flow of the hero (from level 3/5 constantly AI, at 6 skill Eclipse and go in for the hammerbuster). But the more I've thought about it, the more I think I see what Icefrog is trying to do.

**Icefrog is trying to remove bullshit from the game**

Bullshit, in this example, refers to things that can't be played around. Not necessarily things that can't be countered, but things which, once the game has started, are difficult to deal with. Outer Dermis is one of these heroes: either he will be countered with non-int mid heroes like Viper or Razor, OR he'll go against a hero that needs spells and next thing you know, "you 13 mana boy". By reworking this hero, Icefrog has attempted to retain his strength against certain lineups while removing the bullshit edge case of him simply winning a lane because of his Astral Imprisonment.

Consider the changes to Faceless Void. Backtrack was a bullshit spell, not because it was broken, but because it was unreliably stupid. Either you backtracked nothing and died, or you dodged a Languna blade and were laughing. Importantly, though, none of that was down to your own capabilities as a hero. Now, Timewalk is stronger in the hands of good players (knowing exactly when to use it to undo damage) **but** can also be played around by equally good players (spreading damage out over 2 seconds, the use of silence/chain disable or even mindgaming).

Both Aether Lens and Dragon Lance give more range. Consider what I mentioned previously about movement speed being nerfed; well, this hurts postitioning-dependent heroes more than those who can just run in and go ham. These two items are built around the ability for heroes to position themselves better, which in itself is a form of counterplay against spells like Winter's Curse, Black Hole, Vaccum-Wall etc.

Effectively, Icefrog is buffing decisions and nerfing mini-cheese. With a nuke on a short-ish cooldown, Outlying Demographic now has more kill potential in lane, but can no longer 13-mana someone at level 5. With Timewalk, good Void players have been buffed, but bad Void players have lost their ability to bullshit their way through a teamfight. Clever positioning from a team which is behind can really help winning a fight: both Aether Lens and Dragon Lance provide for this.

tl;dr: we've got clear indicators that Icefrog is both encouraging positional strategy as well as nerfing bullshit low-skill cheese scenarios.