The Dota 2 developers have announced new rules for the Immortal Draft mode, which take effect with the latest update. Here are the main changes:

The Immortal Draft rules will now apply to players with a rating above 8500 MMR (top 0.5% of players). Previously, the threshold was 6500 MMR (top 1.5%).

Games in Immortal Draft mode will no longer appear in public match history. Access to replays will be restricted to game participants only, and such matches will not be available in the Web API.

Players with a rating above 8500 MMR are required to register an official nickname for participation in ranked games. This nickname cannot be changed and will be displayed during the hero selection stage in Immortal Draft. Approximately half of the players at this level have already registered an official nickname.

Players above 8500 MMR, who are guaranteed to play in the Immortal Draft, cannot create parties for ranked matches. Unranked games remain unchanged.

The mechanism for gaining and losing MMR in Immortal Draft has been adjusted to better account for potential outcomes based on players' hero selections.

Summary of Changes

• For players with 8500+ MMR: All your ranked games will be in Immortal Draft mode, matches will be private, an official nickname is required, and party play in ranked matches is not allowed.
• For players with 6500+ MMR: Ranked games will be in Immortal Draft mode only when matched with players above 8500 MMR. Otherwise, standard ranked match rules apply.

Now, the only way to analyze the meta will be through pro-player streams, as access to Immortal Draft games will be closed for analysis.