Sand King
* Burrowstrike is one of the best and easiest steals for Rubick and Sand King should be careful when playing against him - it's much better to give away Sand Storm.
Vengeful Spirit
* All of Vengeful Spirit abilities are very good for Rubick to 
Spell Steal:
* Magic Missile provides an additional nuke/disable to pair with 
Fade Bolt and 
Telekinesis, respectively.
* Wave of Terror serves as a good scouting/armor reduction skill that Rubick and his team can benefit from.
* Nether Swap complements Rubick's mobility and pairs well with other mobility items he usually builds. He can also use it to save an ally from danger.
Additional:
* 
Magic Missile is a solid damage source and lockdown that fits nicely with Rubick's kit.
* Rubick also acquires the secondary Magic Missile with 
Aghanim's Shard.
* 
Wave of Terror can be used to scout an area to prevent juking or initiate with Telekinesis, as well as reducing the armor of enemy team during a teamfight.
* 
Nether Swap does what it does - saving an ally from danger, initiating on an enemy, or helping with caughting a fleeing hero.
* With Aghanim's Shard, Rubick can lift himself up and drop quickly to a place of safety after the swap. Note that Rubick can only choose to either disable the enemy or save himself at one time with Telekinesis.
Sand King
* Ghostship helps your team soak up damage from 
Epicenter, especially if he initiates during the battle.
* 
Sand King can't dodge X Marks the Spot - Torrent combo by his abilities. Torrent drags him out of his 
Sand Storm
Sand King
* 
Zeus usually stays at the back in teamfights and it is hard for Sand King to find Zeus and knock him down before Zeus deals his damage.
* All of Zeus' abilities, especially 
Thundergod's Wrath, disables Sand King's 
Blink Dagger, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential.
* 
Lightning Bolt deals damage to Sand King in Sand Storm and reveals him. It also interrupts channeling of Epicenter.
Vengeful Spirit
* 
Nethertoxin disables Vengeance Aura.
* Vengeful Spirit has no mobility spells aside from Nether Swap, which Viper can take advantage of with his slows.
* Viper can easily bully Vengeful Spirit out of a lane with 
Poison Attack.
Additional:
* Nethertoxin prevents the attack damage bonus from 
Vengeance Aura and the components of Nether Swap.
* Both Magic Missile and Wave of Terror are counteracted by 
Corrosive Skin, making Vengeful Spirit's fighting harder against Viper.
Sand King
* Both 
Arcane Curse and 
Last Word punishes casters with spammable spells such as Sand King.
* As a strength caster, 
Intelligence Steal reduces Sand King's mana pool even more.
* 
Global Silence silences Sand King, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential. It can also interrupt channeling of Epicenter.
Vengeful Spirit
* Nether Swap triggers extra damage from Rupture.
* Blood Rite sets up while Vengeful Spirit using her Nether Swap within a timed correctly.
Sand King
* Sand King has nothing to deal with 
Supernova, as none of his spells are effective.
* The damage-over-time abilities of Phoenix disable Sand King's Blink Dagger very often.
Vengeful Spirit
* Magic Missile has a considerably long cast time, making it difficult to stop 
Charge of Darkness with it.
* Other than Magic Missile, Vengeful Spirit has no way of canceling 
Nether Strike.
Sand King
* 
Boulder Smash will push Sand King out of Sand Storm to reveal his position or an activated Epicenter off of Earth Spirit's allies, potentially wasting his combo
* 
Rolling Boulder and 
Geomagnetic Grip allow Earth Spirit to easily stun and silence Sand King and interrupt the channeling of Epicenter, completely ruining his initiation.
Sand King
* Quill Spray will hit Sand King inside Sand Storm, damaging him and putting Sand King's Blink Dagger on cooldown, preventing him from escaping.
* Epicenter's numerous damage ticks will trigger Bristleback's passive repeatedly during teamfights.
Vengeful Spirit
* Past the mid game, an isolated Vengeful Spirit makes for an easy kill for Anti-Mage.
* Magic Missile is the only disable Vengeful Spirit has against Anti-Mage, but he can either 
Blink away to disjoint the stun or reflect it back against Vengeful Spirit with 
Counterspell.
* Nether Swap isn't very effective against Anti-Mage - if used offensively, Anti-Mage can simply blink away to safety, and if used defensively, Blink's low cooldown allows him to persistently chase as well.
Vengeful Spirit
* 
Ball Lightning disjoints an incoming Magic Missile, avoids Wave Of Terror, and allows Storm Spirit to easily escape if he ever gets Nether Swapped.
Vengeful Spirit
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility: 
Crystal Maiden, 
Enigma, 
Dark Willow, 
Vengeful Spirit.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes who have a high mobility (
Queen of Pain, 
Storm Spirit, 
Slark, etc.).
Vengeful Spirit
* Strong nuking supports like 
Skywrath Mage. Vengeful Spirit has subpar attack range, making it harder for her to harass and last hit safely. With enough pressure she can be bullied out of a lane.
Additional:
* Skywrath Mage should have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit with Ancient Seal.
* Vengeful is highly dependant on her abilities and has no natural means to deal against silences.
* Her low attack range allows Skywrath Mage to easily bully her out of the lane.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes who relies on illusions and summons (
Beastmaster, 
Chaos Knight, etc.).
Vengeful Spirit
* 
Vendetta disables Vengeance Aura and allows him to attack Vengeful Spirit with 
Impale and 
Mind Flare.
* 
Spiked Carapace is easy to use against a Wave of Terror or Magic Missile.
Sand King
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: 
Venomancer, 
Huskar, 
Ember Spirit, 
Dark Seer, Sand King, 
Doom, 
Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Vengeful Spirit
* Lina can burst Vengeful Spirit down, provided she can land 
Light Strike Array before Vengeful Spirit lands her Magic Missile.
* 
Laguna Blade deals massive damage, often being enough to kill a squishy Vengeful Spirit.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with abilities that can pull Lina out of position can easily bring her to their team mates, like 
Batrider with 
Flaming Lasso, 
Pudge with 
Meat Hook and Vengeful Spirit with Nether Swap.
Sand King
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: 
Anti-Mage, 
Earth Spirit, 
Faceless Void, 
Magnus, 
Mirana, 
Monkey King, 
Morphling, 
Pangolier, 
Phantom Assassin, 
Phoenix, 
Puck, Queen of Pain, 
Riki, Sand King, 
Spirit Breaker, 
Timbersaw, 
Tusk.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Slark, etc.).
Sand King
* Slark will have a hard time killing Sand King because of the survivability he gets from Burrowstrike and Sand Storm.
* 
Shadow Dance, which usually allows Slark to survive fights, is ineffective against Sand King's AoE damage.
Sand King
* Burrowstrike can stun multiple Meepos, making them vulnerable targets.
* Epicenter and Sand Storm's AoE damage ensures all Meepo clones get damaged, making it hard for Meepo to choose which one to flee as all are taking damage at the same rate.
* Just be aware when using Sand Storm to escape, as Meepo has good AoE damage and disables, which, as explained in the "Bad Against" section, works well against an invisible Sand King.
Vengeful Spirit
* With Nether Swap, Vengeful Spirit can isolate one of the Meepos, making him an easier kill for the team.
* Her Magic Missile gives her an easy way to cancel Meepo's 
Poof, preventing isolated Meepos from fleeing.
Sand King
* 
Burrowstrike, Sand Storm, 
Caustic Finale and Epicenter will deal a large amount of damage to Chen and his creeps.
Vengeful Spirit
* Magic Missile can stun Chen and deal heavy damage to him.
* Wave of Terror weakens durability of Chen and his creeps.
* Nether Swap can be used to separate Chen away from his creeps, often to certain death from Vengeful Spirit's allies.
Sand King
* Phantom Assassin relies on her 
Blur to stay alive, but is very vulnerable to Sand King's heavy magic damage.
* With Burrowstrike, Sand King can often catch Phantom Assassin before she can use her 
Black King Bar.
* Sand King can dodge 
Stifling Dagger with Sandstorm.
* Phantom Assassin has a hard time killing Sand King because of his high mobility.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with disables that ignore spell immunity will render Phantom Assassin quite useless in teamfights throughout the game: 
Axe, Enigma, Vengeful Spirit, Doom, 
Bane, Beastmaster, Pudge, 
Medusa, 
Warlock.
Sand King
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: 
Lifestealer, 
Night Stalker, 
Ursa, Phantom Assassin, 
Terrorblade.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with abilities that can lock down Terrorblade and prevent him from using Sunder: Bane, Batrider, 
Earthshaker, 
Elder Titan, Faceless Void, 
Invoker, 
Legion Commander, 
Mars, 
Primal Beast, Riki, 
Shadow Shaman, 
Silencer, Vengeful Spirit, 
Void Spirit.
Sand King
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin, 
Clinkz, 
Sniper, 
Enchantress.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with catch to disrupt Sniper's positioning and deliver him into the enemies: Batrider, 
Disruptor, Pudge, Vengeful Spirit.
Vengeful Spirit
* With her Nether Swap, Vengeful Spirit can save the life of an ally who gets caught with Flaming Lasso. Nether Swap also makes it highly dangerous for Batrider to attempt a lasso, as it can lead to his own demise far behind enemy lines.
* Wave of Terror's flying vision allows Vengeful Spirit to spot Batrider trying to close in on his target with 
Firefly.
Additional:
* Nether Swap breaks Flaming Lasso when used on ally and can break if used on Batrider.
* Vengeful Spirit can disable Batrider's Blink Dagger before a fight with Wave of Terror.
Vengeful Spirit
* She can easily cancel 
Wukong's Command with Nether Swap.
* Wave of Terror can also detect him while he's on the trees.
Additional:
* Wave of Terror grants flying vision over trees, and its wide effect can hit Monkey King and end Mischief.
* Nether Swap can easily cancel Wukong's Command by swapping him out of the circle.
Vengeful Spirit
* Nether Swap can forcibly reposition 
Sharpshooter.
Sand King
* Burrowstrike allows Sand King to escape from 
Eclipse or to close the gap on Luna and finish her off.
* Sand Storm allows Sand King to harass Luna more efficiently than she does with 
Lucent Beam, as it makes him invisible for it's duration and while in it, rendering him safe from both, Lucent Beam and Eclipse and forcing Luna to buy 
Dust of Appearance more often.
* Caustic Finale allows Sand King to deal serious damage to both, Luna and her allies, which is especially hazardous for Luna during the laning stage as Luna's attack range is short.
* Epicenter combined with Burrowstrike and Sand Storm can often kill Luna before she can do anything because of her low health and strength gain.
* Overall, Sand King forces Luna to play more defensively instead of offensively, and for the same reasons, Sand King makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Burrowstrike allows Sand King to escape from Eclipse or to close the gap on Luna and finish her off.
* Sand Storm allows Sand King to harass Luna more efficiently than she does with Lucent Beam, as it makes him invisible for it's duration and while in it, rendering him safe from both, Lucent Beam and Eclipse and forcing Luna to buy Dust of Appearance more often.
* Caustic Finale allows Sand King to deal serious damage to both, Luna and her allies, which is especially hazardous in laning stage as Luna's attack range is short.
* Epicenter combined with Burrowstrike and Sand Storm can often kill Luna before she can do anything because of her low health and strength gain.
* Overall, Sand King forces Luna to play more defensively instead of offensively, and for the same reasons, Sand King makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Vengeful Spirit
* Nether Swap gives Vengeful Spirit a way to save an ally from Clockwerk's Power Cogs.
* Magic Missile will interrupt Clockwerk trying to run down Vengeful Spirit's allies with Battery Assault.
Sand King
* Sand King can quickly remove her 
Refraction with his Sand Storm.
* Once Refraction is down, she is very vulnerable to Epicenter's high magic damage.
Vengeful Spirit
* With her Nether Swap, a well positioned Vengeful Spirit can save the life of a more important ally who gets caught in 
Chronosphere.
Additional:
* Nether Swap can save an ally from the Chronosphere.
Vengeful Spirit
* Nether Swap breaks one ally out of Soulbind, and can be used to redistribute the shared damage to Vengeful Spirit herself.
Vengeful Spirit
* Vengeful Spirit has two abilities to interrupt Death Ward, even through Black King Bar.
Sand King
* Caustic Finale allows Sand King to easily kill Broodmother's Spiderlings throughout the game.
* Sand King can usually catch a split pushing Broodmother with Blink Dagger and Burrowstrike.
Additional:
* Burrowstrike can be used as an escape or initiation against Broodmother.
* Sand Storm quickly kills any spiderlings caught inside if Sand King can manage to stun them.
Vengeful Spirit
* Huskar struggles against heroes that output high physical damage due to his low armor. Vengeful Spirit's Wave of Terror and Vengeance Aura help increase the physical damage of her team.
Vengeful Spirit
* Wave of Terror can reveal a Tinker attempting to hide in the trees and then Nether Swap and Magic Missile will both serve to interrupt/lock him down, should he attempt to town portal or reload.
Sand King
* With Caustic Finale, Sand King can easily kill the treants from 
Nature's Call.
* Burrowstrike allows Sand King to prevent Nature's Prophet from using 
Teleportation inside of his 
Sprout.
Additional:
* Sand King's Caustic Finale combined with Sand Storm will kill Treants easily.
* Sand King can interrupt Teleportation with Burrowstrike, even through Sprout.
Sand King
* Sand King's Sand Storm damages familiars quickly whittling them down in health, rendering them vulnerable.
* Sand King's Epicenter quickly damages and destroys familiars.
Sand King
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin, Clinkz, Sniper, Enchantress.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with strong channeling spells like Crystal Maiden's 
Freezing Field, Bane's 
Fiend's Grip, and Enigma's 
Black Hole can easily be interrupted from a long range by Nether Swap, assuming they don't have a 
Linken's Sphere.
Additional:
* Vengeful Spirit can interrupt Black Hole's channeling through Black King Bar by using Nether Swap from a safe distance.
* Vengeful Spirit's Level 25 Talent can make her Magic Missile pierce spell immunity, giving her another option to use in conjunction with Nether Swap to cancel Enigma's Black Hole channeling even through both, Black King Bar and Linken's Sphere.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with strong channeling spells like Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Bane's Fiend's Grip, and Enigma's Black Hole can easily be interrupted from a long range by Nether Swap, assuming they don't have a Linken's Sphere.
Sand King
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: 
Dragon Knight, 
Jakiro, 
Pugna, Earthshaker.
Sand King
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: 
Sven, 
Omniknight, Enigma, 
Luna, 
Naga Siren, Mars, Jakiro, Venomancer, Elder Titan, Faceless Void, 
Rubick, 
Keeper of the Light, Pugna, Invoker, 
Spectre, 
Alchemist, 
Treant Protector, 
Lina, 
Oracle, Zeus, Shadow Shaman, Phoenix, 
Razor, Huskar, Batrider, 
Kunkka, 
Tidehunter, 
Wraith King, Sand King, Medusa, Dawnbreaker.
Vengeful Spirit
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like Lifestealer or 
Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up Black King Bar, like Sven.
Sand King
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer, Night Stalker, Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade.
Sand King
* Lifestealer's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.
Sand King
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer, Night Stalker, Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade.
Vengeful Spirit
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like Lifestealer or Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up Black King Bar, like Sven.
Vengeful Spirit
* Certain heroes can mess up with Pangolier's positioning and timing (especially if he intends to use Rolling Thunder during combat): Vengeful Spirit, Keeper of the Light, Huskar, Dark Seer
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes with strong channeling spells like Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Bane's Fiend's Grip, and Enigma's Black Hole can easily be interrupted from a long range by Nether Swap, assuming they don't have a Linken's Sphere.
Sand King
* Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game: Phantom Assassin, Clinkz, Sniper, Enchantress.
Sand King
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, Earthshaker.
Sand King
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, Earthshaker.
Sand King
* Because of his massive AoE damage, Sand King is very effective against illusion heroes: Chaos Knight, 
Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade, Naga Siren.
Sand King
* Heroes that rely on slows to get kills: Lifestealer, Night Stalker, Ursa, Phantom Assassin, Terrorblade.
Sand King
* Pugna's 
Nether Ward damages Sand King when he channels Epicenter, preventing him from using Blink Dagger afterward.
Sand King
* Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells: Dragon Knight, Jakiro, Pugna, Earthshaker.
Vengeful Spirit
* Fragile supports who die in a few hits against Sven's high physical damage: Crystal Maiden, Vengeful Spirit, Dark Willow.
Vengeful Spirit
* With the exception of Magic Missile (unless the player takes the Level 25 Talent "Magic Missile Pierces Spell Immunity"), all of Vengeful Spirit's spells ignore Spell Immunity. This also makes her good against heroes with built-in Spell Immunity like Lifestealer or Juggernaut or heroes that tend to pick up Black King Bar, like Sven.
Vengeful Spirit
* Heroes who relies on illusions and summons (Beastmaster, Chaos Knight, etc.).
Sand King
* Because of his massive AoE damage, Sand King is very effective against illusion heroes: Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade, Naga Siren.
Additional:
* Sand King's massive area damage output, particularly Epicenter, allows him to quickly take down Chaos Knight and his illusions.
* Sand King can also apply Caustic Finale to illusions with attacks for extra damage when they die.
Vengeful Spirit
* Vengeful Spirit has no strong AoE nuke or disable against Phantom Lancer's Illusions.
* Phantom Lancer is a natural 
Diffusal Blade carrier, which reduces Vengeful Spirit's low mana pool very quickly, leaving her defenseless.
* 
Doppelganger can dodge Vengeful Spirit's abilites.
* 
Phantom Rush with his illusions can chase Vengeful Spirit efficiently.
Sand King
* All of Sand King's abilities deal AoE damage.
* However, Epicenter is usually a non-issue against Doppelganger.
Sand King
*
Ravage, being an AoE disable, cancels Epicenter's channeling from a long range, limiting his potential to counter-initiate.
Black King Bar, then channel Epicenter, then finally initiate with 
Blink Dagger.
* This can be remedied, however, by first using a
Vengeful Spirit
* Vengeful Spirit should carefully consider whether to use her Nether Swap on Tidehunter, as it can easily position him for a
Ravage on Vengeful Spirit and her allies.
Kraken Shell will often proc and clear Tidehunter's debuffs.
* Due to Magic Missile's high damage,