🕹️ Esports 🎮 Prediction & Discussion Thread

[Balmain]

I really don't get it. Eternal Fire did the same again. On both maps, they started very good against Cloud9. It was a much better start than I expected considering how strong their opponent was. However their performance dropped down too much in the second half of both maps. They couldn't even get one round in the other half on Overpass. How can this happen after they dominated the first half of it and demoralized Cloud9 players a lot?

Maybe it's because of the EF players' underperforming or overconfidence. There are teams that wouldn't mind making mistakes after building up a good lead and those little mistakes could be enough for the other team to gain momentum. Then again I don't think the Cloud9 players would be demoralized that easily since they've been playing together for a very long time though.

Also i'm surprised that FURIA got a perfect 15-0 half against Movistar Riders' map pick while Team Liquid was struggling so hard against the same team.

One of the biggest reasons for this is not being able to play as a team in Eternal Fire T side. Even if good calls come from IGL, they cannot act simultaneously. Yes, EF can make a difference because they have good players individually on the CT side, but they can't play when T side is passed, I think this is the biggest problem. Cloud 9 won both maps though, check out Xantares' stats. He finished the match with 1.70 rating and 122.6 ADR.

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[jakelyson]

PGL released the schedule and format of the TI Last Chance qualifier. The Last Chance qualifier is a unique addition this year to TI in absence of the First Major. The First Major was canceled and replaced by Regional Finals online events.

12 teams will be competing for 2 spots at TI 11. It will be held in Singapore on Oct 8-12. The group stage will be on Oct 8-9 followed by a playoff on Oct 10-12. Multiple series will be running concurrently on the first four days with only the final day will have one series running at a time. The Final winners of the Lower and Upper brackets will move on to join TI 11.

Group A
Natus Vincere
nouns
Polaris Esports
Team Secret
Tempest
Vici Gaming

Group B
Infamous
T1
Team Liquid
Virtus.pro
Wildcard Gaming
Xtreme Gaming

Source: https://afkgaming.com/dota2/news/ti11-last-chance-qualifier-schedule-and-format-released
https://liquipedia.net/dota2/The_International/2022/Last_Chance_Qualifier

[arallmuus]

12 teams will be competing for 2 spots at TI 11. It will be held in Singapore on Oct 8-12.

-snip

Kinda wondering if it actually counts as participating in TI this year if the team only gets to the Last Chance Qualifier though? Its pretty much offline tournament in Singapore as well so thats basically TI isnt it. 2 more weeks to go though, imagine all those action packed games in the qualifiers because there is only 2 slots out of 12 teams that participated

[ILuckyGuyI]

One of the biggest reasons for this is not being able to play as a team in Eternal Fire T side. Even if good calls come from IGL, they cannot act simultaneously. Yes, EF can make a difference because they have good players individually on the CT side, but they can't play when T side is passed, I think this is the biggest problem. Cloud 9 won both maps though, check out Xantares' stats. He finished the match with 1.70 rating and 122.6 ADR.

One of the biggest problems of Eternal Fire today was that they had a really hard time preventing HObbit from playing comfortably. Especially on Dust2 he was so comfortable about catching Eternal Fire players off guard. They couldn't find any solution to his finding very easy kills during the match. On Overpass sh1ro was really unstoppable. Despite Cloud9's terrible first half performance he was still getting many frags. Maybe his ambition helped the team pull themselves together at halftime.

When it comes to XANTARES, I really don't know what this man should do more than this. He was too impressive on both maps by his really clever strategies and incredible aim of course. He played a huge role in winning many rounds. But the team are still losing their concentration too easily. In addition to that I still don't like imoRR's performance. I know that he is their entry fragger now but he is making very simple mistakes while trying to perform his role.

[dunfida]

12 teams will be competing for 2 spots at TI 11. It will be held in Singapore on Oct 8-12.

-snip

Kinda wondering if it actually counts as participating in TI this year if the team only gets to the Last Chance Qualifier though? Its pretty much offline tournament in Singapore as well so thats basically TI isnt it. 2 more weeks to go though, imagine all those action packed games in the qualifiers because there is only 2 slots out of 12 teams that participated

Im expecting VG and Secret would get that 2 slot for TI and this qualifier would really be hot and exciting considering that this is the last chance for them to get in and participate the internationals.

Lots had been eyeing out into their respective teams for them to support specially for Navi or even those Sea teams around.
It would really be an action packed and clashes would be happening as this would really be their last chance.

[jakelyson]

Kinda wondering if it actually counts as participating in TI this year if the team only gets to the Last Chance Qualifier though? Its pretty much offline tournament in Singapore as well so thats basically TI isnt it. 2 more weeks to go though, imagine all those action packed games in the qualifiers because there is only 2 slots out of 12 teams that participated

Though it will be a LAN game, I will not count that as TI. It will still be a qualifier for me. I guess all games will be very tough since all the teams will give their all to qualify. It will be very exciting game.

What I wonder is if there will be a team from Last Chance that will win it all in TI. That could be a great story to tell and a good true sight video.

Im expecting VG and Secret would get that 2 slot for TI and this qualifier would really be hot and exciting considering that this is the last chance for them to get in and participate the internationals.

I am inclined to bet on China or WEU teams get the last slots for TI but let's wait and see how the teams will perform in Singapore.

[blue_hurricanger]

I really don't get it. Eternal Fire did the same again. On both maps, they started very good against Cloud9. It was a much better start than I expected considering how strong their opponent was. However their performance dropped down too much in the second half of both maps. They couldn't even get one round in the other half on Overpass. How can this happen after they dominated the first half of it and demoralized Cloud9 players a lot?

Suddenly Eternal Fire started to make big mistakes and all the team effort in the first half was gone. This was definitely a matchup that they could have won. They just can't use their potential effectively and they need to work on this seriously. Nothing has finished for them yet. They can still finish the group in top 3 if they win their remaining matches. Their next matchup is against Evil Geniuses and this is a big opportunity for them to boost their morale.

Pic might be related to your question. Stats for the overall match of Eternal Fire and Cloud9.


In my opinion, Eternal Fire did well under ct side but mainly because they were carried hard by xantares with insane K/D of 1.70 overall. But his teammate in Eternal Fire didn't help much, even woxic was underperformance. Once your switch to the t side, the advantage for holding choke points becomes null. Need more teamplay to support and push to a site in which Eternal Fire is lack of right now.

Yeah, xantares is good but the enemy can trade kill or hold crossfire in bomb side or choke points. No matter how good xantares is, he can't do anything about it. As I've said before, CSGO now is more like a team game than ever. Hate to say this but a team builds around xantares without anyone at the same level as him going to end just like Space Soldier back then.

[Trofo]

With the qualifiers finished, I guess we're back to some CSGO while waiting for the LCQ and Worlds which is a week or two from now.  

?? dota qualifiers are finished?

me:

Konfig has suffered an ankle injury and will most probably be out for the next 2-3 months.
They will be playing with a reserve player from Astralis academy team.

⁠MistR? i don't know who that is but i'm 99% sure he's an upgrade lol
Now if only Xyp and Glaive can skip the RMR because of "reasons" then maybe Astralis will have a real chance of qualifying to Major  

Give me DOTA every day and I will be a rich man. Was loosing tickets left and right and finally some DOTA today.


By far my most profitable sport in 2022. Now I can loose most of it on glorified football friendly matches tonight. Remembered this post of yours and went to find it so I can brag a bit.

[ralle14]

PGL released the schedule and format of the TI Last Chance qualifier.

That group B looks so stacked compared to group A but it's interesting that no one gets eliminated in the first phase of the qualifiers compared to the usual major groups where the last place teams in the standings are eliminated.

Im expecting VG and Secret would get that 2 slot for TI and this qualifier would really be hot and exciting considering that this is the last chance for them to get in and participate the internationals.

Team Secret might have a chance but I feel like VG's chances to qualify are low if they can't avoid Xtreme Gaming in the playoffs. If I were to pick two teams that would qualify for TI it'd be Xtreme Gaming and probably a toss-up between Outsiders, Team Secret, and Polaris.

[Pulsar77]

Eternal Fire are having another nightmare now.

I thought that they would at least defeat Evil Geniuses. Because they are technically the worst team in the group and they haven't played in tournaments for a long time before coming here. The series is still on of course as Evil Geniuses are 1-0 ahead now. But Eternal Fire's performance on Overpass was quite bad. They had a big struggle about defending especially bombsite B. At one point their morale started to drop down also. Their aiming and strategies both got worse.

Now we are on Dust2 which Eternal Fire picked. However things are going on badly here also. Evil Geniuses are 8-1 ahead now and they are playing as CT. I know that this map is more like CT sided but if Eternal Fire give them more than 8 rounds then I don't think they can manage to make a comeback. They don't seem to have that psychology to make this happen. I think this map will end even worse for Eternal Fire after the 16-9 defeat on Overpass. They are getting near saying goodbye to the ESL Pro League already.  

[dothebeats]

Group A on Dota 2 TI Last Chance Qualifiers seem to be chill for Secret, with nouns and VG being the only real threat to the European team. Polaris can slither their way through the qualifiers if they manage to get through nouns on their first match, though that is highly unlikely given how tight nouns played in the NA qualifiers against Soniqs even though they were 3-0'd by the said team. It's anyone's game at this point, although my top picks for each group is obviously Secret for group A, and T1 for group B, with VP/Outsiders being a close second.

[arallmuus]

Give me DOTA every day and I will be a rich man. Was loosing tickets left and right and finally some DOTA today.

Im glad that I actually avoided this tournament. I would have gone for Boom Esports to win with a high stakes but it looks like they are trying bit of the new stuff before TI so glad that I didnt bet on them. The odds were actually decent as well for them to win @1.35 or something considering that they are way ahead of the other teams on SEA region, I'd say its kinda decent

I might bet on Hokori against Boom tomorrow though

[Trofo]

Im glad that I actually avoided this tournament. I would have gone for Boom Esports to win with a high stakes but it looks like they are trying bit of the new stuff before TI so glad that I didnt bet on them. The odds were actually decent as well for them to win @1.35 or something considering that they are way ahead of the other teams on SEA region, I'd say its kinda decent

I might bet on Hokori against Boom tomorrow though

I would consider 1.35 good odds if they were playing BO3, but this was BO2 and 1.35 for 2:0 is not fair to their oponnets at all. It is not like TNC does not know how to play DOTA. When I see odds like they gave for TNC +1.5 around 4, I have to take them. That is what I did today for max stake they allowed. It has been long time since I was limited on some game I wanted to play at Sportsbet, but max for this one was 4 mBTC. Had 5 mBTC free bet from insurance and couldn't place it otherwise it would be on that game as well, as it stands I lost on tennis

Here is another multi with rest of the stake, did not want to share it earlier cause tennis was still live and was afraid to jinx it

[tomahawk9]

By far my most profitable sport in 2022. Now I can loose most of it on glorified football friendly matches tonight. Remembered this post of yours and went to find it so I can brag a bit.

lol
yeah i know you're killing it in Dota alright  You better post some of your pre-match picks during The International, i wanna make some bank too 

I might bet on Hokori against Boom tomorrow though

is it worth it? i mean, do you see the teams taking this tourney seriously? or is it full of meme drafts and dodgy strats? i'm getting sick and tired of tier 3 csgo in the esl Pro League (at least in group stage) and i kinda wanna place some dota tickets again

[Distraction]

We can clearly say that Eternal Fire are out of ESL Pro League after this huge defeat against Evil Geniuses also by 2-0. Even if they win both of their remaining matches it wouldn't still be enough. They have a chance mathematically of course but it is a very far possibility in the end. I still don't get how they managed to play even worse against the weakest opponent they have in this group. It must have been a clear victory for Eternal Fire instead and this would have been enough to boost their morale significantly.



I had hopes about Dust2 map at least but Eternal Fire performed even worse there and lost by 16-4. I think keeping imoRR in the main roster is a big mistake. They should replace him with xfl0ud as soon as possible to have a more reliable roster. He is a younger player and I believe he is much more talented. He is a much better team player also. imoRR is just hurting this team by simple individual mistakes. XANTARES said that he was their entry fragger but it looks like imoRR got this really wrong. 

[passwordnow]

Group A on Dota 2 TI Last Chance Qualifiers seem to be chill for Secret, with nouns and VG being the only real threat to the European team. Polaris can slither their way through the qualifiers if they manage to get through nouns on their first match, though that is highly unlikely given how tight nouns played in the NA qualifiers against Soniqs even though they were 3-0'd by the said team. It's anyone's game at this point, although my top picks for each group is obviously Secret for group A, and T1 for group B, with VP/Outsiders being a close second.

Polaris is like the dark horse of the tournament. I've also noticed that Outsiders old name is now back to Virtus.Pro, I guess that things are pretty calm now and their sponsors are back again.
While for my pick on group A is either VG or Secret but yeah, even if Chinese teams are too disciplined, Puppey and the gang has some counter to them already. While in group B, still eyeing for T1.

[jakelyson]

Group A on Dota 2 TI Last Chance Qualifiers seem to be chill for Secret, with nouns and VG being the only real threat to the European team. Polaris can slither their way through the qualifiers if they manage to get through nouns on their first match, though that is highly unlikely given how tight nouns played in the NA qualifiers against Soniqs even though they were 3-0'd by the said team. It's anyone's game at this point, although my top picks for each group is obviously Secret for group A, and T1 for group B, with VP/Outsiders being a close second.

Polaris is like the dark horse of the tournament. I've also noticed that Outsiders old name is now back to Virtus.Pro, I guess that things are pretty calm now and their sponsors are back again.
While for my pick on group A is either VG or Secret but yeah, even if Chinese teams are too disciplined, Puppey and the gang has some counter to them already. While in group B, still eyeing for T1.

I am not putting too much hope on T1 right now. Even though they have ANA and TOPSON on their team, they are still far from perfect. The other members are dead weight as they have shown in SEA qualifiers. ANA and Topson is not enough to carry the team to TI. They have 2 weeks to go to perfect their combination and get better in drafting. I rank Polaris above them for now since they got them 2-0 in sea qualifiers. They have a tough group to deal with. They have to be in perfect form to be able to get past through Xtreme gaming, liquid, VP, and wildcard.

[ralle14]

We can clearly say that Eternal Fire are out of ESL Pro League after this huge defeat against Evil Geniuses also by 2-0. Even if they win both of their remaining matches it wouldn't still be enough. They have a chance mathematically of course but it is a very far possibility in the end. I still don't get how they managed to play even worse against the weakest opponent they have in this group. It must have been a clear victory for Eternal Fire instead and this would have been enough to boost their morale significantly.

I also didn't expect Eternal Fire to just flat out lose like that even against EG after looking much more competitive on the first day. Initially, I thought EG won't even get but Eternal Fire is on another level of bad when they made EG look like a decent team.

Polaris is like the dark horse of the tournament.

I agree, Polaris and Infamous can put up a surprise since these teams have notable players that used to play in LAN tournaments.

[blue_hurricanger]

We can clearly say that Eternal Fire are out of ESL Pro League after this huge defeat against Evil Geniuses also by 2-0. Even if they win both of their remaining matches it wouldn't still be enough. They have a chance mathematically of course but it is a very far possibility in the end. I still don't get how they managed to play even worse against the weakest opponent they have in this group. It must have been a clear victory for Eternal Fire instead and this would have been enough to boost their morale significantly.



I had hopes about Dust2 map at least but Eternal Fire performed even worse there and lost by 16-4. I think keeping imoRR in the main roster is a big mistake. They should replace him with xfl0ud as soon as possible to have a more reliable roster. He is a younger player and I believe he is much more talented. He is a much better team player also. imoRR is just hurting this team by simple individual mistakes. XANTARES said that he was their entry fragger but it looks like imoRR got this really wrong. 

So far, this group seems easy for Liquid, Cloud9, Furia go to the playoff. EG, MovieStar Rider and Eternal Fire didn't even try or they don't have enough skill to do it. All the victories ended like 2-0 or under. Boring but more predictable for the bettors.
Also, want to as if Türkiye has young academy to train CS pro? Cause right now, xantares's teammate in Eternal Fire can't keep up with him anymore. Better shuffle some young talent into the team and hope for the better.

[Trofo]

lol
yeah i know you're killing it in Dota alright  You better post some of your pre-match picks during The International, i wanna make some bank too 

I might bet on Hokori against Boom tomorrow though

is it worth it? i mean, do you see the teams taking this tourney seriously? or is it full of meme drafts and dodgy strats? i'm getting sick and tired of tier 3 csgo in the esl Pro League (at least in group stage) and i kinda wanna place some dota tickets again

I have taken Hokori +1.5 @1.8 today but for much lower stake than TNC yesterday. There simply isn't that much value in these odds. I see Boom as much better team then both TNC and Hokori and I rate their chances to win at about the same. It all comes down to that one map when they have a bit experimental draft maybe and their opponent manages to convert that advantage. Yesterday that choice was paying at 4 and today it is less then 2.

It is all about what I perceive as wrong odds from bookies. Yesterday they were off, today they seem spot on.