🕹️ Esports 🎮 Prediction & Discussion Thread

[jakelyson]

... or they can always go back as 5 with N0tail, Ceb, and Jerax (Taiga hinted that the members of the old OG squad might return to active pro scene come 22-23 DPC season). N0tail is the only one I'm quite unsure of whether he wants to go back and compete again. The dude's chillin' and enjoyig creating vlogs and all that stuff.

Ceb also mentioned that NoTail may need the longest time away from competitive DOTA since he was doing this the longest. So, we may still not see NoTail this DPC season. But if they do decide to team up again, are they going to be the first team or the second? The current roster is performing rather really well. They won a major and a few tournaments. It would be a waste to disband them or relegate them to the second team. Topson is still top tier as we saw last TI. Ana is still good and we also saw Ceb play in stockholm. It will be a hard decision for OG management if they all decide to come back.

[1714287742]

1714287742

[1714287742]

1714287742

[Balmain]

Astralis are really hard to understand now. As they are quite inconsistent it is really difficult to predict when they can win. After that terrifying loss against 500 they are showing a solid performance against ENCE at the moment. First of all they both lost on the maps they picked. Now we are on Overpass, the decider. ENCE don't have any win on this map but Astralis are not very good also with a 25% win rate normally.

But Astralis are putting a good show right now. They have finished the first half 12-3 ahead already. There is nobody who has got even 10+ frags at ENCE side now. blameF is playing extra as well with 23 frags already. He was impressive on Mirage too with 25 frags. Xyp9x was amazing on Ancient with 33 frags which helped the team stay in the series to go for the decider. I don't expect a comeback from ENCE to be honest but Astralis are still not completely credible for me truthfully. 

Xyp9x and BlameF really did extra for Astralis in this match. I spoke a little early after watching the Mirage map. I didn't think ENCE would have any difficulties in Ancient. Astralis once again showed how strong they really are mentally, it would have been difficult for any other team to make a comeback. As far as I know, the Astralis club is working with a professional team to provide mental support to its players. It's really hard to understand, I can't understand if the 500 team were defeated 16-1 in Ancient. They matched Fnatic today in the semi-finals. Fnatic will be a tough team competitive match. Fnatic has a three-game winning streak. They have a strong squad. I feel like Fnatic will win, but I won't make a bet on this, just ignore what I said

[ralle14]

Sadly Kuku will be potentially on Bleed esports with his former team mates, Topson, xepher and Whitemon. The only team member that is removed to their their former t1 team is Ana which is replaced by March. I believe kuku is given a second chance playing with this former team mates. And I think he will do better this time since he was the one who was the one mostly blamed for their loss at their qualifiers. Though it is not the final roster, There couild be a chance that Kuku be acquired by Blacklist.

I nearly thought this was the actual roster lol, I'm thinking their mid player won't be Topson as he's likely going to head over to Team Liquid since Micke was showing a transition to the position 1 recently and their coach Blitz even gave a hint through Cap's recent podcast.

Most probably Kuku will be acquired by Blacklist, given that he's a long-time friend of the org's CEO. He could easily use that as a leverage to further his interests and be in a team that has the capacity to acquire great players since they have the budget and the platform that not many new orgs in SEA has. It appears that not many orgs in the region are prioritizing Dota 2 anyway, so the options for these released players are very few.

It looks like it as I also saw this leak mentioned on Reddit and this was their potential roster on Blacklist.

Blacklist DOTA2

• Raven
• Karl
• Kuku
• Tims
• TBD

[abel1337]

Sadly Kuku will be potentially on Bleed esports with his former team mates, Topson, xepher and Whitemon. The only team member that is removed to their their former t1 team is Ana which is replaced by March. I believe kuku is given a second chance playing with this former team mates. And I think he will do better this time since he was the one who was the one mostly blamed for their loss at their qualifiers. Though it is not the final roster, There couild be a chance that Kuku be acquired by Blacklist.

I nearly thought this was the actual roster lol, I'm thinking their mid player won't be Topson as he's likely going to head over to Team Liquid since Micke was showing a transition to the position 1 recently and their coach Blitz even gave a hint through Cap's recent podcast.

Yes, it's not official. I guess it's based on rumors and speculations, I just saw it on facebook and post it here because of the excitement of most former T1 members will play again and Kuku will be given a chance to redeem himself.

Most probably Kuku will be acquired by Blacklist, given that he's a long-time friend of the org's CEO. He could easily use that as a leverage to further his interests and be in a team that has the capacity to acquire great players since they have the budget and the platform that not many new orgs in SEA has. It appears that not many orgs in the region are prioritizing Dota 2 anyway, so the options for these released players are very few.

It looks like it as I also saw this leak mentioned on Reddit and this was their potential roster on Blacklist.

Blacklist DOTA2

• Raven
• Karl
• Kuku
• Tims
• TBD

3 out of 5 member of former TNC Pro members, I'm also expecting this as well given that Blacklist is trying to build an all filipino team representing Philippines and take the chance for a full Filipino team to win the TI. I don't have any news about other TNC former members, Did they quit dota? I haven't seen them in the scene for a while now. If this line up becomes a reality, I'm sure Filipino will be on hype as hell. Those who quit dota will surely get interested on what's happening to dota given that the community and the pro scene is still active.

[ILuckyGuyI]

It is really hard to catch up with the player changes at Eternal Fire. 

They have brought back MAJ3R once again. He is officially the fifth member of the team now after woxic's departure and he is the IGL at the same time. The current roster looks like this:



In fact this was one of the versions of the team I was hoping to see. I would rather seeing imoRR on the bench normally and woxic to take his place. However there have been serious problems between woxic and MAJ3R so it isn't possible now. Even the reason why MAJ3R has come back must be the absence of woxic in the team now. imoRR is going to be the new AWPer of the team from now on. This is good news actually as I hope to see him not taking unnecessary risks often. He'd definitely be an aggressive AWPer like nicoodoz at the same time I think.

https://www.hltv.org/news/35111/maj3r-returns-to-eternal-fire

[Balmain]

It is really hard to catch up with the player changes at Eternal Fire. 

They have brought back MAJ3R once again. He is officially the fifth member of the team now after woxic's departure and he is the IGL at the same time. The current roster looks like this:



In fact this was one of the versions of the team I was hoping to see. I would rather seeing imoRR on the bench normally and woxic to take his place. However there have been serious problems between woxic and MAJ3R so it isn't possible now. Even the reason why MAJ3R has come back must be the absence of woxic in the team now. imoRR is going to be the new AWPer of the team from now on. This is good news actually as I hope to see him not taking unnecessary risks often. He'd definitely be an aggressive AWPer like nicoodoz at the same time I think.

https://www.hltv.org/news/35111/maj3r-returns-to-eternal-fire

How many changes in Eternal Fire now, I hope this will be the last. This would be the ideal five for me. I mentioned it here before., I criticized this decision a lot when Maj3r left. The captain improved his aim a lot, he was already a good IGL but he left the team, he left the team because of the disagreement with w0xic, now he came back. w0xic would be better than Imorr but now the team will be completely at peace. Many people think that he is a toxic player for w0xic, I think he can be a little too emotional when there are situations that he does not want in matches.

[dothebeats]

Most probably Kuku will be acquired by Blacklist, given that he's a long-time friend of the org's CEO. He could easily use that as a leverage to further his interests and be in a team that has the capacity to acquire great players since they have the budget and the platform that not many new orgs in SEA has. It appears that not many orgs in the region are prioritizing Dota 2 anyway, so the options for these released players are very few.

It looks like it as I also saw this leak mentioned on Reddit and this was their potential roster on Blacklist.

Blacklist DOTA2

• Raven
• Karl
• Kuku
• Tims
• TBD

3 out of 5 member of former TNC Pro members, I'm also expecting this as well given that Blacklist is trying to build an all filipino team representing Philippines and take the chance for a full Filipino team to win the TI. I don't have any news about other TNC former members, Did they quit dota? I haven't seen them in the scene for a while now. If this line up becomes a reality, I'm sure Filipino will be on hype as hell. Those who quit dota will surely get interested on what's happening to dota given that the community and the pro scene is still active.

What iteration of TNC are we talking about here? The first TNC that made it to their first TI, or the one with Armel and Gabbi? Armel is still actively playing, Gabbi is also looking for team, Eyyou is in a local team (Polaris if I can remember), and jessievash is now in Valorant. It's just that the teams that Gabbi, Armel, and Eyyou is joining aren't really accomplishing much, while their former teammates are finding luck on placing in main stage events that's why we're hearing of them more.

From the above list, I think it's possible that they acquire Eyyou again as 5 and captain. The man still has the meta, the plays, and the overall wits to compete professionally, just that he's always teamed with other players that aren't as hungry as his former TNC mates.

... or they can always go back as 5 with N0tail, Ceb, and Jerax (Taiga hinted that the members of the old OG squad might return to active pro scene come 22-23 DPC season). N0tail is the only one I'm quite unsure of whether he wants to go back and compete again. The dude's chillin' and enjoyig creating vlogs and all that stuff.

Ceb also mentioned that NoTail may need the longest time away from competitive DOTA since he was doing this the longest. So, we may still not see NoTail this DPC season. But if they do decide to team up again, are they going to be the first team or the second? The current roster is performing rather really well. They won a major and a few tournaments. It would be a waste to disband them or relegate them to the second team. Topson is still top tier as we saw last TI. Ana is still good and we also saw Ceb play in stockholm. It will be a hard decision for OG management if they all decide to come back.

Possibly another org, or a sister org if you may. OG already left ATF as a free agent (though they haven't announced it yet), and it's up to Ammar whether he'll stay with OG or not. That spot could easily be snatched by Ceb if Topson and the 3 other old OG members aren't wanting to play in the 22-23 season. Possibly they will not let go of Taiga and the gang of new OG members. They'd just look for replacement for Ammar first.

[CLS63]

It is really hard to catch up with the player changes at Eternal Fire. 

They have brought back MAJ3R once again. He is officially the fifth member of the team now after woxic's departure and he is the IGL at the same time. The current roster looks like this:



In fact this was one of the versions of the team I was hoping to see. I would rather seeing imoRR on the bench normally and woxic to take his place. However there have been serious problems between woxic and MAJ3R so it isn't possible now. Even the reason why MAJ3R has come back must be the absence of woxic in the team now. imoRR is going to be the new AWPer of the team from now on. This is good news actually as I hope to see him not taking unnecessary risks often. He'd definitely be an aggressive AWPer like nicoodoz at the same time I think.

https://www.hltv.org/news/35111/maj3r-returns-to-eternal-fire

How many changes in Eternal Fire now, I hope this will be the last. This would be the ideal five for me. I mentioned it here before., I criticized this decision a lot when Maj3r left. The captain improved his aim a lot, he was already a good IGL but he left the team, he left the team because of the disagreement with w0xic, now he came back. w0xic would be better than Imorr but now the team will be completely at peace. Many people think that he is a toxic player for w0xic, I think he can be a little too emotional when there are situations that he does not want in matches.

Eternal Fire don't have any roadmap and this is costing them very much. They need to take stronger steps on this road to be successful. The team have a big potential actually but they just don't know how to benefit from it. All of these players are unique and have really great aims. They have XANTARES before anything else. He is like one of the best players in the world now.

The point they lack is the strategies. They play by heart instead of preparing some solid strategies for each one of their opponents. This causes them to have big problems in many matches. XANTARES talked about his days at BIG in the past and mentioned how many tactics BIG had. You just need to be prepared for many kind of teams to reach big successes.

[ralle14]

3 out of 5 member of former TNC Pro members, I'm also expecting this as well given that Blacklist is trying to build an all filipino team representing Philippines and take the chance for a full Filipino team to win the TI. I don't have any news about other TNC former members, Did they quit dota? I haven't seen them in the scene for a while now. If this line up becomes a reality, I'm sure Filipino will be on hype as hell. Those who quit dota will surely get interested on what's happening to dota given that the community and the pro scene is still active.

I don't think those guys would easily quit after they got released but it's likely that other teams won't pick them up since there are a lot of good players available as well.

From the above list, I think it's possible that they acquire Eyyou again as 5 and captain. The man still has the meta, the plays, and the overall wits to compete professionally, just that he's always teamed with other players that aren't as hungry as his former TNC mates.

I also hope that's the case since I remember Polaris made a post about releasing their players recently and if he can take over the captain position then it's the perfect fifth member for the roster as Kuku already mentioned before that he doesn't want to be in the captain role again.

[arallmuus]

I also hope that's the case since I remember Polaris made a post about releasing their players recently

I thought this team was good though. Well they didnt make it to TI but atleast they got a solid potential in SEA so probably they will be able to get through the DPC next season after Boom was disbanded.

Speaking of the next DPC though, Roster lock deadline is on 9th December so its probably going to be a while until we get the whole roster for all the teams competing. In case anyone interested on the next DPC and major schedule, check this out

[inthelongrun]

I also hope that's the case since I remember Polaris made a post about releasing their players recently

I thought this team was good though. Well they didnt make it to TI but atleast they got a solid potential in SEA so probably they will be able to get through the DPC next season after Boom was disbanded.

They are a young team created just late last year. Polaris already disbanded. Not because of management wanting to release them but rather due to bigger organizations offering their roster something it cannot match. It's sad for a new small organization but this is the reality.

Boom didn't disband mate, maybe you are referring to T1. Boom dropped Jackky so they needed a new position 1.

Speaking of the next DPC though, Roster lock deadline is on 9th December so its probably going to be a while until we get the whole roster for all the teams competing. In case anyone interested on the next DPC and major schedule, check this out

Oops! Only 2 days after the lock-in and an open qualifier is about to begin. New teams need to assemble asap then. I am also waiting for the final line-up of EG and what happens to its former players. And of course Topson and Ana too, are they going to play DOTA 2 or they will take some rest.

[boltz]

Wow! A lot of changes in Dota 2 scene lately ...it's like we are entering in a new era of Dota 2 players or the old one jumped into new teams that have been crated over night or at least out of nowhere.

Yea , Boom just Jaccky and it was a wise decision as he was the weak piece in that team but he is a skillful player that he will find soon a new team.

I still think and believe that EG made the best decision by dropping the player and move to SA because that is where the real talents are and SA pubs and ranks games are way better than NA.

[eightdots]

It is really hard to catch up with the player changes at Eternal Fire. 

They have brought back MAJ3R once again. He is officially the fifth member of the team now after woxic's departure and he is the IGL at the same time. The current roster looks like this:



In fact this was one of the versions of the team I was hoping to see. I would rather seeing imoRR on the bench normally and woxic to take his place. However there have been serious problems between woxic and MAJ3R so it isn't possible now. Even the reason why MAJ3R has come back must be the absence of woxic in the team now. imoRR is going to be the new AWPer of the team from now on. This is good news actually as I hope to see him not taking unnecessary risks often. He'd definitely be an aggressive AWPer like nicoodoz at the same time I think.

https://www.hltv.org/news/35111/maj3r-returns-to-eternal-fire

How many changes in Eternal Fire now, I hope this will be the last. This would be the ideal five for me. I mentioned it here before., I criticized this decision a lot when Maj3r left. The captain improved his aim a lot, he was already a good IGL but he left the team, he left the team because of the disagreement with w0xic, now he came back. w0xic would be better than Imorr but now the team will be completely at peace. Many people think that he is a toxic player for w0xic, I think he can be a little too emotional when there are situations that he does not want in matches.

Eternal Fire don't have any roadmap and this is costing them very much. They need to take stronger steps on this road to be successful. The team have a big potential actually but they just don't know how to benefit from it. All of these players are unique and have really great aims. They have XANTARES before anything else. He is like one of the best players in the world now.

The point they lack is the strategies. They play by heart instead of preparing some solid strategies for each one of their opponents. This causes them to have big problems in many matches. XANTARES talked about his days at BIG in the past and mentioned how many tactics BIG had. You just need to be prepared for many kind of teams to reach big successes.

When I watch Eternal Fire matches, I see players drop tactically during the match. This is because they are not tactically high enough. There is the impression that they are prepared with the same tactic for each team. When they lose focus for a moment in the match, they have a hard time getting back together. When we look at the players one by one, they are all top level players, but what they lack as a team is a tactical deficiency in my opinion. A constant staff change also disrupts team cohesion. If they find solutions to these problems, they can become a top team.

[xSkylarx]

Is anyone watching the last day of PGC 2022 today? Match 1 is very epic! It was amusing that many messages in the chat box said that the last gameplay with NAVI was why Russia couldn't beat Ukraine. Lol. But that gameplay highlight is very unique and makes me jump in my seat! Imagine leaving one man in the barn and three men in the vehicle to push. Just wow! That's all I can say about that gameplay.

[Balmain]

The winning team of Elisa Masters Espoo 2022 tournament was Fnatic. In the matches they played with BIG in the final match, they won both maps comfortably and became the winner of the tournament and won the award. It was a really easy match for Fnatic, I haven't watched a bo3 series that ended so quickly while watching the match, it ended so quickly. BIG won 4 rounds in Vertigo, they won 5 rounds in Overpass. Fnatic is winning the Tournament like in the old days and the team is doing pretty well. The best player in the tournament, in my opinion, BlameF already had the best KD ratio. In my opinion, the team that should have been 2nd should have been the Astralis or the worst ENCE in this tournament.

[sunsilk]

It looks like it as I also saw this leak mentioned on Reddit and this was their potential roster on Blacklist.

Blacklist DOTA2

• Raven
• Karl
• Kuku
• Tims
• TBD

That's possible if that's going to be the line up roster for that upcoming new team, Blacklist Dota 2 that has acquired Resurgence(RGS) slot for the qualifiers.

It makes me wonder if this would be announced as the official, who could be the position 5? But then I remember that there's one that have the experience and an ex-teammate of kuku and raven and that's eyyou.

[jakelyson]

It looks like it as I also saw this leak mentioned on Reddit and this was their potential roster on Blacklist.

Blacklist DOTA2

• Raven
• Karl
• Kuku
• Tims
• TBD

That's possible if that's going to be the line up roster for that upcoming new team, Blacklist Dota 2 that has acquired Resurgence(RGS) slot for the qualifiers.

It makes me wonder if this would be announced as the official, who could be the position 5? But then I remember that there's one that have the experience and an ex-teammate of kuku and raven and that's eyyou.

This lineup still needs a captain and a coach. We know that Kuku said that they need a better captain, so I guess he will not be the captain of this team. Eyyou is a coach and a support but I guess he can be a good captain as well. So, all they need now is a good coach.

I do not have an idea who can coach them since they want this team to be an all Filipino team, a Filipino redeem team. I guess we have to watch and wait how this lineup will turn out after the roster lock.

[dothebeats]

Wow! A lot of changes in Dota 2 scene lately ...it's like we are entering in a new era of Dota 2 players or the old one jumped into new teams that have been crated over night or at least out of nowhere.

Yea , Boom just Jaccky and it was a wise decision as he was the weak piece in that team but he is a skillful player that he will find soon a new team.

I remember when everyone was so hyped with Jackyyy joining BOOM when in fact he's quite mediocre as a carry, often needing 24/7 guidance from his 5 and sometimes 4 just to secure farm. Other carry players in the current meta need not constant help from their supports, but they were still able to secure farm or even join fights whenever they need to. Jackyyy's play style is just so passive and reliant on everyone that it's not suited in high level competitions at all.

I still think and believe that EG made the best decision by dropping the player and move to SA because that is where the real talents are and SA pubs and ranks games are way better than NA.

And maybe SA players ask for lower rates while offering the same or even greater quality of gameplay/effort than their NA counterparts. It all started with Beastcoast smashing heads on tournaments and the SA region just flourished from there. I'm yet to see whether this is a good move for EG or not, but as far as talents go, they will never lose any given how many high-ranking immortals and skillful players are on that region.

[sunsilk]

It looks like it as I also saw this leak mentioned on Reddit and this was their potential roster on Blacklist.

Blacklist DOTA2

• Raven
• Karl
• Kuku
• Tims
• TBD

That's possible if that's going to be the line up roster for that upcoming new team, Blacklist Dota 2 that has acquired Resurgence(RGS) slot for the qualifiers.

It makes me wonder if this would be announced as the official, who could be the position 5? But then I remember that there's one that have the experience and an ex-teammate of kuku and raven and that's eyyou.

This lineup still needs a captain and a coach. We know that Kuku said that they need a better captain, so I guess he will not be the captain of this team. Eyyou is a coach and a support but I guess he can be a good captain as well. So, all they need now is a good coach.

I do not have an idea who can coach them since they want this team to be an all Filipino team, a Filipino redeem team. I guess we have to watch and wait how this lineup will turn out after the roster lock.

Kuku is done being a captain, he has to focus with his role as a pos 3 rather than captaining and commanding the team especially during the crucial games. AFAIK, he was the captain on T1 together with ana and topson and we've heard it from topson that there's a need for a good captain in the SEA and kuku's not enough for it.

Well, if it's an all-Filipino roster then everyone is going to be the coach. Kidding aside, there's still March that they can get as the coach so that at least there's a blend for other nationality and good thinker since he's been with kuku.

[xSkylarx]

Yeah! The greatest comeback in PUBG tournament history! Stand strong, Ukrainians! They deserve this win not only for their country but also for their out-of-the-box strategy! This is what we meant by competitive PUBG. They were in 6th place before the last day of the finals, but again they climbed up to win the game. Fans are celebrating their victories, and commentators are surprised because they expected 17 Gaming or Overpeekers to win because Jemz and Clib are on a roll, but it turns out Navi!