🕹️ Esports 🎮 Prediction & Discussion Thread

[ralle14]

With Blast wrapped up, it's time to hop back to Dota, and the timing is just right with the 1win essence playoffs starting later today. I'll try to follow OG's match in the lower bracket since they've been impressive against the top teams, but they seem to struggle against opponents closer to their level,  which makes me think we'll see this series go the distance.

Xantares said years ago that in any highly competitive environment, even the best team can be beaten, even 13-0, and he was so right. Today, we saw that in the match where we were absolutely certain Team Spirit would win. Mouz seems to have assembled a good roster for now it will become clearer in the next big tournaments.

We've seen teams like Vitality crack despite having one of the longest win streaks, so there's no doubt about what Xantares said. Even a few Mouz fans mentioned they're doubting their team in the finals, but props to them for showing up when it matters the most.

BC Game managed to win its first tournament with its new roster without losing a single match. In fact, we can say they didn’t even lose a single map in this tournament. Following their results in the Elisa Breakout Series 1—a tournament that could be considered C-tier—they secured the 84th spot in the Valve rankings. In terms of individual performance in the tournament, Senszu really stood out. As the IGL for Magisk, he was the team’s third-highest frager in this tournament.

It's still a long way to go for BC.Game, but it's a must for them to keep producing results with how stacked they are now compared to the mix they tried with the former Saw players.

[passwordnow]

~snip~
And this is the next bet, I'm saying. First map of Nigma and OG is done, Nigma won but I think 2nd map is with OG. OG beat 2-0 Team Falcons yesterday in an absolute cinema games.

Easy game for OG in Game 2 

LGD forfeited their match so another one of my bet got voided. I was too late to look on another game because I didn't realize fast enough that LGD had withdrawn from the tournament. So I'm going with a parlay instead, OG and Team Liquid to win their series. Hopefully I don't mess up my parlay by picking OG here.

True, very easy for OG. But with their next games, they seem to be too slow against VG.



Good luck to your bets, LGD despite that they have forfeited and didn't attend the match, they're now against 1W in the lower bracket on this playoffs. Yes, the Essence II is now in playoffs.

I am not sure why the odds for Vici Gaming is @3.10 against Team Liquid. Well, I'll take the risk on them.

[ralle14]

I am not sure why the odds for Vici Gaming is @3.10 against Team Liquid. Well, I'll take the risk on them.

Close series, but VG fell short in the final map. Their Luna was so ahead in the farm game compared to Liquid's Sven, but it didn't matter when each of the VG cores got caught by surprise, and then it quickly spiraled out of control with Liquid cleaning all the barracks to close out the game.

The over I took on the OG series also didn't make it after a weak performance from GamerLegion, and it makes me think they'll be the first team to get eliminated at TI.

I'll follow the OG/BB series next since OG's map handicap is priced slightly better than VG and with them popping off recently, they should at least take a map.

[LastKiss]

~snip~
I am not sure why the odds for Vici Gaming is @3.10 against Team Liquid. Well, I'll take the risk on them.

Lmao I thought LGD had withdrawn from the tournament but it turns out they only forfeited their match against Team Liquid.

Vici Gaming still played well against Team Liquid but Team Liquid was the better team and OG managed to beat GL, so thanks to them my parlay won. For my next bet, I'm doing what you did last time, I'm betting on Vici Gaming to beat 1win since VG manage to draw against 1win in the group stage, I hope VG can get the win this time, good luck guys.

I'll follow the OG/BB series next since OG's map handicap is priced slightly better than VG and with them popping off recently, they should at least take a map.

OG should be able secure one map here, I'm looking Betboom not in their good performance probably because Betboom still looking for a good strat for upcoming TI.

[passwordnow]

I am not sure why the odds for Vici Gaming is @3.10 against Team Liquid. Well, I'll take the risk on them.

Close series, but VG fell short in the final map. Their Luna was so ahead in the farm game compared to Liquid's Sven, but it didn't matter when each of the VG cores got caught by surprise, and then it quickly spiraled out of control with Liquid cleaning all the barracks to close out the game.

Yeah, close but Team Liquid still won.

I'll follow the OG/BB series next since OG's map handicap is priced slightly better than VG and with them popping off recently, they should at least take a map.

I guess that you've already won this bet. The current series is already on map 3 with 1-1.

Going to bet with VG at least one map to win against 1win later.

[Lmao I thought LGD had withdrawn from the tournament but it turns out they only forfeited their match against Team Liquid.

Vici Gaming still played well against Team Liquid but Team Liquid was the better team and OG managed to beat GL, so thanks to them my parlay won. For my next bet, I'm doing what you did last time, I'm betting on Vici Gaming to beat 1win since VG manage to draw against 1win in the group stage, I hope VG can get the win this time, good luck guys.

They only lost due to default. Good luck to our bets, I guess that chinese dota with VG gaming is still in but I'm only for at least one map.

[ralle14]

I guess that you've already won this bet. The current series is already on map 3 with 1-1.

Going to bet with VG at least one map to win against 1win later.

OG lost the series, but thankfully they forced a game three after BB overcooked the draft with that OD mid in game two.

That VG handicap should also hit later in the next series given 1win hasn't been looking as hot as the other tier one teams or maybe they're just saving their strategies for TI.  

[passwordnow]

I guess that you've already won this bet. The current series is already on map 3 with 1-1.

Going to bet with VG at least one map to win against 1win later.

OG lost the series, but thankfully they forced a game three after BB overcooked the draft with that OD mid in game two.

I am impressed with them OG still, BB is a good team and they're the one that I've chosen as my prediction for this TI.

That VG handicap should also hit later in the next series given 1win hasn't been looking as hot as the other tier one teams or maybe they're just saving their strategies for TI.  

It's a nice try for VG but 1win proved that they're stronger. Just one series am asking for VG but it ended up 0-2 against 1win. It's okay, after my winning streak, here goes the normal losing streak. 

[LastKiss]

~snip~
They only lost due to default. Good luck to our bets, I guess that chinese dota with VG gaming is still in but I'm only for at least one map.

Yep, I had high expectation for Vici Gaming to beat 1win but that didn't happen, normal thing when rooting for CN team  . Now when I see it, it's actually going to be insane if either 1win or BetBoom makes it to the grand final, they'll end up playing a lot of games today if they keep winning.

My next bet, I'm backing up for 1win vs BetBoom to get over 2.5 maps

[execijutiere]

It was announced that jL will join Vitality as a stand-in player. It seems jL is trying to carve out a new role for himself. Rather than joining a single team, he continues to participate in various teams as a stand-in. It was announced that he will join Vitality as a stand-in for mezii at the BLAST Open Porto tournament and for apEX at the PGL Masters Bucharest tournament. While there’s no issue with the Porto tournament, I’m actually curious to see who will take on the IGL role at the PGL Masters Bucharest tournament.

[Balmain]

Since Mezii is temporarily on leave, jL will be joining the team as a substitute. This will be a great opportunity for jL to prove himself, especially in a team like Vitality. jL is having a great career with Navi and Vitality. As previously reported, if Mezii and ApEX don't participate in events, jL will always remain a substitute in Vitality's roster. Even a substitute like jL has become an important player for the team.

[execijutiere]

Betclic faced off against Liquid in the final of the Stake Pulse Beat tournament. In my opinion, Liquid was the favorite to win the tournament, but they weren’t able to lift the trophy in the final. I can say they didn’t play poorly as a team, and the rounds they lost were very close. After winning Cache—a map they didn’t pick—I honestly expected them to win 2-0, but that didn’t happen. They couldn’t win on their home map, Anubis, and lost the decider map after playing poorly.

[passwordnow]

Yep, I had high expectation for Vici Gaming to beat 1win but that didn't happen, normal thing when rooting for CN team  . Now when I see it, it's actually going to be insane if either 1win or BetBoom makes it to the grand final, they'll end up playing a lot of games today if they keep winning.

My next bet, I'm backing up for 1win vs BetBoom to get over 2.5 maps

Congratulations, it's a three map although in the end it's 1win which has won the series. And the champions of this 1win Essence II is none other than Team Liquid, they beat Team Falcons 3-0 in the grand finals and luckily to be able to bet on that game. The funny thing is that ATF keeps on playing necrophos, he forgot his best melee heroes. LOL.

[ralle14]

Congratulations, it's a three map although in the end it's 1win which has won the series. And the champions of this 1win Essence II is none other than Team Liquid, they beat Team Falcons 3-0 in the grand finals and luckily to be able to bet on that game. The funny thing is that ATF keeps on playing necrophos, he forgot his best melee heroes. LOL.

I can't blame him for rolling with Necrophos multiple times when it's one of the better heroes this patch. They almost got it to work in game three, but eventually they lacked the catch to kill micke without overextending.

That should be a good sign for them heading into TI, though i'm still undecided on whether to put them higher in my group stage predictions (currently placed them on the elimination round winner).  

[passwordnow]

Congratulations, it's a three map although in the end it's 1win which has won the series. And the champions of this 1win Essence II is none other than Team Liquid, they beat Team Falcons 3-0 in the grand finals and luckily to be able to bet on that game. The funny thing is that ATF keeps on playing necrophos, he forgot his best melee heroes. LOL.

I can't blame him for rolling with Necrophos multiple times when it's one of the better heroes this patch. They almost got it to work in game three, but eventually they lacked the catch to kill micke without overextending.

That should be a good sign for them heading into TI, though i'm still undecided on whether to put them higher in my group stage predictions (currently placed them on the elimination round winner).  

There is no doubt that Team Falcons is a strong team but, there were times like this that they play uncertain or it's just that they're against a better team. In my predictions, I've put Team Falcons in the elimination round winner in one of the five teams. We've got few days left before the locking in.

[execijutiere]

Eternal Fire suffered an unexpected loss in the Esports World Cup Open qualifiers. Although they lost 2-1 to NADE, Eternal Fire didn’t play particularly poorly. Although the first map was Dust2, chosen by their opponent, they dominated the game and won the map 13-5. jottAAA delivered a legendary performance. On the second map, Ancient—which we had selected ourselves—we played a truly terrible game. On the decider map, jottAAA once again stood out, but it wasn’t enough for the team to secure the win. Despite closing out the map with an impressive 32-13 score and delivering an excellent performance throughout the match, jottAAA was unable to lead his team to victory.

[ralle14]

Eternal Fire suffered an unexpected loss in the Esports World Cup Open qualifiers. Although they lost 2-1 to NADE, Eternal Fire didn’t play particularly poorly. Although the first map was Dust2, chosen by their opponent, they dominated the game and won the map 13-5. jottAAA delivered a legendary performance. On the second map, Ancient—which we had selected ourselves—we played a truly terrible game. On the decider map, jottAAA once again stood out, but it wasn’t enough for the team to secure the win. Despite closing out the map with an impressive 32-13 score and delivering an excellent performance throughout the match, jottAAA was unable to lead his team to victory.

I had to visit the match page to see who the players behind NADE were to make this upset happen, and it's bad when the guys don't even have a picture on their player profiles. That last map went through all 24 rounds, but they don't really need a hero player because what I usually see with these lower-tier matches is that synergy matters more.

At least they still qualified for the playoffs after that bad opening match, and the same goes for most of the well-known teams. I'm curious to see what the matchups would look like in the playoffs since there's always one bracket that's bound to be more stacked.

[execijutiere]

Eternal Fire suffered an unexpected loss in the Esports World Cup Open qualifiers. Although they lost 2-1 to NADE, Eternal Fire didn’t play particularly poorly. Although the first map was Dust2, chosen by their opponent, they dominated the game and won the map 13-5. jottAAA delivered a legendary performance. On the second map, Ancient—which we had selected ourselves—we played a truly terrible game. On the decider map, jottAAA once again stood out, but it wasn’t enough for the team to secure the win. Despite closing out the map with an impressive 32-13 score and delivering an excellent performance throughout the match, jottAAA was unable to lead his team to victory.

I had to visit the match page to see who the players behind NADE were to make this upset happen, and it's bad when the guys don't even have a picture on their player profiles. That last map went through all 24 rounds, but they don't really need a hero player because what I usually see with these lower-tier matches is that synergy matters more.

At least they still qualified for the playoffs after that bad opening match, and the same goes for most of the well-known teams. I'm curious to see what the matchups would look like in the playoffs since there's always one bracket that's bound to be more stacked.

It might be considered normal for them to defeat the same team so easily in their next match because they now know their style of play, but I still think it’s wrong to lose games against teams like this. Sure, there may be uncertainty about what teams like this are capable of, and there will inevitably be surprise results, but as a team playing at this level—and one that has recently won a trophy—they simply shouldn’t lose matches like this.

In their Round of 32 match against BIG, Eternal Fire lost the first map—Mirage, which they had picked themselves—and the next map is Inferno, chosen by BIG. We’re currently trailing on this map as well. I agree that BIG is the better team, but they’re not invincible.

[ralle14]

In their Round of 32 match against BIG, Eternal Fire lost the first map—Mirage, which they had picked themselves—and the next map is Inferno, chosen by BIG. We’re currently trailing on this map as well. I agree that BIG is the better team, but they’re not invincible.

Welp, that ended 2-0 for BIG, and they went on to win the next two series and qualify for the EWC. The other teams that made it are 100Thieves, K27, and JijieHao. The biggest upset was probably the JijieHao match. HOTU already took care of the biggest problem in their bracket, Inner Circle, and then failed to close out the qualifying series against JijieHao.

Also, the group stage matchups are set at EWC, and three of the qualifier teams are paired against the top 3 teams. These opening matches are a spicy best of one, and i'm starting to imagine the upset brewing from these underdogs.  

[execijutiere]

JiJieHao will face the toughest opponent in the group. I think Spirit will defeat their opponent. We can already say that JiJieHao will be waiting for their opponent in the lower bracket. It should be safe to say that Spirit will advance from this group to the semifinals.
On the other hand, I think Aurora will be the team to advance from this group to the semifinals. Our representative will face BIG in their first match. XANTARES will go head-to-head against his former team. Although it will be a tough match, I expect Aurora to come out on top.

[ralle14]

JiJieHao will face the toughest opponent in the group. I think Spirit will defeat their opponent. We can already say that JiJieHao will be waiting for their opponent in the lower bracket. It should be safe to say that Spirit will advance from this group to the semifinals.
On the other hand, I think Aurora will be the team to advance from this group to the semifinals. Our representative will face BIG in their first match. XANTARES will go head-to-head against his former team. Although it will be a tough match, I expect Aurora to come out on top.

On paper Spirit should win, but there's always a small percentage for them to fuck it up. Only two wins are needed for them to advance, and the best opponent they'll meet from the other match is barely a threat, with both Luminosity and GamerLegion currently on a decline.

I'm surprised how BIG got placed over there, and then the other three are thrown into the fire by having to face Vitality, Spirit, and Falcons.  

They're also my early pick in the first round, only because i'm not a fan of the odds from the other matches. The bookies are like testing Aurora here, but at the same time i'm not sold on BIG's clean run in the qualifiers.