The Oceanic team’s roster includes signing three members of the successful Pentanet.GG lineup, which impressed at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational in Iceland.

The trio will be reuniting on Dire’s new Oceanic roster for the 2023 LCO season. The roster will see mid-laner Jesse “Chazz” Mahoney, and the bot lane duo of Mark ��Praedyth�� Lewis and Daniel “Decoy” Ealam form the core of the Dire Wolves team for the upcoming season, with Cameron “Zorenous” Abbott and Kim Zheng “Poltron” Nicholls completing the roster.

Coach Joseph ��Valixas�� Tselios, who will be leading the team in the 2023 season, highlighted his trust in the roster.

��We��ve put together a League team I think is really f��king solid,�� Tselios said.

��Compared to last year��and don��t get me wrong, I love all those boys �� we have a very vocal voice in Praedyth there now, and we��ve built around that completely.

“Skill and veteran experience is boiled into the five-man lineup too.”

The three stars of PGG will be reuniting for the first time since the end of the 2021 LCO season. Their impressive performance during that year’s campaign, particularly during their run at the MSI 2021 tournament in Reykjavik, earned them a devoted following among League fans worldwide.

The team consisting of top laner Brandon “BioPanther” Alexander and jungler Jackson “Pabu” Pavone, alongside two other members, placed 5th-6th in the Rumble stage of the tournament alongside Cloud9. Their performance earned them recognition among notable League giants such as DWG, Royal Never Give Up and MAD Lions after finishing second in the group stage.

After their victory in Iceland, Pabu and Chazz decided to relocate to Europe to compete in the regional leagues. Meanwhile, Decoy was acquired by INTZ for a Brazil swap. Praedyth and BioPanther remained in Australia in 2022, where BioPanther experienced further success with a transfer to ORDER and represented Oceania for a second time at the Mid-Season Invitational. Praedyth, on the other hand, finished as the runner-up in Split Two this year, as PGG was defeated by the Chiefs, who ultimately qualified for the World Championship.

Pentanet.GG, formerly the home of the trio, have assembled a star-studded League roster with the aim of qualifying for the PCS and competing internationally. The most notable additions to the team include Ryan “Chippys” Short and Shern “Shernfire” Cherng Tai, who have not competed in the Oceanic Pro League since 2020 and 2018 respectively.

Kim “DONGGY” Dong-geun, the former top laner, will move to the mid lane to accommodate the return of the experienced Kiwi player. The bot lane will consist of Vincent “Violet” Wong and Yao “Apii” Jian-Jing, known for his expertise in role-swapping.

BioPanther has recently joined the reigning OCE champions, the Chiefs, for the upcoming year. And as such, Chazz, Praedyth and Decoy will engage in a series of regular-season meetings against their former Pentanet top laner in 2023. As for PGG’s last remaining member from 2021, Pabu, he is currently a free agent in Europe.

The pathways for the Oceania League have undergone changes in anticipation of the upcoming season, with the top two teams from each split gaining the opportunity to compete in the PCS postseason and potentially earn a spot in international play at the MSI and World Championship. It is the goal of the Dire Wolves roster to qualify for the Pacific Championship playoffs in 2023. Valixas highlighted that much in his statement.

��We have such a strong core [with the PGG players], and I think this whole project is a big step for myself as a coach, the org, and everyone involved,�� Valixas said.

��With what happened with ORDER [the Melbourne outfit went into administration this year] there aren��t many orgs left that will put out the dollars and back a roster like this. To mix these proven stars with learning players, I have high hopes.��

Dire Wolves’ new all-Australia roster will include Zorenous, Poltron, Chazz, Praedyth, Decoy and support substitute Rhett “Vxpir” Wiggins, who joined the team from the Sports Geek-owned franchise, Gravitas.

More esports news

They were the clear favorites across esports betting platforms against TALON in the Upper Bracket semi finals matchup, and they delivered. It was doubly impressive, seeing as they turned the series around despite losing the first map.

While it was a closely-contested third map, Dire Wolves came out victorious, winning Skyscraper 8-7. However, their job in the Asia-Pacific League 2022 Playoffs Stage 1 is not over, as they will face CYCLOPS in the Upper Bracket Final.

The winner of that tie will advance to the Grand Final with a chance of winning $10,000 from the $18,000 prize pool.

Speaking of CYCLOPS, they are the first team from the APAC League to qualify for the Charlotte Major. They secured their spot with a win over DAMWON Gaming.

The APAC region has two more slots in the Major which are yet to be filled. The two teams who make it to the Lower Bracket semi finals will receive automatic qualification to the Six Major.

As things stand, TALON and DAMWON Gaming are already in the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals. When both fixtures in the Lower Bracket Round 1 are decided, Talon and DAMWON will know their opponents.

Talon will square off against the winner of the Knights-Elevate matchup while DAMWON will go up against either SANDBOX Gaming or Chiefs EC.
Which other teams will be competing in Rainbow Six Charlotte Major 2022?

Sixteen teams are expected to compete in the 2022 Six Major, which means that there are still 12 slots left to be filled. A few teams have wasted no time in securing their position, with one of them being Heroic from the European League. The three remaining slots from that region are yet to be filled.

The Copa Elite Six will kick off on April 23, and we will know the four teams that have made the cut by the month’s end.

For the North American League, three slots have already been filled. Astralis and Oxygen Esports were the first two teams to secure qualification, joined shortly after by XSET.

The final slot is still up for grabs and will be given to the winner of the DarkZero Gaming-Spacestation Gaming matchup scheduled for April 27.

2022 Six Major dates, location, and format

Although the city of the competition has long been made public, Rainbow Six Esports recently revealed that the event will be hosted at the Charlotte Convention Center. Via Twitter:

The #SixMajor in Charlotte will be hosted at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, at 6pm CEST / 12pm EDT!

We'll post the link once the sale is live. pic.twitter.com/iw0saq1ifz

— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6esports) April 21, 2022

The event will run from May 16 to 22, with the playoffs starting on May 20. It will be a LAN event, and the venue will be open to the public.

Teams will be split into four groups, with the top two teams advancing to the playoffs. The format for the Group Stage will be a Double Round Robin and will be a best-of-one contest.

The prize pool is yet to be announced, but teams will get points for the 2023 Six Invitational. The 2022 edition was played to an end on February 20, 2022, with TSM winning the Grand Finals and walking away with $1,000,000 of the $3,000,000 prize pool.

?More esports news

?Bizarre Gaming enter this match off a 2-0 sweep of Exsto Gaming, who they beat with 16-9 on Nuke and 19-16 on Overpass. Jordan “SkulL” Newland and co. have also not disappointed with their results at ESL ANZ Champs Season 12, where they picked up a 16-6 win over Memento Esports and put up a decent fight against R!OT Gaming (12-16).

It’s no surprise seeing CS:GO betting sites price Dire Wolves as heavy favourites for this match. They might not be the best team in the region, but they are looking near-unstoppable on current form.

Wolves are 4-1 since the start of March and have only really lost against the top teams such as Paradox, Renegades and ORDER across the last five months. While anything can happen in these online matches, the quality gap is far too large for us to side with the underdogs.

?Like the other fixture, this one seems like it can only end one way. That said, this could prove to be the best series of the day if R!OT Gaming can recreate what they showed when they took on Paradox Gaming just over three weeks back at ESEA Season 36: Premier Division – Australia.

That clash was billed as an extremely one-sided affair, yet it proved to be anything but. R!OT stood their ground against a significantly stronger opponent and managed to win on Vertigo (19-17), which was quite an achievement, although they ended up suffering a reverse sweep with 8-16 on Train and 10-16 on Dust II.

R!OT lack big-name players, but they’ve been playing very well of late, which is largely due to their firepower. Paradox are a more strategic team, which could prove beneficial on some maps, but we don’t expect them to see the same level of success on all map picks.

Paradox should win this match more times than not, but we have seen enough good things from R!OT to believe they can steal one map. Given the odds, we would even consider placing a smaller bet on R!OT to win the match outright.

?Chiefs Esports Club made it into the LCO Split 1 Playoffs as the fifth seed, finishing the regular season with a 7-7 record. They’ve done against lower-table teams, but we have yet to see Chiefs put up any meaningful resistance against top dogs such as Dire Wolves, PEACE and Pentanet.gg.

ORDER managed a slightly better 8-6 record and ended the regular season with an impressive win against PEACE, yet the latest LoL betting odds price them as underdogs. Chiefs did not do anything of note in the last two weeks of the season, so it is hard to understand how they are favourites.

Chiefs might have a higher ceiling, but the form they’ve been showing recently doesn��t convince us they��re worth a shot at $1.62. We’re taking the plus money.

?Even though winning a best-of-one (Bo1) is not the same as winning a Bo5, it does not make much sense to have PEACE priced as favourites against Dire Wolves. These sides met last Saturday in a LCO Split 1 tiebreaker match which ended in favour of Dire Wolves, who are now 2-1 in the head-to-head in 2021.

While some may argue PEACE deserved to win last time out as they were in the lead for most of the game, there is no denying Wolves had better macro play. We would even go so far as to say Wolves were never in real danger of losing, largely thanks to their drake control.

Although Wolves�� win on Saturday does not guarantee them success here, they’re definitely worth a bet at better than even money. They have already shown they can compete with PEACE, and as long as they can avoid giving up too much in the early game, the outsiders should come out ahead.

?

ORDER’s three-game winning streak came to an end on Friday, when they had to admit defeat to Dire Wolves in what was a fairly one-sided series for George “Farmer” Normore’s squad. Although ORDER held on relatively well in the early game, they were unable to match Wolves in the late game due to their subpar draft.

ORDER haven��t been doing too well this season but they��re still a very strong early-game team, especially when it comes to securing first bloods. They boast the league’s best 72.7% first blood rate, however, they��re still a team that fails to translate these early leads into something meaningful.

We don’t feel comfortable betting on ORDER to defeat Pentanet.gg, while it makes no sense to side with the favourites at the provided odds. That said, the proposition bet on ORDER to get first blood at $2.14 is worth a shot, considering Pentanet.gg are not particularly effective in doing so themselves (54.5% FB).

?

Legacy Esports have not been looking too hot this season and have definitely not impressed in their losses against Pentanet.gg and PEACE. Although the reigning Oceanic champions were in a good position to win both bouts, they were unable to seal the deal largely due to their poor mid-late game.

Dire Wolves are a momentum-driven team, meaning they usually win games in which they gain early leads, but often lose badly when they fall behind. Due to this trait, we can imagine a world where Wolves lose against an early-game oriented team such as Legacy, however, we can’t trust a squad that seemingly has no idea what to do when the laning phase ends.

We don’t feel comfortable betting on Legacy to win and at $1.19 there is no reason to take DW either, so we will take the same approach as with the previous prediction. Legacy are priced as high as $2.27 to secure first blood, which is very generous considering they have managed to get their name on the board first in 63.6% of their games, whereas DW did the same in only 54.5% of their bouts.

?

Chiefs Esports Club and Gravitas last met just over two weeks ago, when Chiefs won with 21-6 in kills and over 13k gold lead. Chiefs have since played five games (+ one forfeit against MAMMOTH) and lost all but their clash with Legacy Esports.

Gravitas have managed one win out of six outings during that stretch, and even that sole victory came against MAMMOTH, which is hardly worth celebrating. Regardless of their lack of success, Gravitas aren’t much weaker than Chiefs, who have yet to prove they can consistently win games – even against weaker sides.

This is a clash between two sides that are struggling with their form, so it doesn’t make much sense to see such a big price gap. At the provided odds, we will take Gravitas, not necessarily because they’re playing better than Chiefs, but rather because Chiefs are performing just as poorly.

Mostly known for their League of Legends Oceanic Pro League (OPL) team, Dire Wolves will now evolve into a multi-discipline esports organisation, with the acquisition of Overwatch Contenders roster of Sydney Drop Bears, as well as N8 Esports’ FIFA roster.

The news comes shortly after Dire Wolves publicly announced future major changes after the Australian esports organisation rebuilt their management by naming the ex-London Spitfire advisor Jason Spiller as the team��s new owner. Joining Mr Spiller at the back office are Craig Nimmo as the new General Manager, Rich Bryan as the Head of Production, William Slingsby as the Head of Content and Jordan Gardiner as Dire Wolves’ new Head of Design.

The former majority stakeholders of Dire Wolves (Guinevere Capital) formed Sydney Drop Bears at the start of 2018, around the time of their acquisition of Dire Wolves. That was at the time when Overwatch Contenders was on the rise in the region and Sydney Drop Bears did not need long to establish themselves as a juggernaut in the Oceanic Overwatch scene by winning the first three Contender titles.

Like Sydney Drop Bears, who gained international recognition by fostering eight players and coaches who went on to play in the Overwatch League and for OWL Academy teams, the N8 Esports already left a mark in the esports scene by housing a number of elite-level international FIFA esports stars. Additionally, N8 Esports also gained recognition as the first FIFA esports team to sign a female player in February 2019, when they acquired Liz “N8 Liz” Varley.

Sydney Drop Bears were initially formed as a standalone brand, since Dire Wolves opted to have multiple brands under their control – similarly to Immortals Gaming Club – instead of having a lot of teams under one brand (such as Cloud9). Due to heavy investment into other esports projects, however, Dire Wolves changed their model and instead decided to bring N8 Esports and Sydney Drop Bears under one banner.

“We have so many plans to take the organisation to the next level, beginning with our new management team, the new brand, and now our acquisition of these two fantastic ANZ teams,�� said Mr Spiller.

“We have huge ambitions for Dire Wolves and moving into new games, expanding the wolf pack and exposing new potential fans to the Dire Wolves brand is the foundation of this growth.”

Dire Wolves’ Overwatch Contenders roster consists of:

• Jacques “Jkap” Lutter – off tank
• Andreas “Fundrae” Duran – main tank
• Hugh “Croc” Longmire – team support
• Seth “Don” Kingston – main support
• Luca “Lab” Barichello – flex support
• Hyuk Jun “Elva” Song – flex DPS
• Ashley “Fluro” Thompson – Head coach

Joining Dire Wolves from N8 Esports are:

• David “N8 HIghFly” Cook
• Justin “N8 Justmanutd12” Josevski
• Liz “N8 Liz” Varley
• Joel “N8 Jaz” Andruszkiewicz

CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB vs DIRE WOLVES LOL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB vs DIRE WOLVES OPL SPLIT 2 BETTING PREVIEW

Dire Wolves and Chiefs Esports Club, two of the most successful teams in the League of Legends Oceanic Pro League (OPL), are scheduled to meet on the Summoner’s Rift this Friday during the seventh week of OPL Split 2.

After making it to the grand finals of OPL Split 1, a lot of expectations were put on Dire Wolves ahead of Split 2, however, they failed to impress during the opening week, when they lost to Legacy Esports and Avant. Further down the line, Dire Wolves picked up another defeat against Chiefs Esports Club during the third week of the split and lost their rematch with Legacy at the end of June.

On a more positive note, those are also the only four losses Dire Wolves have suffered thus far, meaning they are holding onto a respectable 8-4 record, one win behind the league frontrunners Legacy Esports.

Last week, the Wolfpack defeated Pentanet.GG and Gravitas, both in a rather convincing fashion. Against Gravitas, Dire Wolves picked up 21 kills to eight and nine turrets to one, while they also claimed four drakes and one Baron as opposed to Gravitas who did not manage to take down any neutral objectives. Much of the same happened against Pentanet.gg, who managed only four kills, three turrets and two drakes against Dire Wolves, who ended the game with 16 kills, 11 turrets, three drakes and one Baron.

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Despite their early struggles, Dire Wolves managed to regain some stability and now look like a well-rounded team. They pride themselves with above-average numbers in all three elements of the game – farming, aggressiveness, and vision control. Wolfpack��s biggest strength, however, is their strong objective control, which in most part is thanks to strong performances of mid laner Ari “Shok” Greene-Young and ADC Ha “Vital” In-seong.

On the other side of the Rift, we will see Chiefs Esports Club, who have found themselves in an unenviable position following their losses to ORDER and MAMMOTH last week. Although Chiefs are still in the race for the playoffs berth, their 7-5 record is not what you would expect to see from the four-time OPL champions.

Ahead of the second split of the season, Chiefs were regarded as the team who would rival Legacy Esports for the title, and while they had an excellent opportunity to catch up to the reigning OPL champions following Legacy’s stumble against ORDER, MAMMOTH and Pentanet.gg, Brandon “Claire” Nguyen and co. failed to deliver and now sit tied-fourth with Pentanet.gg.

Looking back at their loss to ORDER, Chiefs underperformed across the board. They managed only 10 kills, three turrets, two drakes and a Baron, while ORDER picked up 28 kills, 10 turrets and five drakes. Somehow Chiefs managed to look even worse against MAMMOTH last Saturday, ending the game with only eight kills and two turrets while MAMMOTH picked up 25 kills, eight turrets, four drakes and a Baron.

Mid-season slumps are nothing out of the ordinary so perhaps it’s not fair to criticise Chiefs too much for their iffy displays, but at the same time, it’s difficult to be overly optimistic about Chief’s chances to go 2-0 this week, since they need to face both of the last split’s finalists one after the other.

CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB vs DIRE WOLVES OPL SPLIT 2 BETTING PREDICTIONS

Chiefs Esports Club and Dire Wolves last met on Saturday, June 20, when the former won with relative ease. They finished the game with +14 kill differential, 11 turrets to one, four drakes to one and over 10k gold lead.

Even though there is no denying Chiefs looked far better in their last bout against Dire Wolves, it seems like the esports bookmakers are putting too much emphasis on that win. Chefs are entering this match as heavy favourites and we don’t feel like the $2.06 offered on the Wolfpack does them justice.

Throughout the split, both teams have been showing similar numbers and while Chiefs tend to be more aggressive, Dire Wolves have better objective control, which is arguably far more valuable, especially if we take into account both teams usually play longer games (+32 min).

Both Chiefs and Dire Wolves field some of the biggest Oceanic LoL talents, so it��s hard to expect anything less than a close affair, but considering how shaky Chiefs have been performing last week, we will gladly take our chances with the underdogs here.

DIRE WOLVES vs ORDER LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

DIRE WOLVES vs ORDER OPL SPLIT 1 PLAYOFFS BETTING PREVIEW

ORDER and Dire Wolves will meet on the Summoner’s Rift this Friday in a rematch of their clash in last year’s Oceanic Pro League (OPL) Split 2 playoffs, where Wolves came out ahead 3-1.

Given that Ronan “rare7” Swingler and co. have already defeated Dire Wolves once this split, there is a sense of optimism in the ORDER camp. Although Wolves have won two of their three meetings this season, ORDER’s victory in their last encounter hints at a slight shift in the balance of power.

ORDER produced a decent run through the split to clinch a top-four finish with a 12-9 record. Although they shared that ledger with Wolves, an inferior head-to-head record prevented them from claiming the third seed and a bye into the upper bracket.

While a 12-9 record shows only a 57% win rate, ORDER closed out the regular season with five consecutive wins to enter the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the league. That form shone through in the first round of the lower bracket, where top laner Brandon “Swip3rR” Holland and jungler Jordan “Only” Middleton starred in a 3-1 win against AVANT.

SEE ALSO: HOW TO BET ON LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

While ORDER will be hoping to see the same level of contribution from their top-side duo in the second round, Dire Wolves will do their best to prevent Swip3rR from playing at his pace. The 25-year-old OPL veteran caused Dire Wolves severe headaches in their most recent clash, where he took over the match on Renekton and, with the help of rare7 on Kalista, sealed the deal in under 30 minutes.

Despite that underwhelming showing in Week 10, Dire Wolves enjoyed solid split and finished in the top three with a 12-9 record. Their run through the final two competitive weeks was not particularly promising, however, as they lost four fixtures in a row. Two were against the league frontrunners Legacy Esports and Chiefs EC, for which we can give them some slack, but the losses against Gravitas and ORDER are slightly concerning.

Dire Wolves faced off against Chiefs EC in the upper bracket of the OPL Split 1 playoffs, where they started strong and picked up the first map thanks to a phenomenal performance from Ari “Shok” Greene-Young on Corki in the mid lane. The next three maps, however, were a complete contrast, as Wolves failed to destroy a single turret and captured nothing but a lone Cloud Drake.

DIRE WOLVES vs ORDER OPL SPLIT 1 PLAYOFFS BETTING PREDICTIONS

Although Dire Wolves looked stronger than ORDER throughout most of OPL Split 1, there is no reason to have them priced as favourites here. Not only did Wolves lose to ORDER in the final week of the split, but they have clearly hit a slump.

Dire Wolves enter this match with a five-game losing streak, while ORDER are flying high with an 8-1 record in their last five maps. Momentum will play a crucial role here and if Swip3rR and rare7 can show up once more, ORDER should have this one in the bag.

CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB vs DIRE WOLVES LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB vs DIRE WOLVES OPL SUMMER SPLIT PLAYOFFS BETTING PREVIEW

Chiefs Esports Club and Dire Wolves are set to meet on the Summoner’s Rift this Friday in round one of the League of Legends Oceanic Pro League (OPL) 2020 Summer Split playoffs.

Dire Wolves have made it to the OPL playoffs for the second split in a row thanks to their solid 12-9 run through the regular season. Although far off league frontrunners Legacy Esports (18-3) and Summer Split runners-up Chiefs Esports Club (17-4), Wolves have proved to be one of the most consistent teams in the league due to their lack of obvious flaws.

Having said that, Dire Wolves�� losses to Legacy, Chiefs, Avant and ORDER in Week 9 and Week 10 were less an inspiring. We must consider, however, that Wolves had nothing left to fight for in the final weeks, so a lack of motivation might explain their dip in form.

Dire Wolves held on well this split despite losing two key players in the off-season. Their top laner Brandon “BioPanther” Alexander left for Pentanet.GG, while their star ADC Robert “Katsurii” Goouv jumped ship and will be standing on the opposite of the map this week.

Katsurii alone gives Chiefs a healthy advantage in this matchup, but that is not the only thing that will make Dire Wolves uneasy. Chiefs won two of their three meetings in the regular season, including their clash in the final week.

Chiefs enjoyed a successful start to the season, as they produced a perfect 10-0 run through the opening five weeks. Romeo “Thien” Tran and his crew slowed down a bit in the final five weeks, however, and lost their last match of the split to cede top spot to Legacy Esports. Nonetheless, with a 17-4 record under their belt, Chiefs remain a very serious threat for the OPL Summer title.

CHIEFS ESPORTS CLUB vs DIRE WOLVES OPL SUMMER SPLIT PLAYOFFS BETTING PREDICTIONS

The question we have to ask ourselves here is not whether Chiefs Esports Club can win, but rather if Dire Wolves are capable of causing any serious damage to the favourites.

A poor run through the last two weeks in the regular season makes it hard to side with the underdogs. What’s more, one of those four defeats came against Chiefs, which raises the question of whether we can expect a different outcome here.

It is worth noting, however, that Dire Wolves fought well in their most recent meeting with Chiefs and were even 12-4 up in kills by the 20-minute mark. While they did end up choking, Wolves showed a glimpse of what they can do. If they enter the playoffs with a slightly better team-fighting plan, Chiefs might be in for a tough match.

Dire Wolves are priced at very generous $2.37 odds to cover a +1.5 map handicap, which seems like an achievable goal. Chiefs, while the stronger team on paper, have shown some flashes of instability in the early game, which will give Wolves a great opportunity to get ahead and snowball their lead.

In addition, Riot Games has released the newest skins for the Conqueror Line �C Conqueror Varus and the 2018 Conqueror Ward. Some 25% of total sales from each of these skins will contribute to the MSI prize pool. In addition, Riot is hosting the standard Pentakill/Baron steal mystery gift rate-ups, which grant regular players a higher chance to pull a legendary skin from a mystery skin should any MSI team earn a Pentakill or a Baron steal in-game.

SEE MORE HEADLINES: LATEST ESPORTS NEWS

Group A

Rainbow7: The name Lyon Gaming is well recognized in the Latin American region with multiple international appearances. For this season, the team was rebranded as Rainbow7 but still retained their roster and, as a result, their dominance. Lyon Gaming have been ruthless in holding their reign over Latin America North and this season, despite the suspension of WhiteLotus, still decimated their competition. Through their jungler, Oddie, Rainbow7 can exert a ton of pressure from the get-go and throw enemy junglers out of their comfort zone. By controlling the early jungle pressure, each lane can proceed to outplay their opponents in a more ��win lane, win game�� mindset. Definitely one of the more interesting teams to keep track of, especially since WhiteLotus�� suspension ends on May 1st.

Gambit Esports: Taking up the mantle of Gambit Gaming, Gambit Esports have moved from the European LCS to the CIS in recent years. Another well-known team internationally, their roster sports recognized names such as PvP Stejos, Diamondprox and Kira – all formerly of Albus Nox Luna. Despite a close race for first place in the regular season, Gambit blew out their opponents in the finals in a resounding 3-0 sweep. With a roster of internationally tested veterans, they are no strangers to the big stage and thus one of the more likely teams to head out of their group.

Kaos Latin Gamers: Coming in second place during the regular season only to upset the top seed in the finals, Kaos Latin Gamers have made a couple of international appearances prior to this year’s MSI. Led by their midlaner Plugo and their support Slow, KLG have shown that age is no barrier. That being said, Latin America South has not yet had many significant showings on the international stage, usually relegated to the very bottom of team rankings or, during the wildcard era, not qualifying for group stages in Worlds and MSI. They face an uphill battle in a group filled with teams that have enjoyed much more exposure to a higher level of competitive play.

Ascension Gaming: Coming from a region that utilizes two tournaments to decide a winner for the region, Ascension Gaming were able to triumph in their regional Thailand Pro League and the Garena Premier League before qualifying for the MSI. Since their inception, Ascension have always lived in the shadow of the infamous Gigabyte Marines. Since Vietnam��s promotion to a round two play-in seed, this will be AG��s best opportunity to make a memorable impact internationally. Their players are not well known outside the region, with InTreso and Lloyd having the most professional experience on the team. Like KLG, Ascension will need to pull out all the stops to make it out of the group.

This group will be very competitive between Rainbow7 and Gambit Esports, with Kaos a good chance of throwing off the balance through an upset or two. Ascension Gaming need a huge amount of work to power through this group and, considering the international finesse of the other teams, it may be too high a wall to climb. The favorites to make it out of this group are Rainbow7 through their sheer domination of Latin America North, with Gambit their most likely challenger.

Check out the latest MSI odds at Arcanebet.com

Group B

KaBum! e-Sports: Infamous for their 2014 upset win over Alliance that allowed Cloud9 to advance, KaBum! e-Sports have struggled to relive their former glory. Brazilian teams have been consistent participants in international tournaments and, despite not making too much headway, are not always at the bottom of the pack. In the regular season, KaBum tied for first place with RED Canids – another well-known team from Brazil. Aside from dyNquedo, KaBum seems to be above average at best in terms of KDA and KP% despite respectable farming levels. The roster is also quite young, with most players in the professional scene only two to three years. Considering Brazil��s legacy in international esport, KaBum have some sizable shoes to fill.

SuperMassive eSports: Turkey has churned out some amazing placements in past Mid Season and World events. In particular, SuperMassive eSports have secured the region some heavy recognition with repeated MSI appearances for the past two years. Sporting some well-known names such as fabFabulous, Stomaged, GBM, Zeitnot and Snowflower, this is one of the more powerful teams in the entirety of the first round play-in stage. Having two Korean imports in GBM and Snowflower with a consistent team of battle-hardened veterans, SME are on a majority of predictions to make it out of groups.

Dire Wolves: Hailing from Australia, the Dire Wolves have had some exposure in past Worlds and Mid Seasons. Although these guys have been in the competitive scene for a few years, their recent international showings are long overdue considering their regional successes. With their star mid Triple and their powerful ADC in k1ng, the DW clinched first place in the regular season and did just enough to scrape past Chief Esports in the finals. Although power rankings suggest the Oceania champs will struggle to win out of groups, they definitely have the ability to spring an upset or two.

PENTAGRAM: This is the rebranded version of the former Japanese team Rampage, who had some lower-level showings on the international circuit. Having entered the playoffs as a distant second seed to DetonatioN FocusMe, they stunned the heavy favorites to win the Japanese title with a 3-0 clean sweep. The stars of the show are the bottom lane duo of YutoriMoyasi and Gaeng, playing ADC and Support respectively. Rampage went to a few Worlds and MSI without making a great impact, and it is expected PENTAGRAM will follow their predecessors’ footsteps in that regard.

Three teams in this group stand out as more competitive than the fourth, leaving PENTAGRAM as the severe underdogs to make it out of groups. KaBum and SuperMassive are both well liked to make it out, but the presence of Korean imports and Turkey’s impressive history give SME the edge.

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MSI Round 1 schedule

The first round of play-ins takes place over four days. Group A matches are slated for Thursday, May 3rd and Saturday, May 5th, while Group B games are locked in for Friday, May 4th and Sunday, May 6th. The second round of play-ins is scheduled for Tuesday, May 8th and Wednesday, May 9th.

Matches start from 4am PST/7am EST each day.

Thursday, May 3rd
Gambit vs. Kaos
Rainbow7 vs. Ascension
Gambit vs. Ascension
Rainbow7 vs. Kaos
Kaos vs. Ascension
Rainbow7 vs. Gambit

Friday, May 4th
SuperMassive vs. Dire Wolves
KaBum vs. PENTAGRAM
SuperMassive vs. PENTAGRAM
KaBum vs. Dire Wolves
Dire Wolves vs. PENTAGRAM
KaBum vs. SuperMassive

Saturday, May 5th
Ascension vs. Gambit
Kaos vs. Rainbow7
Ascension vs. Rainbow7
Kaos vs. Gambit
Gambit vs. Rainbow7
Ascension vs. Kaos

Sunday, May 6th
PENTAGRAM vs. SuperMassive
Dire Wolves vs. KaBum
PENTAGRAM vs. KaBum
Dire Wolves vs. SuperMassive
SuperMassive vs. KaBum
PENTAGRAM vs. Dire Wolves

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