?Aster.Aries enter the penultimate round of DPC 2023 China Tour 3 with a 0-6 record, which guarantees they’ll get demoted to the second division. Wang “Ulu” Jiakai and co. have lost their last six games and failed to win a single map, so things can’t get any worse from here.
And despite Aster. Aries’ struggles, they’re priced as favourites to defeat Team Bright.

Team Bright are 1-5 with a 3-10 map differential, which is slightly better than Aster.Aries’ record, but unlike Aries, Team Bright at least won one game – against Azure Ray (2-0) on Tuesday. That was the only game Bright played well, but we can put more weight on it since it was their most recent outing.

Even though it’s not fair to say that Team Bright are good due to their victory against Azure Ray, they are definitely better than Aster.Aries and shouldn’t be priced as underdogs. A bet on Team Bright to sweep looks like a fine choice, but they can be a bit inconsistent, so we’ll settle with a moneyline bet.

?Team Aster have made a strong case for themselves as one of the best Chinese Dota 2 teams. They are 5-0 ahead of their final two games of the tour and have so far dropped just one map — against Xtreme Gaming at the end of Week 2. But do they deserve to be priced as $1.14 favourites with Dota 2 betting sites for this clash?

Invictus Gaming have managed a 3-2 record across the first two weeks of play, which is not bad; however, those wins have come against some of the weakest teams in the league – Team Bright (2-1), Piggy Killer (2-0), and Aster.Aries (2-0).

While Invictus Gaming have looked good against lesser teams, their losses to PSG.LGD (0-2) and Azure Ray (0-2) suggest they might struggle against Aster. However, a closer look at their defeats unveils that IG know how to put up a fight and are not as weak as their record might appear.

At better Dota 2 esports betting odds, backing Aster to sweep would be the play, but Invictus Gaming with a map advantage offers more value.

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?PSG.LGD won their third match of DPC Tour 3 on Thursday against Piggy Killer (2-1) and are now set to face to face Team Bright, who shouldn’t pose as big of a threat for the former Chinese powerhouse. Even though PSG.LGD showed some cracks against Piggy Killer (who are in a similar spot as Team Bright record-wise), PK are a much stronger team.

Team Bright have yet to win a game this season (0-4) and hold a 1-8 map differential with defeats against Piggy Killer (0-2), Invictus Gaming (1-2), Xtreme Gaming (0-2), and Aster (0-2).

We saw that PSG.LGD can slip against a weaker team, but Team Bright didn’t amaze in the second division and are evidently not good enough to compete at the highest level. Expect a very one-sided win for PSG-LGD.

?Aster.Aries lost against its sister team, Aster (0-2), on Thursday and are now in real danger of getting eliminated from the upper division. On a more positive note, Aster.Aries’ defeats came against Aster, PSG.LGD (0-2), and Azure Ray (0-2) – some of the strongest teams in the league.

Since Aster.Aries played only against the top dogs, it’s tough to say how good they are relative to other mid-table teams. And while it’s not fair to say that Aster.Aries amazed anyone with their past results; they have shown some good qualities.

Xtreme Gaming are 2-1 ahead of this match with wins against Piggy Killer (2-1) and Team Bright (2-0) and a 1-2 defeat against Auzre Ray. Those are decent results on paper, but Xtreme Gaming have won only against Bright and Piggy Killer (barely) and struggled against Azure Ray, so perhaps they’re not as strong as the latest Dota 2 betting odds suggest.

On paper, this looks like Xtreme Gaming’s game to lose, and while they should win, having Aster.Aries priced at $5.50 is disrespectful. Xtreme Gaming are solid, but not good enough to deserve a bet at the offered price. The value is with Aster.Aries to win at least one map.

?Invictus Gaming and Azure Ray last met on March 21, in the third round of DPC China 2023 Tour 2 Division I, when Azure Ray (then Ybb Gaming) won 2-1. They ended the tour in sixth place with a 3-4 record, while Invictus Gaming placed third with a 4-3 record.

But even though Invictus Gaming looked better last tour, they enter this match as $3.00 underdogs, which doesn’t make much sense. IG and AR are 2-1 ahead of this clash, and neither produced anything remarkable last week.

Invictus Gaming lost a map against Team Bright (2-1) in the first week of the season, but they played well against PSG.LGD (0-2) and didn’t disappoint against Piggy Killer (2-0). On the other side, Azure Ray won against Aster.Aries (2-0) and Xtreme Gaming (2-1), but lost against Aster (0-2).

Azure Ray look slightly stronger because they showed a good fight against Aster, but they’re not good enough to be priced as $1.36 favourites with the top esports betting sites. The value is with Invictus Gaming at $3.00 or better.

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Aster.Aries and its sister team, Aster, will clash on Thursday, in the second week of DPC CN Tour 3 Division I. It’ll mark their first meeting since March when Aster won 2-0, and according to the latest Dota 2 esports betting odds, this game should end similarly.

Aster.Aries are 0-2 ahead of this match, with two (0-2) defeats against PSG.LGD and Azure Ray in the first week of Tour 3. Aster, on the other side, are 3-0 with clean 2-0 victories against Piggy Killer, Azure Ray, and Team Bright.

The Chinese DPC has seen many upsets this season, but it’s hard to believe we’ll see another on Thursday, mainly because Aster.Aries lost Liu “White Album” Yuhao at the start of the month, which hasn’t done them any favours.

Aster.Aries have never won or come close to winning against its sister team before, and we don’t expect that to change. Expect a dominant victory from Aster.

PSG.LGD are heavy favourites to defeat Piggy Killer, which makes sense considering what we saw from the two teams in the opening week of Tour 3. PSG.LGD started the final stage of the season with two wins against Aster.Aries (2-0) and Invictus Gaming (2-0), while Piggy Killer have managed just one win from their last three outings.

Piggy Killer played relatively well against Aster (0-2) but got stomped by Invictus Gaming (0-2) on Tuesday, which suggests Piggy Killer aren’t good enough to compete with the top teams. Still, $2.10 on Piggy Killer to win at least one map on Thursday is a bit too generous.

This team needs more time to gel, but Piggy Killer are strong and worth a bet against PSG.LGD.

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?Xtreme Gaming had an underwhelming start to the 2023 DPC season and finished DPC China Tour 1 Division I in fifth. However, after making a couple of roster changes in March, Zhang “Paparazi灬” Chengjun and co. won the second DPC Tour of the year with a 6-1 record.

Despite their domestic success, Xtreme Gaming failed to accomplish much internationally. They crashed out of ESL One Berlin Major 2023 in 9th-12th place after losing to one of the eventual finalists, Team Liquid, 1-2 in the first round of the playoffs.

Their next opponents Piggy Killer won the DPC China 2023 Tour 2 Division II with a 6-1 record, which is impressive, but we’ve yet to see them play a top-tier team. This explains why the best Dota 2 betting sites have Piggy Killer priced as $4.00 underdogs, and while the price might make sense, the raw talent on this roster isn’t to be underestimated.

We have to respect Xtreme Gaming and what they showed in the second tour of the season, but at the offered Dota 2 betting odds, siding with Fade and his crew with a map advantage is a better play.

?PSG.LGD are priced as heavy favourites to defeat Astrer.Aries on Tuesday, which isn’t too surprising considering what the two teams have shown lately. PSG.LGD finished DPC Tour 2 Division I in second place with a 6-1 record, well ahead of Aster.Aries (3-4), but like Xtreme Gaming, they couldn’t produce a deep run at ESL One Berlin Major 2023 (9th-12th).

Aster.Aries last met with PSG.LGD on March 18 and lost in a very one-sided series. PSG.LGD smashed Aster with 36-10 and 29-4 in kills and a massive +35k and 18k net worth lead. Aster.Aries have since not made a single roster change, whereas PSG.LGD added Li “niu” Kongbo as a replacement for Nicholas “zeal” Lim, which made them even stronger.

We don’t expect any surprises on Tuesday. PSG.LGD are the better team and should make it past Aster.Aries without any issues.

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?Team Secret are in dire need of wins, having lost their opening three games of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Winter Tour against Team Liquid (0-2), OG (0-2), and Gaimin Gladiators (0-2).

Entity haven’t achieved anything spectacular so far this tour either. Still, they took a map from Gaimin Gladiators (1-2) on Monday and picked up a hard-fought win against Nigma Galaxy (2-1) on Wednesday. So even though Entity still look weaker on paper, they’re at least showing something in their games.

With the talent Team Secret have on the roster, it’s only a matter of time before they bounce back, but we’ve yet to see anything from them that would inspire confidence. Entity to win still sounds like a bold pick, but at $2.10, it’s hard to pass on the bet.

Team Liquid have yet to drop a map this tour, with wins against the struggling Team Secret (2-0) and the reigning champions of The International, Tundra Esports (2-0). Beating the Gladiators and Tundra alone indicates Liquid’s strength, but Micha? “Nisha” Jankowski and co. also pass the eye test.

Liquid are playing extremely well, and it’s exciting to see how quickly and well Nisha fits in with the squad. Although it’s too early to say, Liquid might be one of the best Dota 2 teams in the world besides Team Aster, who are doing serious damage in the Chinese DPC.

Into the Breach would never be considered one of the region’s top four teams, and they’ve yet to prove otherwise. With a loss against Entity (0-2), ITB more or less locked themselves out of a top-four finish, but then they took down Nigma Galaxy (2-0), proving that they can bite.

At $2.75, ITB look like an appealing pick to win at least one map, but Liquid are on another level and should win with plenty to spare.

Nigma Galaxy have yet to find tier footing with Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf as the new no.1, as they enter the second week of the DPC WEU Winter Tour with a 0-2 record and defeats against Tundra Esports (1-2) and Into the Breach (0-2). The latter loss stung quite a bit, as it sets Nigma Galaxy back a lot on their quest to lock in a spot at Lima Major, but this is still a strong squad that can bounce back.

Gaimin Gladiators have found themselves sharing the first spot in league with Team Liquid, having won against Entity (2-1) and Team Secret (2-0), but there’s more to that record than meets the eye. Gaimin Gladiators nearly lost against Entity, and their win against Secret holds little weight due to Secret’s poor form.

On paper, Gaimin Gladiators look like a superior team, but their performances so far don’t warrant the offered Dota 2 betting odds. Nigma Galaxy to win at least one map at $1.61 is an easy choice.

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