?Invictus Gaming and Team Magma last met on Thursday, August 26, when MagMa won (2-0). It marked MagMa’s third head-to-head victory of the year (3-3) and their second since May, when they beat IG 2-1 during the first season of i-League.

Despite their success last time out, MagMa enter this match as heavy underdogs, which likely has to do with Invictus Gaming’s strong showings over the weekend when they swept Elephant (2-0) and forced Team Aster to three maps (1-2). Meanwhile, MagMa completely collapsed against Vici Gaming (0-2) in the first round of upper bracket fixtures.

Regardless of what those results might suggest, MagMa seem a bit underrated. Even though Li “mianmian” Zimeng and co. aren’t known for their consistency; they have improved since their recent roster change and have proven before that they can put up a fight against Invictus Gaming.

?Royal Never Give Up and Elephant will clash on Friday for the sixth time of 2021 and the first time since Friday, August 20, when RNG won in straight maps. It marked RNG’s third head-to-head victory of the year and their third across the last four meetings.

Su “Flyby” Lei and co. enter this match as underdogs, which doesn’t seem right. Even though you can’t be too excited about RNG’s losses against Vici (0-2, 1-2) and their narrow (2-1) victory against Aster.Aries last Friday, they’re just as strong as Elephant.

This match should be priced much closer to even money, so we will gladly side with Royal Never Give Up at the outsider odds.

?Aster.Aries have not won a single match in their last six outings and are 2-7 since the start of July. Their only two wins over that stretch came against Xtreme Gaming (2-0) and Phoenix Gaming (2-1); however, they did relatively well against Vici Gaming (1-2) just two weeks ago.

Vici Gaming are one of the region’s top teams, but it’s hard to be optimistic about a roster that is 3-5 on the month. Vici should still win, but they’re not a good moneyline bet at the offered Dota 2 betting odds.

With the form they’ve been showing, there’s an equal chance that Vici drop one map, which is why we will gladly take the better odds on the outsiders with a map handicap.

?Team Aster have yet to lose against Royal Never Give Up in 2021, boasting an impressive 6-0 head-to-head record. Their last two meetings happened two weeks ago, when Aster beat RNG with a pair of 2-1 results during OGA Dota PIT Season 5 China.

Team Aster enter this match with a 3-4 record from their last seven, albeit they are 3-1 in their last four with wins against Elephant (2-0), Invictus Gaming (2-1), and Vici Gaming (2-1). RNG have managed the same 3-4 record in their last seven and are 2-1 in their last three, with wins against Team MagMa (2-1) and Elephant (2-0).

RNG look like a better pick on paper since they usually do better against China’s top Dota 2 teams, but we must respect the head-to-head record. Team Aster have consistently won against RNG, and we don’t believe that will change on Wednesday.

?PSG.LGD are the current i-League 2021 frontrunners with a 9-1 series record and 19-6 map differential. Their only loss of the tournament happened during Week 5, when they lost 1-2 against EHOME.

PSG.LGD have since bested Invictus Gaming (2-1, 2-1), Team Aster (2-0), Team MagMa (2-0, 2-0), EHOME (2-0), and Elephant (2-0). They are also competing in the Chinese Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), where they sit second in the standings with a 4-2 record after losses to Vici (0-2) and Aster (0-2).

Team Aster have met with PSG.LGD five times in 2021 and won two series (2-1-2). PSG.LGD won 2-0 last time, but we can’t forget that it was Aster who held the broom in their hands just six days prior.

The overs on the total maps line makes the most sense to us. Both sides have proven that they can defeat one another, and another clean sweep seems unlikely when these two teams are so evenly matched.

?This will mark Vici Gaming’s sixth meeting with PSG.LGD of the year, having lost three of their previous five (1-1-3). These Chinese Dota 2 teams last met just four days ago, when PSG.LGD saluted with a reverse-sweep.

Historically, these two sides match up nicely and usually produce close affairs. If we look at only games played since the start of 2020, PSG.LGD are more successful (15-1-8), but they have managed only one clean sweep in 2021.

It’s also important to consider that Vici have been performing well outside of the i-League and are, at the time of writing, on a six-game winning streak. Siding with Vici to keep their streak going at the underdog odds is a pick we can’t pass on.

?EHOME are the current i-League frontrunners with a 7-4 record and 14-14 map differential. However, they’re also the only team besides Team MagMa (2-11) to have played over 10 fixtures.

One of those wins came against Vici (2-1) at the end of April when EHOME secured their first head-to-head victory of the year to square the ledger at 1-1. EHOME have since played only two games – against Elephant and PSG.LGD – and lost both.

Not a lot has changed since we last covered this matchup. Vici still seem stronger on paper but aren’t actually very good, while EHOME remain a serious threat to cause an upset. Over 2.5 maps is a safe bet at a good price.

?Invictus Gaming beat Vici Gaming (2-1) just a week ago and have done so four times in as many meetings this year, with three out of those four contests ending with all three maps played. IG historically match well with Vici (42-5-50), and they usually produce close series that average out at 2.154 maps played.

In 2020, eight out of 17 series (47%) between Vici and IG ended up going the distance, with that number jumping up to 75% in 2021. Since there isn’t a lot to separate these two Chinese Dota 2 teams in terms of talent and form, we have to take a shot with the overs again.

?Vici Gaming and EHOME last met way back in February, when Vici won 2-0. That marked their first victory against EHOME of the year and their 32nd (32-8-25) since 2015.

EHOME have made slight adjustments to their roster since then, replacing Lai “AhJit” Jay Son with Liu “Sylar” Jiajun. They have played five games since for three wins, defeating Royal Never Give Up (2-1), Team MagMa (2-1), and Sparking Arrow Gaming (2-0).

Those results might suggest that replacing AhJit hasn’t harmed the team’s quality, but EHOME haven’t been properly tested yet. That said, they have looked good enough for us to believe they can put up a fight against the ring-rusty Vici.

Ding “Dy” Cong and co. will enter this match having played only four fixtures in April and only two across the last three weeks. Vici have underperformed against weaker sides after long breaks before, and we expect that trend to continue here.

?PSG.LGD and Invictus Gaming last met just over three weeks ago in the semi-finals of the ONE Esports Singapore Major. IG won that match 2-1, securing their second head-to-head victory against PSG of the year.

Not one of the three fixtures between these two teams in 2021 has ended in a clean sweep, which more or less sums up how these bouts usually go. It’s worth pointing out, however, that out of 113 head-to-head bouts, PSG.LGD have won 53.02% overall (59-5-52) and went at an astounding 83.33% (15-3) in 2020.

Despite what last year’s numbers might suggest, IG have a decent chance to defeat PSG.LGD here. They field a much better roster nowadays and come into this bout in excellent form. Siding with the outsiders to win might seem like an appealing bet, but we like the overs better.

Outside of PSG.LGD’s era of dominance in 2020, these two sides historically produce close affairs. All of their last four meetings went the distance, and this clash won’t be an exception.

?EHOME might be one of the top Chinese Dota 2 teams, but they shouldn’t be priced as low as $1.08 against Team MagMa or any other side at this tournament. At these odds, the esports bookmakers are giving MagMa only a 7.4% chance of winning, which is extremely low for an online match.

Although there is no denying EHOME are the superior team, we can’t just ignore that MagMa forced Pan “Fade” Yi and co. to three maps on Monday. What’s more, MagMa had a legitimate chance to win game three but failed to execute their early-game plan and eventually got outscaled.

EHOME are 7-1 against MagMa since September 2020, but both of their last two series went the distance. While we don’t believe MagMa are good enough to defeat EHOME, they’ve shown enough for us to be confident they can steal one map.

Instead of backing MagMa with a map handicap, take the higher payout for over 2.5 maps. The line bet would make sense if MagMa had a realistic chance to win 2-0, but since we don’t believe they can, overs is the better pick.