Xtreme Gaming had a rough start to the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season. They needed three maps to defeat Aster.Aries (2-1) and then lost against Team Aster (1-2). But there’s a silver lining: Xtreme Gaming played well against Aster on Sunday and had their chance to win.

EHOME won both of their DPC 2023 CN Week 1 series against Invictus Gaming (2-0) and Dawn (2-0). They had a fairly easy schedule, so we wouldn’t overreact to EHOME’s perfect run, but they have played much better than expected.

EHOME are in much better shape ahead of this bout, but they’re still individually weaker than Xtreme Gaming, so it makes sense to see them priced as underdogs. Still, if EHOME keep their wheels spinning into the week of the season, it’s not too crazy to believe that they can win at least one map.
Xtreme Gaming looked lost against Aster.Aries on Friday, and if we see another such performance on Tuesday, EHOME might even come out on top.

Despite the roster changes, PSG.LGD looked just as good in the season’s opening week as you would expect from this team. They demolished Dawn Gaming (2-0) and added another commanding victory against Aster.Aries (2-0).

Even though PSG.LGD had to face fairly weak teams in Week 1; they hadn’t shown anything that would make us doubt them ahead of this match. However, they’re set to face a capable team that had some glimpses of greatness last week.

Knights lost their opening match of the season against Team Aster (1-2), but they fought well and added a strong performance against Invictus Gaming (2-0). It’s difficult to make any conclusions from just two games, but the Knights look strong, and they just might be able to cause some problems for PSG.LGD.

At the offered betting odds, we wouldn’t back PSG.LGD. Even though they’ve shown more in the first week of the season, it’s hard to believe that they’ll look as dominant when faced with stronger teams. This is a crucial match for Su “Flyby” Lei and his crew, and if they can show the same performance as they did against Team Aster, we should be in for a close series on Tuesday.

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EHOME aren’t getting much respect ahead of the first China Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Tour of 2023, mainly because there were speculations of EHOME selling its spot due to issues forming a squad. And even though EHOME shut down the rumours, it built a last-minute roster mostly of lower-tier players.
The new-look squad has some pre-established synergy with Wong “mks” Sim An and Lee “X1aOyU” Qian Yu joining EHOME from RSG and two players in Tang “Salad” Xiaolei and Liu “Lww” Weiwei, who have experience competing in the upper division. So there are some positive things to take from EHOME’s new squad, but we don’t expect this roster to be very competitive.

Invictus Gaming also made substantial changes, bringing in Zhou “Dust” Shiyuan, Cui “qyqx” Chenyang, and Li “Irving” Jian from Team MagMa and Wilson “poloson” Koh, formerly of Team SMG and Nigma Galaxy SEA. The quartet will team up with Zhou “Emo” Yi, who extended his stay with IG for one more year.
On paper, Invictus Gaming look stronger, but it’s hard to take their side at the offered Dota 2 betting odds. So even though it’s hard to say how EHOME’s roster will do, they should be good for at least one map.

Despite the team’s success in 2022, which includes two DPC titles, Riyadh Masters 2022 trophy, a silver medal from PGL Arlington Major, and a quarter-finals finish at The International, PSG.LGD decided to make roster changes ahead of this season.

With the signing of Guo “shiro” Xuanang, Li “xiang yu” Longwu, and Lin “planet” Hao, PSG.LGD completely revamped its lineup, which doesn’t look as scary as the 2022 iteration. But it’s hard to doubt PSG.LGD’s ability to build one of the top rosters in the region.

Dawn Gaming, who took over the slot from Royal Never Give Up, field a mixed roster of former Sparking Arrow Gaming and LBZS players, who’ll link up with He “Docres” Ercong – a 26-year-old player with no professional experience. Besides Docres, about who we don’t know much, Dawn Gaming field a solid roster that should compete for a top-four finish while beating PSG.LGD might be too much to ask from them.

PSG.LGD should come out on top, but we have to acknowledge that early-season fixtures tend to be far more open, which often favours the outsiders. Dawn Gaming with a 15.5 kill handicap (on both maps) at $2.02 looks like the right play in our book.

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Invictus Gaming got off to a strong start against Royal Never Give Up on Tuesday but ended up getting reverse-swept (1-2), which was unfortunate, but a fair result. Still, IG showed a lot of good qualities and had a realistic chance to win the decider, so it’s not like they played terribly.

EHOME picked up the first win of the top division on Monday when they swept Phoenix Gaming (2-0), but while it was a convincing victory, we have to keep in mind that Phoenix are one of the weakest teams in the division. Regardless, EHOME played solid Dota 2 and seemed pretty stable for a team that replaced its entire lineup in November.

Invictus Gaming are priced as $1.11 favourites for this bout, which makes sense, considering this is one of the most stacked rosters in the region. But raw talent doesn’t guarantee success, especially so early into the season.

At better odds with the top esports betting sites, we would side with Invictus Gaming, but at $2.54, EHOME are worth a shot on the map handicap market.

Vici Gaming edged past LBZS (2-1) on Tuesday and will now take on Team Aster, who are coming off a three-map series against PSG.LGD (1-2). But while you should give Aster some recognition for stealing a map away from The International 10 finalists, it was mostly PSG.LGD playing poorly rather than Team Aster showing any real quality.

What’s more, Aster have played eight fixtures since the TI10 and won just two (2-3-3), and even those came against TNC Predator and IG Vitality.

That’s not to say that Vici Gaming impressed us with their showings last month (3-1-3), but they have looked much cleaner in their wins. While we don’t expect Vici to compete for the top spot in the division, they are far more reliable than Aster and shouldn’t be priced as the underdogs.

?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.

?EHOME and PSG.LGD will duke it out in the final round of the FMWH Championship regular season. The match holds no real value for either side since they are already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, and that scenario could work in favour of underdogs.

These sides last met just a week ago when PSG.LGD won 2-0 to improve their head-to-head record to 7-0 since July 2020. Despite what that record might suggest, we must consider that PSG.LGD recently dropped at least one map against both Vici Gaming and Invictus Gaming, who are only slightly better than EHOME.

EHOME might not be at the level of PSG.LGD, but they have looked solid enough of late for us to say they can force a three-map series.

?There is no denying that Elephant have been playing better Dota 2 than Sparking Arrow Gaming this tournament, but to have them priced as $1.04 favourites makes no sense. At the offered odds, esports bookmakers imply Elephant should win this match 96.2% of the time, which is way too high for any team in the league.

What’s more, Elephant have not been doing that much better than SAG, winning only one out of four fixtures, and even that came against CDEC Gaming, who can be very hit-or-miss. This is a long shot, but it is hard to pass on the underdogs as these odds. Alternatively, you can pick SAG with a map handicap, but we are going all-in for this one.

?These teams will meet on Tuesday for the first time since Vici Gaming’s 2-0 win in the China Dota2 Pro Cup in November 2020. That result gave Vici their seventh victory in eight clashes with Sparking Arrow Gaming for the year and marked their third head-to-head win in a row.

Despite that record, we can’t agree with the match odds for this clash. Implying Vici will defeat SAG 91.7% of the time is way over the top, especially considering this will be their first match in almost a month.

SAG might not be as strong as Vici, but they are 4-0 across the last 10 days with wins against the likes of Royal Never Give Up (2-0) and CDEC Gaming (2-1).We would usually side with the favourites in this matchup, but we cannot ignore the odds about he outsiders to win at least one map and cover the line.

EHOME have only five games on record since the turn of the year, and only one across the last three weeks. What’s even more concerning is that they have lost all but one series in that stretch, although their sole win came against Team MagMa (2-0) in January, so they at least have that going for them heading into this match.

While MagMa have been far more active than EHOME in 2021, they’ve lost over half of their games. Their only win in the last month came against LBZS (2-0), which is hardly a huge achievement.

Two months ago MagMa swept IG.Vitality and their main roster, Invictus Gaming, which are excellent results for a team of this calibre, but they have since looked progressively worse. EHOME might be a bit ring rusty, but MagMa are way too inconsistent for us to trust them in any major market.

The 22-year-old offlaner is scheduled for surgery to remove an intramedullary nail from his upper arm. The procedure has been in the works since February 2019, when the player fractured his humerus during a team photo shoot at MDL Macau 2019.

While the operation is considered a simple and low-risk affair, Faith_bian will likely remain sidelined for the next few months.

“Faith_bian, the position three player of EHOME Dota2 team followed the doctor’s advice and will undergo nail removal surgery in accordance with the original plan in the near future,” read EHOME’s announcement on Weibo.

EHOME are now in the process of finding a replacement player for Faith_bian. That might prove tricky, however, as he is a strong leader who has played a pivotal role in his team’s success in the Dota2 esports scene over the past few years.

With Faith_bian, EHOME have won titles at The Bucharest Minor, Hainan Master Cup and, most recently, DPL-CDA Professional League Season 1. This year, they have also claimed bronze medals at ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online: China and OGA Dota PIT 2020 Online: China.

Although EHOME have yet to announce who will fill in the offlaner position, Faith_bian suggested his team should consider He “Inflame” Yongzheng. The 27-year-old free agent previously played for EHOME in 2015 before leaving to play for CDEC Gaming, LGD.Forever Young, Newbee and Team Sirius. He also had a short stint as head coach of Royal.

More information about EHOME’s situation should become available in the upcoming weeks. However, with no matches on EHOME’s schedule for at least a week, the Chinese squad will have plenty of time to find a substitute player.

EHOME vs CDEC GAMING DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

EHOME vs CDEC GAMING CHINA DOTA 2 PRO LEAGUE SEASON 2 BETTING PREVIEW

EHOME and CDEC Gaming will clash for the third time this week when they renew hostilities in the China Dota2 Pro League on Saturday.

CDEC have produced a strong run through the opening five weeks of the competition, defeating ViCi (2-1), Aster (2-0), Keen Gaming and Newbee (2-1). Although a 4-0 record is impressive, CDEC’s true test begins now, as they are yet to face Royal Never Give Up, Invictus Gaming, PSG.LGD and EHOME.

Guo “Xm” Hongcheng and his crew showed a lot of quality and synergy in their recent clash with ViCi. Although game two slipped out of their hands early due to big displays from Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun and Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang, CDEC bounced back in game three and wrapped things up in just under 38 minutes.

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Talking about strong performances in recent weeks, EHOME dealt with RNG (2-0), PSG.LGD (2-1), Invictus Gaming (2-1) and ViCi Gaming (2-1) in consecutive fixtures between April 28 and May 2. That run came to an end with losses to IG (1-2) and CDEC (1-2) at OGA Dota PIT 2020 Online: China, but EHOME bounced back with a 2-0 win over Wang “Liekkas” Yutian’s squad in the DPL-CDA Pro League on Wednesday.

The first match of that series was very close for the first 35 minutes, although it became clear early on that CDEC were only delaying the inevitable. Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang more than compensated for Zhang “y`” Yiping’s shaky display on Grimstroke and singlehandedly carried the game, finishing the match with 17/0/8.

NothingToSay took that momentum into game two and helped his team edge out a narrow win on recently buffed Clinkz, ending the match with 17/7/9. With that, he proved once again that EHOME made the right call when they signed him in November.

EHOME vs CDEC GAMING CHINA DOTA 2 PRO LEAGUE SEASON 2 BETTING PREDICTIONS

Wednesday’s result saw esports bookmakers turn the odds upside down and install EHOME as favourites for the rematch this weekend. To price them as short as $1.58, however, makes little sense, especially in an online event.

NothingToSay’s recent surge in form appears to give EHOME the edge, but it’s difficult to trust a team whose results rely solely on the performance of one player. As the rest of the team have looked ordinary of late, siding with EHOME to win outright seems a bit too risky for our liking.

The last two meetings between these teams were extremely close, while the four before that saw CDEC claim convincing wins, so EHOME’s win in their last bout counts for little. Online bookies are paying better than evens for a three-map series, and we don’t have to think twice about taking that action.