EHOME and Team Root are set for a Dota 2 re-match today in an encounter which promises to provide some fireworks in the ESL One Katowice tournament.
Team Root had a tough victory over EHOME yesterday, as we predicted, in their match-up in the first round of the Upper Bracket.
Immediately after EHOME lost the game, they faced off against Royal Never Give Up and eliminated RNG, grabbing one more chance to get their ticket into Main Tournament of ESL One Katowice 2019.
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From the head-to-head match they played yesterday, we could see that Team Root is better in draft, illustrated by their daring to pick Sniper. Sniper is not a strong hero in this patch, but their ability to utilize this hero showed great strength and patch knowledge.
In game one, Team Root drafted a small combo picks – Faceless Void and Elder Titan. Their combo worked very well. Elder Titan’s ultimate skill – Earth Splitter – had a delay of 3.14 seconds before it could be exploded while Faceless Void were able to chorono enemies for 6 seconds for him to prepare the Earth Splitter.
EHOME was forced to call GG when END, the carry position player from Team Root, had a ultra kills towards EHOME and lead to a team wipe at the 23-minute mark.
In game two, EHOME drafted a great strategy of range core heroes, including Drow Ranger and Luna. Drow Ranger provides attack speed to his range teammate based on his agility now, while Luna is a imbalanced range hero that is always able to farm very quickly thanks to his second ability, Moon Glaives, allowing his attack to have 6 bounces to other units.
With this incredible attack speed provided by Drow Ranger, he had a great time in farming and crushed enemies, had an easy ultra kill at the 30-minute mark and only traded a supporter for that achievement.
As analysed in yesterday’s prediction piece, Team Root is playing a different strategy for Sven, which put him into a position one carry role.
They did it again in the game three yesterday along with IO supporting him. With Sven being tank and damage dealer in front line, Sniper was having a good time hitting enemy freely in the back line.
Team Root vs. EHOME betting prediction
After analysing the head-to-head match yesterday, we give Team Root a 55% chance to win this match-up.
Our recommendation is to go low and bet on Team Root to win the game at better than $1.90 at GG Bet.
]]>EHOME and Team Root will battle it out in a Dota 2 match that will determine who is going to the main tournament of ESL One Katowice 2019.
EHOME is the team who was directly invited into this China Qualifier, while Team Root made their way here through the Open Qualifier.
Team Root won the China Dota 2 Winter Cup title just three days ago, taking down strong teams like Keen Gaming, IG Vitality and also CDEC Gaming in that tournament.
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Their most recent professional match-up was yesterday in H-CUP Season 11, playing against Team Aster, Newbee Young and Keen Gaming Luminous.
From their draft in those encounters, there was not any repetition of heroes. That is bad news to EHOME because EHOME will have trouble seeing through their tactics.
The interesting draft tactic Team Root adopted yesterday was picking Sven as their position one carry in their match-up against Newbee Young. Sven is a running support role in almost every professional match-up in this match, while Team Root tried a different role for him, which could cost them the game if their plan did not work out.
However, they managed to carry out their plan nicely with the support from Dark Seer in team fight. Dark Seer provided Sven his second skill, Surge, allowing Sven to be kited in the team fight so he can hit enemies freely once he had his Black King Bar.
Team Root also took IO to support Sven in that game. EHOME might need to be aware of this draft and find a way to break these combos.
EHOME also had three matches-up yesterday in H-CUP Season. Their opponents were For The Dream, Invictus Gaming and FGB Gaming.
Their loss against Invictus Gaming was disappointed because EHOME is a better team, but their draft was quite bad because they picked Drow Ranger immediately after Invictus Gaming took Phantom Assassin.
Drow Ranger will lose his ultimate skill whenever there is an enemy within 400 range around him, while Phantom Assassin has blink strike, which allows hims to get close to Drow Ranger without any trouble.
Team Root vs. EHOME betting prediction
After running our eye through the drafting abilities from both squads, we give Team Root a 60% chance to win this match-up.
Our recommendation is to go medium and bet on Team Root to win the game at better than $2.10 at GG Bet.
]]>For The Dream and Royal Never Give Up will face off in a Dota 2 battle that will secure the victor direct qualification to the main tournament in the ESL One Katowice 2019.
For The Dream and RNG last played on November 29 and it was RNG who prevailed in a 2-0 victory.
Looking at that last match, RNG illustrated that they definitely understood the patch and drafted Nage Siren after Magnus and Phantom Assassin were banned in the first banning phase in game one.
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In game two, RNG picked Phantom Assassin as their core carry because none of the teams banned him in the first banning phase. They also picked Dazzle as the second core in that match to build up the armor reduction towards enemies, so Phantom Assassin had a better chance in wiping out enemies in the team fight.
From RNG’s recent draft in the H-CUP Season 11, we could see their favourite carries have been Faceless Void and Terrorblade. They picked Faceless Void and Terrorblade, along with Phoenix support in their match-up against Keen Gaming Luminous yesterday. That game was easy for them because they had a good laning phase and Phoenix’s Supernova was always successful because it was protected by Faceless Void.
They drafted Faceless Void and Terrorblade once again in their match-up against Team Aster yesterday. Despite Team Aster picking up Magnus and Anti-Mage, RNG still crushed the game when Terrorblade had his core items.
Setsu, the position two player from RNG played Tiny in that game, he was the MVP and notched 18 kills by the end of the game.
For The Dream will need to be aware of Setsu’s Tiny in their upcoming match-up later today.
Royal Never Give Up vs. For The Dream betting prediction
After analysing the drafting abilities, last head-to-head result and recent performance of both squads, we give Royal Never Give Up a 70% chance to win this match-up.
Our recommendation is to go medium and bet on Royal Never Give Up to win the game at better than $1.67 at GG Bet.
]]>While DeToNator qualified for ESL One Katowice 2019 Southeast Closed Qualifier, WarriorsGaming.Unity (WGU) and Team Admiral will battle it out to get the second slot.
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Clutch Gamers is a team that featured strong players such as Kyxy, Skylark and Alacrity.
The same can’t be said for WGU. Their only well-known player is Kang, the offlane position player from the squad. Most importantly, they only formed up their current roster a little over two weeks ago, but still delivered a good result in the professional match-up against other low tier teams.
WGU also participated in the Chongqing Major Southeast Asia Qualifier, but got eliminated by Team Tigers and BOOM ID. Their draft was good, but their gameplay skill is not sufficient to compete against tier 2 teams.
Team Admiral finalised their squad on November 16. Ab1ng is the only player that is famous for his sustainability in the middle lane. The other members of Team Admiral have no great individual achievements to date.
Luckily enough for WGU, Team Admiral is not a tier 2 team at this moment.
WarriorsGaming.Unity vs. Team Admiral betting prediction
After analysing the individual skills of the squads, we give WGU a 60 per cent chance to win this best-of-three match,
Our suggestion is to pick WGU to win, at $2.10 at GG Bet.
]]>Classic was exposed by Elazer’s use of roach/queen nydus all in in his loss earlier in the tournament, and Rogue used the exact same tactic to win Game 1 of the grand final, that he was to go on and win 4-0 and pocket USD $150,000.
The South Korean, real name Lee Byung Ryul, who used to be known as Savage, is a zerg player representing Jin Air Green Wings.
In game 2, Rogue then used a more standard game on Blackpink, as he thwarted Classic’s archon drops through the use of zerglings and queens. Classic held and held but eventually went out hard when mutalisks arrived at his home base. Classic lost a significant portion of his army and a mineral line, allowing Rogue to attack with hydralisks and banelings and finish the game.
In game 3 Classic opened by hindering Rogue’s economy on Neon Violet square, with a three base chargelot/archon pressure, but it had little impact on the eventualy result. Classic continued to try and hurt Rogue but he was able to defend stoutly. Rogue lost his gold base which sent the base count to four all, with Rogue going into brood lords and classic producing tempests. With the map split Rogue amassed a huge army of brood lords, corruptors and vipers which simply made it impossible for Classic, eventually taking a 3-0 lead.
While Classic did everything in hiis power to get back into the contest, Rogue just had too much class and tactical nous. Winning the fourth game to become the IEM World Champion.
Rogue, who is 25, has previously won tournaments including the 2017 IEM Shanghai and GSL Super Tournament II, which bagged him an entry into the WCS Global Finals. He then went on to win the BlizzCon trophy in a tightly fought 4-2 series win over SoO.
IEM Katowice StarCraft II Round of 12 recap
Dark vs Trap
Trap and Dark had a very close series, despite Trap going up 2-0 quickly. For a moment it looked like Dark was poised for a reverse sweep as he won game three and four, and established a pretty strong position in game five with a heavy economic advantage. Near the end of the last game in their series Dark managed to get lings into Trap’s main and thirty probes went down. With no economy Trap had only one option, a desperate all out push towards the Zerg’s main. Dark zoned him back for a while with corrosive biles, but ultimately Trap’s immortal/archon/templar composition was too efficient against Dark’s roach/ravager/bane and Trap managed to push through and win.
Result: Trap 3-2 Dark
Impact vs Dear
After Dear’s strong showing in the group stage there was a lot of anticipation for how well he would do in the round of twelve, especially facing Impact who is one of the weaker players remaining in the tournament. After holding off an early roach/ravager/ling all in complete with proxy hatchery Dear was up 2-1. In game four Dear not only got no damage done with his archon drop, he even lost his warp prism and archons and Impact grew out of control. Suddenly they were tied 2-2. In game five Impact took a gold base early on to try and get an early economic advantage, but a massive zealot all in from Dear did game ending damage.
Result: Dear 3-2 Impact
Hurricane vs Rogue
Rogue, the reigning world champion, came into this match as a heavy favourite, and easily dispatched his protoss opponent in the most one-sided match of the round of twelve.
Rogue 3-0 Hurricane.
sOs vs Maru
This was easily the most anticipated match of the round of twelve. Both sOs and Maru are masters of their respective races who employ very active/dynamic styles. After two games the score was one win a piece. sOs look poised to take game three way ahead in economy after repeated successful dark templar raids and up in army supply as well. Forced into a corner Maru decided for one last all out push, even pulling his SCVs to contribute to the fight. With absolute precision micro and more than a little bit of luck, Maru was somehow able to win the fight and steamroll into sOs’ main, and suddenly Maru was up 2-1, but a proxy stargate / shield battery rush in game four tied things up. Game five started with early game aggression on both sides, but into the middle game sOs just could not keep up with Maru’s non-stop multipronged harass. Maru grew ahead in economy, which in turn translated into superior army strength, and eventually he pushed out and sOs could not hold.
Result: Maru 3-2 sOs
]]>The TY vs Maru match was a tightly contested cheese-fest, with Maru winning a quick KO in the first match with some clutch reaper micro, but then losing in a much longer game two against TY’s superior tactical decisions.
In match three Maru decided to proxy everything outside of TY’s base and actually came very close to winning with a tank / medivac / marine push but TY did manage to hold. With no answer to TY’s liberator on the other side of the map, Maru was forced to resign. TY is actually the defending champion of IEM Katowice and based on the way that he made it out of this group looks poised to retain his title.
Maru and Dear Moving on to the Ro 12
Both Dear and Maru advanced on to the round of 12. Dear in particular showed excellent form, easily beating Maru 2-0 in an great series. Game one of that match was seesawing back and forth, but ended after Dear counter-attacked with a zealot run that took out Maru’s third, and then crushed Maru’s main army with storms while his attention was diverted by the zealots.
Game two was also closely contested but after Dear lost his main nexus to a doom drop he moved across the map and destroyed Maru. Gumiho, Special, and Showtime struggled throughout the day and ultimately were eliminated.
Final results for Group A
| Player | Matches | Games |
| TY | 5-0 | 10-2 |
| Maru | 3-2 | 7-5 |
| Gumiho | 1-3 | 2-6 |
| Special | 1-4 | 3-9 |
| Showtime | 0-4 | 1-8 |
]]>
IEM Katowice has been one of the most anticipated tournaments of the year, and as we enter the final rounds of this event StarCraft II players and fans the world over will be watching with bated breath to see the outcomes of these matches. With $400,000 up for grabs, this is definitely one of the most exciting StarCraft II events of the year.
Bet365 has extensive markets available on the IEM Katowice StarCraft II Ro24. Including markets on the outright winner of each group and outright tournament winner. NB: All odds in this article were accurate at time of publishing.
Group A
Showtime, GuMiHo, Dear, Maru, TY, Special.
Showtime and Dear are definitely going to have a very difficult time getting out of this group. TY and Maru should be heavily favoured to advance. As for the third spot it will probably be pretty tightly contested between GuMiHo and Special. Special has been in tremendous form lately, having a lot of great tournament success, including a deep run at the WCS 2017 Global Finals, where he made it to the semi finals before being eliminated by soO. He also had strong finishes at IEM PyeongChang, where he was again eliminated by soO, and WCS Leipzig before being bested by Serral. Gumiho for his part is an incredible talent, with an incredibly broad range of play, and someone who has been a top Korean player for a long time. This is sure to be a dynamic group with a lot of exciting games.
Best bet: Back Maru to win at $3.75 with GG Bet
Group B
uThermal, Dark, Innovation, Hurricane, Solar, True
Dark and Innovation are clearly massive favourites to make it out of this group, as they two of the very best players in the world at the moment. Innovation has won an incredible amount of money playing StarCraft, winning three GSL titles, as well as GSL vs the world and many other tournaments. Innovation is also a former world champion. Dark has also had considerable tournament success, finishing second in the 2016 Global Finals, winning $100,000 as well as countless other strong finishes. uThermal may be at the top of the European scene, but he is going to struggle against his top tier Korean opponents. As for the third spot it probably belongs to Solar. While sometimes overshadowed by more prominent Korean Zergs such as Dark and Rogue, Solar is a very strong player who won DreamHack Stockholm in 2015, and narrowly lost out to Dark in the grand finals of the 2016 Starleague Season 2. Solar also had deep runs at Home Story Cup XVI and in Season 1 of the 2017 StarLeague Premier.
Best bet: Back Innovation to win at $2.50 with GG Bet
Group C
Impact, Rogue, Nerchio, Serral, Zest, Neeb
This will be a fun bracket, with the highest foreigner count of all the groups. Zest has been in great form lately and along with the reigning world champion, Rogue, can be expected to make it to the round of twelve. As for the third spot you can expect to see either Neeb or Serral survive. Neeb had a very strong 2017, winning three WCS titles, and is widely considered to be one the absolute strongest foreigners in the game. Serral on the other hand has been training hard in Korea, recently won WCS Leipzig over Showtime and came second at WCS J?nk?ping. So while Serral’s 2017 may have been a little bit lackluster, he is already off to an incredible start in 2018 and it is clear that all of his practice is paying off. Serral has been at the top of the Korean ladder for a long time and is definitely putting in the hours lately.
Best bet: Back Rogue to win at $2.90 with GG Bet
Group D
Elazer, Classic, sOs, Trap, HeroMarine, Ryung
Two time world champion sOs is definitely the most likely to player to make it to the round of twelve. One of the most entertaining figures in StarCraft II, sOs has more builds than Gumiho, and is an absolute master of counter-intelligence and misdirection. sOs is a two time world champion, and any time he is still alive in a tournament he is a threat to win it. Classic has also been looking for very strong as of late, he has made it to the round of eight in the present GSL and came third in the 2017 SSL Premier Season 2, as well as having a deep run in the 2017 GSL Season 2. Along with Ryung, Classic is also a favourite to survive this group.
Best bet: Back sOs to win at $2.62 with GG Bet
Also read:
]]>Joining the teams in the final 24 after qualifying through the Round of 76 are are Zest, Heromarine, Trap, Hurricane, Neeb, Maru, Ryung, TY, Solar, Serral, and True.
Our StarCraft expert has recapped some of the main matches:
Zest vs Bunny
Game 1 – Blackpink:
Bunny started off with a gasless expo into three rax, whereas Zest opened with robo and fast colossus. This was almost a build order win, but Bunny managed to run by some marines into Zest’s natural and score 15 probe kills. Zest also did some economic damage of his own with adept drops and warpins. Eventually the game degenerated into a full on base where Zest ended up expanding to Bunny’s natural. Bunny tried to land his troops on the high ground in what used to be his main, but ultimately Zest had way too many storms and without any economy or army Bunny quit.
Game 2 – Abiogenesis
Zest started rallying one gate of units across the map, starting with a zealot and then following up with stalkers, while bunny opened up with three command centers. Zest then teched up to blink and a robotics facility, while Bunny focused on producing bio and teched up to star port. Into the middle game a successful drop by Bunny managed to take out Zest’s third base, and Bunny even managed to evacuate a medivac worth of units, but a counter attack by zest managed to force a lift on Bunny’s third restoring economic equilibrium.
After taking significant economic damage to a massive zealot warp in, Bunny decided to go for an all out attack and moved across the map, but Zest was able to hold
Result: 2-0 zest
Zest vs Special – Ro24 qualifying match
Game 1 – Acid Plant
Zest opened up with a proxy gate but this got scouted by Special, and the Mexican terran started up a fast bunker at his natural in response. Zest followed up with a dt rush and eventually a nexus, but having delayed his expo so for so long he was extremely behind in economy. After Zest’s first dt got picked off with a scan, Special was in a commanding lead. Zest’s second dt did manage to pick off four scvs at least but it was also eventually cleaned. Special tried a drop in Zest’s natural but this was defended well by a dt.
Significantly behind in economy, Zest had really no choice but to go for an all in attack. A warp prism dropped an archon and warped in zealots into Special’s main. While the attack did manage to deny stim and do some damage, Special held, and at the same time did a little raven harass on the other side of the map. Zest was just hopelessly behind having failed his attack and tapped out.
Game 2 – Catalyst
Zest started off by sent a zealot across the map delaying Special’s expansion command center for a significant amount of time, and followed up with some stalker pressure that actually got a decent amount of work done. Zest followed up with a twilight council and blink, followed by a robotics facility. Special, for his part, got a factory up and went into three barrackses for bio production. Special stayed on two bases, got his starport, and then dropped in Zest’s main while pushing down the middle of the map with the rest of his army. Unfortunately for Special, Zest managed to fend off the drop and beat back the push and Special tapped out.
Game 3 – Backwater
In game three special opened up with rax factory expand and then followed up with a proxy second factory near Zest’s base. Special tried to push with two cyclones and some marines, but stalkers and shield batteries were able to hold him off until Zest’s immortal showed up. Immortals are a pretty good unit.
Result: Special 1-2 Zest
Special vs Snute
After narrowing losing to Zest to miss out on qualifying earlier in the day, Special faced Snute in bracket three. While historically Snute had ended up on the better side of encounters, Special had won the last three out of four matches against Snute, so this was set to be an exciting match which favoured Special. Special and Snute are two of the very top non-Korean StarCraft II professionals, and Special in particular has had some phenomenal success lately..
Game 1 – Catalyst
Snute opened up with pool and then hatch, a slightly safer build that doesn’t really skimp too much on economy because you do get the earlier queen. Special for his part opened up with a very standard reaper expand into hellion pump from a factory with the reactor add-on. Between the eight hellions that ran into Snute’s natural, and Special’s raven harass, nineteen drones went down, giving Special a massive advantage going into the mid game. Snute managed to get up to seventy drones despite the early losses, and while Special’s initial push looked promising it was eventually cleaned up, and both players entered the late game in a roughly even position. Snute opted for the roach ravager composition that he is so well known for and transitioned into brood lords
.
Special did great work multitasking, fighting back the creep and having incredible presence all over the map. Snute did his bet to keep up and defend everything, but Snute was not able to hold his fourth base. He was also forced to retreat from his fifth base after Special zoned him out with repeated nukes and despite having an impressive broodlord army Snute was just hopelessly out macroed and constantly attacked on different sides of the map. Despite Special not really being able to take Snute’s impressive army in a straight up fight, Special used his greater mobility to prevent Snute from being able to push out. Still neither side was able to strike a knockout blow and the game continued.
In the late game Special transitioned into heavier ghost and raven usage, trying to get more and more cost effective, whereas Snute stuck with broodlords, queens and hydra, and get a lot of value from healing with the mineral only queens. Twenty eight minutes in Special managed to land a bunch of anti-armor missiles on Snute’s broodlords which softened up the Zerg units for his viking fleet, and with the Snute’s queens and hydras completely missing in action the broodlords were eliminated. With Snute’s inferior economy losing a big chunk of his most important units left him extremely disadvantaged, and Special steamrolled him from there
Game 2 – Black Pink
Both players opened with a fast expand, and Special blocked off Snute’s third with an incomplete ebay. Snute tried some early ling aggression but Special’s hellion micro and a timely SCV pull was sufficient to prevent any economic damage aside from some lost mining time.
Both players entered the late game on five bases, with Snute going for hydras, vipers, banes, and ultras, whereas Special went into ghost techs to counter the ultras and vipers. Snute won some decisive battles trading out effectively and establishing a dominant position and moved in for the kill. Special was unable to hold his fourth base and tapped out.
Game 3 – Backwater
Special opted for a fast expo into a widow mine drop and a third base, while Snute played his usual style macroing up, building drones and queens. Four drones and some lings went down to the drop, but Special’s dropship was also lost. Snute decided to go for a big roach ravager ling attack while droning up behind it. Despite not breaking Special, Snute did manage to cancel stim and establish a dominant economic position with his fourth base and heavy drone count. With a 140/100 supply lead Snute was in a very strong position and because Special’s tech and production was suppressed by the attack he couldn’t put on any pressure. Leaving a zerg alone throughout the middle game is not generally great for the terran. Despite Snute’s lead, Special did manage to max out and get up to five bases, while Snute teched up to broodlords. At ten minutes into the game, Special moved out with a massive push while stim finally completed, but Snute’s roach ravager army managed to slow the push and eventually clean up Special’s army. Special traded out effectively but with broodlords on the way he really needed to get some damage done.
To counter the broodlords, Special began to pump vikings as well as adding ghosts to his composition for snipes and nukes. He also added in ravens for most cost effectiveness. Special did good work continually dropping on both the left and right sides of the map, cancelling bases and causing economic damage as well as just preventing Snute from pushing out. Eventually all of the harass took its toll, and Special found himself with twice the economy of Snute. Despite this economic lead, Snute still had a very scary army, and after a slight over extension by Special, Snute managed to get a decisive victory, crushing Special’s army and taking out one of Special’s most valuable bases. Despite losing most of his army Special was able to use his superior economy to rebuild his army and once again max out. At this point Snute switched to ultra production, taking advantage of Specials lack of ghosts, but Special’s use of the anti-armor missile was highly effective in countering the behemoths. After a very cost effective trade for special in the middle of the map, Snute was again on the back foot, even in army supply but way behind in economy. Snute and Special’s armies met again in the middle of the map, but after a bad engage Snutes army got destroyed and he was forced to tap out.
Tournament information
ESL One Katowice 2018 is a Major, having a prize pool of 1 million dollars and offering a total of 1500 qualification points. These rewards will be distributed among participants in the following way:
Prize distribution:
1st place: $400,000; 750 points.
2nd place: $200,000; 450 points.
3rd place: $120,000; 225 points.
4th place: $80,000; 75 points.
5th-6th place: $50,000; 0 points.
7th-8th place: $20,000; 0 points.
9th-12th place: $10,000; 0 points.
13th-16th place: $5,000; 0 points.
Participants:
ESL One Katowice 2018 features 16 teams from six different regions:
North America: compLexity Gaming, Evil Geniuses, OpTic Gaming.
South America: Infamous.
China: Newbee, LGD Gaming, Vici Gaming.
Southeast Asia: Mineski, Fnatic.
CIS: Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, Effect.
Europe: Team Secret, Team Liquid, Team Kinguin, OG.
Format
Tournament stages
The tournament has two stages which are the Group Stage and the Playoffs Stage.
Initially, the teams will be divided into two groups of eight and each group will be played in a double elimination bracket format (GSL). The winner of each group advances to the Semifinals.
The second and third placed teams in each group advance to the Quarterfinals. Playoffs will have six teams in total and will be played in a single elimination bracket format. Unlike most Dota 2 tournaments that use this competitive format, ESL One Katowice 2018 also has a 3rd place match.
Group A betting predictions
Team Liquid vs Effect
Team Liquid is sitting at number two in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings and is in every respect a vastly better team than Effect, so they’ll almost surely win this match with ease. This is a confrontation between the TI 7 champion and a complete outsider to the world of big Dota. This competition is actually the first Dota Pro Circuit event this season for the CIS squad.
The betting: Bovada puts the odds at -1600/+650 or around 1.06 – 7.50 in favor of Team Liquid. This is easy money and a very good bet, given that the likelihood of success is above 98%. Team Liquid to win: $1.06 at Bovada
Vici Gaming vs OG
This is the best betting opportunity on this list in my opinion, simply because Vici Gaming is underrated while OG is completely overrated right now. And the reason why these teams are rated the way they are is the following: Vici Gaming lost a lot of games recently, while OG is on a long winning streak (they won 12 matches in a row). However, Vici Gaming’s losses came against world class regional rivals (Chinese powerhouses like Newbee and LGD Gaming), while OG’s victories came against provincial nobodies.
In the Dota Pro Circuit rankings, Vici Gaming is above OG and overall, they’ve performed much better than the Europeans throughout the season. So the fact that so many people see OG as the favorite here is very strange but also constitutes a great betting opportunity.
The betting: Bovada puts the odds at +100/-145 or around 2.00 – 1.69 in favor of OG. The Europeans are clearly seen as more likely to win, but the reality is that Vici Gaming’s chance of success is at least 70%. Vici Gaming to win: $2.00 at Bovada
Mineski vs compLexity Gaming
Mineksi is in pretty good shape right now (they’re on a 7-win streak), so I can’t imagine them losing to a much weaker team. In the Dota Pro Circuit rankings Mineski is sitting at number 6 with 900 points while compLexity Gaming is sitting at number 14 with 135 points. The results difference between these two teams at official international competitions has been enormous.
The only thing that worries me a bit with regards to compLexity Gaming’s capacity to stand up to Mineski are the North American team’s recent results. During qualification matches for future Dota Pro Circuit LAN events, they won their last 5 confrontations. And some of the teams they managed to beat are actually pretty strong: Immortals, OpTic Gaming and Evil Geniuses (they defeated them twice in a row in the EPICENTER XL regional qualifiers).
The betting: Bovada puts the odds at around 1.44 – 2.50 in favor of Mineski, and their chance of winning is actually very high. So overall, this is still a bet worth taking even though compLexity Gaming has a slight chance of producing an upset.
Mineski to win: $1.44 at Bovada.
OpTic Gaming vs Virtus.pro
After their recent roster change (RodjER replaced Lil), Virtus.pro’s lineup is even stronger than before. Having seen many of RodjER’s matches, I would compare him to Team Liquid’s GH at this point. He is absolutely brilliant as a position 4 roaming support.
OpTic Gaming is not a bad team either, and having a former TI champion as captain (Peter “ppd” Dager) is certainly an advantage. However, as their recent defeats against Evil Geniuses proved, they’re still an underdog and an outsider to the world of big Dota 2. All things considered, Virtus.pro will almost surely crush them in this match.
The betting: Bovada puts the odds at 1.14 – 4.75 in favor of Virtus.pro, as the likelihood of an upset is extremely low. Virtus.pro to win: $1.14 at Bovada.
Group B tips and best bets
Team Secret vs Infamous
This can only end one way, unless Secret lose a player or have to abandon or something of this nature. It’s practically impossible for the number 1 team in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings to lose against one of the weakest teams at this event.
The betting: Bovada puts the odds at 1.02 – 11.00 in favor of Team Secret. Team Secret to win: $1.02 at Bovada.
LGD Gaming vs Evil Geniuses
These two teams are pretty close to each other in terms of strength, so this is a match in which anything could happen. Based on their recent results, LGD Gaming is more likely to take the win, but not by much.
The betting: Bovada still puts the odds significantly in LGD’s favor (1.48 – 2.40), but the chance of an upset is actually very high here. So if you want to bet on this match, you should consider betting a lower amount on an upset. Evil Geniuses to win: $2.40 at Bovada
Natus Vincere vs Fnatic
This is another excellent betting opportunity, as the strength difference between these two teams is huge at the moment, but the odds are still very good.
After their recent roster changes, Natus Vincere has showed multiple signs of weakness and lost a number of matches against supposedly much weaker opponents. At the same time, Fnatic has been playing better and better, besting regional rivals and qualifying for important Dota Pro Circuit events. The two new players they acquired in the past few months (Abed and UNiVeRsE) have been almost fully integrated and the roster is performing confidently at the moment.
The betting: For this match, Bovada puts the odds at 1.67 – 2.05 in favor of Fnatic, which definitely makes this a worthwhile bet. Fnatic to win: $1.67 at Bovada
Newbee vs Team Kinguin
This is a huge mismatch and Newbee should easily win this dispute. As their recent championship title at ESL One Genting 2018 proved, the Chinese team is at its TI 7 level right now and maybe even stronger. However, keep in mind that Team Kinguin will be playing on their home soil and that may have a positive effect on their performance throughout the ESL One Katowice 2018 Major.
The betting: Bovada puts the odds at 1.09 – 6.00 in favor of Newbee. Overall, this is a worthwhile bet as the odds are decent and the likelihood of success is above 95%. Newbee to win: $1.09 at Bovada
How to bet on ESL One Katowice 2018
www.fridaynightmadness.com has a handy tool for punters which will make finding a betting site that accepts people from your country simple. The below table only displays bookies that will accept people from your country. For more information on the betting sites available visit our extensive guide to online esports wagering.
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