Gen.G finished the VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 2 group stage in fourth place, with a 6-4 record but a better map differential than Rex Regum Qeon. Yet the group results do not indicate what these teams are capable of.

Gen.G might have missed the top-two seed for the playoffs, but they placed second at VCT 2024 Masters Madrid and won Masters Shanghai.

Rex Regum Qeon have not come even close to achieving the same success. They played a competitive series against Paper Rex last week, but besides that, there is little to suggest they are at the same level as Gen.G.

Even though Gen.G didn’t look excellent during the group stage, it’s hard to doubt them and their ability to sweep a mid-table team.

Talon Esports announced the surprise signing of Papaphat “Primmie” Sriphapha ahead of the playoffs, which is an interesting choice. He has just four professional VALORANT tournament appearances from 2022 and has never competed in the VALORANT Champions Tour.

Known as “Scooby dooby doo” on the ranked ladder, Primmie’s stats alone suggest that he can perform at the highest level. It might be a risky move, but Talon need to try something to improve their disappointing form.

Team Secret have held on much better this year, but they didn’t show much during the group stage outside of the 2-1 upset against the slumping Gen.G. As such, their $1.56 odds look very short.

Talon Esports looked like the worse team last stage, but if Primmie is as solid as some analysts say he is, they should be priced much closer to even money.

Esports betting tips

DetonatioN FocusMe are 1-1 in VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 2 with a loss to Rex Regum Qeon and a reverse-sweep victory against ZETA DIVISION. This is a tiny sample size of games, but we saw how unconvincing DetonatioN FocusMe were in Stage 1, which they finished with five consecutive losses.

Talon Esports have been holding on well this season, and they’ve not looked terrible so far in Stage 2. Talon lost to Paper Rex in two maps in Week 1 but had an excellent performance against Rex Regum Qeon last week, proving they’re still a very competent team.

As the VALORANT betting odds suggest, it’ll take a huge blunder from Talon Esports for this match to be even close. Even at $1.58, they’re a solid pick to sweep the unconvincing DetonatioN FocusMe.

Having already lost to DRX and DetonatioN FocusMe, ZETA DIVISION should have no business securing their first victory in Stage 2 of the VALORANT Champions Tour on Saturday. They showed very little in Stage 1, with just two wins against Global Esports and Bleed Esports.

Rex Regum Qeon, on the other hand, are in a fine spot. They defeated DetonatioN FocusMe in the first week and added a huge 2-0 sweep of DRX on Monday, improving their overall record to 5-3.

Those results alone are a good enough indication that RRQ are a significantly stronger team than ZETA DIVISION, which should show on Saturday.

Esports betting tips

After a promising start to the 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour, T1 find themselves in a tough spot ahead of Tuesday’s clash. With three defeats against Paper Rex, DetonatioN FocusMe and DRX, they rank last in Group Alpha with just three games left to catch up.

Rex Regum Qeon are in a much better spot after winning their last two series against Team Secret and BLEED Esports. And while they had to dig deep to make it past Secret, RRQ performed admirably against BLEED, winning the series with a combined round record of 26-7.

T1 are still a capable lineup, which explains why they’re priced as favourites for this match; however, recent form suggests the teams should be priced much closer to even money, so Rex Regum Qeon to win at $2.75 with GG Bet is an excellent offer.

With a 0-2 record, BLEED Esports must start winning if they wish to end Group Alpha in the top three. So far in VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 1, they have already lost to Talon Esports and Rex Regum Qeon, and while they took a map from Talon, BLEED have not shown much.

ZETA DIVISION are 1-1 after two weeks of action, with a 2-1 victory against Global Esports and a 1-2 loss against Team Secret. That record is an underwhelming outcome for the Japanese side, although it’s not like ZETA DIVISION were ever considered a strong VCT Pacific team.

At $2.25 with the top esports betting sites, ZETA DIVISION are expected to struggle against BLEED Esports. However, this is a 50-50 match at best, so we’ll side with the underdogs at plus money.

Esports betting tips

Leviatan will come into their first series of the VCT LOCK//IN as heavy favourites against ZETA DIVISION after winning two smaller competitions on their way to a six-match win streak. The current Leviatan roster is still a relatively new roster after four of the five players were only signed in October and November of last year. However, the South American roster has been in great form and they will be bringing a lot of confidence into their first series of the LOCK//IN.

Their opponents, ZETA DIVISION, had somewhat of a successful 2022 finishing third at the VCT 2022 Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik after they made it all the way to the lower-bracket final, but went down to Optic Gaming 0-3. Since the Stage 1 Masters, ZETA DIVISION have been inconsistent winning three of their last eight series, including losing two of their three series at the VCT Champions 2022.

This series should be closer than the betting suggests and ZETA DIVISION shouldn’t be underrated; therefore, we will be taking overs in the total maps market.

The second series we will be focusing on will be between two teams that are competing at their first S-Tier Valorant event in their short history.

Global Esports have been dominating in the lower tiers of Valorant through across India and the Asia-Pacific region; however, their wins in B- and C-Tier events may not match up to the standard that they will need to win a series at an S-Tier event like the LOCK//IN. GE haven’t played an official competitive Valorant series since November of last year, so they will be coming into this with limited match practice.

Team Vitality ended their 2022 season with third-fourth placings at both the G-Loot Valorant Clash Grand Finals and the Red Bull Home Ground #3. The international roster has been very consistent, not finishing outside of the top four at their last three A-Tier tournaments, which is much better form than their opponents in this upcoming series. Vitality are deserving favourites in this series and they should be winning.

The last of our previewed series will feature another two teams who will be participating in their first S-Tier event, with FUT Esports taking on Rex Regum Qeon.

FUT Esports ended their 2022 season with a seventh-eighth place finish at Red Bull Home Ground #3 and 9th-16th place at G-Loot Valorant Clash Grand Finals. The Turkish roster has been winning a lot of A- and B-Tier events in Turkey but they have struggled when playing internationally, so this will be a good test for them first up against Rex Regum Qeon.

Rex Regum Qeon have been competing in B and C-Tier events throughout the Asia-Pacific region and at their two A-Tier events they have finished in 9th-12th place and fifth-sixth place, showing that they struggle to compete at that level of competition. Now that they are stepping up to participate in their first S-Tier event, we expect them to struggle – even if they are meeting another S-Tier debutant.

This series looks to FUT Esports’ for the taking, so we will be backing them in win the series 2-0.

More esports betting tips

Because it’s a relatively small tournament compared to the rest of Dota 2 events taking place in March, most of the top eight teams did not take an interest in it. As a result, GESC: Indonesia offers great Dota 2 betting opportunities and some pretty imbalanced matches with highly predictable outcomes.

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Analysis of the teams

Evil Geniuses

Almost 3 moths ago, Evil Geniuses decided to make some critical staff and roster changes that drew much criticism from the community. However, the decision paid off as EG went on to get a few important results. The team has been on the rise lately, beating top opponents (or at least taking games off them) and looking more and more like the Dota 2 machine it once was.

This tournament is of particular importance for the North American team, who has to climb back to top 8 in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings. Right now, they’re sitting at no. 9 with 885 qualification points. Given that the competition at GESC: Indonesia is not that fierce, EG has a very high chance of qualifying for the Finals.

The Final Tribe

There’s not much that can be said about this team because it’s never made an appearance at a Dota Pro Circuit event. The main reason why they qualified for this tournament is that none of the big European teams had an interest in it.

The Final Tribe has a 100% Swedish roster made up of a few individuals who even played for Alliance at one point in their career. However, without a reputable captain and absolutely no achievements to speak of, The Final Tribe is likely to finish 7th – 8th at GESC: Indonesia.

Digital Chaos

Make no mistake, this is not the team that finished 2nd at The International 2016. It’s actually the Animal Planet roster, which recently got signed by the North American organization.

Digital Chaos has some big names in its roster, including Aui_2000 (former TI champion with Evil Geniuses in 2015) and MoonMeander (former multiple Major champion with OG). However, just like The Final Tribe, the team lacks a great leader and without this component, it’s almost impossible to do well against the world’s best teams. Which is why we haven’t seen Animal Planet at any Dota Pro Circuit event since its formation.
Going into GESC: Indonesia, my expectation is that Digital Chaos will finish 5th – 6th.

Natus Vincere

Six weeks ago, Natus Vincere lost 2 key players: RodjER and SoNNeikO. After their departure, the team’s strength and overall coordination dropped like a rock. Na’Vi has no real captain at the moment and their whole playstyle seems improvised. Which is one of the reasons why the team is losing match after match against top opponents.
However, in a tournament like this, where they only have a few other strong teams to worry about, Na’Vi is quite likely to get a top 4 finish and earn some much-needed qualification points for The International 2018.

Fnatic

Live Evil Geniuses, Fnatic has been on the rise lately, obtaining tickets for Dota Pro Circuit tournaments and earning qualification points in them. With the addition of UNiVeRsE, the team has stepped into a new era and is now a fairly strong contender at any event.
Going into GESC: Indonesia, Fnatic is the third team in terms of strength. So they will likely get a top 4 finish.

Rex Regum Qeon

Rex Regum Qeon is an Indonesian team with no international experience. Like The Final Tribe, they’re only here due to exceptional reasons. The tournament organizers decided to reserve one qualification spot for Indonesia, most likely to support the local Dota 2 scene and attract a larger audience at their live event.
Rex Regum Qeon will almost certainly get destroyed by every single opponent at GESC: Indonesia. Without any experience at this level of competition, there’s not much they can do about it and will have to rely on a miracle to succeed even slightly. A 5th – 6th place finish would actually be an incredible result for this team.

Infamous

Infamous is a South American team with a fair amount of international experience. During the 2017-2018 competitive season, the team has taken part in four tournaments, including this one: Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds, StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 4, ESL One Katowice 2018, and GESC: Indonesia. However, so far, they’ve only managed to qualify and not much else, finishing last at every event the went to.
Going into this tournament, Infamous will likely get a 5th – 6th place finish as they are stronger than Rex Regum Qeon, The Final Tribe and even Digital Chaos.

VGJ.Thunder

VGJ.Thunder is one of the strongest Dota teams in the world and a main contender for winning this event. Realistically speaking, it will be either them or Evil Geniuses.
VGJ.Thunder has several exceptional players in its roster. One of them is Sylar, who has been 3 times on the podium (top 3) at The International. Another one is ddc, who has attended every single TI event so far. At the 2017 edition, he was the captain of LGD.Forever Young and helped the team secure a 3rd place finish.
At their latest tournament (the Bucharest Major), VGJ.Thunder took 2nd place after they lost against Virtus.pro in the Finals. Keep in mind however that Virtus.pro is the number 1 team in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings, and that the Bucharest Major brought together the best teams in the world. VGJ.Thunder defeated Vici Gaming, Team Secret, TNC Pro Team and Newbee to get to the event’s Finals. This kind of performance says a lot about their level of skill.

GESC Indonesia: Betting predictions and team news

Evil Geniuses vs. Infamous

There’s a huge strength difference between these two teams right now, so I don’t think Infamous can stand up to EG in this encounter. Evil Geniuses recently finished 5th – 8th at the Bucharest Major, defeating teams like Newbee, Team Liquid (in the Group Stage) and PaiN Gaming (another South American team, like Infamous) in the process. The chance of success for the North Americans is above 97%, making this match a great betting opportunity.
Bovada puts the odds at -1200 / +550 or around 1.08 – 6.50 in favor of Evil Geniuses.

Best bet: Evil Geniuses to win $1.08 with GG Bet

VGJ.Thunder vs. The Final Tribe

This match offers the best betting opportunity on this list. VGJ.Thunder is better than EG while The Final Tribe is worse than the South Americans from Infamous. But, in spite of this, the odds for this match are even better than those of the previous one.
Bovada puts the odds at -700 / +375 or around 1.14 – 4.75 in favor of VGJ.Thunder and this is practically free money to be made.

Best bet: VGJ.Thunder to win $1.14 with GG Bet

Natus Vincere vs. Rex Regum Qeon

Being an established CIS team, Na’Vi certainly is the clear favorite in this match even though its recent record at Dota Pro Circuit events has been poor. In theory, they’re still lightyears ahead of Rex Regum Qeon and should win this battle without too many problems. However, the chance of an upset is considerable in this case, simply because Rex Regum Qeon will be performing in front of their home crowd. The match is also a Bo1, so it’s enough for Na’Vi to mess up their draft or make one critical error during the game and the odds will swing in their opponents’ favor.
Bovada puts the odds at -500 / +300 or around 1.20 – 4.00 in favor of Natus Vincere. At these odds, if you’re using a long-term betting strategy to optimize your profits, you may want to consider betting a smaller amount on Rex Regum Qeon.

Best bet: Rex Regum Qeon to win $4.00 with GG Bet

Fnatic vs. Digital Chaos

If Fnatic just plays its standard game, they should win this Bo1 without breaking a sweat. They have a great roster at the moment, with players like Abed and UNiVeRsE in key roles, and I can’t see a team like Digital Chaos besting them in a match like this.
Bovada puts the odds at -225 / +150 or around 1.44 – 2.50 in favor of Fnatic, so the returns are very high for such a likely outcome.

Best bet: Fnatic to win $1.44 with GG Bet