History is about to be made in Manila yet again. The first ever Dota 2 Major event in the Philippines will be held just over a week from now. Sixteen teams from all over the world will battle it out for a prize pool of $3 million and the admiration of one of the largest Dota 2 fanbases in existence, and we’ve got the lowdown on how these teams might fare in the tournament.
Since this is a big event with double the teams usually seen in smaller competitions, we will be breaking down each preview into the four major regions in Dota 2. This time, we’ll be starting with the region furthest from the venue: America. Note that these previews will be focusing on the outright winner market, but of course you can still expect previews of the tournament games themselves when the event comes around.
Evil Geniuses (16/1 bet365)
Once the undisputed kings of the American scene, the Evil Geniuses have fallen from grace somewhat recently. It’s been quite the struggle for their new lineup, which was destroyed by MVP Phoenix at DotaPit, knocked out of WePlay by Vega Squadron, and finally defeated by CompLexity at EPICENTER after months of trying.
It’s probably too early to call them a sinking ship, but their fans are likely not too pleased with the results as of late. Jet lag and other factors notwithstanding, it would seem that they’ll have a lot of work to do if they hope to win this event. At 16/1 it’s clear that the bookmakers think so too. Still, they’ve kept three out of the five players in the previous roster, so if they can figure out the communication breakdowns and chemistry issues before the event, they could still make it far.
Digital Chaos (20/1 bet365)
Digital Chaos: also known as “NA Team Secret but Not Quite Team Secret”. Apart from EG and CoL (which, respectively, have been #1 and #2 in America for a while now), they are the only NA team that can actually be seen as anything close to capable of going toe to toe with EU and China. They were expected to beat everyone in the American qualifiers for this Major, which they did without encountering any problems. All things considered, they’re a solid third place in the power rankings for NA.
Unfortunately, that still doesn’t count for much. Their only significant results since the roster lock have been from online qualifiers — none of which had any prize money to give. They have no LAN experience, and with such a huge event being their first, it could present problems for them. That price is extremely low given the possible returns, but there should be very little chance for them to even make top 4. We’re expecting a top 8 finish for them at best.
CompLexity Gaming (25/1 bet365)
The ever-improving CompLexity Gaming most recently took down longtime rivals EG at EPICENTER, which for them was a great achievement that had been months in the making at that point. This team manages to show small but gradual strides in nearly every event they go to, with EPICENTER being their highest placing in a premier tournament since the roster lock (not counting DotaPit which was a single elimination event).
The team is still a ways away from championship-winning form, though. Only time will tell when they will finally win a premier event, but for them to be a top 4 to top 6 team coming into this Major doesn’t bode well for them in this market. There will be plenty of opportunities to make money on their individual matchups at the event itself, but for outright winner, they are not a good choice.
Recommended Bet:
Evil Geniuses to win outright with bet365 at 16/1 (17.00)
Even though we recommend EG out of the three American teams at the event, we suggest you think twice about betting on them regardless. This new roster doesn’t look nearly as strong as the consistent top 3/top 4 finishing lineup that included Arteezy and Universe, as their post-roster lock results would suggest. But if you want to have a team from each region in your bet slip, EG are the best choice in this regard.
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