Funn1k and Virtus.pro chasing the cup – preview of the Parimatch League Season 2

The final stage starts on March 27 Parimatch Dota 2 League Season 2. Due to the threat of COVID-19, the competition will be held online, but in the previous format, albeit without a stream from the stage. Spectators are waiting for the first serious ending since WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon – in a pandemic, they have become a rare sight. Read about the form in which teams approach the championship in our preview.

Chikiruu’s ambitions versus Solo experience

Virtus.pro – Nominee League favorite. Command Alexey Solo Berezin I was able to recover after the unsuccessful start of the season, by February I had gained a good shape and selected for ESL One Los Angeles 2023.

After that, the team performed at Mad Moon, where they beat Agressive mode, Nigma and Gambit esports – a decent result for a team that has changed two players and did not make it visit the bootcamp. It seemed like it was – they waited, now VP will play on the major and pick up, as he said Artyom Fng Barshak, a mouthful of experience, and there before the trophies will be at hand. But the coronavirus intervened in the ideal plan.

The major was canceled, and the updated VP roster for a month was left without major tournaments. In the resulting vacuum, the team managed to speak only at a charity WeSave! Charity play, where she showed herself not in the best way – she lost 1: 2 Hellraisers in the first round.

On the third map, the team put Slark against Broodmother, and Solo died 17 times in 34 minutes – this can hardly be attributed to failure. But is it worth making tragedy out of the situation? The question is completely different. After Charity Play midliner Vladimir No[o]ne minenko said that the team had not trained for a long time and was simply not in shape – for this the player was destroyed in the comments, although there was nothing criminal in his words.

Roster really could have gone on an unplanned vacation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, because if it hadn’t been for WePlay !, then almost all of March would have passed without any tournaments. As far as we know, many clubs confirmed participation in a charity event only at the last moment – it is possible that Virtus.pro was among them. In this case, it is not surprising that the roster approached the match with HR in poor shape – it is very easy to lose your mood in a week.

However, before the start of the major, Virtus.pro looked like a serious candidate, even if not for the title, but for leaving the group for sure. And I’m sure that in the battle for $ 100 thousand we will see just such a version of the team. The team’s first rival will be Winstrike team – A young roster who looks like an outsider of the league. It is impossible to imagine a more convenient start, which is confirmed by the odds on the bookmaker’s website: 1.15 on VP against 5.00 on Winstrike.

Winstrike has shown very unstable results since signing. First, the team beat forZe and Team spirit, by demonstrating the ability to prepare for the opponent and point to counter his strengths, and then issued a seven-match series of defeats.

Winstrike’s latest results include wins over EXTREMUM and Team singularitybut defeat from Khan and Aggressive Mode. Such indicators can hardly be considered successful even by the standards of standard Tier-2 teams in the CIS, and even to claim the title of champion of the Parimatch League – even more so.

Rocket – to the start

A much more interesting pair will play in the second semi-final of the upper bracket – there HellRaisers will meet with FlyToMoon. The odds on the Parimatch website confirm that in this match the favorite is much more difficult to determine. Of course, on paper, HR looks like a stronger team, because the quote for their victory is 1.42 vs 2.75 on the return outcome. But is this assessment fair?

HellRaisers in this match will try to continue the series of victories, which consists of nine games. The team has not lost since February 14 and during this time managed to get the better of Virtus.pro and Natus vincere. The problem is that it is impossible to objectively evaluate these results: HR performed well on WeSave! Charity Play, which is generally remembered by a lot of controversial matches – the same Johan n0tail Sundstein of Og I played at mid tournament Oracle, and about the decision of VP to put Slark against Broodmother, we already mentioned above. It’s impossible to convict NAVI of this kind, but it is worth noting that the roster coach Andrey Mag Chipenko performed at the tournament as an analyst. He would hardly have decided on such a thing, be it a major or another important tournament, right?

Impressive victories over NAVI and VP are rapidly losing their former splendor: it is always an honor to beat the giants, but in the realities of the CIS, a lot depends on the form and mood of the teams. Structure Alexandra Nix Levin in February-March he really showed a good game, and in recent matches he also revealed newcomers to the pool of heroes – Broodmother will now definitely appear in bans against this team.

All this speaks in favor of HellRaisers and explains why the roster is considered the favorite of the meeting. However, only a month ago the same composition lost Cyber ​​legacy and forZe in the fight for a place on the minor, and this must be taken into account, since matches for a slot in rating events are perhaps a little more important than games in charity championships. And because it seems to me that FlyToMoon in this meeting – rather a dark horse, not an outsider.

The team failed in the open qualifiers for the third pair of ranking tournaments, but before that they showed good results at various online events: they won Maincast Winter Brawl and went to the WESG LAN finals (which, it seems, will never go through).

Then a reshuffle occurred in the team, which – on paper – hit the roster. To the place of forever promising Aybek Naive- Tokaev has come Alik V-Tune Sparrow, which over the past two seasons was praised much less frequently. However, the roster quickly found his game with him and won four out of six matches at the Parimatch League.

Right before the start of the playoffs, V-Tune took 10 thousand MMR, ahead of most star players in the main roles. We all know that MMR is just a number, but such an achievement will surely give confidence to the new FTM. A month ago, no one would dare put this roster below HR in the ranking of our teams, and it is important to remember that only one online event separates us from that time.

Parimatch League Season 2 runs from February 1 to March 29. The playoff of the tournament was supposed to take place in LAN format, but was transferred online due to the coronavirus pandemic. The prize fund of the event is $ 100 thousand – the champion will receive half. You can follow the schedule and results of the games here.

Odds taken from the site of the betting company Parimatch and are relevant at the time of publication of the material