https://www.cybersport.ru/dota-2/articles/smozhet-li-as-monaco-gambit-sotvorit-chudo-prevyu-wild-card-meidzhora-po-dota-2

AS Monaco Gambit will only help a miracle?

On paper, AS Monaco Gambit looks like the main outsider of Wild Card, the set of opponents turned out to be too strong at this stage. Throughout the first half of the season, analysts and fans unanimously argued that in the CIS, by and large, there are only two teams – NAVI and Virtus.pro. The rest are at plus or minus an equal level, but they do not at all reach the rank of tier-1 or even tier-1.5 collectives. Indeed, AS Monaco Gambit before joining Vladimir No[o]ne Minenko played unstable, losing Virtus.pro and Team Spirit, as well as having experienced problems in a duel with Team empire… However, after the change of the mid lane, the team changed significantly and won all the remaining meetings, except for the match with NAVI, which also turned out to be quite equal.

Moreover, in the first matches with the new team No[o]ne was far from ideal form, but improved with every meeting. The members of AS Monaco Gambit themselves noted that if they had performed with Minenko from the very beginning, they would have had more chances to start the Major from the main stage. With the arrival of No[o]ne the roster received not only a strong tier-1 performer, but also the missing element for a successful team play. The roster participants said that the team needed a mid-player who, in the first half of the match, was able to lead teammates and control the game on the map. Minenko copes with this task, apparently, much more successfully than his predecessor Rostislav fn Lozovoy…

During the group stage, AS Monaco Gambit rarely surprised viewers and opponents with unusual strategies, and sometimes, like on the second map against Team Spirit in tiebreaks, it lost the draft altogether. However, now the team is at the bootcamp, so they are probably working on interesting ideas for the Wild Card. In favor of AS Monaco Gambit can play the status of an outsider – other teams may simply not pay due attention to preparing for matches with her. Moreover, all participants The CIS roster has experience of playing at LAN tournaments, and most of them have even played at Valve championships, so it is unlikely that any of them will tremble at the knees. But even despite the experience and fighting spirit of the team, which is not going to be content with the status of a cybertourist, AS Monaco Gambit will have few chances to advance to the next stage of the Major. Bookmakers from Parimatch agree with this, and in all five matches of the club at the Wild Card stage, they give preference to its rivals.

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

AS Monaco Gambit (6.59) – draw (2.65) – PSG.LGD (1.70)

Ame leads PSG.LGD to victory

Many, perhaps, did not expect to see the updated PSG.LGD roster at the first Major of the season. Much more hopes were initially pinned on the roster Elephantfavored by Lu Somnus 丶 M Yao and Xu fy linsen… However, the stellar team did not qualify for the championship – it was PSG.LGD that beat it in the replay. The hero of that series became Wang Ame Chunyu, who was clearly motivated to prove to former teammates that he should not be written off. For two replay cards, he committed 26 kills and died only twice. Moreover, Ame shone not only in this series, but also during most of the matches of the first division of the DPC. Now we can safely say that he has regained his former shape and literally drags the team.

In favor of both Chinese teams is the fact that in their region, perhaps on a par with Europe, there was the highest competition. Consequently, the general level of collectives is noticeably higher. We have not seen the confrontation between the West and the East for a year, so it is difficult to judge how comfortable the same European squads will be against the Chinese. Despite the general trends in the meta, each region lacked its own original strategies and characters. For example, PSG.LGD showed an extremely effective Gyrocopter in the fifth position from y ‘. A similar peak in Europe or the CIS can be found only in matchmaking. However, the Chinese teams have been “brewing” in their own region for too long, so what worked against EHOME or Invictus Gaming may be completely useless against AS Monaco Gambit or Nigma.

The weak link of PSG.LGD in the tournament may be the mid-leader of the team Cheng NothingToSay Jin Xiang… This 20-year-old Malaysian cannot be denied personal skill, but he clearly lacks stability. In PSG.LGD, they often take active characters like Puck or Void Spirit, who must play the roster while Ame is farming. NothingToSay can hit an almost perfect streak against EHOME and then fail against IG. In addition, the mid-lancer PSG.LGD, unlike other Wild Card participants, has no experience of playing on the LAN, so the factor of excitement and jitter cannot be ignored. Despite this, analysts from the bookmaker Parimatch consider PSG.LGD to be the favorite to win the Wild Card.

PSG.LGD (1.80) – draw (2.45) – T1 (6.50)

Will 23savage save Team T1?

Apart from AS Monaco Gambit, another most likely candidate for the role of outsider is T1 from Southeast Asia. To begin with, the competition and the general level of play during the qualifiers in Southeast Asia were noticeably weaker than in Europe and China, and even in such conditions, T1 experienced many problems with the clear outsiders of the group. The strong point of teams from Southeast Asia can only be called a love of experimentation – it was there that Huskar, Techies, Meepo and other curious characters appeared. For example, T1 itself used Arc Warden, Legion Commander, Bounty Hunter and Dragon Knight troika. The signature characters of the team include Phoenix and Monkey King, on which carry Sulia JaCkky Khoomfetsavong literally dragged his team to the top positions in the division.

However, immediately after the team qualified for the Major, the team parted ways with JaCkky and took 23savage. The decision is very controversial. On the one hand, 23savage is an individually very strong player who showed himself in Fnatic two years ago and also recently reached 11K MMR. On the other hand, after Fnatic he moved to Vici Gaming, for which he did not play a single official meeting, after which he was a stand-in several times in tier-2 teams and stacks. Consequently, the cybersportsman does not have the necessary competitive tone now. In addition, T1 will have to adjust to the new participant and hone interaction with him, based only on training. Again, JaCkky was not a weak link in T1, quite the opposite. Therefore, a sharp qualitative leap in the level of performances of the Asian team, perhaps, should not be expected. Parimatch bookmakers agree with this, as they do not believe in the victory of T1 in meetings with European and Chinese teams.

T1 (6.00) – draw (2.21) – Team Liquid (2.01)

Is European Dota really that good?

Unlike the Chinese and Asian teams, the CIS fans are much more familiar with the teams from Europe, since at most of the online tournaments our rosters crossed paths with them. The competition in the European qualifiers was as high as possible, because the major was left behind OG, and ViKin.gg and completely fell into the second division. However, this does not mean that Nigma and Team Liquid should be immediately elevated to the status of favorites in the fight for two tickets to the next stage. First of all, the European qualifiers showed that only Team Secret… Quite unexpectedly, it rose to second place Alliance, which was difficult to attribute to the leaders before the start of the season – this, in turn, also indicates a certain general decline.

Against the background of the CIS, matches in Europe often looked much more spectacular and high-class, but if we ignore comparisons, the teams performed with serious differences and often made mistakes both in drafts and in Dota 2 itself. Therefore, it cannot be said that Nigma and Team Liquid are now in their best condition. In addition, at EPIC League Season 3, teams from the first and second divisions of the CIS play on equal terms with the same Tundra Esports or ViKin.gg, so it’s too early to lift up the European Dota.

Nigma and Team Liquid can compensate for the lack of stability with creativity. After all, it was Europe that became the most flexible region in terms of drafts: in the first season, the teams ignored less than ten characters, while in the same China they never took 20 heroes. From Team Liquid, for example, we saw the unpopular Shadow Fiend and Leshrac, as well as the carry Broodmother, which destroyed the opponents. Nigma also has something to surprise opponents – what is only the “five” of Monkey King from KuroKy… However, the main trump card of the team may be the return Miracle- to the center line. The team decided to change the roles of the two core players over the course of the season, which refreshed their drafts and gave them more variability. One way or another, Nigma and Liquid will be dangerous opponents in Wild Card, but they certainly cannot be called invincible. Parimatch analysts give a little more preference to the KuroKy team, considering that it is on a par with VG, but the composition Boxi put on the virtual fourth place.

Nigma (3.45) – draw (1.86) – Vici Gaming (3.45)

Team Liquid (2.08) – draw (2.15) – AS Monaco Gambit (5.80)

Wild Card at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2023 starts on March 27 and will last for two days. The organizers have not yet published the exact schedule of the stage. Do you think AS Monaco Gambit has a chance with No[o]ne to reach the group stage of the Major and who will take the two cherished first lines in the Wild Card?