Team Secret vs VP.Prodigy – round two. Favorites and outsiders of ESL One Birmingham 2023

VP.Prodigy against European giants

If the list of tournament participants contains Team secret, then the favorite title immediately passes to her, and ESL One Birmingham 2023 in this regard is no exception. Since the cancellation of all LAN tournaments and the transfer of the competitive season to the online team Clement Puppey Ivanov stumbled only on ESL One Los Angeles 2023 – Online Championship. The other two events involving Secret ended with her victories, and in a very confident style. And it’s not that the opponents are not preparing well for the matches or are not playing enough – Secret can win with any heroes, up to Tinker and Sniper in fourth position. Now this team looks several orders of magnitude stronger than others, and only some kind of failure in the sophisticated Secret mechanism can prevent it from winning another trophy. Betting company Parimatch estimates its probability of victory by a coefficient of 2.40.

But there is a team that can play at least no worse, although circumstances have not yet allowed it to fully reveal. We are talking about Og. Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the team has not performed in full force since the beginning of March – Topias Topson Taavitsainen failed to return to Europe from Southeast Asia, and Zheng MidOne Yek Nai I had to play with ping 200. However, a few days ago Johan n0tail Sundstein He said that the OG Meader should go home soon. And even if he doesn’t have time to start the tournament, then he must definitely be able to play in the decisive matches. Despite the fact that problems with the MidOne ping still will not go anywhere, OG will finally get its key player, who helped roster win the last two The International. If the team all goes according to plan, then Secret will no longer be able to win the tournament so easily. OG can be won with a coefficient of 4.50.

As for the teams from the CIS, the only real contender for the championship title is VP.Prodigy. Despite the lack of experience with most players and not too strong faith in the power of VP.P on the part of bookmakers (the coefficient for her championship is 16.50), this team has already proved that it is able to fight all representatives of the scene – except perhaps Team Secret. This is also evidenced by the history of VP.P matches – in the last 15 meetings, it was second only to Puppey and Virtus.pro, while the “senior” colleagues at the club Prodigy eventually took revenge in the final Epic Prime League Season 1. The Save team will probably leave the group, but will be able to win the title only under a very successful set of circumstances. For example, if VP.P suddenly finds hidden reserves and dramatically raises its level of play, or Secret relaxes and loses shape when it comes to the final stage of ESL One Birmingham 2023.

• Parimatch odds to win Team secret – 2.40;
• Parimatch odds to win Og – 4.50;
• Parimatch odds to win VP.Prodigy – 16.50.

Get to the Favorites

Amid rumors of possible changes in the composition Natus vincere the impression was that the team had unresolved internal problems. However, a performance at the Gamers Without Borders 2023 charity tournament showed that not everything is so simple – there NAVI defeated Virtus.pro and OG and only lost in the final to Team Secret. It is possible that the contradictions between the Natus Vincere players really exist, but at the same time, the team manages to professionally approach the matches. It’s as if they’re not able to keep their shape at a distance of NAVI: a couple of victories over strong opponents are replaced by a series of defeats from outsiders.

And the team has been in this vicious circle from the very beginning of the season – even forced replacements after the first major did not affect the situation. For the current NAVI, getting into the top 4 will be an excellent result, but for this they will need to be able to keep their shape at the distance of the tournament. And a speech at ESL One Birmingham 2023 will show whether it is worth continuing to work in that direction or whether to sharply change the vector. In case of victory, the NAVI rate will increase by 20 times.

Another threat to favorites may be Nigma. Everyone is used to the results of this team – Kuro KuroKy Salehi Tahasomi and his teammates can lose for half the season to everyone, take the last places, fail the group stages, but during the tournament, by some miracle, gain form and win titles. Nigma, despite the failures in previous championships, is still a danger to any opponent. No one knows when she will have an annual epiphany – probably even the players themselves cannot predict this. But you should never write off this team. That is why Parimatch experts give the coefficient 5.50 for the Nigma championship.

Team liquid confidently shows itself in matches with outsiders, but so far she has managed to beat the leaders only from time to time. Four teams come out of the groups at ESL One Birmingham, and Liquid should be able to handle this. But there will be no simple rivals in the elimination stage. Given that in the last six matches the team Aiden iNSaNiA Sarkoi won only one victory, and even that against Team spirit, her chances for a championship title are nil. Liquid players can only hope that all the favorites will either leave the tournament in the early stages or they will suddenly forget how to play. But the likelihood of such an outcome is small. Despite this, bookmakers assess the likelihood of success Liquid quite high – the coefficient for her victory is 9.25.

Two more European teams – Alliance (odds 11.00 to win) and Ninjas in pajamas (18.00) – also can not boast of stability. The s4 team can’t finally complete the squad after eliminating Fata and 33. But NiPs are progressing, but they are doing it very slowly and are unlikely to compete with the favorites tomorrow. Nevertheless, matches with them for the majority of participants in ESL One Birmingham will not be an easy walk. No one doubts that these clubs can leave the group. To get into the playoffs, they can only be prevented by unbalanced seeding in the first stage.

• Parimatch odds to win Natus vincere – 20.00;
• Parimatch odds to win Nigma – 5.50;
• Parimatch odds to win Team liquid – 9.25;
• Parimatch odds to win Alliance – 11.00;
• Parimatch odds to win Ninjas in pajamas – 18.00.

Just an extras

All of the above teams should go to the playoffs – another result can be regarded as a failure. However, all other participants are outsiders – in order to get into the elimination stage, they will have to hope for luck and misfires of more famous teams.

Among all outsiders, it looks preferable to the rest Hellraisers – You can bet on their success with a coefficient of 35.00. Until recently, they claimed the title of the best CIS team, but in recent tournaments their game suddenly went wrong. HR failed playoffs first WePlay! Pushka League Season 1 Division 1, and then didn’t leave the group at OGA Dota PIT Online. For teams from the CIS, often this series of failures means the end – usually clubs come out of this peak with the help of substitutions. But unlike other teams, HR is now at the bootcamp, and they have a good opportunity to discuss and solve their problems.

The success of other CIS teams is even less believed. FlyToMoon spent all the mana to the finals Parimatch Dota 2 League Season 2. In recent tournaments, it can only ruin the mood of the favorites in individual matches, but it is hardly capable of giving a long series of victories. However, BC experts believe in FTM more than in HR, – the victory of the team Andrey ALWAYSWANNAFLY Bondarenko can be delivered with a coefficient of 20.00. Cyber ​​Legacy (ratio 90.00), Team unique (95.00) and Winstrike team (55.00) They have been treading water in one place for too long, so that there is still faith that they can reach a higher level. AND Gambit esports (35.00) changed the composition and lost the captain.

The two remaining European teams have little prospects for ESL One Birmingham 2023 either. Agressive mode and ViKin.gg never shone with results. Bookmakers also do not believe in their success – the odds on the victory of these teams are 70.00 and 50.00, respectively. The Greeks passed the closed qualification, in which there was not a single leading team – they all received invites. And ViKin.gg was invited to the competition more on a residual basis. This is the only roster that has appeared in previous online tournaments, and in the absence of Og seed and Virtus.pro, the organizers did not have other applicants for an invite. Until the majors have resumed, teams like ViKin.gg and Aggressive Mode still have the opportunity to meet regularly with the leading world squads, but as soon as the LAN tournaments return, these teams will again be out of work, and we are unlikely to see them at the top championships.

The first fight at ESL One Birmingham 2023 will take place on May 24, its start is scheduled for 17:00 Moscow time. Parimatch accepts bets on all matches of the tournament. After registration First rate insurance for up to 2 thousand rubles will be available.