Will AS Monaco Gambit do the impossible? AniMajor 2023 Wild Card Preview

AS Monaco Gambit – Mission Impossible

What happened to AS Monaco Gambit during the second season of the DPC is absurd. The team, which performed well in the Wild Card of the first Major, lost three matches in a row to the main competitors, after which the captain of the roster Akbar SoNNeikO Butaev resigned and announced that he would leave the club. Against the background of this, it would seem logical if the team finally collapses and starts losing cards in 20 minutes even to mid-level squads and outsiders. Instead, AS Monaco Gambit had a streak of four wins and, thanks to misfires, Natus Vincere, took third place. But even despite this unexpected success, not only SoNNeikO left the roster just before the Major, but also Vladimir No[o]ne Minenko, who took over leadership duties for the rest of the season.

Artyom took their places Lorenof Melnik and Stanislav 633 Glushan. Even if we do not consider the fact that the substitutions themselves do not seem to be of equal value, the team found itself in an extremely unenviable position, because it has to rebuild the overall game pattern and adapt it to new participants in a limited time frame. Here you can talk for a long time about Lorenof’s inexperience or that the peak of his career 633 was five or six years ago, however, I think everyone already understands how difficult the situation was for AS Monaco Gambit.

The only plus for Gambit may be that the roster maintains a fighting spirit and has not suffered from a moral point of view due to the departure of two key players. Alexander Immersion Khmelevskoy in an interview, he stated that he is ready to take on the role of a leader and engage in drafts. At the same time, he noted that the team now has a huge charge of sports anger and a desire to prove that No[o]ne and SoNNeikO made a mistake. These impulse and incredible charge can become a faint hope for AS Monaco Gambit in Wild Card. In addition, there will be no pressure on the team now, since neither the fans nor the club are expecting incredible results. Therefore, the guys will be able to calmly focus on the game and show their maximum, and possibly jump over their heads.

Do not forget that for both viewers and rivals AS Monaco Gambit will be a “dark horse” from which it is not known what to expect. After all, the team that we will see in the Wild Card will be strikingly different from the one in the DPC. Perhaps this effect of surprise, combined with a wild attitude, can give us a small miracle, but the chances of this are small. Parimatch analysts believe in miracles even less, so they believe that the team will be an outsider of Wild Card.

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 (3.71) – draw (1.90) – Execration (3.10)

Team Secret – it’s time to get ready … or not?

It’s hard to think seriously about the current game form Team Secret… The team, which until recently kept the whole of Europe and the CIS in fear, can now lose OG, give the card Hellbear Smashers or Tundra Esports (in the match with the latter on the second map, Secret’s core players had one kill for two). At the same time, the team has already guaranteed itself a ticket to The International 10, so the Major can only be considered as a high-intensity training session before the main tournament of the last two years. Talk that Team Secret has relaxed and is no longer really trying to prove itself in the DPC began at the end of 2023, when, for example, Lasse MATUMBAMAN Urpalainen He honestly admitted that instead of preparing for rivals, he spends time in raids in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. A similar approach to the game is noticeable in the drafts of Team Secret, which clearly experimented with picks during the second season: in seven matches, the team tried 75 different heroes, this is the highest indicator among all Wild Card participants (and some of them spent one more meeting for replay). Flaws could also be seen in the discipline and coordination of Team Secret – perhaps the match given to OG would be the best example.

Therefore, it is difficult to say which Team Secret we should expect in the Wild Card – an error-free car from mid-2020 or its stuck counterpart from the second DPC season. I think to get out of the Major before even reaching the group stage, Clement Puppey Ivanov and the company is unlikely to want – somehow undignified. The only question is whether Team Secret will be able to pull themselves together so quickly and show their maximum again. Given the general decline in Europe, this will not be easy. One way or another, on paper, Team Secret, along with the Chinese teams, is the main contender for the slot in the groups. Analysts from Parimatch, in turn, consider the Puppey team to be the favorite of Wild Card.

• Team Secret (2.80) – draw (2.01) – Vici Gaming (3.80)

Vici Gaming is a true Wild Card favorite

Vici Gaming was one step away from taking second place in the second division of the DPC and going straight to the group stage of the Major, but the team lost in the replay PSG.LGD with a score of 1: 2. But it is unlikely that the need to start a tournament with a Wild Card will be a big problem for VG: at the last Major, the team also started from this stage and without any particular difficulties advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs.

However, Vici Gaming did not do well there. If in defeat in the match against Invictus Gaming with a score of 1: 2, there was nothing terrible, then here’s a failure in a duel with OB Esports x Neonprobably hurt the team. This time, Vici Gaming’s motivation should be even higher, as the team is in a precarious position in the DPC points table. To guarantee themselves a slot at The International, the team will have to reach the top 6.

Vici Gaming did show some pretty confident and varied play throughout the second season. The team will surely open the signature Treant Protector and Specter in the Wild Card, which almost never loses, or surprise Broodmother, who often appears at the peak of the roster. Kerry teams Yang poyoyo shaohan, which showed almost flawless execution on many cards and played without a single death (and not only on the signature Specter), is now in optimal shape.

The only disadvantage for Vici Gaming can be played by a problematic flight to Kiev, which became more difficult due to the loss of a manager and the cancellation of the return flight necessary to cross the border. As a result, the team, together with PSG.LGD, flew to Ukraine, but did so less than a week before the start of the Wild Card, which could probably affect its preparation. Otherwise, VG now has a number of advantages over other rivals: the team will perform without replacements (unlike AS Monaco Gambit and IG), it has noticeably better playing conditions than Nigma and Execration, and many times more motivation than from Secret, which has already guaranteed a trip to TI. Therefore, in my opinion, it is Vici Gaming that should be considered as the favorite of the Wild Card. Parimatch analysts also highly rate VG’s chances.

• Vici Gaming (2.42) – draw (2.08) – Nigma (4.05)

Invictus Gaming – the squad will notice the loss of a fighter

If you need a clear example of why China is now out of competition, then here’s a story. Invictus Gaming… The team that won the first Major of the season might not have made it to the second. IG ranked fourth in its region and got its Wild Card slot largely due to an error Elephant, who lost in the last round Team Aster with a score of 1: 2. If not for this defeat, IG would have been forced to go into replays. One way or another, the team still made it to the Wild Card. However, not everyone managed to get to Kiev: support of the composition Chan Oli Jung Kin will be forced to skip the Major due to a false positive test for COVID-19. The fact is that Malaysia has a law on the control of coronavirus infection, because of which, even after a false positive test, it is necessary to spend 14 days in quarantine. As a result, Oli’s place in the roster was taken by the coach of the team Su super Peng.

We have already seen how critical the loss of a player at an important tournament can be for the squad in the Singapore Major, where Aster won only one match and left the championship, losing in the playoffs. Thunder Predator… It is difficult to say how everything will be in the case of IG, but it is clear that such an alignment will not benefit the team. In addition, Invictus Gaming players, like VG with PSG.LGD, arrived in Kiev just a few days ago, which reduces their time for acclimatization and the opportunity to hold training fights with participants from other regions. However, with all these “buts”, in no case can IG be written off, because we are still talking about a team from China – the strongest region at the moment, the level of play and competition in which is now prohibitive. Therefore, yes, IG’s chances have decreased due to the circumstances with the replacement, but the team is quite capable of getting a slot in the next stage of the tournament. Analysts from Parimatch still rank IG below Team Secret and VG, but above the rest of the Wild Card participants.

• Invictus Gaming (3.10) – draw (1.91) – Nigma (3.70)

Nigma – still many questions

After Singapore Major Nigma made the first change in the line-up in almost two years, sending to the reserve Alivi w33 Omar and taking in its place Igor iLTW Filatov… After that, the team sensationally took over Team Secret with a score of 2: 0 in the very first match of the second season. However, further the magic of rearrangement quickly dissipated: Nigma lost to direct competitors in the face of Alliance and Team Liquid, not without problems defeated Brame and Hellbear Smashers, and in the decisive match lost to Tundra, having lost the opportunity to get into replays for the second position. The most striking performance of the team in the second season, in addition to the opening meeting with Team Secret, was an easy victory over OG. However, by that time the team itself Johann n0tail Sundstein was already far from being in the best condition. Instability, loss of form, unexpected recessions – all this has become characteristic signs of the European giants in the last two seasons. Therefore, the third place for Nigma does not seem like a phenomenal achievement, since the general level of play in the region is far from the usual heights.

However, certain positive trends in Nigma can still be noticed. Amer Miracle- al-Barkawi finally settled on the center line, where he began to visit in the first season. ILTW is gradually adapting to the team, although the brightest match in his performance was precisely the first fight against Team Secret. Team offlaneer Ivan MinD_ContRoL Borislavov and even stated that Nigma is now close to the game form of the times of The International 2019, where, we recall, the team took second place. In addition, Nigma, unlike rivals from China, flew to Kiev on May 21, so she could calmly start preparing for the tournament. But whether it will help her to pass the Wild Card is a big question. The team, perhaps, can be attributed to the category of not the most obvious contenders for the two cherished slots. Parimatch analysts also do not consider Nigma a favorite and do not expect the team to win. Kuro KuroKy Salehi Takhasomi in duels with the main competitors.

• Nigma (3.85) – draw (1.95) – Team Secret (2.90)

Execration is the first candidate for relegation

Execration beat twice during the second season Fnatic: first in the framework of the regular tournament, and then in a tie-break, not letting the eminent team to the Major. The team showed that they can play very well with Tiny and a combination of Doom + Grimstroke, and in general they are ready to experiment in drafts. However, all this is not so important, because at the Wild Card stage the team will be in the status of an outsider on a par with Gambit. And if we are ready to believe in a team from the CIS just at the call of our hearts, then we cannot count on the success of Execration. In their region, the team lost to two favorites – T1 and TNC Predator… As for the victories over Fnatic, the first Major of the season perfectly showed the state of the team now, and there hasn’t been much progress since then. So Execration is a vigorous middle peasant in Southeast Asia, which hardly anyone would classify as one of the strongest regions in the world. Parimatch analysts also do not believe in the team’s success.

• Execration (10.00) – draw (3.05) – Nigma (1.45)