The win marks their second big tournament win of the young year after Team Secret also clinched the Chongqing Major crown just a couple of weeks ago.

Team Secret’s performance at ESL One Katowice was amazing. They lost just one game in the group stage to Team OG. Team Secret played a total of 10 games in group stage and seven games in the playoffs.

One of the interesting quirks from the tournament was the rivalry building between Team Secret and Gambit Esports. The two teams played each other in a total of seven games throughout ESL — two games in the group stage and five games in the playoffs. Team Secret won each and every encounter.

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The tournament champions qualified for the winner’s bracket of the playoffs after obtaining a seven score in Group A after whitewashing Forward Gaming in day two of the group stage.

After advancing to the winner’s bracket, Secret faced off against Ninja In Pyjamas in a best-of-three series.

Team Secret drafted Spectre in game one and picked Nature Prophet to support him in the laning phase. Spectre is a hero that is very weak in the laning phase and requires two heroes to babysit him so that he can have some farm. Team Secret understood that Nature Prophet is very good at harassing enemies and babysitting carry. So, Spectre farmed well in laning phase and Nature Prophet kept on creating space for Spectre by sending his creeps to pressure the lane or even teleport himself to get attention from enemies to gank him.

Eventually, Spectre had his core items such as Manta Style and Diffusal Blade to join teamfight. Ninja In Pyjamas had no choice but to surrender when Spectre and Kunka went unstoppable in the game.

After taking down Ninja In Pyjamas, they had to battle against Gambit Esports again in the Upper Bracket Finals. Team Secret out-played Gambit in both games largely because Gambit Esports drafted Visage in both games and Team Secret picked Pangoliar into Visage twice.

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Pangoliar is effective at countering Visage because Pangoliar is able to kill Visage’s Familiars with Swashbuckle. So, Visage had to position the familiar very careful in team fight to avoid being killed by Pangoliar.

Gambit Esports later eliminated Team OG to earn their way back to the Grand Finals and another crack at their new rivals.

In the Grand Final series, Gambit Esports didn’t draft Visage after seemingly learning their lesson. However, that mattered little as Team Secret out-drafted them in every single game and picked 14 different heroes in the three games they played.

In the last game, Team Secret showed no respect to Gambit Esports and picked Anti-Mage after Gambit Esports drafted Shadow Demon.

Shadow Demon is a hero able to counter Anti-Mage because of his first skill – Disruption – creates two illusions of the targeted unit. Anti-Mage’s first skill is Mana Break, which allows the illusion of him able to burn mana of enemies by hitting them.

So, Shadow Demon is always able to burn out the mana of Anti-Mage by creating his illusion. Despite that, Team Secret still won the game after Team Secret wiped them out with an amazing gank at 27-minute mark. After suffering for another 10 minutes, Gambit Esports realised they had no way of stopping Anti-Mage and called GG.

The next ESL One event is ESL One Birmingham 2019, being held in Arena Birmingham, Birmingham. There will be eight directly invited teams and four qualifiers.

The post Team Secret’s successful 2019 continues with ESL One Katowice crown appeared first on Esport Bet.

OG will take o Forward Gaming in a two-match series that will have larger implications for Group A at ESL One Katowice 2019.

OG performed incredibly well against Team Secret yesterday. Despite the fact that Keeper of the Light and Lifestealer are nerfed in this patch, they still drafted them and had success.

They put Keeper of the Light in the position five support role because rushing Refresher Orb does not help anymore. So, Keeper of the Light supported all observer and sentry wards in that game and Jerax prioritized getting items to protect Lifestealer. The tactic demonstrated that OG has adapted to the patch nicely.

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After finishing the match against Team Secret OG whitewashed Mineski 2-0 after drafting strongly and getting a little luck. They drafted Phantom Assassin in game one and there were several crucial critical hits done by the hero to secure the kill and win the team fight in game one.

Although Mineski drafted Magnus and Anti-Mage in that game, they couldn’t do much in team fight because Phantom Assassin was able to kill them in a few seconds with two lucky critical hits.

In game two against Mineski, OG drafted Keeper of the Light and Ember Spirit once again. Thanks to Keeper of the Light’s third skill – Chakra Magic – to reduce the cool down of abilities, Ember Spirit caused havoc.

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Forward Gaming is the second-weakest team in Group A. They drafted nicely in their game against Gambit Esports, picking Kunka last to counter Visage from Gambit Esports.

Forward Gaming vs. OG betting prediction

After running our eye through the heroes pool knowledge and drafting ability of both teams, we give Forward Gaming a 70% chance to win at least one game this match-up.

Considering the payout odds, our recommendation is to go medium and bet on Forward Gaming to win at least one game at -151.52 or better with BetOnline.

The post Forward Gaming vs. OG recent drafting tactics & Dota 2 betting tips appeared first on Esport Bet.

Team Secret will compete against For The Dream in what should be a fascinating Dota 2 battle in the group stage of ESL One Katowice 2019 on Wednesday evening.

After playing OG and Forward Gaming yesterday, Team Secret currently sits inside the top three of Group A, along with OG and Gambit Esports.

Team Secret’s drafting yesterday could be described as greedy, especially in game one against OG. They picked Kunka, Phantom Lancer and Ember Spirit as their core heroes, which was not an ideal strategy because all of them need space to farm.

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Lifestealer from OG was farming incredibly well early in the game and purchased his midas by the 11-minute mark, followed by Radiance at the 20-minute mark because Team Secret was too busy farming instead of ganking Lifestealer.

Lifestealer had his 6-slotted inventory at 50-minute mark, while Phantom Lancer from Team Secret only had four core items in the same time. Lifestealer ended the game with 16 kills, 1 death and 16 assists. His golds per minute in the game was 748 which is pretty high.

Team Secret drafted balanced picks in other three games. Interestingly, they drafted two games of Spectre, three games of Leshrac and two games of Pangoliar as their core heroes out of the four games they played yesterday and they won all three games with these picks.

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In the second game against OG, Midone, the position two player played Pangoliar and Zai, the position three player controlled Leshrac to go off lane in laning phase.

In their second game against Forward Gaming, Midone played Leshrac in the mid lane and Zai played Pangoliar in the off lane. Their heroes pool knowledge is wide and they can run all sorts of strategies because there are two players able to play well with the same hero.

This flexibility allows them to confuse the enemies in the drafting phase because their opponents are unable to determine which role the heroes is taking care of until the end of drafting phase.

For The Dream, the weakest team in Group A, currently has zero points from the group stage after losing to Gambit Esports and Mineski yesterday.

For The Dream has shown decent drafting skill, but their members lack the skill to execute their plan.

Team Secret vs. For The Dream betting prediction

After running our eye through the heroes pool knowledge and skill from both squads, we give Team Secret an 80% chance to win this match-up 2-0.

Considering the payout odds, our recommendation is to go medium and bet on Team Secret to win the game 2-0 at -227.27 or better with BetOnline.

The post Team Secret vs. For The Dream drafting tactics & Dota 2 betting tips appeared first on Esport Bet.

After finished second place in WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness, Ninja In Pyjamas will seek redemption at ESL One Katowice when they take on Alliance in their first pro Dota 2 match under patch 7.21b.

Ninja In Pyjamas is renowned for their talented players and features five tier one stars in the squad — Ace, Fata, 33, Saksa and PPD.

Although they lack the synergy to become a strong tier one team, their wide heroes pool knowledge still makes them a formidable enemy to any Dota 2 team in the world.

They played a total of 10 games in the WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness, resulting in seven wins and three loses.

In their games against Team Empire on February 13, they drafted a very unique hero, Broodmother, and ended the game before the 18-minute mark.

Broodmother is a hero that is able to surprise enemies if you pick him last because his first skill — Spawn Spiderlings — always allow him to control a lot of Spiderlings.

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If the enemy does not have a hero such as Axe, Timbersaw, Monkey King or other heroes that can withstand the damage dealt by Spiderlings and clear out the Spiderlings easily, Broodmother can crush your mid-lane before the 10-minute mark.

Other than this unique hero, Ninja In Pyjamas also drafted both Anti-Mage and BristleBack in the playoffs of that tournament along with heroes focused on supporting them.

Alliance is a team known for their use of Qojqva’s Lone Druid. They also participated in WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness and finished in fourth place after losing to Gambit Esports.

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Thanks to Qojqva’s unbeatable Lone Druid, Alliance was only able to draft Lone Druid once throughout the whole tournament of WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness because their opponent banned that hero every single time in the first banning phase, except Pavaga Gaming, who never respected the strength and consequently lost the game.

In that game, Qojqva bought Hand of Midas at 10-minute mark to speed up his farming rate. At the 19-minute mark, he purchased Radiance for his Spirit Bear and the game ended two minutes after the Spirit Bear became unstoppable in the team fight.

Qojqva had nine kills, zero deaths and seven assists by the end of the game.

Ninja In Pyjamas vs. Alliance betting prediction

After running our eye through their heroes pool knowledge and the individual skill displayed by both squads, we give Ninja In Pyjamas a 65% chance to win this match-up 2-0.

Considering the payout odds, our recommendation is to go low and bet on Ninja In Pyjamas to win the game 2-0 at -138.89 or better with BetOnline.

Note: Live betting on Alliance is recommended if Alliance able to draft Lone Druid in this upcoming match-up.

The post Ninja In Pyjamas vs. Alliance – ESL One Katowice betting form & tips appeared first on Esport Bet.

After vanquishing Ninja In Pyjamas in the Grand Final of WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness and pocketing a cool US$50,000, Gambit Esports will play their first pro match in patch 7.21b against Forward Gaming in the Group Stage of ESL One Katowice 2019.

Gambit Esports’ draft in its Grand Final victory highlighted Visage as one of the favourite heroes of the squad. They drafted Visage in three out of the four games they played against Ninja In Pyjamas.

Daxak, the position one player from Gambit Esports, is very good in micro-management. He often uses heroes that require a lot of work, including Mepoo and Visage.

Unfortunately for Daxak, Visage has been nerfed in the latest patch update from 7.21 to 7.21b. Visage’s ultimate skill, Summon Familiar, has seen its attack damage is reduced from 30/45/60 to 20/40/60 (level one/level two/level three).

Gambit Esports might need to abandon the strategy involving Visage in this tournament unless they are playing a draft that reduces a lot of armour of the enemy’s team, including Sladar and Dazzle in their draft.

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Forward Gaming, one of the top three teams from the North America Region, secured their slot in the main tournament of DreamLeague Season 11 by taking down Team Complexity on February 7.

In the games they played in DreamLeague Season 11 North America Qualifier, they seemed to have unlimited heroes web in drafting and picked a lot of cores including Kunka, Juggernaut, Ember Spirit, Medusa, Brewmaster, Ursa, Faceless Void and Outworld Destroyer.

Their favourite core heroes are Faceless Void, who was picked three times, Outworld Destroyer, picked four times and Juggernaut, picked three times in that qualifier.

Forward Gaming played a total of nine games in DreamLeague Season 11 North America Qualifier.

The good news for the favourites here is that Outworld Destroyer, Faceless Void and Juggernaut are not nerfed in this patch.

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Resolution from Forward Gaming is very good with Lone Druid, which is one of the tier one heroes in this meta of the patch, requiring a high micro-management skill.

Gambit Esports vs. Forward Gaming betting prediction

After analysing their drafting abilities and recent patch changes, we give Forward Gaming a 70% chance to win at least one game in this match-up.

Considering the payout odds, our recommendation is to go low and bet on Forward Gaming to win at least one game at better than $1.30 or higher are available.

The post Gambit Esports vs. Forward Gaming draft form & ESL One Katowice tips appeared first on Esport Bet.

After TNC Predator’s withdrawal from ESL One Katowice, Mineski has stepped up to the plate and will take on For The Dream in their place on Tuesday night in what should be a fascinating best-of-two series in Group A.

Mineski had a roster change on January 23 when they replaced JT with Ahjit. Ahjit is one of the best carry players in Dota 2 and came to Mineski from the Tigers, where he helped his side become the champions of DreamLeague Season 10 and the Southeast Asia Cyber Arena 2018 Finals.

Ahjit is certainly an upgrade for this team over JT, but that doesn’t mean Mineski won’t have synergy problems and we expect the team will need time to gel together.

For The Dream has not played a professional match in patch 7.21. Their most recent professional bout was against Team EVER on February 7 in the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor China Open Qualifier.

Although they lost to Team EVER in that best-of-three series, they displayed strong draft tactics in all three games they played.

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In game one, they drafted Tuskar and Chen as supports, attempting to crush Beastmaster. Beastmaster is only strong in sustaining and even owning the laning phase because his second skill, summoning a boar, assists him in harassing enemies.

Chen is a hero that is very good in countering Beastmaster because his third skill, Holy Persuasion, captures an enemy or neutral unit and turns them into an ally. With this skill, Beastmaster’s boar is always under control of Chen and Chen used the Boar to zone out the Beastmaster from the lane.

Eventually, the carry in For The Dream got too fat and won the game thanks to their smart draft.

In game two, Team EVER won the draft because For The Dream drafted three melee cores along with another melee support. Witch Doctor being the only range hero in the game, they were too weak to fight against Razor in the laning phase.

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In game three, For The Dream stole Razor from Team EVER after they drafted Tidehunter. However, they did not put Razor up against against Tidehunter in the laning phase, instead deciding on standing him against Dazzle. That was a bad choice because Dazzle doesn’t lose mid against Razor and gets equal farm, always allowing him to have an advantage because of his ultimate skill, Bad Juju, reduces his item and ability cool down time.

For The Dream has a lot to improve in expanding their heroes pool knowledge and decision-making on strategies for their laning phase game play.

Mineski vs. For The Dream betting prediction

After running our eye through their heroes’ pool knowledge and recent roster changes for Team Mineski, we give them a 40% chance to win this match-up 2-0.

Considering the payout odds, our recommendation is to go low and bet on Mineski to win the game 2-0 at -151.52 or better with BetOnline.

The post Mineski vs. For The Dream squad form & drafting strategy – Dota 2 tips appeared first on Esport Bet.

Team Secret will go up against OG in the first Dota 2 encounter between the pair under the 7.21B patch in the group stage of ESL One Katowice.

After successfully earning their ticket to participate in TI9, Team Secret have refused to take a break and have also got another slot in the DreamLeague Season 11 Major.

In the DreamLeague Season 11 Europe Qualifier, Team Secret performed well below expectations in the group stage, but still whitewashed Kaban twice. They did however lose to Ninja In Pyjamas in a best-of-three series.

Despite the disappointing performances, they advanced into the winner’s bracket of the playoffs event after taking down Kaban again. Then, they had a solid victory against Liquid and advanced to the main tournament of the DreamLeague Season, along with Ninja In Pyjamas.

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Looking at their draft against Liquid, Team Secret revealed their hidden strategy in the playoffs by drafting Keeper of the Light in both games. Team Liquid was careless against the strategy and never banned the hero.

Keeper of the Light is very strong in the most recent patch 7.20 because his ultimate skill, Will-O-Wisp, causes enemies in a 675 radius to stare hypnotized at it for one second and are available to move for another second thereafter.

Getting a Refresher Orb for this hero enables him to cast Will-O-Wisp twice in the same area, while the first Will-O-Wisp is not working, the second Will-O-Wisp is always able to make the enemies to stare hypnotized at it.

Enemies literally cannot move for eight seconds until Will-O-Wisp is gone, and thanks to Keeper of the Light’s first ability — Illuminate — to deal 500 damage to an area after channelling for five seconds, he is always able to purchase the Refresher Orb before the 30-minute mark.

Team Liquid had to build at least two Black King Bars, which grants the user immunity to magic, so they can hit and break the Will-O-Wisp. However, if they get Black King Bar before they purchase their core items they will have lesser output damage in team fight. With this dilemma, they decided against getting Black King Bar and Team Secret crushed them with two Will-O-Wisps.

Team Secret’s strength is in developing strategy and unexpected meta. However, in patch 7.21b, they might not be able to spam Keeper of the Light because his ultimate skill just got nerfed. The second Will-O-Wisp always follows the flicker time of the first Will-O-Wisp. So, the enemies are definitely able to move straight after being hynotized the first time.

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Coming into this match Team OG still does not have a dedicated player to take their first position role. ILTW from the Espada squad is going to stand-in for the role again.

Team OG participated in the DreamLeague Season 11 Europe Qualifier as well, but didn’t encounter Team Secret there because Team Secret was in Group A and Team OG was in Group B.

Similar to Team Secret, OG spammed two games with Keeper of the Light in their match against Vega Squadron back on February 6. Unfortunately for them, they lost both games because Jerax, the position four player OG, was unable to find his farm throughout the map.

Team Secret understand how to create space for this hero until he gets his Refresher Orb, but OG never did the same for his support, Keeper of the Light, and Jerax even bought Hand of Midas at the 30-minute mark of the game to speed up his farm.

OG also spammed Lifestealer in their match against The Real Deal in the group stage on February 4. Both Lifestealer and Keeper of the Light are the losers in patch 7.21b after being nerfed significantly.

Team Secret vs. OG betting prediction

After running our eye through the drafting ability and how recent patch changes impact both squads, we give Team Secret a 60% chance to win this match-up 2-0.

Considering the payout odds and the fact Team Secret may not reveal their secret strategy in the group stage, our recommendation is to go low and bet on Team Secret to win the game at -227.27 or higher with BetOnline.

The post Team Secret vs. OG betting form, patch impact & ESL One Katowice tips appeared first on Esport Bet.

Eight teams have been directly invited into this tournament including Team Secret, Ninja In Pyjamas, OG, Chaos Esports Club, Fnatic, Alliance, Team Aster and Forward Gaming.

There are four reserve slots prepared for the Europe/CIS Region, North America Region, China Region and Southeast Asia Region.

Gambit Esports fought their way through the Europe Qualifier while Complexity Gaming triumphed in the North America Qualifier.

For The Team, the runner-up in the China Region, replaces EHOME in this tournament due to a schedule conflict with the MDL Macau 2019.

The last participant is Mineski from the Southeast Asia region, replacing TNC Predator, who withdrew due to a scheduling conflict.

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The group stage starts today. The playoffs are played over February 22-24. 12 teams are distributed into these two groups:

Group A: Team Secret, Gambit Esports, For The Dream, OG, Forward Gaming, Mineski.

Group B: Ninja In Pyjamas, Complexity Gaming, Fnatic, Alliance, Chaos Esports Club, Team Aster.

The two teams from each group with the lowest score in the group stage will be eliminated from the tournament.

The strongest team in Group A should be Team Secret. They are one of the strongest teams in the world after taking down Virtus Pro in the Grand Final of the Chongqing Major.

Group B should provide a more competitive battle from a group of teams that mostly sit within Tier 2 standard.

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