Dota 2 Tournaments

Dota 2 MDL Macau 2019 Tournament Preview and Betting Predictions

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Dota 2 fans rejoice! This month of February, it will be busy for a lot of Dota 2 fans and professional teams as there will be 2 big events for you to catch and watch. The first of the 2 events which is MDL Macau will start on the 20th of February and will run all the way to the 24th of February.

This tournament will have a prize pool of $300,000 which $135,000 will go to the winner of the event. However, this competition is not part of the Pro Circuit thus, it will not award DPC points. The event will take place at the lovely Galaxy Resorts in Macau.

Today we are going to share our opinion regarding the strength of the lineup as well as our Dota 2 MDL Macau 2019 betting predictions. Want to know who is going to reach the final of this battle? Keep reading!

Participants

The event will feature 8 teams, 5 of which will be directly invited and 3 will come from qualifiers. The invited teams are Virtus Pro from the CIS region, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses from the NA region and Vici Gaming and Newbee from China.

The three qualified teams are also taken from the Chinese qualifiers and the DPL in China. Since Vici Gaming has a direct invite to the event, EHome will take their place as the DPL Season 5 representative. The other two teams that are qualified are Royals Never Give Up and Invictus Gaming.

Originally, PSG LGD was going to take part in this tournament but due to Chalice’s surgery recovery, they withdrew from the event and Newbee took their place in the roster.

Lineup and Roster Changes

First off, Awen who is from the Newbee Academy will be stepping up as the offlaner for Newbee since JT is currently not available. Xiao8, who is currently EHome’s coach will also be playing in the group stages in the place of ASD due to the fact that ASD’s passport will be delivered late. He will, however, be catching up when the Playoffs start. Lastly, CCnC who currently plays for painX will stand in for SumaiL of EG. SumaiL will be taking a personal vacation.

Dota 2 MDL Macau 2019 Format

The format of the event is pretty simple. The first part of the event will consist of a round-robin style where every squad will play with each of the teams. The upper 4 teams will secure their spots on the Upper Bracket while the bottom 4 teams will fight for survival in the lower brackets.

For the first half of the event, all matches will be played in a best of 1 series. The group stage matches will be played on the first two days of the event while the remaining days leading up to the Grand Finals will be for the playoffs.

Now for the playoff stage, it follows the format of most major tournaments, just like the format of The Internationals, only on a smaller scale. All matches in the playoff stage will be played in a best of 3 series except for two instances. The first round of the Lower bracket will be played in a best of 1, similar to that of the group stage and lastly the Grand Finals will be a best of 5.

Dota 2 Betting Predictions for MDL Macau 2019

Now comes the part that I like the most and probably the one you all have been waiting for, my predictions. So for this event, seeing that this consists of only 8 teams and is not part of the DPC league, I will only include the top 3 teams since that will coincide with the tournament format as well.

However, after picking the top 3 teams of my choice, I will also be highlighting a dark horse contender who might just surprise everyone in the event. So sit back, relax and read on.

EHome

Seeing that this event is heavily stacked with the Chinese teams, for sure I will be starting up with the first team that I think will be on the top 3. That team is no other than one of the oldest and probably the most legendary Chinese Dota 2 squad, EHome.

Now you know why I chose this team? This is due to the fact that they have opened up the year 2019 in a rather spectacular fashion. First, they won the Bucharest Minor against Gambit Esports to secure their place in the first major tournament of 2019. And during the Chongqing Major, they were one of the only two Chinese teams that placed in the top 8 along with PSG LGD.

And last but not the least, they are also toe to toe with PSG LGD yet again during the Chinese qualifiers of the Dream League. Seeing that PSG LGD is not in the current team roster in this event, I see them snagging the spotlight here again if they somehow perform just like in the Bucharest Minor and the Dream League qualifiers. In my honest opinion, they are currently one of the top 3 teams in the whole Chinese scene right now.

Team Liquid

The second one on my list of three is none other than Team Liquid. Sure they were somewhat had a shaky start during the Dream League European qualifiers but they managed to pull up their performance when it was crucial. They also did not get a good placement during the Chongqing Majors, but you have to remember, they topped their group in the group stage of that tournament and went undefeated.

It was just bad luck that they were matched with Team Secret on the upper bracket and got knocked out by Fnatic in the Round 3 of the lower bracket, but somewhere between the lines of the playoffs, they managed to pull off spectacular wins on dominant teams like TNC Predators and even the rising stars Team Aster.

However, if they manage to find their groove in this event, they will be a force to be reckoned with in this event and in the future ones to come.

Virtus Pro

Last but not least, the one who will complete my top 3 and will probably most likely win the whole event, Virtus Pro. If you know me, or if you have read my other articles in the past, I do love Virtus Pro. The reason is simple, they are a very consistent team that manages to get results time after time.

This was true back in 2018 and this is true here in 2019. For starters, they demolished teams like Secret, PSG LGD and Evil Geniuses during the Chongqing Majors. Apart from that, they only lost to one team during the entire tournament, and that was in the Grand Finals against Secret, but apart from that, they dominated the whole event.

Couple that with the outstanding performances that they put up during the Dream League CIS qualifiers in which they came in first, now you know the reason why I rate them highly and put them up on a pedestal.

Evil Geniuses

Now for my dark horse pick, I will most likely go with Evil Geniuses. The reason why they did not make my top 3 list is that SumaiL will not be partaking in the tournament. I mean, nothing against CCnC, but SumaiL brings in a different aura whenever he is in the team.

The chemistry he has with RTZ is just insane. That is probably the reason why they got third place in the Chongqing Major, it’s because that they managed to always pull themselves out of a rut and manage to get wins when they were in the lower bracket of that event.

They also did a magnificent display during the North American qualifiers for the Dream League event by coming in first even if Twitch chat was calling them scrubs for losing a game against Flying Penguins. So, without SumaiL and his mid lane, I do not see them as a top 3 contender in this tournament outright but will most likely surprise people if CCnC manages to gel well with EG while standing in.

 

We hope to see a nice and action-filled Dota battle these days! If you think that our betting tips for MDL Macau 2019 are wrong, then feel free to share your opinion in the comment section below!

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