The first Dota Pro Circuit league season has wrapped its round robin portion, and all that’s left before the ONE Esports Singapore Major are the tiebreakers. Almost every region has at least one compelling matchup in the tiebreakers, and one of the best among that lot is AS Monaco Gambit vs. Team Spirit.Â
AS Monaco Gambit and Team Spirit are set to face off for third place in the ESL One CIS DPC League. The two teams will battle in a single best-of-three series to determine the region’s final entrant to the major, joining the already-qualified Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere.
On paper, this is a difficult match to pick as Team Spirit has the edge in recent form while AS Monaco Gambit has the advantage in both resume and potential strength.Â
AS Monaco Gambit’s lineup has the following players:
Originally competing as Live to Win, AS Monaco Gambit added former Virtus.pro mid laner No[o]ne to its active roster as a “stand-in” that will likely become a permanent change following the end of the season. Alongside him are former Natus Vincere captain SoNNeikO and veteran AfterLife. The team has a number of players that have been on Dota 2’s grandest stages and it’s hard to pick against them when they’re facing a relatively unheralded opponent.
Though Team Spirit is off to a strong start, they’re still an unheralded team, with a roster made up of the following players:
With the exception of Miposhka, the Team Spirit roster is almost exclusively made up of younger talent only a year or two into their professional careers. This isn’t necessarily a huge red flag given the depth of the CIS region in terms of its talent, but the team doesn’t have many prior achievements to hang their hat on.
They’re in strong form for the ESL One CIS DPC league, though. The team went 4-3 during the season, and while they boast the same record as AS Monaco Gambit, they’ve actually been able to get wins over the top teams in the region. That includes beating AS Monaco Gambit when it was still playing as Live to Win during the third week of the DPC.
This match stands out from a betting perspective, as different betting sites are split over which team is the favorite. Some bookmakers favor AS Monaco Gambit while others give Team Spirit a slight edge. Winners.bet falls into the latter category, and has one of the better lines for those looking to wager on an AS Monaco Gambit win.
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