The first tour of the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit is wrapping up this weekend. North America, CIS, and China will all host regional finals, and the most interesting match of these competitions will likely be HellRaisers vs. Team Spirit.
Though these are still regional-level competitions, the matches are high-stakes affairs. The four-team tournaments boast a $100,000 prize pool and, more importantly, Dota Pro Circuit points towards qualification for The International 11. Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming Team Spirit vs. HellRaisers match.
The reigning The International champions at Team Spirit have shown that their win at the event was no fluke. The team has been on fire in the DPC to this point, amassing a 7-0 record in regional play. Not only did Spirit amass a 7-0 record, the team went 14-1 on maps with that lone game being dropped to Natus Vincere.
If not for the cancelation, Team Spirit likely would have entered the first major of the season as a favorite to win alongside teams such as PSG.LGD and Team Liquid.
By comparison, HellRaisers wouldn’t have made the major at all. The team went 4-3 in the CIS DPC league and came out on the wrong end of a tiebreaker against Virtus.pro to land in fourth place. This would have seen HellRaisers watching the event from their home.
HellRaisers still performed generally well during league play, but settled decisively into the middle of the pack. Its wins came against teams that landed lower in the standings and its losses came to teams higher in the standings.Â
The HellRaisers core is built around former B8 players, and a 4-3 record does mark a big improvement for them. The team has growth potential in the long term, but they’re not in a great position on paper when it comes to this match.
The pair previously faced off in the penultimate week of the first DPC tour, with Spirit taking a decisive 2-0 win.
As of this writing, Team Spirit is a colossal betting favorite for its regional finals match against HellRaisers. The lines are currently standing at a whopping 1.12 vs. 5.10 according to Winners.bet. Other bookmakers have similarly lopsided lines that favor the TI10 champions to win this match.
It’s not really worth challenging those lines beyond a Hail Mary play on HellRaisers to win. It’s instead worth looking to side markets and particularly towards live betting. Team Spirit is capable of winning in a short game or in a marathon, and making a play based on drafts in markets surrounding Roshan timing, kill handicaps, and over/unders is the best way to approach this match.
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