BIX Invitationals Summer to fill the void before Ti10 – Teams & Predictions

Dota 2
July 13, 2021
Marcus Wong

BIX Invitationals Summer is just what the restless Dota 2 fans need to keep themselves occupied this summer. For the unwary, TI10 successfully found an alternative location in Romania, however, it comes with a three-month delay until October. BIX Invitational is hopefully the first event in a series of filler events between now and October for teams to enjoy an extended bootcamp portion before the fight for the Aegies kicks off.

Let’s take a look at this event, the teams in attendance and the Dota 2 odds on offer.

BIX Invitationals Summer Tournament Format and Teams

The BIX Invitationals Summer isn’t too fancy for the most part. It’s a 10,000$ tournament involving eight teams from SE Asia and China. The tournament spots a group stage, where matches are best-of-two single round-robins. Six from the group stage will proceed to the playoffs, while the remaining are eliminated. Playoffs matches are best-of-three, double-elimination bracket.

There are several notable teams, such as Team SMG, OB Esports x Neon, and Execration. While Army Geniuses, The Prime, Team Mystery, Team D, and Moon Chasers fill the rest of the slots.

BIX Invitationals Summer Favorites and Honorable Mentions

Its quite obvious that three teams stand out ahead of the rest in this event.

OB Esports x Neon may be the most accomplished team among the bunch. As far as their standing in Dota Pro Circuit 2021 (DPC 2021) go, they were among the most anticipated teams to secure a ticket to TI10. Unfortunately, the TI10 SEA Qualifiers proved to be too treacherous even for the Filipino powerhouse.

Another notable mention is Team SMG, which spots many familiar faces. For instance, Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng and Damien “kpii” Chok, to name a few. They were also a strong contender in TI10 SEA Qualifiers but unfortunately did not make the cut too.

Lastly, Execration actually performed much better than the overalls mentioned in the TI10 SEA Qualifiers. Landing a fourth place was by no means an easy task, but it’s still a loss for Execration when they don’t secure first place. Regardless, Execration’s past record of official games is convincing, as they did defeat Team SMG and OB Esports x Neon in their respective matches.

One of these three is likely the event winner. But before we get there, plenty of Dota 2 matches need to be played and plenty of odds are on offer for Dota 2 Betting enthusiasts. Let’s go over the opening matches and set our initial expectations.

Team SMG vs Prime

The opening matches in BIX Invitationals Summer are off to an underwhelming start. We have massive favorites up against the less-recognized candidates. The odds are just too one-sided for us to recommend, but there are enough exotic markets to keep us interested.

To demonstrate, Team SMG has an x1.39 return to sweep the series versus The Prime at x11.84 return. We notice a similar trend of overly biased odds for OB.Neon and Execration, too, especially for matches against the less-known teams. Alternatively, the odds for a tie outcome are more feasible, at an average multiplier of x3.50 depending on the match.

My selection would be going for a specific match exotic here. First Blood on Map 1 – First Blood in favor of SMG will give you x1.69 in return which is just right to set up our accumulator.

Team SMG vs Army Geniuses

Now then, the match between team SMG and Army Geniuses do look more sustainable. That said, Army Geniuses is still at a disadvantage when it comes to team composition, and their recent DPC 2021 performance did not boost their standing.

Team SMG, for what it’s worth, did secure top seeds in the last Lower Division regional league. Topped with their world-class roster, it’s difficult to pass on the opportunity to bet on these guys. Especially since the odds do look better in this scenario, where Team SMG has an x2.31 against AG at x5.31 returns. An outright for SMG in this case will be sufficient.

OB Esports x Neon vs Team SMG

Rematches never get old when the teams are close rivals in the same region. Team SMG and OB.Neon are no strangers to each other in the SEA region. Having played in the same qualifiers, they never really bumped into each other at the qualifiers, albeit OB.Neon still landed a place higher than SMG.

While the odds aren’t available just yet for this match on July 16, at 2PM (UTC+8), we are confident that OB.Neon still has the crowd favorite. After their unexpected showing at the Singapore Major, fans anticipated the team to succeed in the upcoming tournaments.

OB Esports x Neon vs Execration

Finally, the two Filipino rivals can once again attend their much-awaited revenge match. Execration defeated OB.Neon during the TI10 SEA Qualifiers, so we can very much expect OB.Neon to settle the scores. As far as strength is concerned, both teams do fair up pretty decently on multiple occasions. Hence, it’s really up to one team’s drafts or the other to showcase their finesse. Again, these teams did not make it to the International 10, so let’s hope they aren’t holding back any secret strategies for upcoming tournaments.

BETTING PROVIDERggbet logo
Team SMG vs PrimeMap 1 - First Blood SMG@ 1.69
Team SMG vs Army GeniusesTeam SMG to win@ 2.31
Execration vs Moon ChasersExecration to win@ 1.54
The Prime vs OB.NeonThe Prime or draw@ 3.69
ODDS x22.18

Admittedly, the BIX Invitationals Summer doesn’t scream grand tournament at all, but we reckon that the participants will still deliver their utmost performance. And that’s what matters at the end of the day for these teams and all you fanatics out there.

There’s no better opportunity to brush up that betting skills of yours before the next big thing, TI10. Of course, what better way to kickstart your betting frenzy with Esports bonuses, curated by the good folks over at GG.BET. We selected this provider cause they allow having multiple selections from the same team on a single bet-slip.