It’s yet another tiebreaker, a three-way at that, in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021 (DPC 2021) China Upper Division, aching to happen. The battle royale for the first place will be crucial for the top three teams as each seeding rewards a different slot at the Singapore Major 2021.
With such extreme stakes on the line, any team would want the major playoffs slot. Other top dogs in this reserved bracket include Team Secret, Virtus.pro, and Evil Geniuses.
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It all boils down to the current first seed holder, Invictus Gaming, to pull off a clean streak. Coincidentally, the match between Invictus Gaming and Team Aster is also the last scheduled game of the China Upper Division. If Team Aster manages to stack the odds in their favor, the fans are in for an epic tiebreaker.
Conversely, if Invictus Gaming defeats Team Aster on Mar 13, the China Upper Division officially concludes with them as the Major Playoffs team. Despite being an underdog coming into the DPC 2021, Invictus Gaming proved very formidable after upsetting some of China’s biggest favorites. Most notably, when they gave team Elephant a run for their money, most opponents began to pay some attention to the new challenger in town.
Frankly, IG had one of the longest-serving rosters among their rivals, with Chan “Oli~” Chon Kien being the oldest veteran here. Yet, it almost felt like it was at the DPC 2021 that fans only noticed their strength.
What could potentially make a tiebreaker better? A three-way, of course! Say the odds are against Invictus Gaming, and a tiebreaker occurs. Vici Gaming can join the party if they defeat PSG.LGD in their earlier match on Mar 12.
Furthermore, Vici Gaming has been on a roll, excluding their only loss versus IG. In fact, if we take into account of clean sweeps, VG was significantly more dominant. While PSG.LGD is by no means an amateur team, VG’s positive trend is indisputably in their favor. Chances are, VG isn’t too anxious about sweeping their last series off PSG.LGD and are already planning their tiebreakers.
If the tiebreaker does not occur, VG would secure a third-place finish and least and a Major Wildcard slot.
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Lastly, the fourth and last place secures a ticket to the Singapore Major 2021, albeit it’s only a Wild Card slot. In this playing field, it’s likely a tiebreaker between Elephant and PSG.LGD. Both teams will need to have a similar outcome on their respective matches, else one will get a fourth place by default.
The two rivals were initially favorites heading into DPC 2021, but it seems like new challengers took the tournament by storm. Besides Vici Gaming, nobody anticipated other participants to pose a threat to these fearsome teams. Once again, it just goes to show how treacherous the region can be after the great Chinese Roster Shuffle.
Finally, any tiebreaker scenarios open up “late” exotic live Dota 2 betting markets with high odds. If you happen to be watching live, expect to make a good profit on any and all potential tiebreakers.
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