Finally, a worthy competitor has appeared at the DPC Eastern European 21/22 tournament. Amidst the craze over Team Spirit and PuckChamp, there’s still one last team standing before the top dogs of DPC EEU are decided.
Enter HellRaisers, the only team that has yet to face either Team Spirit and PuckChamp. Their record up till this point has been phenomenal, defeating every opponent, including the respectable Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere.
Can they continue their dominating run? Two matches this week will decide it all.
Firstly, PuckChamp deserves some recognition for their performance, rivaling even Team Spirit at that. While they did take a loss from the undisputed champs, Team Spirit, they are still comfortably in the top seeds. PuckChamp’s success story wasn’t always sunshine and glory, especially for a team that only debut early last year.
They kicked off as a nobody team that made their way into Division 2 bracket via the open qualifiers. They had no sponsors or backing of sorts, which can often be a death sentence for many CIS talents hoping to pursue competitive Dota as a career. Yet, they persisted and eventually made it into Division 1 during last season, albeit with unimpressive results.
In this Dota Pro Circuit 2021-22 season, PuckChamp changed itheir pace and picked up several new players. Nikita “young G” Bochko’s feisty playstyle at the middle lane, enables him and his team to scale exponentially into the midgame. Once PuckChamp starts rolling, their momentum typically ends the match within 38.5 minutes. (x2.21).
PuckChamp looks solid on paper and their flexibility in playing drawn-out matches deserves them the title as DPC EEU’s rising stars. Thus, if youngG opts for late-game heroes, namely Invoker, the match could potentially last over 41.5 minutes, or x3.2 returns.
On the other hand, HellRaisers is the underdog in David and Goliath’s story, here’s why. While PuckChamp remained tacky with hero drafts, HellRaisers stuck to the basics.
HellRaisers prioritize three aspects in drafting, high-damage bursts, sustainability, and midgame scaling. These criteria are evident in their fast-paced games, where they often have initiation heroes to pick off enemies. These objectives indirectly make space for hard carries to farm before their opponents could play offensively.
As such, the Dota 2 odds are relatively even for both teams, albeit HellRaisers are on a slight disadvantageous margin. PuckChamp is expected to win at x1.74 versus HellRaisers at x2.04 odds. Alternatively, betting on either team to lose 0-2, would put the loser at -1.5 handicap and root you at least x3.04 returns.
I am going with HellRaisers here and hoping for a miracle run this week.
Till this point, we have been giving HellRaisers leeway in their blunt playstyle, glorifying it as “sticking to basics.” However, any exception or scenario would be obsolete against the unrivaled Team Spirit. The International 10 (TI10) champions are still hoping to stamp out the opening DPC2021-22 season with a clean winning streak.
It’s almost certain that Team Spirit will win the match at x1.29 versus HellRaisers at x3.45 returns.
Nevertheless, there are exotic betting markets that are worthwhile in a one-sided series. For instance, Team Spirit enjoys short games, which last less than 31.5 minutes, that can win x4.11 returns if secured. Apart from their series versus Navi, Team Spirit typically want games to end asap.
Unlike average trigger-friendly opponents, Team Spirit isn’t bloodthirsty, coupled with short-duration games, makes for rather low kill count. Anticipate total kills to be under 40.5 kills or x2.9 returns. Not to be confused with being opportunistic, Team Spirit is cunning, granted they have absolute lane kill combos. Hence, betting on Team Spirit to race to 5 kills earlier is justified and has x1.68 odds.
In HellRaisers’ pursuit to qualify for Major, they certainly felt like the third wheeler amongst the DPC EEU’s top dogs. While wagering on Team Spirit to lose might be too farfetched, HellRaisers certainly has better odds to secure the first runner-up spot in DPC EEU. Second place comes with complementary tickets to the first Major and group stage slot.
Albeit PuckChamp deserves to qualify for the first Major just as much too. They worked hard, made tough decisions in roster changes, and it’s evidently paying off in the form of commendable performance.
The DPC EEU 21/22 is more than just a three-way among the mentioned participants. Other DPC EEU matches are scheduled for Week 5 too, so consider checking out GG.BET, my select odds provider for the featured matches here.
LOL
CS2
Dota 2
Valorant
Fortnite
Call of Duty
Mobile Games
Gaming
EN Global 
JP 日本語