With a month till the International 10 (TI10), only six slots remain up for grabs. Each slot is reserved for the six regional qualifiers that will kick off in just days’ time. Over at the Eastern Europe Qualifiers, it’s only a day until the action begins.

Regional qualifiers have shifted away from previous years’ tradition, and only consist of Playoffs. Among the selected participants are teams that didn’t make the top twelve finishes in Dota Pro Circuit 2021 (DPC 2021) rankings. This is the last shot at qualifying for the coveted TI10 championship.

TI10 Eastern Europe Qualifiers Playoffs Format and Teams

The Playoffs will be of double-elimination bracket, with each bracket being best-of-three. While a best-of-five series is reserved for the grand finals. To kick off, there are four upper bracket matches and two lower bracket matches on the first day.

The bracket is seeded based on the participants’ current standing on DPC 2021, with the best teams securing spots in upper bracket and vice versa. Speaking of teams, Team Spirit, AS Monaco Gambit, Natus Vincere, Team Unique, PuckChamp, EXTREMUM, HellRaisers and Winstrike Team are in the upper bracket.

Down in lower bracket, Team Empire and Fantastic Five, who secured top seeds in EEU S2 Lower Division, advances to the second round of lower bracket. Finally, Nemiga Gaming, B8, NoTechies and Trident Clan will have to fight it out in the first round of lower bracket.

Prosti Esli1 were supposed to also compete in the lower bracket, but it was announced that the team has disbanded and will not compete in the qualifier.

Notable Teams and Favorites

All things considered, the match-ups are relatively fair and even, so there’s no questioning that we are in for some solid Dota 2. However, there are favorites among these candidates, whether fan favorites or a team that has recently rose to fame at the WePlay AniMajor.

Team Spirit, who secured 585 DPC points, was an underdog that surpassed everybody’s expectations. They ended their WePlay AniMajor run with a commendable seventh place, ironically better than Virtus.pro, their regional rival and TI10 invitee.

On a different note, Natus Vincere could be a formidable opponent coming into the qualifiers, despite the controversial backlash they received. Housing three former Virtus.pro players in their active line-up, Navi is undoubtedly a team of veteran players and class. Then, there’s AS Monaco Gambit, who received the short end of Navi’s decision to recruit two of its players. We will be expecting a revenge match if both make it past their upper bracket round 1.

The three favorites have favorable Dota 2 Odds in their opening matches, so lets cover those first.

Team Spirit vs Winstrike Team

Do note that all first matches are scheduled for start simultaneously. Team Spirit versus Winstrike Team may seem like a one-sided match on paper, but we are often baffled by how often Winstrike could upset its opponents. The stats don’t lie for the most part since Team Spirit is the more achieved team in the competition. By that, the Dota 2 odds reflect on Team Spirit to win at x1.23 odds against WinStrike at x3.97 odds.

I do think Winstrike can take one map off Spirit, meaning a 2:1 correct score bet is reasonable and would net us x3.7 over at GG.BET.

PuckChamp vs Team Unique

Here’s a fairer match-up for a change, PuckChamp and Team Unique have decent showings throughout their Upper Division journey. PuckChamp may have lost the three-way tiebreaker for fourth place, but both teams went neck-to-neck when they play. As for the odds, PuckChamp has slightly lower odds at x1.81 versus Unique at x1.96 returns. Expect the first map to go under 35.5 minutes at x2.09 the odds.

Natus Vincere vs EXTREMUM

Navi has had a rough season, even in the last Upper Division. Recalling the three-way tiebreaker we mentioned earlier, Navi was the biggest loser from it. However, that was before Navi picked up two valuable players to join their squad. Namely, Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev are definitely familiar faces in the EEU scene.

Meanwhile, EXTREMUM was the last-placed team in the Upper Division, making them the underdogs among its opponents. Hence, the Dota 2 odds highly favor Navi at x1.36 against EXTREMUM at x3.03 odds.

HellRaisers vs AS Monaco Gambit

HellRaisers is the only Lower Division candidate to play in the Upper Bracket. Then again, they lived up to their name as they were top seeds in the amateur league. They are up against Gambit, a team that managed to qualify into two majors, albeit were eliminated in Wild Cards. This is by far the most interesting match since HellRaisers has been a very consistent team throughout the DPC 2021 season. All thanks to their highly experienced band of players. Whereas, Gambit may have traveled to majors and had firsthand experience with other regions’ opponents.

Anyways, this doesn’t change the fact that Gambit has the edge in the popularity poll as a team with higher DPC points. At x1.51 coefficient, Gambit is favorite and the logical choice.

Elimination Matches

Last but not least, NoTechies versus B8 and Nemiga Gaming versus Trident Clan are lower bracket matches. It’s really anyone’s game in this bout, considering how poorly they have performed in the previous Lower Division. Regardless, we will reserve our comments on these teams until the second round begins. Perhaps by then, we may have better insight on which teams look promising. As for odds, NoTechies has x1.95 against B8 at x1.81 return. While Nemiga Gaming holds an x1.18 odds versus Trident Clan at x4.59 return.

As the International 10 Eastern Europe Qualifiers kick off, we can very well anticipate other regional qualifiers as well. Now, keeping track of such abundant matches may be cumbersome for an average Joe like ourselves. Valve has also launched their own prediction event inside the Dota 2 client. Each winner you predict correctly can earn you 1,000 Shards.

Remember, we got you covered on everything Dota 2 betting. Check back with our Esports News section for more insight into the other regions.