Western Europe is nearing the climax of the second round of the regular season. The final week will be full of exciting clashes and critical games.
After 2 weeks and 7 matchdays, no team is guaranteed a place in The Berlin Major 2023, just as no team has left the division. Entity and Ooredoo Thunders are currently "between" two categories of teams, so their showdown will be interesting in terms of standings.
Entity are nominally 4th in the standings. The team has 2 wins and 3 losses.
Ooredoo Thunders, again, are nominally in last place. The team, like the underdogs, has won 2 matches, losing 3.
Let's try to see which of the teams will be able to significantly improve their performance and move up in the standings, breaking away from at least one chaser.
Entity Form
We'll open the analysis with an analysis of Entity's form. They will be playing this matchup as favourites.
Bookmakers are putting the odds on Entity to win at around 1.6. Given the current state of affairs, these pre-match quotes indicate a minimal gap in the teams' level of play.
Such a figure is also due to the ongoing chaos inside Western Europe's top division. The level of the teams is either so low, or still so high, that every team can outplay every one of them, as indicated by their standing in the standings.
Entity line-up
It's unclear what happened to Entity in a fairly short period of time, but in the second round they look like a middle class team at best. Against the backdrop of grands like Liquid, Gladiators and Tundra, Entity no longer look like worthy competitors.
Entity players
- watson
- Stormstormer
- Tobi
- Kataomi
- Fishman
Entity's problem isn't even on a global level. They banal lame in personal performance, and lame quite seriously.
On the bad side stands out Tobi, who can't find his game in any way. Has the patch affected Entity's offliner so badly that he's literally shut down.
Entity's performance
Entity finished DPC 2023: WEU Upper Division - Tour 1 in fourth place. The team played the regular season 4-3 before heading to round-robin replay with Tundra Esports and OG.
After going through tiebreaks Entity went to the Lima Major 2023. Prior to that, they entered the top 4 of the BB Universe Comics Zone.
After the group stage, Entity made it to the top of the playoffs, from where they crashed out losing to the future champions from Gladiators. Entity's stay in the tournament was halted by Talon Esports, who created the biggest sensation of the past championship.
The first match in the second round was against Nigma Galaxy. Despite a sizeable lead, Entity had a difficult time, but came through with a 2-1 victory.
In the next match Entity faced the Greek Monaspa in the underdogs of the tournament. The match ended 2-0 in favor of Fishaman's team.
But with Tundra Esports was not easy. The International 2022 champions had no problem taking on a lesser title contender.
The Entity clash continued in the next series. Liquid, regaining their former confidence, easily crushed their opponents on two maps.
The match against Gladiators did not see any global changes either. The 2023 Lima Major champions overpowered Entity to close 2-0.
Entity Heroes
The most picked character for Entity in the current DPC draw was Tiny. The character has been taken 8 times, yet has a 37% win rate.
Invoker and Disruptor were picked 7 times each. The latter has 71% win rate, while midget Invo has a dismal situation with only 28% of wins.
Also picked DP (6 games, 50% win rate). Treant, Nature`s Prophet, Rubick each had 3 matches and won 1 of them.
Ooredoo Thunders uniforms
Let's move on to a review of the playing form of the most interesting team of the season. Ooredoo Thunders play in catch-up status.
The odds of winning this game are estimated to be in the region of 2. Given the state of affairs and the status of OT, the figure is quite adequate.
The Ooredoo Thunders really are the most interesting team of the new season. They have already managed to impress both the community and the competitors of the first division.
Ooredoo Thunders roster
They've already achieved some terrific results thanks to their already impressive roster. The squad is not only together for a long time as for a Tir-1 team, but also includes a couple of very lively performers.
Ooredoo Thunders players
TA2000
No! ob
Wuiter
OmaR
Kaori
Of the five, the duo of TA2000 and Kaori stand out. Not bad is Wuiter, who has become the latest addition to the team.
They are well known names, but they have never been above local and commercial tournaments. Now they have all the cards in hand and an opportunity to gain a foothold in the top division, the more so because Entity are in a wild slump and it is worth taking advantage of that.
Ooredoo Thunders performance
Ooredoo Thunders finished in first place in Western Europe's second division. The team finished 6-1 on the series and 13-3 on the cards.
They managed to outscore Ancient Tribe, Alliance, Water Rune Enjoyers, IVY, Alliance and Bald Reborn 2-0. One card in Ooredoo's winning games was picked up by D2 Hustlers, while they lost to Monaspa
Apart from DPC matches, Ooredoo Thunders have been active in third-party events. The team won the local European Pro League Season 6, and finished in the top 6 at BB Universe: Episode 1 - Comics Zone.
In the first game of the new series, the Ooredoo Thunders faced off in a rematch of last year's decisive Division 2 clash. The Greeks from Monaspa beat their international counterparts 2-0.
OT went on to play with a substitute against Gaimin Gladiators. It seemed to be easy for the Lima Major 2023 champions to outplay their less titled opponent, but the reality turned out to be much more interesting: GG lost 1-2.
Next, Ooredoo Thunders had every chance to beat OG, but managed to fill the first card with a multi thousand-point lead. OG won with a score of 2-0.
The next match and again a surprise. Tundra Esports went 6-0, shutting down their opponents one by one without a chance, idly watching OT beat them on two maps.
The swing continued in the match against Nigma Galaxy. Somehow it happens that Ooredoo Thunders beat the favourites but lost to the outsiders, 2-0 in favour of NGX.
Ooredoo Thunders heroes
Ooredoo Thunders play the classic Dota of patch 7.32. The most pickable character is Rubick (29 matches, 86% wins).
Clockwerk (19 matches, 73% wins), Tiny (17 matches, 82% wins), Death Prophet (17 matches, 76% wins), Treant (17 games, 70% wins) and Phoenix (17 matches, 58% wins) are popular.
History of head-to-head encounters
The teams have played each other outside the DPC. At BB Comics Zone Entity defeated OT in the tournament playoffs 2-1.
The outcome of the match.
For me, this matchup features two evenly matched teams. Two chaotic and inconsistent teams.
Entity are unimpressive from the word go, and the Ooredoo Thunders play to extremes. The most potential outcome of this matchup is three cards.
On the other hand, if you look at the trend of results, Ooredoo Thunders should win. They win the match, then lose and so on in circles. If they lost the last match, they'll win this one, but seriously, you have to take +1.5 on Ooredoo Thunders.
Bottom line: +1.5 on OT.
