Welcome to EGamersWorld.
We continue to follow the action at Riyadh Masters 2023. As a reminder, there is $15,000,000 at stake and it might be the biggest prize pool of the year given The International's updated monetisation model.
The Play-In stage of the championship is on the screens, where 12 teams reveal the 4 group stage participants. We're watching the first draw of Group B, where a juicy matchup awaits.
And juicy because it's a Western European derby. It couldn't be better this season, and The Bali Major 2023 is proof of that.
OG and Quest Esports will play their first game. The teams know each other, so the game will be hot.
However, the difference in level is great. Especially in recent months.
We are trying to see if one of the sides will be able to win this Bo2 and earn important points ahead of the Long Sogpeg group stage.
Let's get started.
Quest Esports Form
Let's open the match with an analysis of Quest Esports' form. In this match they play in the status of favourites.
Bookmakers believe in the success of Quest. The odds for Quest to win are at around 1.6.
To be honest, it's been a long time since I've seen such a serious gap in the odds for a Western European derby. This case is probably the exception to the rule, but everything is within logic: Quest are awesome and that's a fact.
Quest Esports are the main discovery of the season. It was hard to imagine them in the Top 4 Major, but they are here.
They started their climb to the top of Major a with a top-5 finish at DPC 2023: WEU. Then the team was one map short of reaching the Berlin Major 2023, but not enough.
In the third round of DPC 2023: WEU Tour 3 the team again showed a top game and that time they had enough. It was enough for the top 3 of the tournament, and as a result, they made it to The Bali Major 2023.
- Quest Esports roster: TA2000, No!ob, ATF, OmaR, kaori.
During the Bali Major 2023 Quest Esports showed from the very beginning of the tournament that they did not come there to rest. The team finished top-1 in their group and then went on to play in the top set of play-offs.
In the end, Quest's walk through The Bali Major 2023 ended with them in 4th place, which can be called more than successful, but still not enough for a direct entry to The International. That said, it's still many times better than what the OGs have.
The most popular Quest Esports characters
Among the most popular Quest characters are Shadow Demon (14 matches, 71% wins), Snapfire (14 matches, 64% wins), Techies (12 matches, 83% wins).
Also playing with Undying (9 games, 77% wins), Templar Assassin (8 matches, 50% wins).
There's also Silencer (7 games, 100% wins), Medusa (7 games, 100% wins), Doom (7 matches, 85% wins), Enchantress (7 matches, 71% wins).
OG Form
Let's move on to a breakdown of OG's game form. In this match they will have to play catch-up status.
The bookmakers don't believe in OG's success at all. The odds for the victory of the once two-time champions of The International are estimated at 7.7.
Such a figure leaves absolutely no chance of success. It's also very logical and quite explainable.
At DPC 2023: WEU Division 1 Tour 1, OG could not guarantee themselves a spot in the top 4 and consequently missed out on The Lima Major 2023. Things seemed to pick up during the second round of DPC 2023: WEU Division 1 Tour 2. Then OG made a strong-willed comeback and made it to the Top 4 after tiebreaks.
At the Berlin Major, the team played with two stand-ins and made it to the top 6, but it seems that those stand-ins were the secret to their success. After returning to regular season matches with a full roster, OG looked critically bad, but improved at the last minute.
At DPC 2023: WEU Tour 3, OG Long Team went down to the wire, but managed to keep their place in the top division by finishing in the top 5 in the third round of the professional season. By the way, at the last DreamLeague S19 OG also took the 5th place and this is an indicator, but it is unlikely to be repeated in the new season.
- OG roster: Yuragi, bzm, DM, Ceb, Taiga .
After a year-long extravaganza, Ceb is the new OG player. OG resorted to their ultimatum weapon as early as DreamLeague Season 20
OG's most popular characters
OG's favourite characters include Keeper of the Light (6 matches, 83% wins), Phantom Lancer (5 matches, 60% wins).
Among the most successful ones: Crystal Maiden (4 matches, 100% wins), Underlord (4 matches, 100% wins), Alchemist (3 matches, 100% wins), Storm Spirit (3 matches, 100% wins), Void Spirit (3 matches, 100% wins).
Head-to-head history of OG - Quest Esports
OG and Quest have a very colourful history of head-to-head encounters. It goes back to the time when Quest were Ooredoo Thunders and lost to OG tiebreaker for a pass at Berlin Major 2023. Quest responded at DPC 2023: WEU Tour 3 with a 2-1 win over OG.
Bottom Line
In this matchup, I'm all in favour of Quest Esports. They look much stronger than OG, as they proved at The Bali Major 2023. I'm sure they will have enough motivation, so their victory looks as logical as possible.
Outcome: Quest Esports wins.
