Match Prediction: Team Spirit - NaVi | Dota 2
DPC 2023 Tour 2: EEU Division I (Upper)A new week of regional rivalries begins in Eastern Europe. The situation in the group stage is getting tougher, and the matches become more important with each new round of the regular season.
Team Spirit and Natus Vincere will open the new week of games in Eastern Europe. Perhaps a hotter encounter is hard to find.
Both are legendary for the region, but experiencing very different fates. One is a top world team, the other is a shadow of its former glory.
Team Spirit will approach the game in first place in the standings, which they share with HellRaisers.
Natus Vincere are in the middle of the standings. The team is in fifth place with a 1-2 series score.
Let's see who will be stronger in this encounter. Will Team Spirit be able to continue their winning streak, or will Natus Vincere manage to surprise the public and themselves by winning this important encounter.
Team Spirit form
Let's begin the analysis of the match with an analysis of Team Spirit's form. The team is seen as the favourite for this game.
Bookmakers are confident of the Dragons' success. The odds of a win for the International 2021 champions are priced at around 1.07.
Looking at the pre-match figures, one can safely say: "There can't be any fight here". Logically, the Spirit should confidently overtake NaVi, leaving no room for the black-and-yellow team to maneuver.
Team Spirit line-up
The Dragons' roster will help implement the plan described above. After Larl joined the team, Team Spirit went on a period of adjustment, and it seems to be over in this round.
Team Spirit players
- Yatoro
- Larl
- Collapse
- Mira
- Miposhka
Spirit's burning problem in the new round is drafts. The lion's share of lost cards (and Spirit has them) is due to lost drafts.
However, against NaVi, the pico-bans factor won't play much of a role. "Born to Win" work well in the early stages of the game, but have problems moving into the mid-game and even more so in the later stages of the game, while Spirit are able to shut their opponents out with their personal level of performance.
Team Spirit's performance
Team Spirit finished 2nd in DPC 2023: EEU - Upper Division. In the home league, the team won 6 matches, losing only 1.
Spirit played in outside tournaments like: BB Xmas Show and BB Universe - Comics Zone. Both commercial championships Spirit finished in second place.
In the group stage of the Lima Major 2023, the Dragons lost only 1 series. They lost on the first day of games to Gaimin Gladiators, which gave them passage to the main stage of the competition.
In the first round of the playoffs, Team Spirit played against Shopify Rebellion. The latter defeated Spirit in a bright bo3.
In the next match, Spirit faced PSG.LGD. "Dragons" went 2-1 on the tour, although they lost to PSG.LGD on the first map rather than winning to Team Spirit.
In the second round match of the lower net, Spirit played against Talon. They played, and unexpectedly lost, taking the top 8 in the majors.
In the first game of DPC 2023: EEU Upper Division - Tour II, Team Spirit faced One Move. The passing opponent proved to be a tough nut to crack and managed to take one card from the Dragons, but they were not enough to win the series.
Next up, Spirit defeated principle opponent BB Team. An easy walk for the "dragons" did not work, the game ended with a score of 2-1.
Before the match with NaVi Spirit played against Hydra. The newcomers of the season proved to be a tough nut to crack and managed to snatch the map from the Dragons, but not the series: 2-1 in favor of Spirit.
NaVi's form
Let's move on to an analysis of NaVi's playing form. In this match, they play in the status of the outsider.
Bookmakers, expectedly, expect nothing from NaVi. The odds on the Yellow-Blacks' victory are estimated at around 7.6.
I don't remember such a shattering gap between the participants of the top division in the second cycle of the DPC. The pre-match figure is too eloquent and reveals all the pustules of the "new era" of Natus Vincere.
NaVi line-up
In the new season, NaVi are trying to patch up the gaps with the "young and hot". A good intention, but the problem of NaVi is somehow too global and hardly related to specific personalities.
NaVi players
- shigetsu
- mellojul
- Malik
- Danial
- Malady
The players in the new line-up are doing really well. Malady continues to hold out hope for a bright future and may well follow in the footsteps of his countryman watson, and I also want to praise mellojul who is a good midfielder in the early stages.
Does it help NaVi on their way through the DPC regular season? Obviously not.
NaVi's performance.
Last season, still with the old team, NaVi finished in last place in the first round. Disgracefully relegated to the second division, "born to win" managed to return here by absorbing the former PuckChamp squad.
PuckChamp (read NaVi) spent the whole of last season in the lower division of Eastern Europe. There the team finished 2nd, winning 5 matches and losing 2.
Before the start of the 2023 season PuckChamp played in the BB Xmas Show commercial championship, where they finished in the top 8.
In the first match of DPC 2023: EEU Upper Division - Tour II, the team won the first match. NaVi beat Darkside 2-1.
The second opponent for NaVi was the formidable BB. "The Yellow-Blacks battled it out, but lost 0-2.
In the next game they played against Hydra. It seemed that the newcomers to the top division would be a good target and a suitable opponent to score points against, but it was a 2-0 win for Hydra.
NaVi Heroes
NaVi were most often picked by Clockwerk (7 games, 57% win rate), Drow Ranger (6 games, 83% win rate), Primal Beast (6 games, 66% win rate), Ember Spirit (6 games, 66% win rate).
History of head-to-head encounters
Previously, the teams have not had to play each other in this line-up. This encounter will be a debut for both clubs.
Match outcome
NaVi cannot be hoped for in this encounter. "Born to Win" proved to be "stillborn", as the new iteration will not save NaVi's image and risks flying out to where it got out of - the second division.
NaVi lost to BB, Spirit beat BB. NaVi lost to Hydra, and without a chance, Spirit Hydra were shut out. I can't see any options for the Ukrainian club to pick up at least a map.
Result: 2-0 in favour of Spirit.
Bookmakers & Statistics
At the moment, the majority of bookmakers unanimously see the team Team Spirit as the favorite of the game with average odds on a victory in the sum of 1.069. NaVi chances to prevail are evaluated with average odds 6.754 by bookmakers.
Team statistics in recent matches
Last Matches | Team Spirit | NaVi |
5 matches (wins) | 3 | 1 |
10 matches (wins) | 6 | 2 |
It will also be necessary to mention the history of face-to-face meetings between the opponents.
The teams played 32 matches with each other before.
And Team Spirit won 19 times while NaVi correspondingly became the winner 13 times.