Another solid night of esports coming up around the world this Monday, the 9th of August and once again, our gaming expert Michael Lee is back to preview the action. He focuses in on the Dota 2 Champions League Division 2 and the OGA Dota PIT Season 5 China for his three best bets of the night.
ESports Betting Tips: Monday, August 9th
Khan vs Winstrike Team
Dota 2 Champions League Division 2
Khan and Winstrike Team will clash in Dota2 Champions League Division 2 upper bracket finals, marking their first meeting of the year. Khan last played against Winstrike in September 2020, when they lost 1-2. Both teams now field entirely different rosters, so that result doesn't mean anything.
Khan decided to rebuild their roster in July by signing five new players on trial. They have since played six games and won all but two: against V-Gaming (1-2), and B8 (0-1). On the bright side, Khan looked solid against Hydra (1-0), Creepwave (1-0), Monaspa (1-0), and Fantastic Five (2-0), who they beat in the opening round of Dota 2 Champions League Division 2 playoffs.
Winstrike Team's only roster change since signing their roster in January happened just three weeks ago, when they parted ways with their captain Stanislav "чикиряу" Yarosevich. Winstrike have since been playing with stand-ins, which isn't ideal.
Since чикиряу's departure, Winstrike played eight games and lost but two – against Team Unique (2-1) and Spider Pigzs (2-1), who they beat on Friday.
Despite Winstrike's terrible form, they're still priced as the favourites for this match, which doesn't seem right. Although Winstrike field better individual players, the departure of their captain has negatively impacted their decision making and macro play, which is something Khan should be able to exploit.
Fantastic Five vs Spider Pigzs
Dota 2 Champions League Division 2
Fantastic Five were handed a heavy 0-2 loss against Khan in the first round of the upper bracket. Spider Pigzs suffered a similar fate last week when they lost to Winstrike Team (1-2).
Fantastic Five enter this match as 2.70 underdogs (on PickleBet), which may seem weird considering they already won against Spider Pigzs on Tuesday, July 20. Spider Pigzs were playing without their star player Nikola "LeBronDota" Popović that day and were obviously less efficient because of it. Does that justify the large price gap, however, is up to debate.
Spider Pigzs and Fantastic Five are both struggling with their form. However, if we compare the two, we have to show a bit more respect to Spider Pigzs and their results.
LeBronDota and his team might have won only three games in their last nine, but that streak includes a 2-1 victory against Hellbear Smashers, who ended the regular season with a 8-1 record. The other two came against Dota 2 Champions League's sixth-best team PuckChamp (2-1) and Winstrike Team (2-1).
While Fantastic Five weren't as successful against Hellbear Smashers (0-2), they have performed much better against PuckChamp (2-0) and Winstrike Team (2-0). The only reason why Fantastic Five are priced so high is their 0-1 loss against Squelch Kommando on Saturday, which was more of a fluke loss than anything else.
Invictus Gaming vs Sparking Arrow Gaming
OGA Dota PIT Season 5 China
Invictus Gaming started the tournament with a 1-2 loss against Royal Never Give Up, who reverse-swept them on Sunday, after Invictus Gaming picked up the first map. It was a disappointing performance from Invictus Gaming, who will want to bounce back, and they have a perfect match ahead of them to do just that.
Invictus Gaming's next opponents are Sparking Arrow Gaming, arguably one of the region's worst Chinese Dota 2 esports teams. Sparking Arrow Gaming enter this match with only two wins since March 2021 (2-16), and even those came against Phoenix (2-1) and a semi-pro team Xtreme Gaming (2-0).
What that record doesn't show, however, is that all of Sparking Arrow Gaming's last 10 losses were clean-sweeps. That includes a 0-2 loss against Invictus Gaming in May.
It's extremely difficult to find a reason to bet on Sparking Arrow Gaming with the form they've been showing this season. What makes the situation even worse is that they actually have decent players, so there's a good chance that something isn't clicking behind the scenes.
Even though Invictus Gaming's form isn't great (3-2-5), they shouldn't struggle on Monday. This fixture should end in a complete stomp by Invictus Gaming, who need to start winning and get in form for The International 10.
Map 1
Invictus Gaming -11.5 Kills
$1.76
