China Dota2 Supermajor main event analysis and predictions

China Dota2 Supermajor is the last Dota Pro Circuit LAN event of the 2017-2018 competitive season and the final tournament before The International 2018. In addition to its prize pool of 1.5 million dollars, the competition also offers 2250 qualification points for the next TI.

A total of 16 teams were present at the start of the tournament, but only 6 of them will be taking part in the main event: Team Liquid, PSG.LGD, Team Secret, Vici Gaming, Virtus.pro and OpTic Gaming. The first 5 are already qualified for TI 8 and the 6th one needs to win its next match in order to get a direct invite.

Match predictions

Team Liquid vs. PSG.LGD

Team Liquid had a rough month before China Dota2 Supermajor, finishing 7th – 9th at ESL One Birmingham 2018 and looking completely burned out. The whole roster seemed exhausted from all the travelling and competing it’s done throughout the season and fell against a hungry and fairly strong opponent: paiN Gaming.

Now, Liquid seems to be back at the top of its game and has performed really well at this event. The only issue is, they haven’t met any of the other top contenders, with the exception of Team Secret. Team Liquid defeated Team Spirit and Newbee during the Group Stage, and then TNC Pro Team and Team Secret in the Playoffs. Now it’s facing PSG.LGD and will need a miracle to emerge victorious from this impossible battle.

PSG.LGD is simply sensational right now and looks like the most likely team to win not just this event, but also The International 2018. In its latest Upper Bracket match against Virtus.pro, PSG.LGD displayed exceptional skill on all fronts and took the series without dropping a single game.

Match prediction: PSG.LGD to win.

Virtus.pro vs. OpTic Gaming

From a practical standpoint, this will be the most important match of the main event. If OpTic Gaming wins, it gets a direct invite to The International 2018 regardless of what happens afterwards. But a victory against Virtus.pro seems almost impossible at this point.

Peter “ppd” Dager and his roster will need to make the match of their lives in order to get past this formidable opponent, who is currently sitting at number 1 in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings table and has already defeated them multiple times before. The latest of these defeats came for OpTic in the Grand Final of ESL One Birmingham 2018 (score 0 – 3).

Match prediction: Virtus.pro to win.

Team Secret vs. Vici Gaming

In spite of having a very strong roster, there’s something about Team Secret that simply doesn’t work.

Maybe it’s the drafts or maybe the team is just outplayed at key moments during important matches, but every time it faces a top contender, Secret simply chokes. Because of that I fully expect it to lose this match against a very strong Vici Gaming, who is currently on a winning streak in the Lower Bracket.

Match prediction: Vici Gaming to win.