EPICENTER Dota 2 Major 2019 - Event preview

The EPICENTER Dota 2 2019 Major is being held in Moscow, Russian and will feature 16 of the top international Dota 2 teams who will fight it our for the lion's share of $1,000,000 and the all important Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points.

EPICENTER Dota 2 Major 2019 - Finals odds

The odds below represent the outright winner for the EPICENTER Dota 2 Major 2019. For a complete list of odds for this event, head over to our dedicated section for the EPICENTER Dota 2 Major 2019.

EPICENTER Dota 2 Major: Who are the favourites?

Team Secret (2.92*) have been a dominant force within Dota 2 for a while now, having won multiple Majors and premier tournaments. Their recent successes at MDL Disneyland Major and ESL One Birmingham 2019, have only emphasised their dominance within the international Dota 2 scene. ‘Zai’s offlane performances has been a key factor in their success along with the legendary drafter and in-game leader ‘Puppey’, Team Secret are looking in good shape to take another Dota 2 Major trophy home.

After their brief return to form at the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, Team Liquid (9.02*) only placed 7/8th at ESL One Birmingham 2019, eventually being knocked out by CIS team Gambit. This was followed by 'MATUMBAMAN' being dropped from the team and replaced by Romanian player 'W33haa'. Such a significant change to their line-up so close to a major can have a negative impact on their teamplay, but you can rely on their star players bring their A-game for the event, despite already securing a spot at TI9.

OG (14.67*)are the most surprising of the group of five teams still hoping to qualify for The International 2019 (TI9). Along with TNC Predator and EHOME, OG need to pick up as many points as possible in order to secure a strong seeding for TI9 from the last tournament in the Dota calendar. With a lot of controversy currently surrounding the team, the players are focusing on the game and delivering great performances for their team and fans.

After going 2-8 at ESL One Birmingham 2019 and being knocked out at the Group stage, Forward Gaming (63.20*) will face every team from their group again at EPICENTER. The team will be looking to take some revenge on many of those same teams. Whilst we expect ‘CCnC’ to continue his great performances, we should hope that ‘Pieliedie’ has managed to work out some issues that have been plaguing his team since its inception.

At their last major event, ESL One Birmingham 2019, Evil Geniuses (EG, 6.19*) removed the third place curse and proved that Team Secret were fallible, defeating them in the Group stage 2:0. This strong showing at an event with a field of possible TI champions certainly puts them in good stead for the upcoming major.

DPC Rankings Top 3:

1. Team Secret

2. Virtus.Pro

3. Evil Geniuses

Having already qualified for TI9, they are likely to use this tournament as a practice run to sharpen their skills and hone their strategies in preparation for the biggest esports tournament in the calendar.

EPICENTER Dota 2 Major: Teams to watch

Pain Gaming (65.44*) is a truly Brazilian team, being formed by five Brazilian players, based in Brazil and qualifying through the South American qualifiers. Recently, they were knocked out of the MDL Disneyland Paris Major by Team Liquid and placed 9-12th. Pain Gaming have currently accrued just 150 DPC points, if they hope to qualify for TI9 they will need an extremely strong ranking at this tournament.

With the recent pick up of ‘Black^’, Infamous (125.25*) are another team that could easily cause some upsets at the EPICENTER Dota 2 Major. Despite currently being ranked 29th in the DPC, they can still technically qualify for TI9. So with the last of the DPC points on offer at EPICENTER 2019, Infamous will be hoping for a strong placement. With a mix of Central Europeans and a Russian with an Argentinian in-game leader, Infamous is an interesting experiment within the international Dota scene. An experiment we will be keeping a close eye on.

Whilst Gambit (21.44*) are a force to be with reckoned with the CIS region, they have yet to prove themselves within the international Dota 2 scene. Gambit have so much talent under the leadership of CIS legend ‘fng’, but somehow, they have always fallen short at major competitions. While they’re not unable to qualify for TI9, we think this will be a very unlikely outcome.

The Chinese powerhouse that is Vici Gaming (14.67*) started the year off strong with a win at the DreamLeague Major, but the recent performances from Vici have not met the expectations of a world-beating team. With legendary player ‘rOtk’ coaching the Vici team, they will not be settling for any more disappointing placements.

On the side of Vici, we’ll be looking for ‘Paparazi’ to outperform his opposite position one player and their young mid player ‘Ori’ to make space around the map – and hopefully, bring victory back to the Chinese team.

We expect that the EPICENTER 2019 Major will be used by a lot of teams as proving ground for their TI9 strategies.

The Virtus Pro (VP, 7.17*) team did not attend ESL One Birmingham 2019; however, they did win the Adrenaline Cyber League defeating both Team Spirit and NaVi. Whilst this was a smaller tournament in comparison, VP are still a strong contender to win the tournament in front of a home crowd in Moscow.

PSG.LGD (7.16*)are still considered the strongest Chinese team in international Dota for the time being, closely followed by Vici. Placing third at ESL One Birmingham 2019, LGD certainly seem to have worked out some of the kinks in their team that may have been holding them back. We’re expecting a strong finish from the Chinese team at EPICENTER 2019!

TNC Predator (20.30*)placed second in group A going 6-4 without outright losing a series. This great result was unfortunately overshadowed by their immediate defeat by more experienced and in-form teams like Evil Geniuses, eventually culminating in Team Secret knocking them out of the tournament. Their individual skill served them well and allowed them to take a game from every team they faced. For EPICENTER, they’ll be looking to adjust their teamplay in hopes of fixing some of the minor issues and going deeper into the tournament.

Royal Never Give Up (RNG, 22.00*) won the WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Asia against a strong field of their SEA contemporaries, highlighting them as another team who are have the capacity to cause upsets at EPICENTER 2019. Similar to Infamous, RNG is ranked 27th in the DPC and require a very strong finish in order to qualify for TI9.