China Dota2 Pro Cup Season 1

?PSG.LGD have met with ViCi Gaming three times in the past three months, winning two series (2-1 and 2-0) and losing one (0-2). The head-to-head record since March shows a similar picture with PSG.LGD winning six out of 10 meetings, but that does not justify the surprisingly high odds offered on Xiong “Pyw”‘ Jiahan’s squad.

ViCi have stolen at least one map off PSG.LGD in all but one of the last five meetings. They are also 8-5 up in map differential against PSG.LGD since May, which suggests we are in for another close affair.

Moon Studio Mid-Autumn League

?Aster.Aries are struggling with their form and have won only one of their last seven games. They have played only two games in the last 30 days, which is slightly concerning since they are facing a team who have done plenty of warming up.

Team MagMa don’t look too good on paper, but they recently defeated Invictus Gaming 2-1 in China Dota2 Pro Cup Season 1 and forced a stalemate with Phoenix Gaming at OGA Dota PIT S3 China.

MagMa have played against some of the best teams in the world in past two weeks, which should make Aster.Aries seem like an easy proposition by comparison.

?IG Vitality have lost to Team Black twice before (2-1 and 2-0), but they seem to be better prepared this time out. Not only have iG.V acquired two new players in ex-Team Sirius carry Lin “doodle”‘ Zikai and former For The Team support Cui “QYQX” Chenyang, we must also consider that Black have not been too active in recent weeks.

Team Black played their last game at the start of August, meaning this bout will mark only their second official match in almost two months. This suggests they will be a bit ring rusty, making iG.V a great longshot pick.

R6S Oceanic Nationals 2020

?Okami enter the sixth round of the R6S Oceanic Nationals following an impressive 7-3 win against Noble esports on Wednesday. It marked Okami’s second consecutive triumph after they defeated LFO 7-4 last Friday, and their third overall including a 7-3 win over Rhythm in round one.

Pittsburgh Knights got off to a strong start to the season but saw their perfect 4-0 record snapped on Wednesday when they lost 2-7 to Wildcard Gaming. Even though that loss is not too shocking on paper, it was a poor performance that doesn’t bode well for this bout. Okami are far from tournament favourites, but they look much more stable than the Knights.

We tipped against Elevate in our daily esports betting predictions for September 30, but they proved us wrong with a very convincing 7-2 victory over Team Ferox. Elevate are now 3-2, which sits them in a three-way tie with Okami and Noble in third place.

LFO will look to win their first game of the tournament, but that is easier said than done. The form coming into this is worrying, as they went down 4-7 to Rhythm on Wednesday in what was a poor display from the losers rather than a strong performances from the winners.

Unless LFO come up with something outstanding, this game is Elevate’s to lose. We expected odds on Elevate to sit around $1.50, making them a great value bet at $1.64.

Reapered Parts Ways with Cloud9

Longtime Cloud9 LoL coach Bok “Reapered” Han-Gyu has parted ways with the team following their failure to qualify for the League of Legends World Championship. Cloud9 recently decided to rebuild their CS: GO roster, but there’s been no mention of their LoL team.

Reapered thanked C9 and the fans for their continuous support through the highs and lows. He is one of the most sought-after coaches in the LoL esports community, but it’s still unclear where the future will take him.

Asia

Kim Steps Down From T1 Post

Jung Su “Kim” Kim has resigned as head coach of T1’s LoL team despite initially signing on until 2022. He decided to part ways after the poor performance of the roster in recent matches.

T1 dominated the LCK Spring Split but were later defeated by Afreeca Freecs in the Summer Split playoffs. Since then, they’ve been unable to redeem themselves and failed to make it through to the League of Legends World Championship.

Kim thanked the fans and apologized for failing to live up to expectations. T1 also posted a tribute to their former coach, wishing him well as they part ways on mutual terms.

Africa

Goliath Gaming Land International Coach

Goliath Gaming, one of the most successful esports organizations in South Africa, recently made their way to the CS: GO Gamedock Cup #1 finals. Unfortunately for them, rivals ATK Arena came out victorious on that day.

Since then, Goliath have made some changes after the now-former coach, Thulani “LigtherTZ” Sishi, moved into the management team. Since his promotion, there’s been a gap in the coaching role.

In an exciting move, GG landed an international coach, Caster “Bunter” Grocholewski, from Iceland. Bunter has been part of the GODSENT and Endpoint squads in the past, and he’s excited about the “exotic opportunity”.

Europe

One Game Agency Announce Online Dota Competition

One Game Agency have announced plans to run an online Dota 2 tournament next week, from September 20 to September 26. The AMD Sapphire OGA Dota Pit EU/CIS will feature 10 esports teams from the EU/CIS regions.

Team Secret are among the sides that will feature. They’ve had an impressive year, defeating almost every opponent, so it’ll be interesting to see if any of the other teams at the OGA Dota Pit will beat them.

The event’s total prize pool is set at US $175,000, with $70,873 going to the winners. Six of the teams were invited to the main event, including Team Liquid and VP.Prodigy. 5men, Vikin.gg, FlyToMoon, and Ninjas in Pyjamas will participate in closed qualifiers.

AMD, Sapphire Technology, Betway, TikTok, AOC, and Hyper X are the tournament’s six sponsors.

South America

FalleN Leaves Active Roster At MiBR

Made in Brazil, better known as MiBR, recently let go of three Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team members: Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Epitácio “TACO” de Melo, and coach Ricardo “dead” Sinigaglia.

After a prolonged dry spell, the organization decided it was best to clean house and find some fresh talent. The decision isn’t sitting well with Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, however, as he’s requested removal from the roster. He’s still deciding what his next step will be.

The decision has left the MiBR CS: GO squad with just two players. One of them, Vito “kNgV-” Giuseppe, has also spoken of his concern about the recent changes, saying they will set back the team’s development.

Oceania

Oceanic Nationals Underway

The Oceanic Nationals round-robin stage kicked off on Wednesday, September 16. The competition, formerly known as Six Masters 2020, will follow a similar format as before.

During the regular season, each of the eight teams will participate in a best-of-one match with extra time in the round-robin. The top six will proceed to the next stage, where they’ll compete in the best-of-three, double-elimination playoffs.

It’s still undecided if there will be a best-of-five series for the grand final. It’s possible there might not be any advantage for the winner of the upper bracket final.