?Aster.Aries enter the penultimate round of DPC 2023 China Tour 3 with a 0-6 record, which guarantees they’ll get demoted to the second division. Wang “Ulu” Jiakai and co. have lost their last six games and failed to win a single map, so things can’t get any worse from here.
And despite Aster. Aries’ struggles, they’re priced as favourites to defeat Team Bright.

Team Bright are 1-5 with a 3-10 map differential, which is slightly better than Aster.Aries’ record, but unlike Aries, Team Bright at least won one game �C against Azure Ray (2-0) on Tuesday. That was the only game Bright played well, but we can put more weight on it since it was their most recent outing.

Even though it’s not fair to say that Team Bright are good due to their victory against Azure Ray, they are definitely better than Aster.Aries and shouldn’t be priced as underdogs. A bet on Team Bright to sweep looks like a fine choice, but they can be a bit inconsistent, so we’ll settle with a moneyline bet.

?Team Aster have made a strong case for themselves as one of the best Chinese Dota 2 teams. They are 5-0 ahead of their final two games of the tour and have so far dropped just one map — against Xtreme Gaming at the end of Week 2. But do they deserve to be priced as $1.14 favourites with Dota 2 betting sites for this clash?

Invictus Gaming have managed a 3-2 record across the first two weeks of play, which is not bad; however, those wins have come against some of the weakest teams in the league – Team Bright (2-1), Piggy Killer (2-0), and Aster.Aries (2-0).

While Invictus Gaming have looked good against lesser teams, their losses to PSG.LGD (0-2) and Azure Ray (0-2) suggest they might struggle against Aster. However, a closer look at their defeats unveils that IG know how to put up a fight and are not as weak as their record might appear.

At better Dota 2 esports betting odds, backing Aster to sweep would be the play, but Invictus Gaming with a map advantage offers more value.

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?PSG.LGD won their third match of DPC Tour 3 on Thursday against Piggy Killer (2-1) and are now set to face to face Team Bright, who shouldn��t pose as big of a threat for the former Chinese powerhouse. Even though PSG.LGD showed some cracks against Piggy Killer (who are in a similar spot as Team Bright record-wise), PK are a much stronger team.

Team Bright have yet to win a game this season (0-4) and hold a 1-8 map differential with defeats against Piggy Killer (0-2), Invictus Gaming (1-2), Xtreme Gaming (0-2), and Aster (0-2).

We saw that PSG.LGD can slip against a weaker team, but Team Bright didn��t amaze in the second division and are evidently not good enough to compete at the highest level. Expect a very one-sided win for PSG-LGD.

?Aster.Aries lost against its sister team, Aster (0-2), on Thursday and are now in real danger of getting eliminated from the upper division. On a more positive note, Aster.Aries�� defeats came against Aster, PSG.LGD (0-2), and Azure Ray (0-2) – some of the strongest teams in the league.

Since Aster.Aries played only against the top dogs, it��s tough to say how good they are relative to other mid-table teams. And while it��s not fair to say that Aster.Aries amazed anyone with their past results; they have shown some good qualities.

Xtreme Gaming are 2-1 ahead of this match with wins against Piggy Killer (2-1) and Team Bright (2-0) and a 1-2 defeat against Auzre Ray. Those are decent results on paper, but Xtreme Gaming have won only against Bright and Piggy Killer (barely) and struggled against Azure Ray, so perhaps they��re not as strong as the latest Dota 2 betting odds suggest.

On paper, this looks like Xtreme Gaming��s game to lose, and while they should win, having Aster.Aries priced at $5.50 is disrespectful. Xtreme Gaming are solid, but not good enough to deserve a bet at the offered price. The value is with Aster.Aries to win at least one map.

?Invictus Gaming and Azure Ray last met on March 21, in the third round of DPC China 2023 Tour 2 Division I, when Azure Ray (then Ybb Gaming) won 2-1. They ended the tour in sixth place with a 3-4 record, while Invictus Gaming placed third with a 4-3 record.

But even though Invictus Gaming looked better last tour, they enter this match as $3.00 underdogs, which doesn��t make much sense. IG and AR are 2-1 ahead of this clash, and neither produced anything remarkable last week.

Invictus Gaming lost a map against Team Bright (2-1) in the first week of the season, but they played well against PSG.LGD (0-2) and didn��t disappoint against Piggy Killer (2-0). On the other side, Azure Ray won against Aster.Aries (2-0) and Xtreme Gaming (2-1), but lost against Aster (0-2).

Azure Ray look slightly stronger because they showed a good fight against Aster, but they��re not good enough to be priced as $1.36 favourites with the top esports betting sites. The value is with Invictus Gaming at $3.00 or better.

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Aster.Aries and its sister team, Aster, will clash on Thursday, in the second week of DPC CN Tour 3 Division I. It’ll mark their first meeting since March when Aster won 2-0, and according to the latest Dota 2 esports betting odds, this game should end similarly.

Aster.Aries are 0-2 ahead of this match, with two (0-2) defeats against PSG.LGD and Azure Ray in the first week of Tour 3. Aster, on the other side, are 3-0 with clean 2-0 victories against Piggy Killer, Azure Ray, and Team Bright.

The Chinese DPC has seen many upsets this season, but it’s hard to believe we’ll see another on Thursday, mainly because Aster.Aries lost Liu “White Album” Yuhao at the start of the month, which hasn’t done them any favours.

Aster.Aries have never won or come close to winning against its sister team before, and we don’t expect that to change. Expect a dominant victory from Aster.

PSG.LGD are heavy favourites to defeat Piggy Killer, which makes sense considering what we saw from the two teams in the opening week of Tour 3. PSG.LGD started the final stage of the season with two wins against Aster.Aries (2-0) and Invictus Gaming (2-0), while Piggy Killer have managed just one win from their last three outings.

Piggy Killer played relatively well against Aster (0-2) but got stomped by Invictus Gaming (0-2) on Tuesday, which suggests Piggy Killer aren’t good enough to compete with the top teams. Still, $2.10 on Piggy Killer to win at least one map on Thursday is a bit too generous.

This team needs more time to gel, but Piggy Killer are strong and worth a bet against PSG.LGD.

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Army Geniuses last met with XERXIA during DPC Tour 1 Division II in February, when Rizki “Varizh” Varizh and his crew won 2-1. Army Geniuses have since not made a single roster change, whereas XERXIA replaced Philip “Karmaؼ” Torres with former TNC Predator carry Levi “YoungGod” Lagaret.

We’ve yet to see YoungGod play an official match for XERXIA; however, it’s fair to assume that XERXIA will look much better with a new number 1. They’ve already improved over the last two months and ended the DPC SEA 2023 Tour 2 Division II in second place, with just one defeat against BOOM Esports (0-2).

Army Geniuses are favoured to win, which makes sense since they spent the last tour in the upper division and performed well (4th). Still, beating XERXIA with YoungGod won’t come as easy. We prefer the outsiders with a map advantage.

Team SMG kicked off DPC SEA 2023 Tour 3 with a rough loss against Talon Esports, who defeated SMG 2-0 on Monday. But we can give SMG some slack for losing the game, considering Talon Esports are the strongest Dota 2 team from the region.

Their next opponents, Bleed Esports, won their opening game of the final DPC Tour against Execration (2-1), which is impressive and perhaps a good indication of what Bleed Esports’ new roster is capable of. After struggling in the second DPC Tour of the season, Bleed signed a new coach Rasmus “MISERY” Filipsen, who made the necessary changes for Bleed Esports to reach their full potential. Although it’s not wise to overreact to one good showing, Bleed look better than how they did last month.

This should be a close match, but based on what we saw on day one, siding with Bleed Esports at the offered Dota 2 betting odds makes the most sense.

Dota 2 esports betting sites have priced Talon Esports as $1.30 favourites to defeat Blacklist International, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Talon were by far the best team in the second DPC Tour of the year, which they won with a 7-0 record and a 14-3 map differential.

Blacklist International were far less successful and ended the second stage of the season with a 3-4 record and 8-9 in maps. To find more success, Blacklist International benched Nico “eyyou” Barcelon and brought in Dota 2 veteran Damien “kpii” Chok, forming one of the most stacked rosters in the region.

The raw talent on this roster makes Blacklist International a formidable opponent, and even though talent alone won’t win them games, it’s scary to bet against them. Fading Talon doesn’t look like the right play, but we’re getting $1.72 on Blacklist International with a map advantage, which is more than fair.

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?Xtreme Gaming had an underwhelming start to the 2023 DPC season and finished DPC China Tour 1 Division I in fifth. However, after making a couple of roster changes in March, Zhang “Paparazi��” Chengjun and co. won the second DPC Tour of the year with a 6-1 record.

Despite their domestic success, Xtreme Gaming failed to accomplish much internationally. They crashed out of ESL One Berlin Major 2023 in 9th-12th place after losing to one of the eventual finalists, Team Liquid, 1-2 in the first round of the playoffs.

Their next opponents Piggy Killer won the DPC China 2023 Tour 2 Division II with a 6-1 record, which is impressive, but we’ve yet to see them play a top-tier team. This explains why the best Dota 2 betting sites have Piggy Killer priced as $4.00 underdogs, and while the price might make sense, the raw talent on this roster isn’t to be underestimated.

We have to respect Xtreme Gaming and what they showed in the second tour of the season, but at the offered Dota 2 betting odds, siding with Fade and his crew with a map advantage is a better play.

?PSG.LGD are priced as heavy favourites to defeat Astrer.Aries on Tuesday, which isn’t too surprising considering what the two teams have shown lately. PSG.LGD finished DPC Tour 2 Division I in second place with a 6-1 record, well ahead of Aster.Aries (3-4), but like Xtreme Gaming, they couldn’t produce a deep run at ESL One Berlin Major 2023 (9th-12th).

Aster.Aries last met with PSG.LGD on March 18 and lost in a very one-sided series. PSG.LGD smashed Aster with 36-10 and 29-4 in kills and a massive +35k and 18k net worth lead. Aster.Aries have since not made a single roster change, whereas PSG.LGD added Li “niu” Kongbo as a replacement for Nicholas “zeal” Lim, which made them even stronger.

We don’t expect any surprises on Tuesday. PSG.LGD are the better team and should make it past Aster.Aries without any issues.

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Starting next season, Misha, who plays position five, will return to his previous role as the team coach. Chu, also called Chuvash, will officially play for the team in place of Misha.

OG’s complete lineup for DPC Tour 2 now includes Chu, Tommy “Taiga” Le, Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin, Artem “Yuragi” Golubiev, and Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov with Misha as head coach.

OG informed fans of the change via a statement from Misha. The player revealed that he missed his time as a coach and felt like he was only able to fully use his Dota 2 knowledge in that role.

“After a lot of thinking and discussion with the team, I have decided to step down as a player and transition into a coaching role for OG instead. I did not feel like I was able to transform all of this into the game, either with calls or personal plays,” Misha said.

He further stated that he felt like OG would improve as a team if he aided in areas like structuring the practice process, overseeing the drafts, holding discussions on improving gameplay, and so on.

“The team supports me in that decision, and I’m very grateful for them. The perspective of this new role makes me more impactful and happy. I am really looking forward to the new version of OG, where our talents will shine even more!,” the coach concluded.

Misha joined OG shortly after the last DPC season of 2021 as a coach. With his help, the team qualified for TI10, and afterward, he asked to be moved into a player position, a position he has excelled at until his recent move back to coaching,

Chu, on his end, has worked with the new iteration of OG’s lineup since they first debuted. Prior to his stint with OG, Chu last played professionally under Creepwave’s banner alongside teammates like Remco “Crystallis” Arets and Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf.

Chu’s most recent gaming episode was in ESL One Malaysia 2022, when he took the place of Misha on the lineup. He proved to have strong chemistry with the rest of the team as they succeeded in beating Team Aster in the grand finals and won the championship.

Misha faced several visa-related issues that year that made playing with the rest of the squad during international LAN events difficult. S��bastien “Ceb” Debs was also called in to replace Misha during the ESL One Stockholm Major during that period.

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Knights is a new team entering the Chinese Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), fielding a roster built around the ex-Sparking Arrow Gaming duo Xiao “XCJ” Chaojian, Su “Flyby” Lei. They teamed up a strong trio of Luo “eGo” Bin, Vincent “AlaCrity” Hiew, and Chong “FelixCiaoBa” Wei Lun.

The roster has some talent but features mostly tier-two talent who are coming in from SEA and China, which doesn’t sound too promising. But Knights have the potential to be good, and we wouldn’t be shocked if they turn some heads in the first tour of the season.

Team Aster made two roster changes in November, with the addition of Zhai “Xwy” Jingkai and former head coach of Elephant and Vici Gaming, Bai “rOtK” Fan. Aster were powerful last year, with a silver medal from ESL One Malaysia 2022 and a top-four finish at The International 2022, and there’s nothing to suggest Aster can’t be as dominant in 2023.

Still, at $1.10, we wouldn’t bet on Aster to win, nor are they appealing at $1.50 to cover the map handicap. Knights look weaker, but they are stronger than the market suggests. Moreover, we’re early into the season, so we expect a bit shakier performance from Aster, which should be enough for the outsiders to steal a map.

Xtreme Gaming made two roster changes, signing Thiay “JT-” Jun Wen and Daniel “Ghost” Chan from Invictus Gaming and Royal Never Give Up, respectively. The latest additions make Xtreme Gaming a very scary team, but it’s not like they weren’t solid last season.

Throughout 2022, Xtreme Gaming underperformed a bit relative to the expectations, but they have finished inside the top three in all but one event �C The International Last Chance Qualifier (fifth-sixth). They claimed silver medals from Intel World Open Beijing, DPC CN 2021/2022 Tour 2: Division I, and Chinese TI 2022 qualifiers, a title from OGA Dota PIT Season 6: China, and third-place finishes in DPC CN Tour 2 Regional Final, and Tour 3: Division I.

Due to not making many roster moves, Xtreme might be one of the top teams in the opening tour and should eventually find themselves in a tight race with PSG.LGD and Team Aster for the status of China’s top Dota team.

Aster.Aries didn’t achieve much last season besides reaching the upper division with a runner-up finish in DPC Tour 2: Division II. For 2023, Aster.Aries added just one new player in Liu “WhiteؼAlbum” Yuhao, and replaced coach Chen “86” Yuxuan with from Ou “Op” Peng.

On paper, it seem like Aster.Aries should be more competitive this term, but they’re going against one of China’s most stacked teams with solid synergy. There’s room for upsets in the new season’s opening week, but this looks like a clean 2-0 sweep for Xtreme Gaming.

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Team Legacy secured its spot in Division II of the 2023 NA region during the off-season by dominating the NA Closed Qualifiers, becoming the first team to qualify. However, PGL’s announcement ultimately rendered their efforts during the Closed Qualifiers fruitless.

PGL, the organizers of the NA DPC for the 2022/2023 season, took to Twitter to announce that Team Legacy will not be participating in the second division of the DPC 2023 NA Winter Tour. Although PGL did not provide a detailed explanation for Team Legacy’s dismissal from the tournament, they mentioned that the team was no longer deemed eligible to participate in the upcoming DPC tour, causing confusion among fans and players.

“CDUB Esports will replace Team Legacy in the DPC 2023 NA Winter Tour Division II. The replacement was made as Team Legacy is no longer eligible to play in this DPC tour,” PGL announced.

After Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner’s team, Arkosh Gaming, failed to qualify for Division II of the NA DPC 2023, some members of the community jokingly suggested that Arkosh could fill Team Legacy’s spot after the latter was removed from the tournament. However, the spot was ultimately given to CDUB Esports, the third-place finishers in the NA Closed Qualifiers.

CDUB Esports will be joining Another NA Team, Eternity, Fart Studios, felt, Penguins Squad, Team DogChamp, and The Cut in the second division of the 2023 NA DPC. Another NA Team and Penguins Squad made their way to the league after being awarded the slots of 5ManMidas and simply TOOBASED, respectively.

The tournament is scheduled to commence on January 30 and run till February 19, with a $75,000 prize pool. The top two teams in the tournament will secure direct qualification to Division I and the bottom two teams will be eliminated, while the remaining teams will remain in the division.

Recently, several teams and players have faced severe consequences from tournament organizers, including permanent bans or removal from regional leagues. One recent example is the Myanmar-based organization Yangon Galacticos, which was disqualified from the Closed Qualifiers of the Southeast Asian (SEA) DPC after accusations emerged that their carry player was using scripts during matches.

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EHOME aren’t getting much respect ahead of the first China Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Tour of 2023, mainly because there were speculations of EHOME selling its spot due to issues forming a squad. And even though EHOME shut down the rumours, it built a last-minute roster mostly of lower-tier players.
The new-look squad has some pre-established synergy with Wong “mks” Sim An and Lee “X1aOyU” Qian Yu joining EHOME from RSG and two players in Tang “Salad” Xiaolei and Liu “Lww” Weiwei, who have experience competing in the upper division. So there are some positive things to take from EHOME’s new squad, but we don’t expect this roster to be very competitive.

Invictus Gaming also made substantial changes, bringing in Zhou “Dust” Shiyuan, Cui “qyqx” Chenyang, and Li “Irving” Jian from Team MagMa and Wilson “poloson” Koh, formerly of Team SMG and Nigma Galaxy SEA. The quartet will team up with Zhou “Emo” Yi, who extended his stay with IG for one more year.
On paper, Invictus Gaming look stronger, but it’s hard to take their side at the offered Dota 2 betting odds. So even though it’s hard to say how EHOME’s roster will do, they should be good for at least one map.

Despite the team’s success in 2022, which includes two DPC titles, Riyadh Masters 2022 trophy, a silver medal from PGL Arlington Major, and a quarter-finals finish at The International, PSG.LGD decided to make roster changes ahead of this season.

With the signing of Guo “shiro” Xuanang, Li “xiang yu” Longwu, and Lin “planet” Hao, PSG.LGD completely revamped its lineup, which doesn’t look as scary as the 2022 iteration. But it’s hard to doubt PSG.LGD’s ability to build one of the top rosters in the region.

Dawn Gaming, who took over the slot from Royal Never Give Up, field a mixed roster of former Sparking Arrow Gaming and LBZS players, who’ll link up with He “Docres” Ercong �C a 26-year-old player with no professional experience. Besides Docres, about who we don’t know much, Dawn Gaming field a solid roster that should compete for a top-four finish while beating PSG.LGD might be too much to ask from them.

PSG.LGD should come out on top, but we have to acknowledge that early-season fixtures tend to be far more open, which often favours the outsiders. Dawn Gaming with a 15.5 kill handicap (on both maps) at $2.02 looks like the right play in our book.

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While the team have not had an impressive run this season, the reason for the disbandment of the roster is said to have stretched further than that.

Dota 2 commentator Arseny Kuzminsky broke the news on Twitter and revealed that the remaining four players in the team��s lineup will be taken off Virtus.pro before the Dota Pro Circuit kicks off in 2023.

��Sources: Virtus.pro Roster To Disband Entirely + Release Save. Several sources simultaneously confirm that VP players decided to part ways after a series of setbacks at #TI11,�� the tweet read.

The squad previously attempted and failed to qualify for The International 2022 on three different occasions, so the news of some adjustments is somewhat expected.

A player in the Russian lineup hinted at the changes shortly after the team failed out of the Last Chance Qualifier, which took place between October 8 and 12.

In follow-up tweets, Kuzminsky further claimed that the Russian team were unable to go to boot camp and cited the ��toxic�� environment amongst the players as the reason. The players were not comfortable competing together. However, it is uncertain if any will be retained to build up a new squad.

��Sources say, the team didn��t even go to the bootcamp, saying that it was difficult for them to have one because of the destructive and toxic atmosphere within the team,�� Kuzminsky wrote.

Kuzminsky also disclosed that Vitalie “Save-” Melnic, who has been inactive for almost a year, will be free from his contract after the team dissolves.

��Also, Vitalie “Save-” Melnic would finally be released soon,�� Kuzminsky continued.

��He has not been able to find a team for almost a year since VP “froze” his contract. Team Secret, before signing W_Zayac, reportedly placed a bid for Save, but VP asked for $1M to buy out his contract.��

After The International 10, which took place in October last year, Save- was rumored to be on his way out of Virtus.pro. At the time, Evil Geniuses were in serious talks with the Russian team to sign Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko. Instead of the expected sale, the player was moved to the bench and kept there for months.

According to reports, Virtus.pro eventually got in contact with Spirit during the 2022 DOC season for Save-, but the negotiations did not go much further after the Russian organization made known their buyout price. The franchise was said to have affixed a $1 million price for Save-, which brought the negotiations to a standstill.

While Virtus.pro��s asking price is not an outrageous sum in most esports spheres, it is almost unheard of in the Dota 2 scene. The Russian team may have had little intention of selling the ex-captain at the time.

The news concerning Virus.pro��s ��destructive and toxic atmosphere�� is not entirely farfetched, especially when the previous actions of the players are taken into account. Earlier this year, Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko put the team in disarray after the player made the pro-Russian symbol during the DPC��s Spring Tour.

His actions led to Valve disqualifying the entire team, and Virtus.pro went on to terminate the player��s contract. Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev seemed to bring stability to the team after the incident, but from the looks of the current situation, it was not enough. There is likely no way to salvage the situation between the players now.

Like Save-, Illias ��illias�� Ganeev is currently on the Russian team��s inactive list after being placed on the bench in January. However, it is not certain if the recent development will affect the player. More information concerning the situation may likely be revealed after TI11 next month.

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