DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 1: Team Spirit Preview

DPC Eastern Dota is the league that houses Team Spirit, The International (TI) 2021 champions who were under the radar mere months ago. As a result, every Dota 2 bettor is currently looking out for the next proverbial underdog who can bring massive payouts the same way Team Spirit did for their most loyal believers before they rose to the top.

The Dota 2 Eastern Tour 2022 is an upcoming tournament that will give fans and bettors alike to see if there’s any chink in the reigning kings’ armors. The competitors—Virtus.pro, PuckChamp, and HellRaisers—have all made a statement in DPC EEU Division 1. Now, it’s time to pick a team while the odds are hot!

Team Spirit – The Unsung Heroes and the Favorites

Coming in as the clear favorite is Team Spirit, the Russian authority who has proven to the Dota 2 world that nothing is impossible by slaying all the giants in TI 2021 and taking the Aegis for themselves. The bookies, before last year’s nasty upset, were willing to give them 7.00 to 3.00 odds until powerhouses like OG, Invictus Gaming, Team Secret, and PSG.LGD started dropping at their feet.

If you missed your chance to win big by backing Team Spirit during their underdog days, you can make amends by betting on them right now as favorites. Sure, you won’t get the same low-risk odds that you’d get last year because all the bookies have already made the necessary adjustments, but some select few are still willing to reward your conviction more than others.

Unibet stands out from the rest, offering 1.15 for Team Spirit (where most bookies are only offering 1.10 to 1.11) and 5.00 for their first opponent HellRaisers. On top of this, they’ve got tons of amazing features on their site, including a statistics viewer and team comparison, to name a few. Read our take on Unibet eSports so you can better profit off of the next Team Spirit onslaught!

PuckChamp – Strong Performance with Handsome Odds

If you want to take the underdog side of the tournament, you could back either PuckChamp or HellRaisers. We prefer PuckChamp between the two because of how well they played in DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 1: Division 1, where they finished 6-1 coming right next to Team Spirit (7-0).

In the same tournament, HellRaisers scored an acceptable 4-3, the same as Virtus.pro. We find it a little surprising that GG.Bet eSports puts Virtus.pro ahead of PuckChamp, giving them 6.00 odds of winning the entire tournament compared to PuckChamp’s 7.00. Perhaps the reason for this is that PuckChamp has never made it to any TIs while Virtus.pro even reached the upper bracket last year.

We found that GG.Bet is offering 2.31 for PuckChamp and 1.58 for Virtus.pro on their upcoming match. The two teams have only fought 2 times in 2021 with both having a win against each other to make an interesting 50/50 split in recent history. The most recent matchup that took place on December 20 favors PuckChamp though (2-1).

It’s important to know that only Virtus.pro has made a roster change lately, putting Illias “illias” Ganeev (commonly known as Kingslayer) into inactive and placing “Xakoda” in his stead. Xakoda remains to be the unknown factor here since not much is known about him except that he’ll be playing in position 5 as hard support.

Will this simple change even be enough to give Virtus.pro a decisive advantage that most bookies think will be enough to put a stop to the heated PuckChamp’s streak? We don’t think so. But remember! We’re only saying our opinion and not giving you any advice!

Conclusion – Dota 2 Eastern Tour 2022 Outcome Predictions

It’s hard to bet against Team Spirit, especially when they’re showing nothing but strength and dominance this early in the year. The last loss they’ve had happened against Tundra Esports at OGA Dota PIT Season 5: Europe/CIS in December 2021, back when they were fresh from their TI victory. Even then they made it to the finals, taking down teams like OG, Team Secret (again), and, indirectly, Nigma Galaxy.

What’s curious here is that recent match history almost doesn’t matter because of the latest roster shuffles. There are also a few matches between the Eastern European teams and their current lineups. Looking at the stats spanning from late 2021 to today, Team Spirit has won all of their matches against Virtus.pro, PuckChamp, and HellRaisers, while the rest of the teams are pretty much standing on equal grounds. The available Bet365 eSports odds, one of the most trusted bookies in the industry, validate this perfectly.

In this upcoming DPC Eastern Dota tournament, will PuckChamp maintain their momentum and bring big profits to underdog bettors? Or will Virtus.pro show why they’re the team that made it to the upper bracket in the last TI? And then there are the absolute underdog HellRaisers who might just be the next unnoticed killer!