Team Liquid vs NAVI: Dota 2 Blast Slam VI Grand Final Betting Preview

We’ve reached the Grand Final of BLAST Slam VI, where Team Liquid will take on an unlikely grand finalist in Natus Vincere. This might not be the most interesting final, but there’s still opportunities for money to be made. Here are our predictions for the upcoming match.

Team Liquid: Entering Their Comfort Zone

Team Liquid have earned their place in the grand final. They took down tournament favorites Team Falcons in the quarter finals, which immediately positioned them as the frontrunner to win the entire trophy.

They followed up that claim by sweeping OG in the semi final with a 3-0 victory. The series was extremely one-sided, aside from the third game getting dragged into the late game. Even then, Team Liquid’s experience was displayed, as they stayed composed and closed the series without losing much control.

This is going to be the first grand final appearance for the current Team Liquid lineup, and we know experience is not an issue. Five of these players have been here multiple times before, especially during the old Team Liquid vs Gaimin Gladiators era, as all current members represented both sides. When we’re this deep into a tournament, this is where Team Liquid truly shines.

Image: BLAST via X (@@BLASTDota)

NAVI: Hungry Bunch Playing Their First Grand Final

NAVI have been the biggest surprise of the tournament. This squad is full of young players with a high skill ceiling, but it’s still a team you don’t expect to see playing in the grand final of a Tier 1 tournament.

The Ukrainian squad topped their group stage and followed it up with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Team Yandex to secure a spot in the grand final. Due to the nature of the tournament format, they only had to play one playoff series to reach the final two.

However, context is important here. Yandex were forced to play with a stand-in, and even then, NAVI only barely managed to win the matchup. While we won’t take anything away from the win, it wasn’t the kind of dominant performance that gets you believing in this miraculous run.

This will also be the first grand final appearance for four of five NAVI players – these young guns have very limited experience with deep tournament runs.

ESB Predictions

• Team Liquid -1.5 maps @ 1.70
• Look for Under Map Duration opportunities

When we take a look at recent form, experience, and consistency, all of these point toward Team Liquid – it’s very difficult to argue against them here, especially knowing their tendency to ramp up as a tournament progresses.

As a result, our main pick for this grand final match is Team Liquid to win the series in dominant fashion.

However, if you’re looking for value elsewhere, we suggest keeping an eye on map duration bets on these Dota 2 betting sites. Both teams love picking strong laning heroes to secure the early game, and have been pretty effective at turning early leads into clean victories. So, under map durations is definitely a great angle here if the draft allows.