Dota 2 Kiev Major Betting Tips: Team Secret the one to be with for the main event

Four months after OG seemingly breezed past the competition on their way to winning the Boston Major, Dota 2 major action is back underway – this time in Kiev, Ukraine. The past two days have seen each of the sixteen teams fight it out in a Swiss format group stage to ultimately decide the seeding for the main event. Now that’s done and dusted, the single elimination main event is set to get underway tomorrow.

What this effectively means is that there’s no second chances. It’s a straight knockout tournament, and should a team lose in a best of three, they’re out of the tournament. It differs from Valve’s flagship tournament, The International, where double elimination offers teams two bites at the cherry.

The group stages served to reaffirm one thing, and that is that most teams at this tournament can beat anyone on their day. There’s been upsets and stories aplenty in the two days of action that we’ve seen so far and we can only imagine that will continue heading into the main event.

The Favourites

There’s five of sixteen teams all grouped in what is an incredibly broad “favourite” bracket. OG head the market at 4/1, with Invictus Gaming and Evil Geniuses not far behind at 9/2. Virtus Pro and Team Secret will have been the big movers after their exemplary group stage performances which sees both teams now edge in at 5/1.

We’re keen to steer clear of both Invictus Gaming and Evil Geniuses here for a couple of reasons. Although Invictus showed amazing form when winning the Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017, they have one of the smallest hero pools in the tournament. They were beaten in a resounding manner by Team Secret in the Group Stages and as they’ve played so much Dota, with such few heroes, it seems as if the better teams may well have figured them out.

Whilst Evil Geniuses are insanely talented on paper, their mental fortitude can often be questioned and in the group stage we’ve seen some odd drafting from Danish captain Andreas ‘Cr1t-’ Nielsen. There’s no margin for error now it’s straight knockout and as they will likely play Team Secret in the quarter-finals it could be an abrupt end for them.

OG have also looked fairly shaky so far, looking like they have little to no answer should they not get to play their exceptional Naga Siren. They’ve been here and done it before, though, and that may give them the mental edge. At just 4/1, there’s just not enough value there to convince me.

Team Secret and Virtus Pro look like the most interesting propositions here. Both teams went 3-0 and landed top seed spots meaning theoretically they have the weakest opposition in the first round. Virtus Pro have shown great form going into tournaments before, however, and fallen flat on the main stage. Team Secret are led by one of the most formidable captains in Dota 2 history. Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov could well provide the edge that his team needs to take home their second Valve Major. Get Team Secret at 5/1 to win the Major on Bet365.

Tips for the first four match-ups can be found here.