Having overtaken all regions at the start, China left for the New Year holidays and returns from them on January 31. The first match after a long pause will be the confrontation between the Knights and DAWN.
The sign of the duel, let's say right away, is so-so. However, this does not negate its importance.
Importance, first of all, for the Knights. They will come to this match with 4-1 statistics and 2nd place in the standings, and if they win, they are almost guaranteed to go to Lima Major 2023.
For this tour the song is sung. Hypothetically, the team has a chance of 0-10 on maps and 0-5 on series to cling to a place in the elite division and continue playing here in the next round, but for this it is necessary to defeat the Knights, which already sounds fantastic.
Let's figure out if there is a place for a miracle in this match and whether DAWN, with an absolutely impassive and amorphous game, will be able to take the first victory of the season or take at least a map.
Knights form
Let's start the review with Knights form analytics. They will appear in this fight in the status of a favorite, but what else.
The bookies obviously have full faith in Knights' success. The coefficient for such an event is ridiculous – 1.02.
And how could it be otherwise when playing the top 2 leagues in China against a team with 0-5 stats in series and 0-10 in maps? Only unforeseen circumstances can change the situation, which, by the way, can happen here.
Knights line-up
By unforeseen circumstances, I mean the ban of Knights players, for example. But he is quite real.
Players
- eGo
- AlaCrity-
- flyby
- Felixciaoba
- XCJ
Perfect World launched an investigation into the possible use of the map hack by Knights players. However, after the accusation, the team has already managed to play, which means that either the investigation is ongoing or no evidence has been found, and the Knights will continue to play quietly at DPC 2023: China Upper Division and will most likely go to Lima Major 2023.
Knights performance
Having gathered for the start of DPC 2023, the team managed to “prove” itself at a third-party event. They became the Star Series, held at the local level.
Knights played there against teams like Neon Esports, Team Flow, IG. Vitality and others. As a result of the championship, the team took 3rd place, which, frankly, is a rather strange result. I don't presume to say, but it seems that someone played there not only for the training game.
However, as expected, a completely different game began at the DPC. The team won the map against Team Aster after a rather sad start, and they, in turn, are almost the main contender for the TOP-1 this season.
In the second series, the Knights played with Invictus Gaming. A high-ranking team, but obviously not up to the level of Aster, did not bring any problems to the “knights”. Knights outplayed Invictus Gaming 2-0 rather cleverly.
Later there was a match with PSG.LGD, which plunged into a minimal shock. The Knights outplayed their opponents, closing them with a score of 2-0 with virtually no chance.
The “knights” did not stop at the victory over PSG.LGD and closed down another direct competitor - Xtreme Gaming, but this time for 3 maps.
Knights' next opponent was Aster.Aries. The series was not easy, but the Knights managed to win: 2-1 in their favor.
Heroes Knights
In this patch, the team played as Tiny (16 matches, 68% win rate), Treant Protector (8 matches, 87% win rate), Drow RANger (8 matches, 62% win rate), Snapfire (7 matches, 71% win rate), Lich (7 matches, 71% wins), Shadow Fiend (7 matches, 71% wins).
Form DAWN
Let's get to the most interesting. The game form of DAWN, who will play in the status of an outsider in this match.
The bookmaker has already been buried by DAWN by nailing the coffin. DAWN wins with a coefficient of around 10, more is simply not possible.
The only thing that pleases in the case of DAWN is that soon we will not see the team in the top division. While they, to put it mildly, do not reach the level of local teams.
Line-up DAWN
They don't measure up in every way. Team interactions, synergy, personal level of performance.
DAWN players
- idc
- ex
- Son Goku
- Docres
- Ms
Of the interesting things about the DAWN roster, except that their “long-term”. It is unlikely that the team will remain in the same format in the next round, which means they have a global reshuffling ahead, after which some of the top five may be noticed by larger players in the Chinese scene, but given the performance of DAWN, this is unlikely.
DAWN Performance
Appearing virtually out of nowhere (we'll omit MOON Studio level tournaments for now), DAWN managed to play only one series as part of DPC 2023. It was held against PSG.LGD and ended accordingly.
The Chinese grand, having lost three players of the golden squad, literally did not feel the opponent. Two maps ended in 40 minutes, and during this time DAWN managed to get 7 kills.
In the second match, DAWN met EHOME. The team fought, it's worth paying tribute, but the result was the same - 2-0 not in favor of DAWN.
The third duel followed an identical scenario. DAWN lost to Invictus Gaming without a single chance.
Groundhog Day continued in the next series, but with a different opponent. They were Team Aster, who swept away their opponents in 46 minutes in total.
Heroes DAWN
DAWN tried to take opponents as a standard, though not without some interesting things. Most often in patch 7.32, the team chooses Mirana (16 games, 50% wins), Lich (11 matches, 36% wins), Tusk (11 matches, 36% wins), Marci (10 games, 30% wins).
Note that the win rate of the characters draws on the fact that clubs participate in local tournaments of the Moon Studio level and others. Nothing works on DPC.
History of personal confrontations
Previously, the teams did not intersect with each other. This match will be their first confrontation in official matches.
Match outcome
Analyzing the outcome of matches involving DAWN is a piece of cake. Often it comes down to 10 words.
DAWN has no chance of success. An easy win for the Knights.
Result: 2-0 in favor of the Knights.
