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The International 2023, the main stage of the main tournament of the year, is now underway. There are 16 teams left in the tournament, which will play for the Aegis of Champions and a solid, though much smaller than in previous years, cash reward.
Team Spirit and Virtus.pro have the honour of opening the main stage of the tournament. Frankly speaking, the match should be very passable, because the level of the teams is significantly different.
Spirit is a direct and clear favourite to win The International 2023, while Vp found themselves in the upper grid by chance. However, there is no judgement on the winners, and since both teams are in the winner's bracket, they deserve to be here.
It remains for us to see who will be stronger and move on to the top set, and who will have to go to the bottom set of The International 2023 play-offs.
Let's go.
Team Spirit uniforms
Let's open the match analysis with an analysis of Team Spirit's form. In this match the team will play as clear favourites: the odds for a win are at around 1.1.
In the first round of DPC 2023: EEU Division 1 Spirit took 2nd place. Then the dragons were prevented from winning by BB Team, who finished the tournament in first place with a score of 7-0. After playing in their home league, Team Spirit visited The Lima Major 2023 where they finished in the top 8.
Later Spirit played the second round of the home league and again finished in the top 2. Going to The Berlin Major 2023 they expected to improve the result of the previous Major, but in the end it got worse: already TOP-12.
Despite the "sluggish" game on the international arena, Spirit still consistently come out of the groups at the Major, and at home they look like the main contender for victory in every game. This was the case in the third season of DPC 2023.
Spirit finished the Eastern Europe final cycle in first place. It took 3 attempts to earn the championship in Eastern Europe.
- Team Spirit roster: Yatoro, Larl, Collapse, Mira, Miposhka .
The last tournament before DreamLeague Season 20 for the Dragons was DreamLeague S20. There the representatives of Eastern Europe took the top 5, which is not a bad indicator, considering the above mentioned performance for the year.
Spirit visited The Bali Major 2023, but the trip there ended in failure. The team finished in the top 12, failing to make it to the prizes.
Team Spirit made it to the Riyadh Masters 2023 directly into the group stage. The Dragons finished with a score of 8-6 and second place in Group A.
Once in the play-offs Team Spirit started their way to the grand finals. In the first match they outplayed Team Aster, after a very difficult Long Srpeg on two maps.
Next was BB Team and almost identical series: Spirit fell behind on all 3 maps, but somehow won 2-1.
In the match to reach the grand finals they played against Liquid. After giving up the first map, they cameback on the second and demolished Liquid on the third. At the Riyadh Masters 2023, Spirit were transformed into macro masters. Not least because of this, Spirit became the champions of the biggest tournament of the year.
Before the Long Sogpeg The International 2023, Spirit became the champions of DreamLeague Season 21. In the grand finals, they ran over Shopify Rebellion by a score of 3-0.
At The International 2023, the Dragons are still unbeaten. Spirit became the only team not to lose a single match in the first stage of the group stage, finishing 8-0.
In the match for seeding in the play-offs of The International 2023 Team Spirit played against Shopify Rebellion. The Dragons beat the Americans on class, although they were under serious pressure on the first map.
The most popular Team Spirit characters
The top of the most selectable Team Spirit characters is headed by Crystal Maiden. The character has appeared in the peak 6 times and has an 83% win rate.
Apart from Crystal Maiden, Disruptor and Underlord are also appreciated, having been peaked 5 times each with 80% winrate. There was also Skywrath Mage (4 matches, 100% wins), Doom (4 matches, 75% wins), PL, Viper, Slark, Riki appeared 3 times each and has 100% wins.
Virtus.pro uniforms
We continue our review of the Eastern European derby with a breakdown of Virtus.pro's game form. In this match, they will play as number two: the odds for victory are around 7.
Vp stagnated throughout the entire competitive year. This was reflected in the team's performance throughout the season.
Vp finished 4th in the first season of DPC without a decent performance. They played an amorphous season, but not bad.
The second season of DPC 2023: EEU Division 1 ended the same way. The team again took 4th place and once again was one step away from getting to The Berlin Major 2023,
- Vp line-up: Kiritych, squad1x, Noticed, sayuw, Fng.
The third round of the DPC for Vp was identical to the first two. Vp again took the top 4, which, in general, can not be called a result.
Apart from the "average" positions in the DPC league, Vp played in third-party championships. For example, it was Pinnacle Cup: Malta Vibes, where they took the top 3-3-4, and also tournaments more cool, such as Riyadh Masters 2023. The latter was the biggest event in Vp's portfolio, but the Eastern European residents did not manage anything: as a result, they finished in the top 20.
Vp got to The International 2023 through the qualifiers in Eastern Europe. In the grand finals, they outscored One Move 3-0.
The International 2023 itself is going pretty well for Vp. Being one of the main contenders for elimination from the tournament, Vp took the 4th place in Basket C, thus making it to the play-offs.
In the match before that, Virtus.pro played for seeding in the play-offs against TSM. Being the number 2 seed there, the 4th place team from Eastern Europe defeated their visions quite easily and unexpectedly for probably everyone.
The most popular Virtus.pro characters
Disruptor remains the most popular Virtus.pro character (9 matches, 55% wins). Undying (8 matches, 50% wins) follows closely behind Thunderer.
Other VP picks include Shadow Fiend (4 matches, 75% wins), Silencer (4 matches, 50% wins), and Lina (4 matches, 50% wins).
Predicted result of the Vp vs Team Spirit match at The International 2023
As far as I'm concerned, the result of the Vp - Team Spirit match is clear before the Long Sogpeg series. I just can't imagine what Vp have to do to pick up at least a card here. Spirit is superior on all counts: performance for the year, team synergy, personal skill of the performers. The fact that Vp made it to the top set of play-offs is already a sensation and another one won't happen.
Result: Spirit win with the score 2-0.
