Shanghai plays host to the next DOTA 2 major next week when the Asia Championships kick off. 12 teams are competing for the $200,000 first prize with half of those being Chinese squads. However, the teams with the shortest odds are the three European teams who are participating in the tournament. That’s not too much of a surprise after Team Liquid won the last major championship in Shanghai and with how strong Europe has appeared lately. The winner here will put itself in great shape heading into the Kiev Major next month.
At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!
DOTA 2 Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
Evil Geniuses +270
Team Liquid +300
OG +375
Newbee +630
Team VG.J +1300
Wings +1400
IG +1700
Faceless +2600
IG Vitality +3200
Team NP +3600
LGD.FY +5800
Empire +5800
Team Liquid was the champion at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, the last big tournament, but didn’t face the type of competition it will take on here. Although many of the same teams are at the Asia Championships, neither Evil Geniuses or Newbee took part in that tournament. Not facing the best Chinese team and the favorite here, makes it a much harder battle for Liquid, but it is in good form. Two weeks before winning StarSeries, Liquid romped over Bears to win the European Qualifier and star player Miracle- has been playing at an extremely high level too.
The team that is the slight favorite to win though is Evil Geniuses. Evil Geniuses won the last two DOTA 2 tournaments it participated in, sweeping Wings and Newbee to win China Top 2016 and survived a five-game series with OG to win Pit League Season 5 back in January. Although it finished in third place at The International last season, this team was a heavy favorite to make the finals against Digital Chaos and might be the best team in the world. The only reason it isn’t a larger favorite is because the team hasn’t played in any major competition in two months and may be a bit rusty.
OG was a mixed bag in 2016 but started off 2017 strong after pushing Evil Geniuses to the brink. Still, this was the same team that choked at The International, crashing out after losses to MVP Phoenix and TNC Pro Team, both sides that were eliminated in their next matches after knocking off OG. The team responded to the disappointment by replacing three of its members and ended up winning the Boston Major after training together. At these odds, OG is a very attractive bet.
For the Chinese teams, Newbee is the favorite, but no team is as interesting as Wings. Wings is known for its highly erratic style of play and that can lead to it either crashing out early or winning the whole tournament. Last season, Wings won the biggest purse in the history of eSports, claiming over $9 million by winning The International after tearing through every other team in the knockout rounds following a shaky group stage. This team doesn’t have a preferred style of play and varies its hero selection a lot, making it wildly unpredictable to both itself and opponents. At the tail end of last year, Wings didn’t even make the quarterfinals in three of the four tournaments it entered
Although we’ve seen longshots win big tournaments before, don’t expect that to happen this time. None of the five teams at 25-1 or more have any real shot and most were Chinese teams that got an invite just because the tournament was in China. Stick with the favorites if you are going to bet this event.
At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!
