Dota 2 EPIC League Final Odds, Pick, & Preview
- The Dota 2 Epic League grand final takes place on December 13th
- Virtus.pro defeated Vikin.gg 2-0 in the Upper Bracket Final to qualify for the grand final
- OG won four consecutive matches to make the grand final through the lower bracket
The final day of the Dota 2 Epic League is December 13th, as Virtus.pro takes on OG for the $200,000 grand prize. The two teams took very different paths to get to the grand final, and now they enter the grand final with identical odds of winning. Virtus.pro were favored to defeat Vikin.gg in the Dota 2 Epic League Upper Bracket Final, and made quick work of Vikin.gg to move on. Meanwhile, OG ran through the lower bracket and defeated Vikin.gg 3-0 to qualify for the finals.
Dota 2 EPIC League Final Odds
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| Virtus.pro | -112 |
| OG | -112 |
Odds taken Dec. 12th.
Upper Bracket Representatives
Virtus.pro has been such a strong team the entire tournament. In the group stage, they finished the round robin with a tournament best 7-2 record to qualify for playoffs as the number one seed. In the upper bracket, Virtus.pro needed only two wins to move on to the grand final. They easily got those victories after taking down both Team Secret and Vikin.gg by a 2-0 score.
Even though both of those matches ended up being 2-0’s for Virtus.pro, they were played very differently. Against Team Secret, Virtus.pro won the set in a combined one hour of game time. ‘epileptick1d’ was dominant in the series with his Sven and Faceless Void. He finished the match with a combined KDA of 14/1/21.
In the Upper Bracket Final, although it was still fairly controlled by Virtus.pro, it took them a lot longer to put away Vikin.gg. Both games nearly hit the 50 minute mark, but once again ‘epileptick1d’ was an absolute force. ‘Save’ and ‘gpk’ also played incredibly well as ‘gpk’ led the team in damage in game 2 with a KDA of 19/3/20 on Snapfire.
One of the current strengths of Virtus.pro is their ability to have more than one person become the carry. Even if ‘epileptick1d’ is shut down or targeted in the pick and ban phase, his teammates can pick up the slack and become the focus of a team composition.
I’ve bet against them before based primarily on their head-to-head records with other teams. Entering the grand final, they’re playing on another level and even then, they have the same odds of winning at -112 as their opponents.
The Lower Bracket Run
The journey to the grand final could not have been any more different for Team OG. They entered the playoffs as the seventh seed after losing both of their best-of-one matchups in the four-way fourth place tiebreaker. It was a very concerning way to enter the playoffs. Once playoffs started though, OG found their groove and has now won four straight matches including wins over Yellow Submarine, Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, and most recently Vikin.gg.
The DPS duo of ‘MidOne’ and ‘Topson’ has powered their winning streak through the lower bracket. Ceb has also taken over the carry role as needed. Meanwhile the supporting cast of ‘N0tail’ and ‘Saksa’ has been incredibly sturdy.
Even in the lower bracket final against Vikin.gg, OG kept rolling. In what should have been their toughest test of the tournament, they cruised past Vikin.gg in a 3-0, setting up an epic final. They knew exactly how to attack Vikin.gg and it felt like OG was never truly challenged in this one.
Their ability to get ‘Topson’ and ‘MidOne’ ahead has been exceptional and there was no better example of that than game three against Vikin.gg. ‘MidOne’ got ahead on Sven and completely snowballed the game from there. OG never really lost control and they seem to have found a strategy that has now worked in four straight series at the Dota 2 Epic League. They’re a very tempting pick at -112.
The main concern with OG is that they’ve now shown a lot of their strategies that Virtus.pro can try to gameplan around. As impressive as OG has been, the discipline and scouting from Virtus.pro should be enough to see them come out as champions.
Pick: Virtus.pro (-112)
Growing up, Matthew was in love with sports. So, following his undergrad, it only made sense to dive head-first into the world of sports media. Rather than sticking to traditional sports, Matt found his way to eSports and gaming. He also produces, edits and serves as an analyst for SQUAD.
