Dota 2 EPIC League Semifinal Matchup Picks & Preview
- The Dota 2 EPIC League continues with the lower bracket Round 2 on December 10th, 2020
- The upper bracket final between Virtus.pro and Vikin.gg goes the next day on December 11th, 2020
- After being knocked to the lower bracket, Natus Vincere is a slight underdog against Team OG
The Dota 2 EPIC League wraps up on December 13th, but there’s a long road to the grand finals. Following the first round, only two teams have been eliminated. Meanwhile, Team Liquid, OG, Virtus.pro, and Natus Vincere all got wins to kick off the playoffs. The opening round of the Dota 2 EPIC League went without surprises, as most of the matchups were essentially toss-ups.
Dota 2 EPIC League Division 1 Playoff Odds
| Upper Bracket Finals | Odds |
|---|---|
| Virtus.pro | -208 |
| Vikin.gg | +155 |
| Lower Bracket Round 2 | Odds |
| Team Liquid | +147 |
| Team Secret | -189 |
| Lower Bracket Round 2 | Odds |
| Natus Vincere | +123 |
| OG | -156 |
Odds taken Dec. 9th at bet365
Virtus.pro vs Vikin.gg
In the all important upper bracket final, either Virtus.pro or Vikin.gg will book their spot in the grand final. Although Vikin.gg is coming off of an impressive 2-1 win over NAVI, Virtus. pro has been the early titan of the Dota 2 Epic League.
Virtus.pro finished the round robin group stage with the best record, and they handed Team Secret a brisk 2-0 loss in the first round of the upper bracket.
This is a very tough matchup to predict because these two teams have only met once over the past six months. That meeting was in the group stage of this tournament where Vikin.gg picked up the 2-1 win.
In that series, Virtus.pro won the opening game before Vikin.gg took over and dominated in game three. Vikin.gg also finished the group stage with a strong 6-3 record, so the difference in team strength is minimal.
The win over NAVI and their head-to-head history with Virtus.pro gives me just enough confidence to side with Vikin.gg. Add in the fact that Vikin.gg comes in as the underdog, and it’s too good of a situation to pass up.
Pick: Vikin.gg (+155)
Team Liquid vs Team Secret
Going into the first round, I had mentioned how Team Liquid had a good record against Nigma in their best-of-three series. Even though they had lost a best of one tiebreaker to Nigma, Liquid held the edge in longer sets. This is a similar situation for Team Liquid, where they once again lost a one game tiebreaker to Team Secret.
However, over the past couple of months, Liquid and Team Secret have exchanged wins in the best-of-threes. That makes this a bit more of a toss up, but this time we’ll go with Team Secret. Liquid has already lost twice to Team Secret in the tournament, so it’s hard to side with Liquid based on that alone.
Pick: Team Secret (-189)
OG vs. Natus Vincere
At a quick glance, OG might seem like a safe bet considering they beat NAVI 2-0 earlier in the tournament’s group stage. Going further back, Natus Vincere has had a fair amount of success in their head-to-head matchup. At OGA Dota Pit S3 and ESL One Germany, NAVI picked up wins over OG.
In their opening-round playoff match, OG made quick work of Yellow Submarine. Even though they were possibly the easiest out of the tournament, it’s still a confident showing heading into a match with NAVI. It’s another difficult match to predict, but I’ll take the slight favorite in OG in this one.
Pick: OG (-156)
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.
