Strafe's MoTW: DreamLeague 22 Pits Team Spirit against Xtreme Gaming
The rivalry between Team Spirit and the former members of PSG.LGD continues in DreamLeague season 22, as the two teams face off in the first round of the lower bracket.
The two teams have played against each other twice in the group stage with Xtreme emerging victorious, but the upcoming match is the most important series for both squads. For that reason, it's been deemed this week's Match of the Week.
What's at stake for the two teams?
The teams at DreamLeague Season 22. (Credits: ESLDota2)The second rematch between Team Spirit and Xtreme Gaming is critical for the two squads. The winner gets to advance to the lower bracket finals and stay alive in the tournament, while the losing team is eliminated from the tournament in fourth place.
DreamLeague 22 offers USD $85,000 and 2,240 EPT points for fourth place, while third place receives USD $120,000 and 2,800 EPT. So essentially there is USD $35,000 on the line along with 540 EPT Points. Those points are critical for teams to qualify for this year's Riyadh Masters.
Comparing Team Spirit and Xtreme Gaming
While the record between the two teams favors Xtreme Gaming, there's always room for upset.
The matchup between the carries is the highlight of the match, as Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk takes on his idol Wang "Ame" Chunyu. This matchup has traditionally gone in favor of Yatoro, as he has eliminated Ame from two major tournaments, most notably PGL Arlington and The International 10. Spirit's carry has looked significantly better this tournament as well, while Ame has had a few dud games.
In the mid lane, it's Denis "Larl" Sigitov taking on Guo "Xm" Hongcheng. This is an interesting matchup as so far Larl has had the best performance among the Spirit cores, while Xm has also had a few low-impact games. One thing that favors XM is his more diverse hero pool which could catch Larl off-guard, but overall we favor Spirit again.
The final core match-up features Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov facing Lin "Xxs" Jing. Both players favor Centaur, Dragon Knight, and Mars when they can take them. Xxs tends to be more sacrificial, while Collapse places more value on his life. The two players are too close in skill to pick one over the other.
When comparing the two roaming supports, the two players have very different playstyles. Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov is an incredibly stable laner who focuses on ensuring all his cores have a good time. Zhao "XinQ" Zixing on the other hand is more greedy and likes to cause chaos on the map with heroes such as Monkey King and Nyx Assassin.
Both hard supports like taking team fight heroes, for Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov Grimstroke, Elder Titan, and Ancient Apparition, while Ding "Dy" Cong prefers Crystal Maiden and Phoenix. Similar to the offlaner match-up, this one is a little too close to call.
Who will win, Team Spirit or Xtreme Gaming?
Anything can happen in a match of Dota 2 and upsets happen all the time. When two teams are evenly matched, it's anybody's game.
With that being said and despite having two losses against their opponents, we believe Team Spirit is more likely to come out as victors.
The two-time International winners get better the deeper they go in a tournament, their carry and mid look more stable, while the difference among the other three roles is negligible.
Be sure to check out the game on March 9th live on Twitch.
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