The reigning The International champions, Team Spirit, will seek their fourth win of the tournament on Thursday when they take on the struggling AS Monaco Gambit. These two teams last met in April, when Spirit won 2-0 and based on their improvement over the last eight months, it’s fair to expect another clean sweep.

And it’s not only Spirit’s growth as a team that makes us favour them for this bout, but it’s also AS Monaco Gambit’s poor form this season. They’ve won only one match of four outings, and even that sole victory came against one of the weakest teams of the division, Team Empire.

As the latest Dota 2 betting odds suggest, Team Spirit are significantly stronger, and we have no reason to doubt them. Spirit have two games on the schedule this week, and we wouldn’t be surprised if they win them both without dropping a map. Expect a very one-sided affair.

HellRaisers have been a delightful surprise this season. As a team, no one expected to achieve much; HellRaisers went 3-0 across the first three rounds of action, picking up wins against Virtus.pro (2-1), Team Unique (2-0), and AS Monaco Gambit (2-0).

Even though Virtus.pro were the only tough team HellRaisers had to face so far, they have been playing well so far and look poised to finish the first tour inside the top-four. Meanwhile, Natus Vincere have managed a 2-1 record over the same stretch with wins against Team Empire (2-1) and Team Unique (2-1), and one defeat against PuckChamp (0-2).

Dropping maps against two of the weakest teams in the division is hardly inspiring, and while NaVi looked solid overall, they have been a bit shaky at times. This is a match NaVi must win to prove they’re more than a mid-table team, but considering their past showings, we are a bit sceptical about their chances.

HellRaisers seem a bit underestimated at $2.01 and are an excellent pick at the offered betting sites. The real dreamers might also consider a smaller bet on HellRaisers with a -1.5 map handicap at $3.00 or over.

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?HellRaisers have yet to taste defeat this season, which doesn’t say a lot since they’ve played only two games, against Virtus.pro (2-1) and Team Unique (2-0). Still, they are performing solidly, and their upset win against VP in Week 1 of the tour just might have given HR a chance to end the season inside the top three.

AS Monaco Gambit have managed a slightly less convincing 1-2 record after two weeks of action, with a win against Team Empire (2-0) and back-to-back defeats against PuckChamp (0-2) and VP (1-2). As a new roster, Gambit were expected to have a slow start, but they still have enough talent to compete for a strong finish.

Talent-wise, there isn’t a lot to set these two teams apart, and it seems like HR are priced as such heavy favourites only due to their upset win against the new-look Virtus.pro. Gambit still look a bit shaky, but there’s a very good chance that the outsiders steal one map.

?Virtus.pro are expected to represent the CIS region at the first Major of the 2021/22 DPC season, and while we don’t have a reason to doubt their chances to finish the first tour inside the top three, VP have yet to prove themselves as one of the top teams in the region. They suffered an upset defeat against HellRaisers back in the first week of play, and they needed to reverse-sweep AS Monaco Gambit on Sunday to lock in their first win of the season.

Team Unique are, along with Team Empire, one of only two CIS teams that enter Week 3 without a win, having lost to Team Spirit (0-2) and HellRaisers (0-2). That puts them in a do-or-die situation, as Unique need to collect as many points as possible in their next three outings to avoid relegation.

VP have become much weaker with the roster changes; they’re not at the same level as last season, when they finished both DPC events with a perfect 7-0 record. Virtus.pro should still defeat Team Unique, but they look shaky enough for us to believe they can drop a map.

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?Team Empire clawed their way into the upper division for the 2021/22 DPC season, and while they deserve some respect for that accomplishment, they likely won’t achieve much at this level. Not only will Empire be competing against much tougher teams, but they also lost many of their key members this offseason. Lack of talent was already noticeable last week when Empire lost 0-2 against AS Monaco Gambit, but we have to acknowledge that Gambit are one of the region’s strongest teams.

Like Empire, Natus Vincere kicked off the new season with a defeat, going down 0-2 against PuckChamp. While that was a somewhat unexpected result, it was a deserved one. NaVi did not play well on the day, while PuckChamp did enough to suggest they might be better than expected.

Both teams got off to a rough start to the season and will want to bounce back. NaVi need this win more since they should be in the race for a Major ticket, but after their poor performance against PuckChamp, we have to have some faith in Empire to take a map off them.

?We’re only one week into the new season, but based on what we have seen so far, Team Spirit and PuckChamp are playing some of the best Dota in the region. Both teams were a class above their opponents in the first round, with Spirit crushing Team Unique and PuckChamp handing two heavy defeats to NaVi and AS Monaco Gambit.

As the reigning Dota 2 International champions, Team Spirit deserve to be viewed as the better team, and there is a real possibility that they stomp PuckChamp on Thursday. However, the +163 on PuckChamp to win one map seems a bit too generous.

Spirit and PuckChamp have been exceptional so far, so we can expect an exciting series. But while PuckChamp might not cause an upset, they have the tools needed to win a map.

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