The preview of MDL Macau 2019

The championship in the MDL Macau series starts very soon, which will not be a part of the rating system by Valve. Eight invited teams will fight for the monetary reward in the sum of $300,000 and the title of the champion of the second tournament in this series.

The format

Totally, eight teams will take part in the competition, five of which have received direct invites from the organizers. One more spot has been received by the winner of Dota2 Professional League Season 6 and the rest two slots have been earned by Royal Never Give Up and Invictus Gaming, who had been the best at the Chinese qualifiers.

The organizers have put all participants in one group where they will have to fight in a bo1 matches by a Round Robin system. On the outcome of the group stage, none of the teams will be eliminated from the competition and the results will only make an impact on the seeding.

Teams will play in a Double Elimination bracket at the playoff stage and matches will be hosted in a bo3 format. The first round of the lower part of the bracket and the grand final are the only exceptions. In the first case, the match will be played in a bo1 format and the final match will be carried out in a bo5 series.

The organizers and the importance of the championship

Mars Media will organize the competition, its achievements include one season of MDL Macau and the successfully-organized MDL Changsha Major. Also, Mars Media was hosting online competitions with a prize pool in the sum of less than $150,000 for a number of times.

With regard to the importance, the championship isn’t especially important for teams due to an absence of Dota Pro Circuit points in the prize pool, however, the organizers have managed to make the list of participants, consisting of the representatives of the Tier-1 category, so teams will come to the competition fully ready to secure their status of the strongest representatives of the world Dota 2 scene.

The favorites of the tournament

Virtus.Pro and Team Liquid

The teams Virtus.Pro and Team Liquid are the unconditional favorites of the competition, according to bookmakers, because the rosters have been keeping a high level of play for a long period of time. At the previous tournament in the Major series, “the Bears” have stopped on the second place and Team Liquid has held only the 7th-8th place but it’s worth to notice the fact that they had been playing with a stand-in. Now, the teams are ready for action and without stand-ins, so both rosters will have to enter the top three and we will probably see these participants in the grand final.

• The bookmakers’ odds on the victory of Virtus.Pro - 2.5.
• The bookmakers’ odds on the victory of Team Liquid - 2.75.

The teams, which might show themselves for a good side

Vici Gaming, EHOME, and Evil Geniuses

All above-mentioned teams are strong enough, however, reshuffles might stop them from performing well. Vici Gaming was experimenting with the roster at StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor all the time, after which Fade became inactive. Evil Geniuses has, in turn, gave a vacation to Sumai, so will go to the competition with a stand-in and EHOME will play in the group stage with a coach because ASD hasn’t had enough time to receive a visa to a special administrative region of PRC. These factors might prevent the above-mentioned roster from winning the championship but they might be expected to make a sensation.

• The bookmakers’ odds on the victory of EHOME - 6.5.
• The bookmakers’ odds on the victory of Evil Geniuses - 9.
• The bookmakers’ odds on the victory of Vici Gaming - 17.

The teams, which don’t have a lot of chances to win

Newbee, Invictus Gaming, and Royal Never Give Up

The rosters of the organizations Newbee, IG, and RNGU are far from their optimal shape and are unlikely to hope to win MDL Macau 2019. All above-mentioned teams haven’t held high places at large tournaments for a long time and won them at the beginning of 2018. Now, the teams have big problems not just in the terms of the game but with the understanding inside of the roster because players change there “like socks”.

• The bookmakers’ odds on the victory of Royal Never Give Up - 31.
• The bookmakers’ odds on the victory of Invictus Gaming - 41.
• The bookmakers’ odds on the victory of Newbee - 51.