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We continue to watch the action at DreamLeague Season 24. One of the biggest online championships of this autumn is gaining momentum with the group stage matches.
The situation is getting more and more heated, as we are approaching the denouement, where 4 participants of the play-offs will be determined. Among the contenders for the main stage are Falcons and Spirit.
Let's try to find out who will be stronger in this match and will eventually make it to the next, main stage of DreamLeague S24, where they will fight for the main prize of $300,000.
Let's go.
Falcons Form
Let's open the breakdown of the Falcons vs Spirit match with an analysis of the Falcons' form. In this match they play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.4.
The tag is not a new one, but they have not been able to achieve much fame since coming to Dota 2 a few years ago. All they did was to play in the local Saudi eLeague. They played there in 2020, with the top 6 and in 2021, with the top 3 and top 1 respectively.
After a pause of a year, decided to return to the professional scene after Valve cancelled the DPC system. Breaking in with a leg.
- Falcons roster: skiter, SumaiL, ATF, Cr1t, Sneyking.
When collecting the roster, we went by the principle of "golden lineup". We managed to get two players from Tundra Esports, and at the same time champions of The International 2023 Skiter and Sneyking, Cr1t, who previously played for Shopify Rebellion and previously for EG, ATF, who showed a good performance last season in PSG Quest and before that in Nigma with OG, and closed everything with a promising mid laner Marl1ne.
In the MENA region, where Falcons are based, this squad has no competition even at the skilla level. As it happens, the Falcons have already clinched their ticket to Kuala Lumpur 2023.
First, they passed the open qualification without any difficulty, and then, again without much trouble, slammed the closed part of the qualifiers. In the final, by the way, they beat PSG Quest by a score of 3-1. What one and two are doing in the MENA region is not entirely clear, but come on.
At Pinnacle: 25 Year Anniversary Show Falcons look very confident so far, which is to be expected. They have already earned their place in the play-offs by coming out of Group B in first place without losing a single game in three matches.
The Falcons started their appearance in the Pinnacle play-offs: 25 Year Anniversary Show with a first round match against Level Up. An easy win took the Falcons to The dudley boys and there the Falcons got their first and only loss of the tournament. They were beaten by The dudley boys, who were given a rematch by the Falcons in the grand final.
In the end, the Pinnacle: 25 Year Anniversary Show Falcons took first place and earned $50,000. The triumph at the local championship was the Falcons' first win in the discipline. But not the last.
After winning at Pinnacle, Falcons finished top 6 at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 and then started to dominate. In 2024, they won 3 qualifiers: at BB Dacha, at DreamLeague Season 22 and ESL One Birmingham at their home in the MENA region.
Just before competing at DL Season 22, Falcons became BB Dacha champions, earning $400,000.
After the Falcons played at DreamLeague Season 22. They showed the highest level of play and pocketed another trophy by beating BB 3-0 in the grand finals. They made it to the Elite League finals, but couldn't win there: Xtreme Gaming proved to be stronger and won the final with a score of 3-1.
In the group stage of ESL One Birmingham 2024 Falcons played at the TOP-1 of Group A. However, the Falcons lost to Tundra 1-2 in the first round of the play-offs. In the bottom set of the play-offs, Falcons defeated Team Liquid by a 0-1 margin. Subsequently, the club from Saudi Arabia managed to win the tournament, running over BB Team in the grand finals.
Falcons went on to continue their winning streak as they won DreamLeague Season 23, FISSURE Universe: Ep. 3 and Dacha 2024, but fell short at The International 2024, finishing in the top 4. One of the few top teams that kept their roster after The International 2024.
DreamLeague Season 24 passed the first group stage confidently: they became the best team of Group B, winning it with the score 5-2-0. But the second part of the group stage is not easy, because as of the penultimate day of games, 6 November, they have a score of 3-2, which is far from guaranteeing passage to the play-offs.
Falcons' most popular heroes
Mars (6 matches, 66% wins), Pango (5 matches, 60% wins), Hoodwink (5 matches, 60% wins), Doom (4 matches, 75% wins), Shadow Demon (4 matches, 75% wins) appeared most often in the picks.
Spirit Form
We continue our breakdown of the Spirit vs Falcons match with an analysis of Spirit's match form. In this match they are playing in Underpassdog status with odds to win around 3.4.
In the first round of DPC 2023: EEU Division 1 Spirit were ranked 2nd. Then the dragons were prevented from winning by BB Team, who finished the tournament in first place with a score of 7-0. After playing in their home league, Team Spirit visited The Lima Major 2023 where they finished in the top 8.
Later Spirit played the second round of the home league and again finished in the top 2. Going to The Berlin Major 2023 they expected to improve the result of the previous Major, but in the end it got worse: already TOP-12.
Despite the "sluggish" game on the international arena, Spirit still consistently come out of the groups at the Major, and at home they look like the main contender for victory in every game. This was the case in the third season of DPC 2023.
Spirit finished the Eastern Europe final cycle in first place. It took 3 tries to earn the championship in Eastern Europe.
- Team Spirit roster: Satanic, Larl, Malik, Rue, Miposhka.
Spirit visited The Bali Major 2023, but the trip there ended in failure. The team finished in the top 12 and didn't make it to the prizes.
Team Spirit made it to the Riyadh Masters 2023 directly into the group stage. The Dragons finished with a score of 8-6 and the second place in Group A.
Once in the play-offs Team Spirit started their way to the grand finals. In the first match they outplayed Team Aster, after a very difficult Long Srpeg on two maps.
Next was BB Team and almost identical series: Spirit fell behind on all 3 maps, but somehow won 2-1.
In the match to reach the grand finals they played against Liquid. After giving up the first map, they cameback on the second and demolished Liquid on the third. At the Riyadh Masters 2023, Spirit were transformed into macro masters. Not least because of this, Spirit became the champions of the biggest tournament of the year.
Before the Long Sogpeg The International 2023, Spirit became the champions of DreamLeague Season 21. In the grand finals, they ran over Shopify Rebellion by a score of 3-0.
At The International 2023, the Dragons are still unbeaten. Spirit became the only team not to lose a single game in the first stage of the group stage, finishing 8-0. They were in dominant form throughout the tournament, taking home the Aegis of Immortals trophy.
Things were not so smooth in the 2024 season. Spirit finished top-4 at DreamLeague Season 22 and won PGL Wallachia Season 1, but they couldn't get above top-8 and top-12 at the Riyadh Masters 2024 and The International 2024, respectively.
The first stage of the group stage of DreamLeague S24, Team Spirit went 3-3-1 in Basket B. The second stage of the group stage are doing quite well: in 5 games they have played to a score of 4-1.
Team Spirit's most popular characters
The top of the most popular Team Spirit characters is headed by Crystal Maiden. The character has appeared in the peak 6 times and has 83% wins.
Apart from Crystal Maiden, Disruptor and Underlord are also appreciated, having been peaked 5 times each with 80% winrate. There was also Skywrath Mage (4 matches, 100% wins), Doom (4 matches, 75% wins), PL, Viper, Slark, Riki appeared 3 times each and has 100% wins.
History of head-to-head meetings between Spirit and Falcons
Falcons have beaten Spirit 3 times in the 2024 season. Another 1 match ended in a draw and one more ended in a Spirit victory.
Predicted result of Falcons - Spirit at DreamLeague Season 24
In this match I expect Falcons to win. The shaky score does not allow them to play with their sleeves down, while Spirit, although in a good position in the second stage of the group stage, are still undergoing adaptation and playing with a new squad.
Bottom line: Falcons win.