Team Liquid – Thunder Awaken: Europeans get revenge
ESL One Stockholm Dota Major 2022 is one of the most anticipated Dota 2 events of the year. The best team will be decided among the 14 competitors. Alas, the event will be held without China – players from that country will not be able to attend the tournament due to coronavirus restrictions. But the other top teams will take part in this grand showdown, a celebration for all Dota 2 fans.
The meeting between Team Liquid and Thunder Awaken promises to be very interesting. Both teams are considered to be very strong, so to win will not be easy for either of them. It is also not easy to predict the outcome of the match, as neither team can be evaluated at all.
Team Liquid are in very good shape at the moment. They are one of the strongest teams in their region. Its success at the international level is not yet that impressive. But, in this situation, it’s quite possible that ‘the best is yet to come’. One reason to think so is the team’s third place at the West European Dota Pro Circuit 2021/22, which, of course, is not the best result after last year’s DPC victory, but the team still shouldn’t be written off as losers. Thus, at Gamers Without Borders 2022, despite losing to Tundra Esports in the first match, it performed very well, then scored two clean victories. Then defeat followed, but then the team did not present their best squad. Now, it’s a very different team.
Thunder Awaken is without a doubt the strongest team in the South American region at the moment, and they have proved it at Dota Pro Circuit 2021/22, winning all seven of their matches, including six 2-0 victories. The team also claimed victory in BTS Pro Series Season 10, a tournament that featured top teams from across America. All these results are impressive, of course, but there’s a very significant nuance. Both Americas do not particularly rank in the Dota 2 world in terms of player level. There are far fewer high level cyber athletes in that segment than in Europe or Asia. Therefore, the success of American teams on the international stage is very, very modest. Therefore, we can safely assume that Thunder Awaken, who is the strongest team in South America, will have a hard time in the majors. Especially since the team has no history of winning tournaments of this kind. At The International in October 2021 the team finished in last place with a total loss to all opponents on all maps.
Based on the teams’ head-to-head history, predicting the outcome of their current match is difficult, as each team has won once and one of the meetings ended in a draw. It turns out that the winner of this match will come out ahead in the standings of the personal “showdown” between the rivals.
However, most experts are inclined to believe that Team Liquid has the more promising prospects in this case. The bookmakers’ odds for a 2-0 victory for this team are 1.80.
