OGA Dota PIT Invitational Tips and Predictions

OGA Dota PIT Invitational is a 5-day tournament that marks the end of all Dota 2 competitions until The International 10. And the main reason why it’s such an important event is that 7 of its 8 participants will also take part in TI 10. With just 4 weeks to go until the biggest competition in the history of the game, the teams’ results will tell us a lot about their pecking order.

OGA Dota PIT Invitational Details

OGA Dota PIT Invitational takes place between September 6^th – 10^th. The tournament will be held online, on a European server. Its total prize pool is $275,000 and its number of participants is 8.

LGD
T1
Fnatic
SG Esports
Thunder Predator
Team Spirit
Tundra Esports
Team Undying

Competitive Format

The competitive format of OGA Dota PIT Invitational is very basic and consists of a double-elimination bracket. Everyone starts in the Upper Bracket and all matches are Bo3, except for the Grand Final (Bo5).

Favorites

The favorite teams to win the tournament are the following:

Tundra

Tundra is the winner of the recent ESL One Fall 2021, a competition in which they defeated both T1 and PSG.LGD. Fata and his crew are in great shape at the moment and even though they won’t play at TI 10, it’s clear that they’re a scary team to play against. PSG.LGD will need to spend quite a few hours studying their playstyle and figuring out a way to overcome them this time.

Because of its most recent results, Tundra is expected to play in the Grand Final of OGA Dota PIT Invitational with decent odds of winning the tournament.

PSG.LGD

PSG.LGD is, in theory, the team that should win the competition. With a world-class roster that’s currently estimated to be the strongest in the DPC, the Chinese competitor can only be stopped by one opponent: Tundra. This happened at the previous tournament, but the result was caused in part by PSG.LGD’s risky drafts.

One reason why Ame’s team may fail to win the title at OGA Dota PIT Invitational is that his roster will be playing with a stand-in. NothingToSay will be replaced by xiao8 and it’s not very clear how well the team can play in these new conditions. Of course, xiao8 is the team’s coach and a 32-year-old veteran who was part of many Chinese teams back in the glory days. He even won The International 2014 with Newbee. But does he still have the skill he once did? We’ll find out in the coming days.

T1

T1 had a poor start at ESL One Fall 2021, winning just 2 of its 5 Group Stage matches and losing to teams like Tundra and Spirit in the process. In the Playoffs, the team defeated Alliance (2 – 1) and beastcoast (2 – 0) in the Lower Bracket before getting eliminated by its nemesis, PSG.LGD (1 – 2).

However, T1’s performance looked very promising and the team wasn’t far from winning the match against PSG.LGD. Having one of the best players in the world (23savage) in its roster will certainly boost its capabilities in the long run. The latest Dota 2 patch has been released just a few weeks ago, so everyone is still trying to adapt to the changes. But the more time goes by, the more 23savage will master the new meta and probably start leading his team to new outstanding results.

At OGA Dota PIT, T1 is expected to finish 2^nd or 3^rd.

Photo credit: Valve