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PSG.LGD will face OG in PGL Arlington Major semifinals

The first two matches of the playoffs of Dota 2’s PGL Arlington Major 2022 are over. The favorites won,... Radu M. | 9. August 2022

The first two matches of the playoffs of Dota 2’s PGL Arlington Major 2022 are over. The favorites won, but not without a fight. The matchup they will play in the semifinals of the upper bracket might as well have been the Grand Final.

In OG’s case, the strength of the team is there but not without flaws. PSG.LGD on the other hand, looks absolutely invincible. It will be interesting to see if someone can defeat them in their current form. OG will be the next team to try.

Predictions for PSG.LGD vs. OG matchup

One of the things that characterize PSG.LGD’s drafts is the versatility. Even though there’s a meta in place and everyone tries to stick to it, PSG.LGD will likely pick low win rate heroes and win with them. Just like before, they will ignore common sense and just follow their own rules. In the match against BOOM, for example, they picked Death Prophet and Zeus in the same game. Both of these heroes have abysmal win rates and it’s really hard to make them work well together. But in the hands of PSG.LGD’s players, they looked amazing.

OG are much more traditional when it comes to drafting, mainly because their players have clear preferences for certain heroes. However, that’s not a severe limitation, because they too can use a wide range of options if needed. But the patterns are obvious from the outside and it’s unlikely that OG will break them unless they are forced.

A team like PSG.LGD is very likely to allow them to pick whatever they want and just prepare a counter-strategy. When your opponent feels comfortable with certain heroes, that’s actually a great opportunity to predict in advance what they’re going to do or what the keys of a lineup are and then just counter it.

PSG.LGD and OG already played against each other in the group stage of PGL Arlington Major and at Riyadh Masters 2022. Both times, the Chinese team won.

One thing that gives OG a chance in this match is their ability to learn as they go and become stronger as the tournament advances. We’ve already seen this multiple times, especially at The International.

Players like Sebastien “Ceb” Debs and Johan “N0tail” Sundstein have an incredible ability to read what everyone else is trying to do and then find an approach that counters all the other strategies. It remains to be seen if they’re ready for PSG.LGD. The odds are heavily stacked against them.

Header: OG