The playoffs of Dota 2 Champions League season two kick off tonight with Alliance taking on Virtus.Pro. VP are major underdogs of the match, in the last 15 maps played between the two - Alliance have won every single one.
After winning the group in season one, and then continued to win the entire event, Alliance "only" managed to take the second place of the group this time around. They finished right after Team Empire, a team which basically everyone are struggling against for the time being. Virtus.Pro managed to miraculously turn around their last place finish from last season to a third place in group B. They actually ended with the same amount of points as Cloud9 but since they lost the head-to-head encounter, they had to settle for the third place.
Whereas it is easy to establish the shape and form of Alliance, it is trickier with Virtus.pro. They have been lacking consistent results basically ever since the reformation following The International, mostly relying on the occasional upset. Their unpredictability can of course also be a strength, since opponents might not know which heroes they will run. However, in the case of Alliance versus Virtus.pro, Alliance are most likely not going into the match with too much anxiety as the record between the teams speak in favour of Alliance - to say the least. Over the last ten matches, Alliance won all of them, they even denied a single map to be given to Virtus.pro, making it 15 maps win streak for Alliance when facing Virtus.pro. The last time the Russian squad beat the Swedes in an official game was June last year.
When struggling with winning even a single game, a best-of-fives series is even less likely to go VP's way. They would have to prepare a lot to overcome the obstacle that is Alliance but one should never do the mistake of counting a team out too soon. Given the nature of the long series as well as the trolling seen in recent games by Alliance, VP should have a shot at breaking their 0-games-won streak at the very least. If the first game goes to Alliance, it is likely that they will try something alternative in the second game, thus giving VP an opening to even out the series. It also needs to be mention that VP has changed roster a few times along the road and Alliance have yet to face their current roster.
The match goes live at 19.30 CET tonight (2.30am SGT, 2.30pm EST). The winning team moves on to face Natus Vincere in the semi finals.
Wins-Losses-Draws : 258-74-4 (77%) - matches
Last 20 matches : 25 - 10 (71.4%) - maps
Common :
Look out for :
Wins-Losses-Draws : 174-156-9 (53%) - matches
Last 20 matches : 10-18 (35.7%) - maps
Common :
Look out for :
?Photo source: PerfectWorld (GodKillThemAll), GosuGamers (s4)
