Welcome to EGamersWorld.
DreamLeague Season 21 is getting closer and closer. Today, the penultimate day of play-offs will take place at the biggest commercial tournament before the International 2023.
The main match of the day will be a clash between Shopify Rebellion and Team Spirit. The teams will compete for the first slot in the grand finals of DreamLeague Season 21.
We will try to see which of the teams will be stronger and make it to the grand finals of the tournament, who will have to fall to the lower grid and snatch a win there to get to the grand finals.
Let's go.
Team Spirit uniforms
Let's open the match analysis with an analysis of Team Spirit's form. In this match, the team will play the number one.
This is what the esports betting sites are betting on. The odds for Team Spirit's victory are at 1.38.
It is not difficult to believe in such a state of affairs. It's enough to remember Spirit's recent victory at the Riyadh Masters 2023, and also look at their play during DreamLeague Season 21 to make sure of it. And it's been a very difficult season.
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 7-0 score. 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 attempts to earn the championship in Eastern Europe.
- Team Spirit roster: Yatoro, Larl, Collapse, Mira, Miposhka.
The last tournament before DreamLeague Season 20 for the Dragons was DreamLeague S20. There the representatives of Eastern Europe took the top 5, which is not a bad indicator, considering the above mentioned performance for the year.
Spirit visited The Bali Major 2023, but their trip there ended in failure. The team finished in the top 12, not making 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.
The DreamLeague S21 group stage, as well as the first play-offs match, went smoothly. In the group they took the top 1 in quartet B, and in the first round of play-offs they defeated Tundra with a score of 2-0, without any problems.
Team Spirit's most popular characters
The top most picked Team Spirit characters is led by Crystal Maiden. The character has appeared in the peak 6 times and has an 83% win rate.
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.
Shopify Rebellion Form
We continue our breakdown of the match with an analysis of Shopify Rebellion's match form. In this match they are playing in Underpassdog status.
Bookmakers are not ready to believe in SR's success after their first match in the play-offs and in the match against Spirit in general. The odds for a win are at around 2.8.
This is a completely legitimate position that Shopify Rebellion have come to on their own. They've been playing erratically all year, but at DreamLeague Season 21 they managed to give a huge highlight, for which they are to be commended.
On Shopify Rebellion's home stage, they finished in the top 2 twice. In the third round, Arteezy and company finally snatched the championship.
At The Lima Major 2023, Shopify Rebellion made it all the way to the top 4. The top three were prevented, unexpectedly, by Talon Esports.
In addition to The Lima Major 2023, the team played at DreamLeague Season 19, and they played even better than the Peruvian major. Cooler because they played with substitutes (the inexperienced Mikey played as a substitute for Abed) and reached the top 3 of the tournament for $1,000,000.
Then there was The Berlin Major 2023 with a dismal top-12, and then the third round of DPC 2023: NA Division 1. The latter went better: SR took the top spot, guaranteeing themselves passage to The Bali Major 2023, and actually made it to The International 2023.
- Shopify Rebellion roster: Arteezy, Abed, SaberLight, Cr1t, Fly.
At DreamLeague Season 20 SR again played with substitutes, but this time they failed to repeat the success of the DL S19 period: Shopify Rebellion failed to pass the first group stage of the DL and, like Liquid, left the championship early.
After the 20th season of DreamLeague Shopify Rebellion played two major events: Bali Major 2023 and Riyadh Masters 2023. Both championships ended miserably: TOP-12 and TOP-16 respectively.
The International is more interesting than Shopify's position at DreamLeague Season 21. Having fallen into Group A to such serious opponents as Liquid and Talon. Nevertheless, Shopify Rebellion took the first place in their basket, thereby advancing to the top of the play-offs.
In the first play-offs match of DreamLeague Season 21 Shopify Rebellion had to mobilise all the knowledge and all the skill to defeat the Eastern European residents from BB Team. The match ended with the score 2-1 in favour of Shopify, and Arteezy for the first time in a long time gave not a meme highlight, but a game-changing moment.
Shopify Rebellion's most popular heroes
Shopify Rebellion is most often played by Crystal Maiden (8 matches, 62% wins), Storm Spirit (7 matches, 57% wins), Doom (7 matches, 57% wins).
There was also Rubick (5 matches, 80% win rate), Terrorblade (4 matches, 75% wins), Underlord (4 matches, 75% wins).
History of head-to-head matches
Previously SR and TS teams have played each other three times during the season and they have full parity. Each side has one match and one draw.
Predicted result of the match Shopify Rebellion - Team Spirit at DreamLeague Seasno 21
Despite Shopify Rebellion's willful victory, they look weaker against Spirit. As far as I am concerned, the Dragons will pass SR without much difficulty, and the Americans will not be able to win with the help of "intervention of higher powers".
Bottom line: Spirit wins.