Things are looking great for BB as they won their open qualifier matches earlier against Eclot, 500, and ITB to lock their slot for the closed qualifiers. This closed qualifier will be the real test since they'll be going up against the top 20 teams like NiP, Apeks, and 9INE.

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Also, more league betting because today there's the LCS Championship match between DIG and GG. My bet is on GG's -1.5 handicap @1.55 and I expect they'd wake up after getting knocked by NRG because they've been performing better overall and I see a decent gap between these two teams. They just had an unlucky matchup in the upper bracket and faced an NRG team that always shows up against the top teams.

The rule you've mentioned for TI is still there, so having two or more teams from the same org is probably okay when that rule is in place. It only matters when both of them qualify for TI and will be forced to pick from one of the two teams.



The slot for the SEA is good enough, I think Bleed deserves it the most, but for China, it's tough when there are a few good teams like AR and XG that can shock the other teams on the international stage.

ASTER is really strong this year. I am looking at the participants for China Qualifier, and I think there is no team that can compete against Team Aster. Maybe the closest competition will be IG or Xtreme Gaming. But based on the last competition they had; Aster is the throw-in to reach TI this year. Expect Sumail in TI 2023.

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China Qualifier will begin in a few hours. The matches are not that exciting yet though. It seems almost all the matches later will be one-sided leaning on the heavy favorites: Aster, IG, Xtreme, and Azure.

Here is the schedule for the matches later.




I think Execration deserves the slot more. This year, they have been consistently in the top 3 on all three tours. They just fell short to qualify for TI. It is their last chance to get on the top since the top dogs in SEA are already qualified for TI.

It will be a tough competition between the teams in this SEA qualifier. There is only one slot open, and 14 teams vying for that slot. It will not be as tough as WEU, but I am sure it will still be good to watch.

The matches for SEA qualifiers will begin a week from now so these teams still have a lot of time to prepare.

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Speaking of SEA qualifiers, there is a new team: Made in Philippines. This all-Filipino team is from the disbanded Xerxia which failed to qualify for TI. They are Division II teams and finished last in Tour 3 of SEA Division I. They still have a chance to qualify for TI this year and hopefully, they could be better now that they are all Filipino. Will be watching this team and support my fellow filipino players.

Bet on all four of the Gamers8 CS:GO matches yesterday and the first two ended in the 2:0.
I had a bet on both Navi&ENcE to end the same way but ended up losing the bets.

Noticed while scrolling through the livestreams of the matches there was a another Gamers8 tournament but for StarCraft.
Is this right? That old game that mostly had a heavy following in the Korean tournaments is making a comeback into the ESports Arena once more?
Isn't the game 30 years old now from the old WarCraft days, am I right?

My only bet was on Navi, but i'm glad I avoided taking the handicap because it's hard to trust any team on the first day.

Later today, I have the Faze m2 handicap and this should be their map pick since the lower-seeded teams are always given the first map pick.



That Starcraft tournament was two weeks ago, but i'm not sure if their competitive scene is making a comeback because I regularly see Starcraft odds being offered by the sportsbooks.

I still think they deserve to qualify for TI. They fell short of qualifying through DPC points but if they put their acts together and be consistent, they should be able to get the last slot. I enjoy how they play the game and I hope they will qualify. There is only a week left before the SEA qualifiers begins so we will see if they can be consistent enough to snatch the TI slot from other strong contenders in SEA.

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CHINA QUALIFIER

Still no good competition today. Almost all the matches are 2-0 in the bottom bracket. Most games are under 30 minutes. It almost feels like the DOTA scene in China is downgrading.
The competition is not as fierce as the previous years. They are one of the powerful regions in DOTA but if this continues, SA might overtake them. SA competitiveness is improving lately.



Hopefully, it will be a different scenario in the upper-bracket semifinals. The top teams are scheduled to have their series tomorrow. The first game will be Aster vs XG and followed by IG vs AR.
I am not sure how competitive the teams will be, but I am hoping the series will not be as boring and as one-sided as the games in the previous days. Aster and Azure Ray are the favorites to win their matches but I am hoping that Xtreme and Invictus Gaming will not be easily disposed by the favorite.

This is to hope that the series tomorrow is not as boring as today and will go all the way to the third map.

OMG, what a huge odd for the match of Team Aster and Team Bright and those that have a bet with Team Bright which has the huge odd. You've won guys. And one sad thing is that we're not going to see Sumail again in this upcoming The International. How many TIs we've missed seeing him? Team Bright upset them and they're now eliminated. The NA and CN qualifiers are about to end by tomorrow and after that we're going to see the action in the other regions.

They're expected to be at least the flag bearer for this qualifier but not this time. I do remember those tournaments where when they took Sumail on their wings for this actually. But that's it, they've been beaten by Team Bright, and those folks that have bet on them surely made a lot of money with the odds that are really high on this match. I thought that they were going to go easy with Team Bright but was really a shock when they were the ones that have fallen apart against TB.

Azure Ray is on TI 2023! This team is looking deadly on map rotation and I can't wait to see more from them on TI as I can already see a deep tournament for them.

Next one is B8 vs Dogchamp and I have a feeling B8 and Dendi will make something great happened and make their way up to TI. I would be happy to see him at a TI after such a long period but with the current team , I doubt B8 can do great things in tournament.