Even as some of the best Apex Legends teams make their way down to Raleigh, North Carolina, others might have to do so without fielding their complete roster. In the case of Team Empire, they will completely miss the event due to difficulty obtaining a visa.

While this is the most recent bad news coming from ALGS Championship participants, it is not the first. Recall that Element 6’s Ali “Naghz” Naghawi will miss the event for the same issue. The UK player was denied a visa and blamed the organizers for the late announcement of the tournament date.

Team Empire, who had the best run in the EMEA split 2 pro league and an eighth-place finish in the playoffs have been forced to give up their spot. At the time of publishing, a replacement team had not been announced.

The organization revealed that players Kirill “RANCHES” Rulinwere, Denis “cleaveee” Rassokhin, and Alexey “Maliwan” Rusinov had all been denied visas to enter the United States, making it impossible to be present at the LAN event.

Seeing as all three players were denied, the team was forced to withdraw rather than look for replacements. Due to difficulties in obtaining visas, multiple teams from the Asia-Pacific region have been forced to use emergency replacements in their lineups.

So far, Team Empire is the only full team that’s been denied entry to the United States, which suggests that Empire’s problems might stem from Russia’s frosty international relations with nearly every other country in the world. The strained relations are due to their ongoing attack on Ukraine.

It undoubtedly will be more upsetting for Team Empire seeing as other CIS squads were given visas to participate. FA Kitties fields a three-man team of Russians, and two of ZETA DIVISION’s players are also Russians.

It is sad to see Team Empire out of the tournament, especially as they were considered favorites to win the competition. Fans have taken a liking to their hyper-aggressive playstyle and team composition.

In the Stockholm LAN, Team Empire managed a top-ten finish while using less popular legends like Mad Maggie in the tournament which was dominated by Valkyrie and Gibraltar. They have shown an innate understanding of the game, and not relied solely on legends.

The four-day event will commence on July 7 and will run through to July 10. Originally, 40 teams ought to participate, but it remains unclear if Empire will be replaced or if the organizers will consider a format change.

Regardless, all teams will fight for a piece of the $2,000,000 prize pool at PNC Arena. The finals will host 20 teams, and the winner will be whoever wins a match first after being “match point eligible.” To get to that stage, a team must first reach 50 points in the finals.

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On June 22, the Russian announced his return to competitive Dota 2 play under the Team Empire banner. Before joining Empire, his last competitive game was as a member of felt in April 2022.

“This season I’ll play for Team Empire. We’ll see what happens later. Tomorrow we have a match against HellRaisers, come and cheer for us!”

The offlaner was thrilled to play for Empire during the DPC 2022 Tour 3, and other upcoming tournaments. Unfortunately, his stay with the team was immediately cut short by his volition.

After one day of competing with the team, the 30-year-old chose to step down. He believed his performance was hurting the team, pointing out that he did not get the excitement he hoped to while competing.

The veteran asked the team to replace him, saying that he does not want to play competitive Dota 2 anymore.

“I’m in full apathy from these games as if I don’t understand what’s happening, and play badly the game I don’t really want to play competitively. I feel like I only make it worse for Empire, so I asked them to pick another guy, who at least launched the game in the last two weeks, aside from officials.”
Illidan’s first run with Team Empire was as a stand-in for Arslan “Retrograde” Shadzhanov. Their initial run was a success, as he helped them win two games.

Unfortunately, things have gone downhill for them as they have lost their last three games. In their last DPC EEU Division II game, they got swept by HellRaisers in the best-of-3 series.

Despite starting the tournament with a 2-1 series win over X3, they currently sit seventh in the standings. With only three weeks of action left, there is no chance of Team Empire advancing to Division I for the next DPC season.

Given how things have turned out, Team Empire will be looking for another carry player to replace Illidan. Their next match is against PuckChamp on July 1, which gives them a few days to find a suitable replacement.

It is worth noting that Team Empire might have a difficult time selecting a player seeing as the season has already started. Most of the “good” players are likely tied to contracts for the rest of the season, which suggests that whoever gets chosen might not be a long-term pick.

With Division I qualification of their reach, Team Empire will be fighting for a spot in the current division. A top-six finish will guarantee that for the Russian team.

Meanwhile, Illadan has not revealed what he will do in the future. However, there is a chance that he might take up streaming full-time.

The post Illidan announces departure from Team Empire a day after joining appeared first on Esport Bet.

?The latest odds at esports betting sites suggest HellRaisers should win this match 94.2% of the time, which is way too high. While the favourites are the more established and successful team with better players, the odds on Fantastic Five are too good to ignore.

We’re still in the online era of Dota 2 where results are as unpredictable as ever, so there is no real reason to have one team priced as +700 underdogs. What’s more, F5 didn’t look all that bad in their loss against Team Empire on Sunday.

HellRaisers are no strangers to losing against much weaker opponents, and they have played only two games across the last month. At these odds, we’re ready to take a shot on the outsiders.

?We’re not too big on Prosti Esli in this matchup. It’s not that we believe they’re a bad team, but they shouldn’t be priced as low as they are for this contest.

Team Empire have had their fair share of struggles this year, but they should improve now that they have Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorokhod in the roster. His impact has already been felt, as Empire looked far more organised in their 2-0 sweep of Fantastic Five last week.

Empire still have a lot of issues they need to fix, but they’re facing a team whose only official match was a narrow 2-1 victory against the struggling B8. Back the outsiders for the win.

The post ESL One Eastern Europe Lower Division tips & odds – 22/4/2021 appeared first on Esport Bet.

Team Vitality (+149) have made a couple of changes to their roster in preparation for Season 11 and are now set to showcase their strength against one of the strongest teams in the league.

Vitality finished S10 at a disappointing fifth place and shortly after benched Jordan “Quaal” Leroy and later Martin “Spark” Eberhard. Vitality then signed Lucas “Hungry” Reich from PENTA and Daniel “Goga” Mazorra Romero from G2 Esports as their replacements.

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Goga is a highly talented player and a former world champion with vast experience under his belt. While he had a down season with G2 last year, Goga is still regarded as one of the best players in the league and should add some much-needed quality to Vitality.

Hungry might not be as experienced as Goga, but he still brings enough raw talent and flexibility to the team to boost their chances of making something happen this season. While Hungry suffered relegation with PENTA last season, he was the only player on the German team to have a positive KDA.

As we see it, Goga and Hungry are exactly what Vitality needed. But while we believe both arrivals will have a positive impact on the team, it’s tough to say whether it will be enough for Vitality to have a strong start of the season.

Vitality’s first real test will come this Monday when they lock horns with Team Empire (-222.22), who are one of the most feared teams in the Rainbow Six Siege esports scene.

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Empire boast five players who are all capable of performing to the highest level no matter the circumstances or the role they play, which is why we expect great things from them this season.

While they only finished in fourth place last season, Empire won the Raleigh Major in dominant fashion. They lost only one round en route to the title, and even that came in their 3-1 win over G2 in the grand finals.

Empire had performed well on the domestic stage in the lead-up to their win in Raleigh, but they fell off in the second half of the season. They put up several iffy displays in the run home, notably their stalemates against PENTA and GiFu in week eight and 10 respectively.

What exactly caused Empire to underperform is still a mystery, but we can speculate. Empire were undefeated before the Major, so it could be that other teams put all their time and energy into forging a plan to derail them.

SEE ALSO: ESPORTS LEAGUES & TOURNAMENTS

Empire’s biggest weapon last season was their unique playstyle, which left many teams baffled as they were unable to counter it, but with time, even Empire got figured out and the result of that is clearly seen.

The other thing which might have contributed to Empire’s weaker performances after Raleigh is that they locked up a spot at the Six Invitational, which is a much more prestigious event than the Pro League Finals, so it is understandable Empire had no motivation to keep on pushing for a top finish in the league.

With that in mind, we can’t criticise Empire too much for their poor results towards the end of the last season. There is no reason to believe they will be anything less than one of the strongest teams in S11.

Empire’s prime goal at the start of this season will be to get off to a flying start in order to get their wheels spinning prior to the Invitational. Even though Vitality look stronger than last season, they won’t have an easy time against Empire.

Prediction: Team Empire to win – -222.22 at BetOnline

The post Team Vitality vs Team Empire predictions – Rainbow 6 Pro League appeared first on Esport Bet.

Although DreamLeague Season 9 is only a Minor, many of the world’s best teams will be attending it. As a result, the event offers great matches and excellent Dota 2 betting opportunities. Kenny R gives his free predictions below.

Prize distribution and participants

Because it belongs to the Dota Pro Circuit, DreamLeague Season 9 offers 300 qualification points in addition to the $300.000 prize pool. These rewards will be divided among participating teams in the following way:

• 1st place: 150 points; $125.000
• 2nd place: 90 points; $70.000
• 3rd place: 45 points; $30.000
• 4th place: 15 points; $30.000
• 5th – 6th place: 0 points; $15.000
• 7th – 8th place: 0 points; $7.500

DreamLeague Season 9 features 8 teams from 6 different regions:

• China: Newbee.
• Southeast Asia: Fnatic.
• North America: Immortals.
• South America: PaiN Gaming.
• CIS: Team Empire.
• Europe: Team Liquid, Team Secret, OG.

Dream League Season 9 event format

DreamLeague Season 9 will be played in a double-elimination bracket format with all of the teams starting in the upper bracket. All matches are Bo3, except for the Grand Final (Bo5).

Free betting tips for Dota 2 Dream League Season 9

Fnatic vs. OG

These two teams are of roughly the same strength, although Fnatic has a significant advantage due to the fact that OG lost a very important player recently. Resolut1on’s departure will no doubt have a negative short- term impact on OG’s teamplay and overall coordination.

Betting analysis: Bovada puts the odds at -135 / -105 or around 1.74 – 2.05 in favor of Fnatic, and at these odds a bet on the Southeast Asian team is definitely worthwhile.

Best bet: Back Fnatic at -138.89 at BetOnline

Newbee vs. Immortals

This match can only end one way, as it’s impossible for a team of Immortals caliber to beat Newbee not once, but twice. The Bo3 format ensures that the best team wins in the vast majority of cases.

Betting analysis: Bovada puts the odds at -1000 / +475 or around 1.10 – 5.75 in favor of Newbee, as this is basically free money to be made.

Best bet: Back Newbee at -1612.9 at BetOnline

Team Secret vs. Team Empire

This is another match between two teams of vastly different levels of skill. Team Secret will probably mop the floor with Team Empire, who is present at this event simply because the top CIS teams had no interest in it.

Betting analysis: Bovada puts the odds at -1000 / +475 or around 1.10 – 5.75 in favor of Team Secret, allowing you to make a 10% profit on an almost certain result.

Best bet: Back Team Secret at -1204.82 at BetOnline

Team Liquid vs. PaiN Gaming

PaiN Gaming’s performance at the recent WESG tournament was no doubt impressive, but it’s not exactly relevant going into this match. And that’s because the WESG tournament brought together mostly improvised teams made up of players of just one nationality. As a result, almost none of the world’s best teams attended the event. The only one who did was Virtus.pro. They replaced one player (No[o]ne, who is Ukrainian) and played under the name Team Russia. VP won WESG by defeating PaiN Gaming in the Grand Final.

Betting analysis: Since this is a Bo3 series, PaiN Gaming’s chances against the TI 7 champions are extremely low. Bovada puts the odds at -2500 / +800 or around 1.04 – 9.00 in favor of Team Liquid, as this will likely be a very easy match for the Europeans.

Best bet: Back Team Liquid at -2000 at BetOnline

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ALSO READ: DREAMLEAGUE SEASON 9 TEAM ANALYSIS

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The tournament will run from March 21-25 and is worth USD $300,000 with teams from Europe, South East Asia, North and South America and China battling it out.

Our man Kenny R lives and breathes Dota 2, he gives the lowdown on all the team news ahead of the start of the tournament.

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FREE PREDICTIONS: DOTA 2 DREAMLEAGUE SEASON 9 TIPS

Immortals

This is a North American team with a predominantly South Korean roster (3 out of 5 players). Immortals began the 2017-2018 competitive season with positive results, taking part in two Dota Pro Circuit events and even earning some qualification points for The International 2018. But, after the PGL Open Bucharest and AMD SAPPHIRE Dota PIT League Minors, Immortals went from one failure to another, losing 2 of its players and never qualifying for another important tournament until this one.
Going into DreamLeague Season 9, Immortals is expected to finish 7th-8th, being considerably weaker than most of the teams with the exception of Team Empire.

Team Empire

Like Immortals, this CIS team hasn’t seen the big stage in a pretty long time. Team Empire had 2 Dota Pro Circuit participations this season but hasn’t managed yet to earn any qualification points. At Captains Draft 4.0 it finished 5th-8th and at StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 4 it finished 5th-6th.
Team Empire is expected to finish DreamLeague Season 9 in one of the last 2 places.

OG

So close and yet so far away is the phrase that perfectly describes OG’s 2017-2018 competitive season up until this point. This legendary European team came close to qualifying or scoring points in a lot of Dota Pro Circuit tournaments this season, but always drowned right before reaching the shore of success. Ultimately, OG had to release Resolut1on and start searching for a new formula. At the moment, they’re playing with 7ckngMad (the team’s coach) as their midlaner.
OG is most likely to finish 5th-6th at this event, although they could potentially climb a bit higher if they manage to beat Fnatic in their first match.

Newbee

Although it has had its fair share of poor performances lately, Newbee is still one of the strongest teams in the world and should easily get a top 3 finish at this event. At the moment, this Chinese powerhouse is sitting at number 4 in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings with 2175 points.
If the first round of upper bracket matches contains no upsets, Newbee will face Team Secret in the upper bracket Semifinals. Last time they met (at the Bucharest Major), the Chinese team won the match with the score of 2 – 0.

Fnatic

Fnatic is likely the strongest team in Southeast Asia at the moment and has a very strong roster that’s capable of obtaining excellent results. Their last tournament ended poorly due to a miraculous Natus Vincere comeback. The CIS team was fighting against Mega Creeps and a had a 30K networth deficit, but somehow managed to steal the 3rd game of the match after Dendi bought a Divine Rapier on his Lina and went straight for Fnatic’s Ancient. The SEA team finished GESC: Indonesia Dota 2 Minor in 5th-6th place but is still a very strong opponent.
Going into DreamLeague Season 9, Fnatic is expected to finish 4th.

Team Secret

Team Secret is currently sitting at number 3 in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings with 4260 points. Puppey’s team has been on a slight decline over the past 10 weeks, placing 3rd-4th at ESL One Genting 2018 and 5th-6th ESL One Katowice 2018. Given the opposition present at DreamLeague Season 9, Team Secret is expected to finish either 2nd or 3rd.

PaiN Gaming

PaiN Gaming is a South American team with good international experience and at least 1 important result: 2nd place and World Electronic Sports Games.
During the 2017-2018 competitive season, Infamous has taken part in 3 tournaments: Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds, StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 4, and ESL One Katowice 2018. At each of these tournaments, the South American team finished in last place.
PaiN Gaming will likely finish 5th-6th at this event.

Team Liquid

Winner of The International 2017, Team Liquid is the 2nd placed team in the Dota Pro Circuit rankings and probably the strongest team participating in this tournament.
Team Liquid may not be at the top of its game right now, but the fact that KuroKy and his teammates are consistently in the top 4 in every tournament is undeniable. This level of consistency suggests that even though they can be defeated from time to time by the very best teams, Liquid has a solid foundation and is likely to make it to the grand final at every LAN event, including this one.

The post Dota 2 DreamLeague Season 9 team analysis 2018 appeared first on Esport Bet.