We continue to selectively review the matches of the European Pro League Season 4. The event is at the stage of the group stage, where 10 teams determine the top eight to reach the playoffs.
Ooredoo Thunders with Monaspa are among the contenders for the passage to the main stage of the event. Face-to-face confrontation between these two and see today at 15:00 EET.
Before the start of the match, we had a clear leader and a total outsider. Let's see if the teams can correct the opinion of the bookmakers and surprise us with an unpredictable event.
Shape Ooredoo Thunders
Ooredoo Thunders will play as the favorite in this match. The chance of winning the international mix is estimated by a coefficient of around 1.4.
Such a figure on the “lizards” looks quite adequate. Like it or not, we have a potential leader of the group stage.
This is not the first time that a hodgepodge named Ooredoo Thunders has taken part in events of this class and scale. In principle, it looks as if the team was created for these purposes.
The Ooredoo Thunders includes performers who have not managed to gain a foothold in the top teams, although they are promising. However, nobody canceled tournaments like European Pro League Season 4.
Ooredoo Thunders roster
- TA2000
- No!ob
- meLes
- Omar
- kaori
As I said above, the Ooredoo Thunders roster included “downed pilots”, who previously performed at a decent level. So, TA2000, aka Naive, at various times was part of Empire, Unique, Khan, Rune Eaters and so on. Since 2020, they have been trying to achieve success at the TIR-2 level, and the last achievement was the 8th place within the first division of Eastern Europe in the DPC.
No!ob is a guest of European mixes who also played in DPC. He has performed for Level Up, Spider Pigzs, Coolguys and others. Like TA2000, he didn't win in the last round: 8th place out of 8 possible playing for Coolguys.
meLes offlaner showed great promise after visiting reputable Eastern European clubs. Played for both Gambit Esports, PuckChamp, and the last club before Ooredoo was Team Empire,
OmaR is the youngest member of the Ooredoo Thunders, having previously played for the Coolguys along with No!ob. Kaori is TA2000's partner in Rune Eaters and other mixes.
Performance of Ooredoo Thunders
Since the team officially got together six months ago, they managed to play at various local tournaments, where they didn’t get much success, but within the framework of the European Pro League Season 4 specifically, things are going extremely well.
In the championship under the auspices of the EPL, the team takes the 1st place before the start of this match. The team has 5 wins in five matches, and not a single card has been given away, which is already something:
- 2-0 victory over No Bounty Hunter
- 2-0 victory over Yet Another Team
- 2-0 victory over Luna Gaming
- 2-0 victory over Into The Breach
- 2-0 victory over EZ Katka
The last win is actually free - EZ Katka withdrew from the tournament before the start of their games. The magic of local championships in all its glory.
Heroes of Ooredoo Thunders
They play in moderation, do not invent the wheel and try to show the strongest preparations. Most picked Ooredoo Thunders characters: Tiny (18 matches, 77% wins), Marci (14 matches, 92% wins), Death Prophet (14 matches, 64% wins), Pangolier (13 games, 92% wins), Batrider (12 games, 58% of wins).
I note that with a fairly large win rate, the heroes of Ooredoo Thunders have a high win rate. This indicates the level of play of the “lizards” in relation to their counterparts.
Monaspa form
Monaspa will stand on the other side of the barricades in the match. The chance of winning the European mix is estimated by the odds around 2.8.
It's not hard to believe this figure given Monaspa's performance at this event. Otherwise, the figure looks slightly overestimated.
In general, Monaspa is similar in structure and concept to Ooredoo Thunders. The team, like the Eastern European counterpart, consists of experienced players who have been treading water in the field of TIR-2 for a long time.
Composition Monaspa
- Nande
- W1sh
- Skylark
- dEsire
- SsaSpartan
In fact, this is Brame with only one correction for Nande. The Greek backbone, who previously became famous for playing for Ad Finem, has been playing under the same banner in cooperation with W1sh for a long time. Monaspa seems to be just a transition period before joining any organization for the next season.
A kind of rebranding of Brame into Monaspa took place after the failure at the Western European qualifiers for The International 2022. However, there is always a place for local tournaments.
Monaspa Performance
Although the team actually ended up outside the DPC system, being eliminated from the second division in the third round of Western Europe, this does not prevent them from continuing to play outside the cycle. Pretty good to play, though.
So, for example, Monaspa recently won D2CL Season 15. Due to the lack of teams like the BB Team, the competition was not the biggest, but already an indicator.
The team also took first place in the last season of the European Pro League. Here, within the framework of the 4th season of the already regular event, things are not going very well so far: the team is in 8th place in the group table, having 1 victory and 1 defeat in its assets:
- Lost to Water Rune Enjoyers 2-0
- 2-1 victory over Into The Breach
Considering the format of the long group stage, nothing critical happened here. Monaspa will still have the opportunity to get up the playoffs.
Heroes Monaspa
Like Ooredoo Thunders, they play meth. Most Picked Characters in 7.32: Tiny (21 games, 71% win rate), Earthshaker (20 matches, 80% win rate), Snapfire (18 games, 83% win rate), Beastmaster (16 games, 75% win rate), Viper (13 matches, 69% of wins).
History of personal confrontations
The teams had time to play with each other during the last season of European Pro League Season 3. The culmination of the history of face-to-face fights was the final of the last season, where Monaspa won with a score of 3-2.
Match outcome
In this fight, we should expect quite good DotA, given the level and, most importantly, the closeness of the teams in terms of gameplay. Both teams know how to press buttons - a fact.
The most save outcome for me would be +1.5 handicap on Monaspa. The fact of last season's victory and Monaspa's classic run-up during the group stage should play a role.
Result: +1.5 on Monaspa.
