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Big Dota 2 is back with the Kuala Lumpur 2023 play-offs. Team Falcons and Azure Ray will open the main stage of the championship.
Both teams showed very high quality play in the group stage of the tournament and are now the main favourites to win the championship. Their face-to-face meeting promises to be hot.
Let's try to find out who will be stronger and qualify for the next round of play-offs, and who will be sent to the bottom of the first ranking tournament of the new season.
Let's go.
Team Falcons uniforms
Let's open the match analysis with an analysis of Team Falcons' form. In this match they will play as favourites with a minimal gap.
Falcons is a Saudi club that is preparing to conquer esports as a whole. The process is still underway, but even this Dota lineup is already hinting at plans to stay here for a long time.
In general, the tag is not new, but they were not able to achieve special fame. All they did was to play at the local Saudi eLeague. They played there in 2020, with TOP-6 and in 2021, with TOP-3 and TOP-1 respectively.
After a pause of a year, decided to return to the professional scene after Valve cancelled the DPC system. Breaking in with a leg.
- Falcons roster: skiter, Malr1ne, ATF, Cr1t, Sneyking .
The roster was assembled according to the "golden roster" principle. We managed to get two players from Tundra Esports, and at the same time champions of The International 2023 Skiter and Sneyking, Cr1t, who previously played for Shopify Rebellion and previously for EG, ATF, who showed a good performance last season in PSG Quest and before that in Nigma with OG, and closed everything with a promising mid laner Marl1ne.
In the MENA region, where Falcons are based, this squad has no competition even at the skilla level. As it happens, the Falcons have already clinched their ticket to Kuala Lumpur 2023.
First, they passed the open qualification without any difficulty, and then, again without much trouble, slammed the closed part of the qualifiers. In the final, by the way, they beat PSG Quest by a score of 3-1. What one and two are doing in the MENA region is not entirely clear, but come on.
At Pinnacle: 25 Year Anniversary Show Falcons look very confident so far, which is to be expected. They have already earned their place in the play-offs by coming out of Group B in first place without losing a single game in three matches.
The Falcons started their appearance in the Pinnacle play-offs: 25 Year Anniversary Show with a first round match against Level Up. An easy win took the Falcons to The dudley boys and there the Falcons got their first and only loss of the tournament. They were beaten by The dudley boys, who were given a rematch by the Falcons in the grand final.
In the end, the Pinnacle: 25 Year Anniversary Show Falcons took first place and earned $50,000. The triumph at the local championship was the Falcons' first win in the discipline.
In the group stage of ESL Kuala Lumpur 2023, Falcons showed class. They took a solid second place in their basket, winning the stage with a 7-3 map score.
The most popular Falcons heroes
Io (6 matches, 66% win rate), Death Prophet (5 matches, 60% win rate), Chen (5 matches, 60% win rate), Dawnbreaker (4 matches, 75% win rate), Earth Spirit (4 matches, 75% win rate) appeared most often in spades.
Form Azure Ray
We continue our breakdown of the match with a review of Azure Ray's match form. I believe that they will be playing as a number two in this match.
Azure Ray looked like a team playing for results only, i.e. to get to the Major at the Long Run last season. We've seen a similar story with super teams coming together, some results in the first few months and oblivion at the end.
I'm not sure that Azure Ray will follow the same scenario, but there are concerns about it. For now, though, we'll see.
Azure Ray made it to Bali Major 2023 by playing their home league. They played at the top-4, which is not a decent indicator for a team with such names.
At Bali Major 2023 Azure Ray were one step away from elimination from the tournament. The Somnus team managed to beat Bleed on tiebreaks for the top-6 of Group B.
They didn't make it far in the play-offs, but top-8 is already an indicator. Especially if we take into account the "freshness" of the team as a unit.
Due to poor performance due to lack of practice, Azure Ray could not guarantee themselves a direct entry to The International 2023. The slot had to be earned during the qualifiers and Azure Ray managed it: in the final of the qualifiers they beat Xtreme Gaming with a score of 3-1.
At the main tournament of the year the famous Chinese got into Group B, where they faced top teams like Liquid and the same BB. They managed to secure the third place, after which they easily defeated Entity 2-0 in the knockout matches for seeding in the play-offs.
Azure Ray started the playoffs with a victory over the main tournament opener - the Nouns team. After beating the Americans Azure Ray met perhaps their main rival at this tournament - their compatriots from LGD Gaming. And that match they lost without a chance, with the score 0-2. Then Azure Ray beat BB Team, but in the match for the top 3 Ledge and Gaimin Gladiators.
At the end of The International 2023, Azure Ray finished in the top 4. At the Long Season 2024 they rebuilt the roster, strengthening it considerably.
- Azure Ray roster: Lou, Xm, Xss, XinQ, 天命.
Azure Ray's first major appearance was ESL Kuala Lumpur 2023. There they played well in the group stage, finishing top 1 in Group A. They won with a score of 8-2 on mapmaps.
The most popular Azure Ray heroes
The most popular hero of Azure Ray is Storm Spirit. The character has appeared 9 times and has a win rate of 66%.
Next are Pugna (8 matches, 62% win rate), Pangolier (7 matches, 71% win rate), Batrider (7 matches, 71% win rate), Techies (7 matches, 57% win rate).
There is also Keeper of the Light (6 games, 66% win rate), Silincer (6 matches, 50% win rate), Medusa (6 matches, 50% win rate).
History of head-to-head meetings Falcons - Azure Ray
Previously, the teams have not played each other in official matches.
Predicted result of Falcons vs Azure Ray at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023
In this match I expect an even game from the two teams. In my opinion, a great match for a full-fledged Bo3.
Bottom line: total +2.5.
