Welcome to EGamersWorld, friends.
The road to The International 2023 continues. We've already witnessed the failure of Aster in China and the triumph of Nouns in North America and now it's time to talk about the neighbouring region - South America.
The International 2023 - South America Qualifier will feature 11 teams. This year the region is in honour, and that's why not one, but 2 local teams will get a ticket to TI 12. That's why we are expecting fierce battles for 2 tickets to the main tournament of the year.
Thunder Awaken and Balrogs will open the qualifying matches for The International 2023 - South America Qualifier. The former, by the way, are the favourites for the whole qualifiers, which means that their matches should not be missed.
Let's find out who will be the strongest in this match and will go through to the next round of the South American Qualifiers, and who will have to go to the lower grid and play against Lava.
Let's go.
Thunder Awaken uniforms
We start the match analysis with an analysis of Thunder Awaken's form. In this match they are playing as favourites with odds to win at around 1.1.
You should not be surprised by this state of affairs. Thunder Awaken have scored 343 DPC points and had a good season in general, which makes them favourites not only for the match, but also for all qualifications.
In the first season Thunder Awaken played worse than expected. Then the club took only 3 maps out of 7, which did not allow them to rise above the top 5.
However, in the case of Thunder Awaken this result is not bad. The team kept their place in the top division, which is already great.
Further, they improved their performance. In the second cycle of DPC 2023: SA Upper Division, Thunder Awaken climbed to the third line, Ledge only to the main competitors for the victory in general - beastcoast and Evil Geniuses. Basically, they are now close to repeating the result.
- Thunder Awaken roster: Knight, SLATEM$, ILICH, n1ght, Mjz .
In addition to the DPC ranking ecosystem, the team played outside of its format, but local tournaments in the 1XPLORE LATAM series, where they won twice, but the main focus is still on the league.
At DPC 2023: SA Division 1 Tour 3 Thunder Awaken Thunder Awaken made it to the top 3, which, however, was not enough to advance to Bali Major 2023.
After the third round, DPC won 1XPLORE LATAM #4, EPL World Series: America Season 5, and Phygital Gamers 2023 Season 2.
Thunder Awaken's most popular characters
The most frequent guest in Thunder Awaken spades is Crystal Maiden. The character has appeared 15 times, while having a winrate of 60%.
Besides CM honours Dawnbreaker (11 games, 81% win rate), Zeus (9 matches, 44% win rate), Marci (9 matches, 33% win rate), Nyx Assassin (8 matches, 62% win rate).
Form Balrogs
We continue our match analysis with an analysis of Balrogs' match form. In this match they are a clear outsider with win odds around 5.
There is no doubt about the pre-match state of affairs. Balrogs are far from the top teams, while Thunder Awaken are as close to them as possible.
The Balrogs have played everywhere at once (12 tournaments in one year). The main effort, however, is on playing in the DPC.
Balrogs played in the second division of the DPC 2023 SA Tour 1: Division II. They were unable to make it to the top division, finishing in 3rd place at 4-3.
However, Balrogs' ascension was made possible during the previous round of the DPC 2023 Division II SA Tour. A year later, in fact, Balrogs returned to League One, finishing in second place in Division Two.
- Balrogs line-up: DCMC, Nengo, Sexyfat, Demon, Accel .
In the third round of the DPC Balrogs slumped. Having just entered the top league, they failed miserably and took the last place on DPC SA 2023 Tour 3: Division 1. This led to changes in the roster, namely the addition of Sexyfat and Accel, which to me serves as a boost.
After the third round Balrogs played at the very local LATAM Rookie Challenge 6, where they finished top 2. There was also the Copa Battle Fury 2023 showmatch.
The most popular Balrogs characters
The most chosen character in Balrogs is Keeper of the Light. The character appeared 7 times and 28% wins.
Ember Spirit has been selected 5 times and won 3 matches. Crystal Maiden (5 matches, 0% wins), Undying (4 matches, 75% wins), Underlord, Rubick, Disruptor (4 matches each, 0% wins) have also been tried.
Head-to-head history
Balrogs and Thunder Awaken have played 4 matches against each other in 2023. Of these, 1 of them have been won by Balrogs.
Predicted result of Thunder Awaken vs Balrogs at The International 2023 South America Qualifier
I'm sure Thunder Awaken will win, and they should do it quite easily. The Long Island factor of the qualifiers certainly plays into the outsider's hands, but the Thunder should not be intimidated.
Bottom line: 2-0 Thunder win.
