The first Dora 2 Major of Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2023 season, the Lima Major 2023, enters the playoffs on Tuesday, and here you can find our betting picks for three upper bracket quarterfinals games. Our esports tipster Michael Lee brings you his predictions for Gaimin Gladiators vs Team Aster, Entity vs Evil Geniuses, and Team Spirit vs Shopify Rebellion, who will meet on Tuesday, February 28.
Find our Esports betting tips below, and make sure to head over to Picklebet for all the best odds and markets for Esports in Australia.
Esports Betting Tips: Tuesday, February 28th 2023
Gaimin Gladiators vs Team Aster
Lima Major 2023
Gaimin Gladiators locked in the top group A seed with a 4-3-1 record and 11-5 in maps won, which landed them ahead of Team Spirit, Evil Geniuses, and Talon Esports. During the group stage, Gaimin Gladiators lost only against Evil Geniuses and had a few disappointing draws – against Execration and TSM, but overall, GG played exceptionally well.
As the top seed from their group, Gaimin Gladiators picked Team Aster, the only remaining Chinese representatives at the Major, as their next opponents. Despite Aster’s status as one of the world’s top teams, that isn’t shocking, seeing how they barely made it through Group B, with a 2-4-2 record and just two wins against Geek Slate and Knights.
Aster’s only notable results from the group stage included draws against Shopify Rebellion and Entity, which isn’t terrible, but it’s not enough for anyone to consider Aster a serious threat to win the Lima Major trophy.
Priced at just 1.40, Gaimin Gladiators are expected to win comfortably on Tuesday and based on the teams’ showings so far, that’s a fair assessment. But it’s not like Team Aster are weak, nor should they be looked down on due to their fourth-place finish in Group B.
They came close to beating Team Liquid and played solid Dota 2 throughout most of the group stage, so as much as I expect Gaimin Gladiators to win, I can also easily see this match going to three maps.
Over 2.5 maps
$2.10 (1 Unit)
Entity vs Evil Geniuses
Lima Major 2023
Entity placed second in Group B, behind Team Liquid and ahead of Shopify Rebellion, with a 4-3-1 record. Their only defeat happened against Team Liquid, while the three draws came against Aster, beastcoast, and Shopify Rebellion, which is fairly impressive.
It’s not like Entity are one of the leading candidates to win, though, but they’re playing well, and it wouldn’t shock me to see them reaching the semis. At the same time, we can’t ignore Evil Geniuses who’ve exceeded expectations.
With a 3-4-1 record, they finished Group A tied with Talon Esports and Team Spirit, and they’ve only lost against 2021 The International champions, Team Spirit. Interestingly, Evil Geniuses played a draw against Execration, PSG.LGD, and EHOME, yet defeated Tundra, Gaimin Gladiators, and TSM.
Those results show no clear pattern and prove that Evil Geniuses are a bit volatile, which might be the perfect recipe for them to make a deep run. Eventually, Evil Geniuses will simply lack the talent to match their opponents, but beating Entity is doable.
Evil Geniuses have been playing much better than expected, which might have to do with the support of the home crowd. And if they managed to defeat Tundra, TSM, and Gamin Gladiators, then there’s no reason to believe they can’t take down Entity.
Evil Geniuses to win
$2 (1 Unit)
Team Spirit vs Shopify Rebellion
Lima Major 2023
Team Spirit are not the same powerhouse they were in 2021 when they shocked the world by winning TI, but they remain an elite-tier team that shouldn’t be ignored. The Russian squad finished Group A in second place, with the same record as Gaimin Gladiators (4-3-1), who were also the only team to hand Spirit a loss.
Besides that defeat, we saw Team Spirit play three draws against PSG.LGD, Talon Esports, and EHOME, which isn’t terrible. PSG.LGD are not as strong as they were in 2022, but they’re still a formidable opponent, and the same can be said for Talon and EHOME.
Shopify Rebellion made quite a statement with a third-place finish in Group B, where they placed behind Entity and Team Liquid, but we also saw them draw with Knights and Geek Slate, which isn’t great. Moreover, Shopify Rebellion’s only wins came against beastcoast, BetBoom Team, and HellRaisrers, which are good but not great teams.
Even though it’s easy to get caught into thinking a team is better than it is due to its success in previous seasons, Team Spirit should be too much for Shopify Rebellion to handle. I’m taking Team Spirit to sweep at 2.70 with PickleBet.
Team Spirit -1.5 maps
$2.70 (1 Unit)
