The Dota 2 Pro Circuit was left in disarray because of the coronavirus pandemic. Almost the whole world is in lockdown, and there are travel bans everywhere.

This means only one thing; the show must go on - online!

ESL One Los Angeles is already halfway through the group stage, and it was amazing so far!

The EU and CIS teams have given the viewers some great entertainment because we’ve seen some veteran dominance, shocking upsets, and heartbreaking comebacks.

People who bet on https://dotabetz.com/ made some serious money with a few upsets. Of course, overall, the most common outcome was the favorite winning the game, but the odds are a lot smaller when betting on the favorite.

People could even see some new upcoming talented players playing for teams that haven’t played on the big stage a lot.

Some teams are playing at full strength like Nigma and Secret, while others like Alliance and OG are playing with stand-ins.

The biggest issue with online play is latency and remote communication. Some teams have used that and caused some serious upsets.


Thoughts on the 7.25 and 7.25c Patch

Based on strategies we’ve seen in the 7.25 patch, the meta was winning the laning phase and then converting that advantage into early and mid-game team fights.

Most games would be decided between 25 and 30 minutes, while some games that were stomps were less than 20 minutes long.

It was very difficult to play from behind.

The 7.25c patch tried to reduce the laning stage effect, and the game has become less snowbally. The meta still remains on the side that wins early 5v5 engagements.

It’s easier to recover from a bad game, and a lot of emphases were put on positions 3 and 4.

In particular, the hero Mars is almost every game first pick or ban, with Beastmaster and Centaur Warrunner getting lots of playtime and bans as well.

These heroes only need a blink dagger to change the tide of any early team fight.

Heroes like Tusk and Pangolier have also gotten a lot of playtime on the 4th position. Especially Tusk is a relevant pick because of his strong early Tag-Team ability.

When it comes to position one heroes, it’s mostly been tanky hard to kill heroes like Wraith King, Medusa, or Alchemist. Oracle or Shadow Demon usually occupied the position 5. They are heroes that can easily save the position one hero.


Rankings in Group A and B


In group A it’s Virtus.pro on the first position with four wins and zero losses. They’re certainly looking strong. They lost a total of 2 games in 10 played, and those two were at the start, but they managed to turn them around to 2-1 wins on both of them. After that, they won the next two games with the 2-0 result.

These are our Predictions in no particular order:

Upper Bracket: OG, VP

Lower Bracket: Viking.gg, Nigma

Eliminated: HellRaisers, Cyber Legacy, B8, Gambit


In group B, it’s Team Secret at the top who have only dropped a single game so far. Being at the top at halfway the group stage should give them an easy ride until the end.

These are our Predictions in no particular order:

Upper Bracket: Chicken Fighters, Team Secret

Lower Bracket: Ninjas in Pajamas, Team Spirit

Eliminated: Team Liquid, Na’Vi, Alliance, Team Unique