It’s Week 2 at the Dota Pro Circuit 2021: Season 2 – China Upper Division: Team RNG faces off with Elephant, set on April 25 at 6 PM (UTC). For starters, the two competitors have a very different upbringing, where this is Elephant’s second time in Upper Division bracket. Whereas team RNG enters the Upper Division as an underdog from Lower Division S1.
Needless to say, there’s a clear disadvantage on paper for RNG to kick things off.
RNG – The Underdog from Lower Division S1
They say underdogs are built different, which was very much the case when Invictus Gaming went from qualifier winner to Singapore Major champions. As for RNG, they did well enough to qualify for the Upper Division S2 by securing top seeds last season.
Despite being the first runner-up behind Sparking Arrow Gaming at the Lower Division S1, RNG managed to sweep the floor with their rivals last week. This well-deserved victory gave them the edge on the scoreboard, only to have it even out with a loss delivered by EHOME. Liu “Sylar” Jiajun, as EHOME’s latest addition, really kicked up a notch as a renowned hard carry player.
Adding to that, RNG’s unorthodox draft, notably the Visage pick as support in game 2, was a dead weight. All in all, RNG’s conservative draft enabled EHOME to shine with their signature aggressive playstyle.
Even so, RNG still managed to snatch a game off EHOME, which will definitely be handy for net scores.
Elephant – Prodigies banding together
As for Elephant, their debut depicted them as a band of world-class veterans teaming up to form the next biggest thing in Chinese Dota. Much like Faze Clan in CS:GO, except they did not deliver anywhere close to fans’ expectations. Sure, they started off strong with crazy Dota 2 records, such as a 165,000 gold lead in one of their pro matches.
However, they completely lost their edge at the beginning of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 (DPC 2021). They were losing too many games at the Upper Division S1 that they couldn’t even secure a Wild Cards slot. Weeks later, the boys in Elephant probably returned to their drawing board and realized they need a coach.
Enters the legendary veteran, Bai “rOtK” Fan. With rOtK as their personal coach, fans anticipate the new Chinese powerhouse to become an overwhelming force in Dota 2 betting. In fact, early results from last week’s matches revealed that Elephant is coming in strong with two
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