?AS Monaco Gambit have had a few flashes of greatness this season with top-three finishes in the ESL One CIS Online Season 1 Upper Division and the ESL One DPC Eastern Europe Season 2 Upper Division. Things took a sudden turn for the worse at the end of May, however, when Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko and Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev left for Natus Vincere.

As their replacements, Gambit promoted Artem “Lorenof” Melnick and Albert “eine” Garayev to their main roster, but it’s hard to view them as anything more than a downgrade. With eine and Lorenof, Gambit took a shot at ESL One Summer 2021 but fell flat against OG and Vikin.gg and finished in seventh-eighth place.

HellRaisers haven’t had much success this term either, but we’re not as interested in these teams’ titles on the year as much as Gambit’s gradual downfall. Considering their recent struggles, Gambit shouldn’t be priced as low as they are, which presents us with a great value bet on HellRaisers to claim their first head-to-head victory since April 2020.

?The signing of SoNNeikO and No[o]ne has made Natus Vincere a much stronger team on paper, but you have to wonder about the synergy between NaVi’s core and the former AS Monaco Gambit duo. NaVi haven’t played a single official fixture in a month, meaning their new recruits have yet to make their debuts.

As stacked as NaVi are now, you can’t make a strong case for a team that might not have had enough time to gel together. EXTREMUM are weaker, but they at least have an established synergy and a core of players who have been playing together for over a year.

The quality gap makes it hard to believe EXTREMUM can win, but we are happy to back the outsiders to steal one map.

?PuckChamp and Team Unique last met at the end of May, when Unique secured their second head-to-head victory of the year. That win followed a 0-2 defeat against PuckChamp defeated just a week prior.

There hasn’t been a lot to separate these two teams across their four prior meetings, with the ledger at 2-2, and there’s nothing to set them apart here. The esports bookmakers have PuckChamp priced as $1.57 favourites, which might make sense since they have more talent, but that didn’t help them much in their last meeting with Unique.

Team Unique showed enough last time out for us to believe they’ll be competitive on Wednesday. Expect another close affair with all three maps played.

?The Pinnacle Cup finalists will go at it again on Wednesday as Winstrike Team look to avenge their 2-3 loss from three weeks ago. That might be easier said than done, however, as Winstrike are 0-3 against Team Spirit on the year.

Still, it’s worth noting that all three of those meetings went the distance and not once did it seem like Winstrike couldn’t win. They grabbed the series lead in all of those clashes and yet found a way to lose on each occasion.

The Dota 2 betting sites have Winstrike priced at $4.00 to win the series and $3.00 to win the first map. Since Spirit are slow starters, we like the latter option better, although you can’t go wrong with a map handicap on the underdogs either.

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Until last summer, Valve’s prized MOBA title was unchallenged when it came to the largest kitty for a single esports event, firmly holding top spot with TI8’s US $25.5 million fund. That was until Epic Games burst onto the scene with the 2019 Fortnite World Cup, which featured a $30 million prize pool split between Solo and Duo tournaments.

The Dota2 esports community was not having it, however, and reclaimed the throne by contributing $32,730,068 to the TI9 prize pool via crowdfunding, bringing it to an all-time high $34,330,068.

Seeing The International prize pool increase yearly has become a tradition of sorts. According to the Dota2 prize pool tracker, the upcoming edition has the potential to reach well over $34.3 million and set a new record.

As of May 28, which marks only the third day after the TI10 Battle Pass was released, the prize pool for The International 2021 is already sitting at $9,958,846. To put that into perspective, the TI10 prize pool is 7% larger than it was it this stage last year ($9,310,026) and 37.2% larger than it was for TI8 ($7,259,832).

While the TI10 crowdfunding has enjoyed a very fast start, it’s also worth noting that this year’s Battle Pass will be live for longer than usual since Valve postponed the tournament to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

How does the Dota2 Battle Pass work?

The International historically offers a guaranteed $1.6 million in the prize pool in addition to the money that is crowdfunded by the Dota2 community via the purchase of Battle Passes. By purchasing a Battle Pass in the in-game store, players unlock new content and cosmetic items, while 25% of all sales go directly into the prize pool for the annual Dota2 world championships.

The biggest addition to this year’s Battle Pass is the return of guilds, which allow players to join a large community of like-minded players. Guilds also offer exclusive challenges that require members to team up and complete them to acquire points and unique awards. While anyone can join a guild, only those with a Battle Pass will be able to create one.

The TI10 Battle Pass, which launched on Monday, May 25, has three tiers, with the lowest (Level 1 bundle) priced at US $9.99. Players can also choose to buy the Level 50 bundle for $29.35 or the Level 100 bundle for $44.99. Depending on the bundle, purchases contribute $2.50, $7.30, or $11.20 to the TI10 prize pool.

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