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Who will win each group of the MYM PriDe #7?

Matches to watch out for, written by Finishhim from Dota-Allstars.com:

Group A

Highlighted Match #1

Virtus vs. rB

Virtus, well, what is there to really say? Russian juggernauts; these guys have been *dominating* the DotA scene this summer. Winners of MYM.PriDe #6, VP will be looking to defend the crown. They will undoubtedly bring their best game. rB is missing a few key components. French fans will know these players from their last team, Dimension 4. These guys are strong competitors, but they will be fighting uphill without Soycd and Rwar.

As far as the game goes, look for Darkarax to pick the carry hero. The French will have to outpick the Russians for them to win this game. We all know what to expect from Russia, heavy ganking and cautious pushing – their games generally end when they have frustrated and outfarmed their opponents.

My pick: Virtus

Highlighted Match #2

Virtus vs. MiZen

I’ll introduce MiZen, Micronology + Zenith, as a strong contender to make it out of this group as well. These two clans have been basically controlling the Singapore DotA scene over the last year, and they decided to join forces in PriDe #7. MiZen has so many strong players on this squad, its hard for me to predict who will even be their starting 5.

Hy/TrueColdRain(Queen) from Micronology and TofuBoi/xMusiCa from Zenith would be enough to worry about on any team, but all of them together begin to resemble Virtus for individual skills. Expect whoever manages to control the river to succeed here, I’d even give the lane advantage to the Singapore team; however, Virtus is just too strong in mid-game.

My pick: Virtus

Group B

Highlighted Match

MYM.DotA vs. eXp

MYM.DotA – hosts of these amazing tournaments and fielding maybe the scariest team I’ve ever seen. MYM has always done well in the PriDe’s, but they’ve yet to come out on top. They should be hungry in PriDe #7 for a victory, and that is bad news for group B. eXp, however, has a great team themselves. They’re currently undefeated in HTGN-pro, and their members can be found in the IHCS channel practically 24/7 it seems. As long as they don’t get too aggressive against MYM this should be one to watch.

eXp.Gosu will probably be playing the carry here. There are two problems with this match up for eXp (and, well, any team playing MYM in Prime #7):
1) H4nnI- might just be the best solo-player in the world.
2) The support cast on MYM just frankly has so much experience and strategy, they aren’t likely to be out picked.

What does that mean for eXp? They’re going to have to rely on clever game play and outnumbering MYM here. They have to make sure to pick off H4nnI- and Merlini often enough that they will be able to contain them late game.

I spoke with eXp|Gosu about this match and he had the following to say:

“Well its going to be a very interesting match up, we have been thinking about what we are going to run and it will be a fun match :).”

My pick: MYM.DotA

Group C

Highlighted Match

sP vs. eMg

sP is the other Russian powerhouse. What the hell do they feed them there? Anyway, everyone should know who these guys are by now. PLZ won MYM PriDe #1, PriDe #2 (as STFU), PriDe #4 (as DoTa[]), and runner-ups in Prime #6. Common thread in all of these teams? FocusIRE. eMg (formerly verGe) is fielding maybe the biggest team this year with 20 players on their roster. If their best players come with their A game, they will have a fighting chance of leaving this group as the #1 seed.

Watch this game as a barometer for how eMg will do in the playoffs. If eMg manages to beat sP here – expect them to make a run for the gold. They picked up D4’s Rwar and HiT0Mi is a well-known superstar as well. If eMg can develop the teamwork to survive mid-game, they can pull this one out. LighTofHeaveN, HoroN, and FocusIRE should get your attention on sP’s side, if they play their best game expect sP to win. 

My pick: sP

Group D

Highlighted Match

SK vs. tS

SK vs tS! Man, I’m not supposed to be biased here – but I love this match. SK (previously known as T_T) won’t have Loda for PriDe #7. Everyone knows SK, so I’ll give some information about Sloth. BuM-SPaNKeR, Ampe[d], and Wedge (old school IHL players) team up with some top-tier Euros, namely Soth and Sejr to produce a team with the potential to bring big time upsets. All five of these guys are excellent players with lots of experience. If they can manage to mesh well in their first major tournament, they could go far.

SK is known for teamwork, teamwork, teamwork. Generally we would expect them to easily win this match, and that may still be the case but Sloth has a shot for the top seed while Loda is missing. SK’s KwoM will be the player to watch. He’ll need to play very well for SK to go far in this tournament, and this particular game won’t be any different. Expect lots of killing in this game, not for the shy ;).

I spoke with tS|Ampe[d] before this game and he said:

“SK has always been one of my favorite teams to watch. I enjoy playing with KwoM, Renji and the others in IHCS and I recognize that they are the top team in our group. However, without Loda, they are not at their top strength which gives our team a good chance against them. I think this will be a very good match between players who are quite familiar with each other. I don't know about the rest of my team, but I personally am the most worried about KwoM and will try my best to keep him down.”

My pick: SK

Group E

Highlighted Match

ROFL vs. xLo

ROFL didn’t do well in the playoff stages of the last PriDe tournament, but they did produce a shutout in the group stage. They got a bit unlucky having to play SK in the first round of PriDe #6 playoffs, expect them to go farther this tournament.

xLo (previously known as n2p, previously known as eNe) will be looking to make their mark in their first major tournament. If they manage to sneak out of this game with a win expect them to produce more of the same in the playoffs.

If inDe_eD plays his best, ROFL could be in for a long game. Zloblogr should be a familiar face for those of you who followed the Prime Nations – for me, he was Ukraine’s best player. I’m predicting a bit of a farm-fest here. ROFL will do well to pick heavy ganking lineups in group E and this game won’t be any different.

My pick: ROFL

Group F

Highlighted Match

RoA vs. HT

RoA, last PriDe’s golden child will need to be much more careful in PriDe #7. Everyone will be gunning for these guys this season. Paulyan got himself superstar status for his performance in the biggest upset last tournament against SK. He will need to bring that same intensity to group F because these opponents are formidable ones. HT just recently came runner-up to VP in the ASUS cup, beating out sP.

RoA’s Paulyan and Kindachi are going to need to bring their best game to win this match. I’m not going to guarantee anything, but DkPhobos, Changer and Dendi are more than enough to handle for RoA. This is going to be one of the best matches of the group stage I think. Both teams are precise and gank heavy, it’s going to come down to who executes better.

My pick: HT

Group G

Highlighted Match

WE vs. XsK

WE is basically Germany from the Prime Nations for those who are more familiar with that. That being said, WE is going to have their hands full in this match. They by no means got the easiest group, and this match will probably determine whether or not they get out of the group. XsK is another team like tS, full of talent and potential. Everyone in sports hates the word potential, and teams like this are the reason why. XsK has every opportunity to run away with this group 4-0, and this will be their biggest test.

XsK is sporting some of the biggest names in IHCS – Darky, GunzComeOut, Enigma, Fanat1c, Rainwalker, Samurai. Not bad eh? These guys are going to have to develop chemistry really quickly, however, if they want to beat WE, MsY, and aG. In this game, look for Kruemel and KuroKy of WE to try to control the map and capitalize on XsK’s mistakes. If XsK can manage to be mostly mistake free, expect a victory.

My pick: XsK

Group H

Highlighted Match

Q vs. hi2u

Whoo! Q is back. Runner up’s in MYM PriDe #1 to MYM (Joy) – Q is just frankly one of the best teams around. hi2u has been around for a while now, as well, but they’ve yet to really make their mark on the DotA scene. Will this year be their year? hi2u’s playoff tournament should be gauged on their performance in this game.

hi2u is going to need to rely on teamwork and really needs to think about their picks carefully here. If they’re not careful they will end up getting outfarmed really quickly. I expect Q to play a contain game, they aren’t as strong without Cat and eLJefe, but look for Icicle, Jonnie, and Barbara to play extremely well and make this game frustrating for hi2u.

My pick: Team Q

So now place your vote on who will win each of the PriDe #7 groups and discuss!

From DotA Allstars Forums (place your votes there).