Royal Never Give Up vs LBZS: RNG takes the lead in the table

The first DPC league of the 2021/22 season in China will continue on Sunday, January 09. Royal Never Give Up, and LBZS will meet in the elite division's second match of the day.

DPC CN 2021/22 Tour 1: Division I is an online Dota 2 tournament that will take place from January 03-21, 2022. The top eight teams from the China region will be competing for $205,000. On top of the cash prizes, the teams will also fight for four entries to the majors and the crucial DPC points needed to qualify for T11.

In the first round, Royal Never Give Up managed to defeat Invictus Gaming, which is incidentally China's strongest team in the inaugural DPC League 2021, the Singapore Major champions, and the TI10 Top 4. The renewed Royals squad shows their readiness to fight for a spot in the majors, and several big-name players should deal with LBZS easily, which is predictably reflected in the odds.

Renewed RNG has started the new 2022 DPC cycle in the elite division, made possible only by their lucky disbandment of the Elephant squad. All in all, the RNG team completely failed all of 2021, which caused a big reshuffle of the squad and an infusion of new blood in the form of three players at once. And why exactly they got the right to play in the elite is a huge question.

The team was left with Chinese carry God King and Malaysian four FelixCiaoBa, who was joined by Chinese mid Somnus丶M from the defunct Elephant, Chinese three Chalice from EHOME and a Malaysian five xNova from the same EHOME squad.

The former squad won the Huya Winter Invitational in December 2020, and the new squad made it to the finals but couldn't stop Neon from going on a rampage. Or maybe the guys didn't want to stop. This squad needs to get into shape, but one thing is certain - RNG will once again fight for the majors and not for survival, but for now, that's just on paper and based on the impression of the only preseason Chinese tournament. The first matches of the DPC will settle everything.

LBZS is a young tier-3 team from China, formed in late 2020. They started last season in the elite of the Chinese DPC league but failed to win a single match there and went straight to the second division, where they were able to earn the right to reappear in the second DPC of the 2021 season in front of the strongest teams in the region.

This team takes part in many tournaments and quite successfully, but the squad changes frequently. It changed again before the start of the new DPC cycle, with four new players at once: Kagome, Pyue, Molasses and detachment. Only the fourth position supporter CatYou, who has been with the team for over a year, or rather since its formation, remains unchanged.

LBZS actively continues to play online tournaments in December: the Intel World Open Beijing, Top Clans Winter Invitational and Moon Studio Snow League qualifiers. The latter, by the way, was won by the Suns in the Grand Final against Execration (3:2). The form of the guys is good, so the chance to tear nerves from unplayed elite teams is quite real. But in the first round, guys could not upset Vici Gaming (1:2), and it will be difficult with RNG. They are extremely well played and, most importantly, motivated.

The number of kills on the first map will be less than 46.5; the odds are 2.06.

The second map will be less than 35.30 minutes; the odds are 1.90.