Xtreme Gaming vs Team Liquid Prediction: the Chinese Team Will Improve After the Dacha Loss

Prediction for the DreamLeague Season match, which will take place on February 26th. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

The Chinese team surprised everyone in the group stage of the BetBoom Dacha with three wins and two draws. Many had already begun to predict they would make it to the grand finals. But in the first playoff match, Team Falcons proved that the Chinese were not that formidable. Team Liquid knocked the Chinese team out of the tournament, but the Xtreme Gaming players improved a lot compared to the last H2H. The championship in Kazan gave the team the necessary game practice. In early December, Ame announced his return to competitive Dota 2. He immediately joined Dy, No.5. The biggest addition to the roster was the move of Xm, Xxs, and XinQ, who, along with teammates Lou and Yftx, exceeded expectations by joining Azure Ray. But during their brief time together, the owners of Azure Ray were cooking up something else on the side, as they also own Xtreme Gaming. While disbanding Azure Ray's championship team right after their glorious performance at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 may not seem ideal, the main goal seems to be to surround Ame with the best talent available.

The Liquid had a great run at the BB Dacha but failed again in the grand final, as the curse never went away, even after a roster change. How this loss affected the players of Team Liquid is anyone's guess. Still, the start of the group stage was a failure as they only managed to take one map out of four on the first day. Last season was extremely difficult for Team Liquid, who in 2023 consistently found themselves on the second step of the podium at almost every tier-1 tournament. The Western European DPC division champions simply couldn't overcome the biggest obstacle at the LAN - the grand finals. Five times, Liquid had the chance to win the top event in 2023 but was defeated at every turn, losing four times to Gaimin Gladiators. A fifth failed final to Spirit in Riyadh seemed to take the air out of their sails as the team slipped to fifth at TI 2023 and third in Kuala Lumpur. 2023 marked a bit of a roster change for Liquid, as Ludwig "zai" Wolberg announced his retirement from Dota after a decade in eSports and two years with the organization. Liquid fans will hope that Israel recruits Neta "33" Shapira to replace zai and do as good a job as possible as the organization hunts for their first Dota trophy on LAN since 2020.

The bookmakers are giving even odds and leaning towards a draw, but Liquid is kind of frustrated as if their failed grand final is still going on, while Ame will not wait for Team Liquid to stand firmly.