Evil Geniuses vs Ninjas in Pyjamas – MDL Disneyland Major

The MDL Disneyland Paris Major is a premier competition of the 2018-2019 season of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC). The tournament started on May 4 and will run until the 12th of the same month at the Disney complex in Paris, France. The tournament started with 16 teams, which compete for a total prize pool of US $ 1 million, and 15,000 DPC points. Currently, we are in the playoffs where the teams are competing in the best of three format. Let’s have a look at one of the games of the Upper Bracket of the playoffs.

The purpose of picking this game for you since the match is not just any game. It is between Evil Geniuses and Ninjas in Pyjamas, on paper this might look an easy win for the EG side. Yet this is not the case since NiP is currently led by the former EG captain, ppd who know quite well about the strengths and weaknesses of the team. So, despite what the odds say, it is a very difficult match for EG. Let’s have a comprehensive look into both teams.

Evil Geniuses vs Ninjas in Pyjamas (MDL Disneyland® Paris Major, Best of 3 match MAY 10, 2019, 8:30 PM CEST)

None of the two teams competing in the 2nd round of the Upper bracket, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Evil Geniuses had been truly convincing in the MDL Disneyland Paris Major 2019. Yet both teams have done fairly well to make it to the top 6 of the tournament after beating the likes of former TI champions, Team Liquid and the 3rd ranked DPC team, team Vici Gaming. Looking at the standings of the competition, both tier 1 sides are fairly capable of finishing in the top 3. But before that, let’s have a look at which team will shine in this encounter.

Looking at the odds of some of the bookmakers, it is understandable that they have picked EG as the winner of this encounter. Yet we know something a bit more than them and see out the winner of this encounter for you. Let’s give you a hint at the start, that the winner of this game will be the team led by Peter ‘ppd‘ Dager.

Ppd the most successful NA captain?

Ppd can be considered as the ambassador of the NA dota 2. He has previously led EG for three years. In that time, the NA team had its fair share of success. They secured a top three finish at TI4 and TI6 while winning the TI5. He parted ways with the organizations in the offseason of the 2017-18 Dota Pro Circuit. After leaving, he started competing for OpTic Gaming which did have much success. Then he formed his very own squad of Ninjas in Pyjamas which include some of the veterans of the game.

The current EG doesn’t entirely hold the same roster which was captained by ppd. Yet the two stars of the team, Sumail Syed “SumaiL” Hassan and Artour ‘arteezy‘ Babaev are the only one who played under ppd. Therefore, we believe that ppd and NiP have a very decent edge coming into this encounter since ppd is very well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the two.

SumaiL and Arteezy – The two hopes?

SumaiL might be a very consistent player and has carried EG on more than one big occasion. Yet arteezy has been outplayed on many occasions and is quite infamous to choke on the big occasions. We also think that arteezy is the X factor that EG has failed to win big after the departure of ppd. Since the former captain of the team knew how to harvest is talents rather than his rage, that has cost EG a lot in the past years. Even during the TI8 in a team interview, SumaiL pointed out that the only thing that could stop EG from winning the title was arteezy and he was right!

Unconvincing EG

We believe that the reason behind the struggles of EG not winning Major lies in their poor drafting. We are well aware that the team is incredibly talented and it is not easy to finish in the top ranks of every Major. But the team still ranks the potential to draft smartly. Their questionable drafts might work against the weaker team but have yet outplayed the bigger names of the competitive landscape.

In the MDL Major, things are working well for them in the drafting phase since they know the meta and are able to draft counters without any hesitations. Yet they still don’t do the perfect job since they tend to get outplayed in the earlier stages of the game. But they still find a way to win their games which is enough to get them into the top 6. We predict a very tough time for them against the NiP who come into this competition after winning the OGA Dota Pit Minor. In the past weeks, the EU organization has proven itself to be well prepared for the meta. Their drafts have been exceptional which could just give them the edge over their opponents.

Final Verdict

EG will be up against the same who laid their foundation. Ppd was clinical to the evolution of the team to a top tier 1 side and we believe that he and NiP have what it takes to knock EG to the lower bracket. In the past months, NiP has adopted different strategies and playing styles, which might have gone south on many occasions. But the team proved to be a good risk to take since they now compete in the top 6. They are well capable of decimating EG, all they have to do is plan out a good draft.

Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 Evil Geniuses

Odds on bookmakers

Bookmakers	Evil Geniuses Odds		Ninjas in Pyjamas Odds
	European	American	European	American
GG.bet	1.36	-277.78	2.95	+195.00
Loot.bet	1.33	-303.03	3.24	+224.00
10bet	1.35	-285.71	3.05	+205.00
Uni Bet	1.35	-285.71	3.00	+200.00