OG vs ALLIANCE OGA DOTA PIT 2020 ONLINE: EUROPE/CIS BETTING PREVIEW

The fourth competitive day of OGA Dota PIT 2020 Online: EU/CIS will see European giants OG and Alliance meet for the third time this year.

OG have struggled since the start of April, as highlighted by their mixed run at ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online: Europe & CIS. While the back-to-back champions of The International looked solid through the group stage and brushed aside Team Secret (2-0) in the first round of the playoffs, they fell apart against Virtus.pro in the upper bracket finals (0-2) and again in the grand finals (2-3).

Things went took a nasty turn in the Pushka League, where OG lost their first four fixtures and failed to reach the playoffs. They finished the tournament with only two wins, against Team Nigma (2-0) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (2-1), while they lost to Team Secret (1-2), Team Liquid (0-2), Alliance (1-2) and, remarkably, their own academy team, OG.Seed (1-2).

With a 6-4 record in their past 10 outings, kicked off OGA Dota PIT 2020 Online: Europe/CIS with a commanding 2-0 win over HellRaisers and added a 2-1 victory over Nigma at the Gamers Without Borders 2020 charity tournament. However, OG disappointed once more on Saturday when they lost to Natus Vincere (1-2) in the semi-finals of Gamers Without Borders.

SEE ALSO: HOW TO BET ON DOTA 2 ESPORTS

OG’s rocky form has more than a little to do with the absence of star midlaner Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen. Although the Finn has returned to Europe after travel restrictions kept him locked down in Southeast Asia for several weeks, he will take no part in the OGA Dota Pit Online event. As such, Sébastien “Ceb” Debs will continue to deputise in the midlane.

Alliance participated in the same three tournaments as OG in the lead-up to OGA Dota PIT 2020 Online, and they produced similar results. Gustav “s4” Magnusson and his crew finished ESL One LA in seventh-eighth place after suffering a shock 1-2 defeat to Vikin.gg in the first round of the playoffs. They followed that up with a very stable showing at Pushka League, where they reached the second round of the playoffs, and then bowed out in the semi-finals of Gamers Without Borders.

At OGA Dota PIT, Alliance won their opening fixture against Vikin.gg (1-2) despite a shaky overall performance. Jonathan “Loda” Berg’s side deserve some slack, however, as Vikin.gg have proved they know how to get under the skin of stronger sides.

OG vs ALLIANCE OGA DOTA PIT 2020 ONLINE: EUROPE/CIS BETTING PREDICTIONS

The most recent meeting between these two sides took place in late April during WePlay! Pushka League S1: Division 1, where OG came away with a narrow 2-1 win. Since then, Alliance have won six out of their last nine games, while OG have played eight matches and won four. There is not much separating the two on form and recent history shows that OG and Alliance tend to produce close bouts.

Alliance have improved significantly with Artsiom “fng” Barshak as a stand-in player and should be more than capable of winning at least one map here. Backing Alliance to cover a +1.5 handicap offers no value at $1.39, so the overs on the 2.5-map line looks like the way to go.