Lima Major Betting Preview: Format, Schedule, Teams, and Odds

The wait for Dota 2’s first international event of 2023 is almost over. With the regional champions selected, it’s time to turn our attention to the upcoming event in Peru – the Lima Major. In our Lima Major betting preview, we’ll answer all the biggest questions regarding the event. In particular, we’ll go over the favorites and the underdogs and try to predict how the tournament will pan out using Lima Major odds as a guide.

Let’s get into it.

Top-Rated Betting Sites for the Lima Major

Lima Major Schedule and Format

The Lima Major begins on 22 February and ends on 5 March. In total, 18 teams will be competing for the $500,000 prize pool and 1,900 DPC Points. Of the 18 teams, 4 come from Western Europe and China, 3 from Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, and 2 from North America and South America.

• Group Stage: Between the 22 and the 26 February, the Group Stage will take place. There are two groups in total with nine teams each. This phase of the event uses a single round-robin format, where all the teams in one group will get the chance to face each other. All matches here will proceed in a best-of-two.
• Playoffs Stage: After the Group Stage, the next part of the Lima Major schedule is the Playoffs. The four highest finishers of the Group Stage will continue to the Upper Bracket, while the two 5th-6th finishers will continue to the Lower Bracket. The three most underwhelming teams will be eliminated. The matches in the Playoffs will proceed in a best-of-three except those in the Grand Final (best-of-five).

Participating Teams

Here are the 18 Lima Major teams that will be participating in the event:

• North America – Shopify Rebellion, TSM
• South America – beastcoast, Evil Geniuses
• Western Europe – Entity, Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, Tundra Esports
• Eastern Europe – BetBoom Team, HellRaisers, Team Spirit
• Southeast Asia – Execration, Geek Slate, Talon Esports
• China – EHOME, Knights, PSG.LGD, Team Aster

Lima Major Odds

GG.Bet’s Dota 2 betting service currently offers these Lima Major odds for the Outright Winner market:

Team	GG.Bet Odds
Team Liquid	3.55
Tundra Esports	6.50
BetBoom Team	7.00
PSG.LGD	7.00
Gaimin Gladiators	8.00
Team Spirit	9.00
Team Asters	10.00
Shopify Rebellion	10.00
Team Knights	15.00

Odds from GG.Bet updated on February 21, 2023.

Lima Major Predictions: Favorites vs Underdogs

We can draw up our Lima Major predictions by looking at the teams’ relative strength in the Regional Qualifiers. There has been a ton of roster shuffles across the field, which makes the data models of the past more or less outdated.

First, the obvious favorite is Team Liquid, the team currently standing on top of WEU, which is the most hostile region of all. Despite the likes of OG, Team Secret, and Tundra Esports lingering around, Team Liquid didn’t lose a single series in the WEU Tour 1 (7-0). As you’ve seen, the Lima Major odds bookies agree with this outlook.

Speaking of undefeated, BetBoom also went 7-0 in EEU Tour 1, only losing 2 games out of 14—1 to Team Spirit and 1 to Darkside. TSM over in NA only lost 1 game, nearly getting a perfect score with their own 7-0. Meanwhile, PSG.LGD finished 1st in China with a 6-1 standing after beating their rival Aster in the Tiebreaker.

Image Credit: Valve

If you’re looking for the real underdog Lima Major teams, Geek Slate, HellRaisers, and Talon Esports have all been assigned with over 150.00 Dota 2 odds. On the side of semi-underdogs, you have Execration from SEA, EHOME from China, and surprisingly, TSM and beastcoast from the Americas.

TSM is the main curiosity here. Bookies have placed them in the bottom 30% of the list. At the time of writing, their odds for outright winning the Lima Major is 67.00, which is 58 points higher than Shopify Rebellion’s (9.00). It doesn’t get any more logical given that TSM beat Shopify Rebellion 2-0 just 3 weeks ago.

In SA, beastcoast shares the same case: they have the same 67.00 odds, also 58 points higher than Team Spirit’s. And this despite the recent roster changes that hugely affected the teams on both individual and organizational levels. Also, don’t forget about the home advantage (beastcoast and most SA teams are predominantly Peruvians).

Have the previous biases in the last season somehow carried on to this new one? While we’re still not sure of the answer, no Lima Major betting preview is complete without asking such a question.

How to Bet on the Lima Major 2023

During major Dota 2 tournaments like this, the most appealing market often turns out to be the Map Handicap, where you can place a +1.5 advantage or -1.5 disadvantage on a team in a best-of-three series.

Why appealing? Because in reality, even though the bookies label some of the teams as clear underdogs and give them ridiculous odds, these “unlikely” teams still have a good chance of stealing a game or two from the heavyweights.

We’ve already seen enough upset in the Regional Qualifiers to believe this. For instance, Team Secret in WEU lost 6 of their games despite being the runner-up of The International 2022. FNATIC and BOOM, 2 shoo-ins in Southeast Asia, ended Tour 1 with 1-6 and 2-5, respectively—seemingly replaced by Execration and Geek Slate entirely.

But if you have a more aggressive style, you might want to place your eggs on the Total Map and Correct Map Score markets. This way of Dota 2 betting is normally recommended in the Playoffs stage though, where the pros and cons and unique approaches of the teams (along with a great deal of your Lima Major predictions) have already been reaffirmed.

How to Watch the Lima Major

If you want to watch the Lima Major live, you’ll be able to catch the action on the official PGL Twitch stream here: PGL_Dota2

If you prefer YouTube, you can also tune in here: PGL

Note that the Lima Major schedule will be anchored to the Peru Time (UTC -5).

Remember to gamble responsibly, never wager money you can’t afford to lose, don’t chase losses and set a budget. With that said, we hope you enjoy the matches!