ESL One Fall 2021 betting picks – Saturday, August 21

Esportbet’s free Dota 2 betting predictions for Saturday focus on four ESL One Fall 2021 bouts. Here are our best bets for T1 vs Team Spirit, Thunder Predator vs Tundra Esports, Alliance vs Team Empire, and Team Liquid vs SG Esports.


ESL One Summer 2021 champions T1 will face off against Team Spirit for the first time in their history. Sitting at no.3 in the ESL Dota 2 world rankings, T1 enter ESL One Fall 2021 as the team to watch, although they’re priced as high as +750 in the outright betting markets.

T1 are a bit underrated by the esports bookmakers, which likely has to do with their iffy fourth-place effort at BTS Pro Series Season 7 Southeast Asia. However, we wouldn’t put too much weight on that tournament run.

The BTS Pro Series and the ONE Esports Singapore Major are the only Dota 2 tournaments of 2021 where T1 has finished outside of the top three. Although Team Spirit deserve some praise for their performances this season, they have only looked good in regional tournaments. At these odds, T1 for the win is a no-brainer.


Thunder Predator and Tundra Esports are billed as two of the weakest teams at the tournament, although they don’t lack talent. Tundra are ranked no.24 in the world and managed to reach the finals of The International 10 Western Europe Qualifier, where they nearly won against two-time TI champions OG (2-3).

Thunder Predator have had some success on the year as well. They have done well in regional Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) tournaments and reached the third round of the lower bracket in Singapore earlier this year.

Thunder Predator have enough talent to make some noise, but we’re a bit concerned with the fact they haven’t played a competitive match since May. As good as TP can be, it’s hard to make a case for such a ring-rusty team.


World no.8 Alliance enter their ESL One Fall 2021 opener as -131.58 favourites, which seems fair. Although Alliance are not quite the powerhouse they were in the earlier days of competitive Dota 2, they have been playing reasonably well this season.

Alliance claimed silver in DreamLeague Season 14 DPC EU and won the 15th season with a 6-1 record. Although they failed to impress at the WePlay AniMajor (ninth-12th), Alliance bounced back with a bronze medal at ESL One Summer 2021.

Even though Alliance will be a bit ring rusty, considering their last official match happened in June, they’re still a significantly better team than Empire. Gustav “s4” Magnusson and co. shouldn’t lose matches like this one.


Even though Team Liquid are stronger than SG Esports, we don’t believe the offered Dota 2 betting odds are fair. At -227.27, Liquid’s implied probability of winning is 69.4%, which is very high for a team that is 2-6 across its last eight outings.

What’s more, Liquid recently dropped maps against Spider Pigzs (2-1) and Chicken Fighters (2-1), who aren’t that much stronger than SG Esports. It’s also important to note that Liquid players haven’t been playing that much Dota 2 of late – based on their activity on Twitch – which suggests they might be dealing with poor morale following their disastrous showing at the TI10 Western Europe Qualifier.