ESL One Malaysia Dota 2 betting picks – Tuesday, August 23

ESB returns with free Dota 2 betting predictions for three ESL One Malaysia bouts on Tuesday, August 23. Here are our selections for Team Secret vs Thunder Awaken, Team Aster vs Talon Esports, and OG vs Team Liquid, with esports betting odds courtesy of BetOnline.


Team Secret and Thunder Awaken last met at the ONE Esports Singapore Major in March 2021, when Secret won 2-0, but a lot has changed since, so we can’t put too much weight on that result. Not only have Team Secret made changes to their roster, but Thunder Awaken also field an entirely different lineup which has achieved some success this year.

Thunder Awaken are easily the best South American Dota 2 team, having won all but one regional event – a third-place finish in the DPC SA 2021/2022 Tour 1 Regional Final. They also did well at ESL One Stockholm, finishing in fifth-sixth place. Unfortunately, success was hard to come by for the Peruvian squad at the PGL Arlington Major, where they crashed out of the group stage with a 0-5-3 record.

Still, TA’s only defeats in Arlington came against Royal Never Give Up, OG, and eventual finalists PSG.LGD. That isn’t too bad, and it should make you wonder why esports betting sites have Thunder Awaken priced as +614 underdogs against Team Secret, who have not attended a single Major and haven’t achieved much on the Western European Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) either.

On paper, Team Secret look the stronger team, and their wins against Tundra and PSG.LGD at Riyadh Masters 2022 are nothing to sneeze at. But those results came nearly a month ago, and Secret have since made a roster change, replacing Daryl “iceiceice” Koh for Roman “Resolut1on” Fomynok, which might not work out as intended.

Thunder Awaken with a map handicap at -102.04 is a far more appealing wager than backing Secret to win. The real dreamers might also want to consider a half-unit wager on the outsiders to cause an upset.


Even though their only title this year came in January, when they won Intel World Open Beijing, Team Aster have not disappointed with their performances. They placed second in the final Chinese DPC tour back in July and then claimed bronze at PGL Arlington Major the following month, losing only to the eventual champions, Team Spirit (0-2, 1-2).

Talon Esports have also achieved reasonable success this term, but that is only relative to the expectations we had for them. They fought their way back into the top division for SEA DPC Tour 3 and placed second – which, while impressive, is their only notable achievement of the year.

Many argue that Team Aster’s run at Arlington was a fluke, which might be true, but even so, they are much stronger than Talon Esports, who have not made much noise outside of regional competitions. At -158.73, Aster to win on Tuesday is a solid bet.


OG are yet to have a poor run in any of the competitions they’ve attended this year, and they even won ESL One Stockholm 2022 in May. Since then, OG have pocketed a bronze medal from WEU DPC Tour 3 Div I and reached the semi-finals at Riyadh Masters 2022 just a month ago.

In Arlington, OG played well, but they were eventually eliminated by Team Aster (1-2) after showing some cracks against beastcoast (1-2) and Entity (1-2). And besides their shaky showing in the United States, OG have been forced to play their coach, Evgenii “Chuvash” Makarov, instead of Mikhail “Misha” Agatov in Malaysia.

But even though OG were not too impressive at the last Major and are without their star player, they’re still priced as favourites for this bout, which doesn’t make much sense. Admittedly, Liquid have not won an event this season besides the first WEU DPC Tour, but they are 3-1-2 against OG on the year.

In Arlington, OG and Liquid parted ways with a draw, but OG had a full roster in that game, while Liquid had to play without Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen. With the Finnish Dota 2 star back and OG missing their star player, it is hard not to back Liquid to come out ahead.


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