Despite showing glimpses of hope, especially in game two where Rafli “Mikoto” Fathur Rahman’s Monkey King channeled a heroic performance, Talon couldn’t overcome BetBoom’s superior draft and gameplay.

Game three saw Talon’s late-game strategy fall apart, ending their run in 13th-16th place and earning them an estimated $40,000, 1.5% of the TI prize pool.

Despite an amazing comeback in Game 2, Talon is the first team to be eliminated from The International 2024. BB Team will battle against nouns later today for a place in the arena. #Dota2 #TI13 pic.twitter.com/az4NBKAelo

— The International (@dota2ti) September 9, 2024

Talon’s elimination marks a blow for the Southeast Asian (SEA) region, traditionally a powerhouse in Dota 2, though the region still has hope in Aurora, who faces their own elimination match soon.

SEA’s challenges were echoed in the exit of Team Zero, China’s second seed.

Falling to Eastern Europe’s 1win Team in a decisive 2-0 defeat, Team Zero ended their TI13 journey also in 13th-16th place.

Team Zero exits The International 2024 after a 0-2 loss to 1w. 1w will face Falcons in the last series of the day. #Dota2 #TI13 pic.twitter.com/uVFqcuPFDn

— The International (@dota2ti) September 9, 2024

The series saw standout performances from Aleksandr “Cloud” Zakharov on Beastmaster and Nikita “Munkushi~” Chepurnykh’s Windranger.

Despite the loss, Singaporean player Remus “ponlo” Goh Zhi Xian, known for his selfless play and charismatic personality, captured fans’ hearts throughout the tournament.

Ponlo’s attempt at channelling the “bald buff” (shaving his head for good luck) failed to save his team, but he remains a fan favourite.

It's the end of the road for nouns at The International 2024 after a 0-2 loss to BB Team. BB Team will now play in front of a live audience at the Royal Arena. #Dota2 #TI13 pic.twitter.com/Q9jokXJPPr

— The International (@dota2ti) September 9, 2024

Day 2 of TI 2024 continued with eliminations as BetBoom Team also sent North American representatives nouns packing, making them the third team to exit.

After a dominant showing from BetBoom in both games, with strong drafts and clinical execution, nouns were unable to mount a comeback and finished in 13th-16th place.

The day wrapped up with 1win falling to Team Falcons, despite their earlier victory over Team Zero.

Falcons dominated the series, with standout performances from Oliver “Skiter” Lepko’s Weaver and Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak’s Sniper, leading to a swift 2-0 win and the elimination of 1win.

As TI13 progresses, more teams will face elimination, bringing the tournament closer to crowning a new champion.

1w's Road to The International 2024 was ended by Falcons in the last series of the day. Falcons become the 6th team to secure a spot in The International 2024 #Dota2 #TI13 pic.twitter.com/uqm6Rq4PQs

— The International (@dota2ti) September 9, 2024

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G2.iG placed top six at Clavision: Snow Ruyi at the start of August, but they have since not looked as good, with a last-place finish at FISSURE Universe: Episode 3. Nevertheless, this is a team of strong individuals who have yet to show their peak performance.

Talon Esports replaced their entire roster after a 9th-12th finish at The International 2023, and they have not looked as good since. Especially in international events, such as ESL One Birmingham 2024, Talon have shown they do not have what it takes to push for high placements.

Neither of these teams have the tools to compete for the trophy. Still, G2.iG potentially have a higher ceiling, as they’ve yet to be properly tested, which is a good enough reason to take their side at plus money.

This is a very important match for both Xtreme Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators, as it will likely decide which of the two squads will place first in Group A. Yet, according to the top Dota 2 betting sites, a draw is the most likely outcome.

In past years, there have been a good number of stalemates in the group stage, especially in fixtures between two elite teams. However, it is difficult to doubt Gaimin Gladiators on form, not to mention that the new, fast-paced meta favours their style.

Xtreme Gaming won Clavision: Snow Ruyi a month ago, so form is not a problem; however, even at this number, Gaimin Gladiators look like a better pick.

Aurora Gaming performed relatively well at Riyadh Masters 2024 and would have likely made it further than 9th-12th had they not faced Xtreme Gaming in the first round of the playoffs. However, they are still without a tournament title this season and are not one of the contenders to win The International 2024.

Defending champions Team Spirit are joint tournament favourites with Gaimin Gladiators, so it is no surprise that esports bookies have them at short odds to win this match. On the other hand, Aurora have the players to do well; the only question is whether all the pieces will fall into place for Nuengnara “23” Teeramahanon and co.

Spirit are the better team, but they have struggled somewhat in the new meta. While they’ve had enough time to improve, there is a chance the reigning champs could start slower than expected.

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Talon Esports started their VALORANT Champions 2024 campaign with a 0-2 loss against one of the tournament favourites, Leviatan. Team Vitality were just as unsuccessful, albeit against one of the tournament underdogs, Trace Esports, who bested EMEA’s second seed 2-1.

There is not much to separate the two sides based on their first-round performances, although looking at the season stats, Team Vitality are the better squad. Jokūbas “ceNder” Labutis and co. were, however, a bit inconsistent in the second stage of VCT 2024 EMEA, dropping maps even against lesser opposition.

Vitality’s inconsistency should open opportunities for Talon Esports to do some damage. And while expecting the fourth seed from VCT Pacific to win is a bit too optimistic, this has the potential to be a close affair.

FUT Esports slipped up against EDward Gaming in the opening match of Group D. On the other side, Paper Rex proved to be no match against the young G2 Esports roster, who bested VALORANT Champions 2023 runners-up in one clean swoop.

The VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 1 champions are priced as favourites for this affair, which is not shocking considering this is a very experienced roster. But Paper Rex’s results leading into VALORANT Champions 2024 are very similar to that of FUT Esports.

Paper Rex have a better win rate on Sunset and marginally on Lotus, whereas FUT Esports are more efficient on Split and Ascent. At best, VALORANT betting sites should price this series closer to even money, so we will gladly side with the underdogs.

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This triumph came after FunPlus Phoenix and Bilibili Gaming fell to Team Heretics and FNATIC, respectively, marking a significant achievement for Trace Esports in their international VALORANT debut in Seoul, South Korea.

UPSET ALERT: Trace Esports take down Team Vitality on their international debut! #VALORANTChampions pic.twitter.com/XClL1744Md

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 3, 2024

Trace Esports picked Ascent, a map on which they remained undefeated throughout the year.

They started strong, with Lu “Kai” Zhinan consistently finding openings in Vitality’s defence, leading to a 6-1 advantage.

Although Vitality managed to win some rounds, their gameplay remained scrappy.

Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel’s clutch in round eight marked a temporary recovery, but Trace kept Vitality’s economy on the brink, ending the half with a 9-3 lead.

In the second half, Vitality attempted a comeback, winning the round 11 eco and salvaging five rounds.

Despite losing the second pistol round to a Song “FengF” Xuefeng clutch, Vitality forced overtime by winning six of the final seven rounds.

However, Trace regained their momentum in overtime, securing a 15-13 victory.

Vitality chose Sunset, a map both teams were familiar with.

Trace initially looked to pull ahead, but an eco win in round five allowed Vitality to stabilise.

Their strong defence towards the B site and Nikita “trexx” Cherednichenko’s dominant performance (24-8) led to an 8-4 advantage at the half.

Vitality continued their momentum into the second half, winning 13-7.

Both teams had questionable records on Bind, each with a 33% win rate.

Trace’s unconventional composition, including both Cypher and Deadlock, aimed to capitalise on early-round pressure.

Despite Vitality’s initial 5-1 lead, Trace pulled back to a 6-6 half.

On attack, Trace’s quick executions and sentinel holds overwhelmed Vitality, resulting in a dominant 13-7 victory.

Zhang “LuoK1ng” Zhanpeng was a standout performer across all three maps, with 64 kills and 44 deaths.

Leviatán kicks off their #VALORANTChampions run with a clean series win! pic.twitter.com/WE6RbxPfue

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) August 3, 2024

Leviatán, the reigning VCT Americas champions, relied on heroic plays to secure a 13-11 win on Bind.

Notably, Corbin “C0M” Daniel Lee’s triple kill in round 22 turned the tide.

Talon’s Peter “Governor” No impressed on Neon, leading his team with a 20-17 performance, but Leviatán’s resilience prevailed.

Talon’s unconventional ‘Zombie Comp’ failed to secure a win.

Despite Papaphat “Primmie” Sriprapha’s strong showing with 22 kills, Leviatán’s Erick “aspas” Santos led his team with operator kills, resulting in a 13-8 victory.

Leviatán will face Trace Esports on August 7, while Talon Esports will play Team Vitality on August 9.

Sunday’s VALORANT Champions matches

• G2 Esports ($1.90) vs Paper Rex ($1.80) @ 5pm KST
• EDward Gaming ($2.10) vs FUT Esports ($1.66) @ 8pm KST

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Leviatan are the third-favourites to win VALORANT Champions 2024, behind Fnatic and Gen.G. This comes after they dominated VCT 2024 Americas Stage 2, where they took the title without losing a single series.

Talon Esports qualified for the VALORANT world championship by finishing VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 2 in fourth place. This is not too impressive, considering Talon were significantly weaker than the league’s top teams: DRX, Paper Rex, and Gen.G Esports.

Group C is very top-heavy, and even though past international VALORANT esports events have produced some upsets, it is doubtful that an experienced roster like Leviatan will slip against Talon Esports.

After crashing out of VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1 in 9th-10th place, Team Vitality went through a resurgence in the second half of the VALORANT Champions Tour season. They placed second in Stage 2, with their only defeats coming against Fnatic — including one in the grand final.

Team Vitality are expected to do well in South Korea, especially due to their ability to punish lesser squads and those with weak map pools. That should benefit them as Vitality take on Trace Esports, who only seem to do well on Haven (61% win rate) and Ascent (65%).

Unfortunately for the Chinese side, Vitality also have a win rate of better than 60% on Ascent along with a solid 54% on Haven — all while playing much stronger teams than Trace Esports encountered in VCT China. Barring any surprises, this should not be a close series.

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Gen.G finished the VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 2 group stage in fourth place, with a 6-4 record but a better map differential than Rex Regum Qeon. Yet the group results do not indicate what these teams are capable of.

Gen.G might have missed the top-two seed for the playoffs, but they placed second at VCT 2024 Masters Madrid and won Masters Shanghai.

Rex Regum Qeon have not come even close to achieving the same success. They played a competitive series against Paper Rex last week, but besides that, there is little to suggest they are at the same level as Gen.G.

Even though Gen.G didn’t look excellent during the group stage, it’s hard to doubt them and their ability to sweep a mid-table team.

Talon Esports announced the surprise signing of Papaphat “Primmie” Sriphapha ahead of the playoffs, which is an interesting choice. He has just four professional VALORANT tournament appearances from 2022 and has never competed in the VALORANT Champions Tour.

Known as “Scooby dooby doo” on the ranked ladder, Primmie’s stats alone suggest that he can perform at the highest level. It might be a risky move, but Talon need to try something to improve their disappointing form.

Team Secret have held on much better this year, but they didn’t show much during the group stage outside of the 2-1 upset against the slumping Gen.G. As such, their $1.56 odds look very short.

Talon Esports looked like the worse team last stage, but if Primmie is as solid as some analysts say he is, they should be priced much closer to even money.

Esports betting tips

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The top six VALORANT teams of the Pacific season are already known, but DRX need to win one more to lock in a direct bye to the upper-bracket semifinal. For DetonatioN FocusMe, victory or defeat won’t change anything.

After going 1-4 in Stage 1, the Japanese squad’s only victory in Stage 2 so far came against ZETA DIVISION. With 0-2 losses against Rex Regum Qeon, Talon Esports, and Paper Rex, they are well off the pace in Group Omega.

DRX had one questionable game against RRQ in the second week, but besides that, they’ve been one of the more consistent teams in the league. Don’t expect any surprises on Saturday.

Even though ZETA DIVISION are out of the VALORANT Champions Tour playoff race, they’ve shown some good things over the last three weeks. ZETA took a map from DRX at the start of the stage and played a fairly solid series against Rex Regum Qeon last week.

Talon Esports have managed two wins so far, against RRQ and DetonatioN FocusMe, which is hardly inspiring. And even though they’ve won six of nine games played across the two stages, that run includes some close calls against weaker teams.

If DRX defeat DeotnatioN FocusMe, this match will mean nothing for Talon Esports, which is one more reason to back the underdogs to take a map.

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DetonatioN FocusMe are 1-1 in VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 2 with a loss to Rex Regum Qeon and a reverse-sweep victory against ZETA DIVISION. This is a tiny sample size of games, but we saw how unconvincing DetonatioN FocusMe were in Stage 1, which they finished with five consecutive losses.

Talon Esports have been holding on well this season, and they’ve not looked terrible so far in Stage 2. Talon lost to Paper Rex in two maps in Week 1 but had an excellent performance against Rex Regum Qeon last week, proving they’re still a very competent team.

As the VALORANT betting odds suggest, it’ll take a huge blunder from Talon Esports for this match to be even close. Even at $1.58, they’re a solid pick to sweep the unconvincing DetonatioN FocusMe.

Having already lost to DRX and DetonatioN FocusMe, ZETA DIVISION should have no business securing their first victory in Stage 2 of the VALORANT Champions Tour on Saturday. They showed very little in Stage 1, with just two wins against Global Esports and Bleed Esports.

Rex Regum Qeon, on the other hand, are in a fine spot. They defeated DetonatioN FocusMe in the first week and added a huge 2-0 sweep of DRX on Monday, improving their overall record to 5-3.

Those results alone are a good enough indication that RRQ are a significantly stronger team than ZETA DIVISION, which should show on Saturday.

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T1 finished VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 1 Group Alpha in third place with a 2-4 record, one spot behind Team Secret at 3-3. Although they looked shaky in the final week of the regular season, T1 are priced as slight favourites with GG Bet for this match.

Team Secret are not in a much better spot, as they also slipped in the final week of the regular season. That said, Secret humiliated Paper Rex in Week 3 and have been slowly improving as the season progressed.

Both teams have played good and bad games throughout VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 1; however, Team Secret have looked cleaner lately, making them a better choice at the offered VALORANT esports betting odds.

Paper Rex are priced as massive favourites for their first match of the VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 1 Playoffs, and it’s hard to argue with that. They have been performing well this season, with a runner-up finish in the Kickoff tournament and a bronze medal from VCT 2024 Masters Madrid.

Paper Rex ended Stage 1 with just one defeat — against the surging Team Secret in Week 3. Talon Esports finished the group stage with the same 4-1 record, but they did not look as dominant in their wins — especially against lesser teams such as Bleed Esports and Global Esports.

Paper Rex are one of the region’s strongest teams, whereas Talon Esports have only made it so far because they managed to edge past a couple of bottom-feeders. As the offered VCT betting odds suggest, Paper Rex should deal with Talon Esports easily.

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Gen.G have done exceptionally well over the last month. They first won the VCT 2024 Pacific Kickoff without losing a single series and then made the finals of Masters Madrid, where they lost in a close five-map contest.

On the other side, Talon Esports have played just three games this year and won just one. They didn’t accomplish much during the Pacific Kickoff, beating Team Secret but losing the next two games against DRX and Secret.

Gen.G have played 12 games this season, which gives Talon Esports plenty of tape to work with. However, even with that advantage, the underdogs will have a hard time against the top dogs in VCT Pacific.

Despite replacing most of their roster before the 2024 VALORANT season, T1 performed well at the VCT Pacific Kickoff. They topped Group A with victories against Bleed Esports and ZETA DIVISION, and even though they lost against Paper Rex in the semifinals, T1 played a very competitive game and showed enough to suggest they can hang with the big boys.

DetonatioN FocusMe acquired the core of Crazy Racoon in February, but even with a new roster, success has been hard to come by for the Japanese side. They ended the Pacific Kickoff in last place, with two losses against DRX and Team Secret and the league’s worst map record (-18).

We haven’t seen enough from most VCT Pacific teams to say how good they are. However, DetonatioN FocusMe have shown very little in their two outings, making it difficult to believe they’ll stand a chance against T1.

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