Since the beginning of 2017, Dire Wolves have dominated the OPL. This team has now won three straight regular season and postseason titles. As such, they have been the region’s representative for each of the last three major international events.
DireWolves are looking to slowly build off of each prior performance. At MSI 2017, they were able to defeat RED Canids and Rampage to finish third in their play-in group. The win over RED Canids was particularly meaningful, as it kept the Brazilian side from finishing in a tie atop the group.
At Worlds 2017, they once again defeated a Brazilian team, Team oNe eSports, but were unable to make it out of the play-in group. They were paired with Cloud9, who eventually went on to make it to the Quarterfinals.
Once again, Dire Wolves are placed into a group with a Brazilian champion. This time around, they will be looking to do better than split 1-1.
Odds to win MSI Group B (Courtesy of BetDSI)
BAU SuperMassive -225
KaBuM! eSports +200
Dire Wolves +1500
Pentagram +2000
Backstory
Like most of the other teams in the OPL, Dire Wolves are based out of Australia. For their first few years, they were perennially in the playoffs but were unable to do more than that. Legacy Esports and Chiefs Esports Club each bounced them from the postseason twice, but since the start of the 2017 campaign, the Dire Wolves have ruled supreme.
It hasn’t always been easy though. This season, three of the four OPL playoff series went to a decisive fifth game. Dire Wolves were saved by winning the regular season and thus only having to play in one of the playoff matches. Like Korea, Australia uses a gauntlet-style playoff to determine its champion, and Dire Wolves were rewarded for winning in the regular season. They outlasted Chiefs in five games to make it to Berlin.
What to watch for
Chippys is going to play a carry in the top lane, that’s just a given at this point. He deals a large percentage of his team’s damage, and they rely on him to use a damage-dealing champion. This season, he has preferred to take Gangplank or Camille into the top lane. He has played Gangplank nine times and Camille eight times, and it is very likely he will select one of those two champions if available.
AD Carry k1ng will be one of the most interesting players to watch at MSI. While other AD Carries, throw in off-meta selections from time to time, it’s become a habit for k1ng. He has totally eschewed the S-Tier champions and his three most played champions this season were Ezreal, Vayne, and Miss Fortune. He has not played well on Varys this season, so keep that in mind during pick and ban. Additionally, k1ng deals significantly less damage than other AD Carries in terms of team percentages. Dire Wolves are not a team that will select four tanks and ask their AD Carry to win.
This team can be effectively target-banned against. Chippys, jungler Shernfire, and support Cupcake all have relatively shallow champion pools. Opponents are likely to target one or two of these players during the draft and force them out of their comfort zone.
Prediction
Dire Wolves will pull off an upset and knock off one of the two favorites in this group, but they have too many weaknesses to overcome. The best case scenario I see is 3-3 in the group stage.
