TSM vs Gaimin Gladiators Prediction: Americans are ready to surprise

Day three of the ESL One Stockholm 2022 playoffs will take place on Wednesday, May 18. The day's final match will be a great showdown between T1 and Fnatic.

ESL One Stockholm 2022 is a LAN tournament in the cybersports discipline Dota 2, featuring the best teams from Eastern and Western Europe, South-East Asia, and South and North America. Fourteen teams are fighting for a prize pool of $500,000,000 and 3,530 DPC points. The tournament will take place from May 12 to 22, 2022.

TSM: The team did not play all its trump cards

TSM never has trouble against opponents from their region below their class, which is the majority of the DPC league. But finally, this American pack made it to the Major, and as long as there are no Chinese teams, there is a chance to go extremely high in this tournament.

The Americans finished the group stage in third place. They lost (by some miracle) only to Fnatic and won only Team Liquid. The Americans play comfortably with the Europeans, which was confirmed by yesterday's playoff game with OG. Today they have a more serious opponent without substitutes, but that does not mean that TSM can be immediately written off. 

The TSM team is ex-Undying. Frankly speaking, I liked Undying very much for their identity. It's really a team that not just got together and somehow played in their region in a year, but the guys were selected for the TI10 and showed themselves quite well in some places. The pack's main problem was the lack of organization, money was the real problem, and I am very glad that such a famous organization as TSM has signed these guys. Usually, when CIS talent "lands on the payroll," the game goes abruptly away. Still, the current TSM won their regional finals in February, which brought them even closer to qualifying for TI11.

Going by the TSM team personalities, SabeRLight, who not so long ago played for the now-disbanded Ninjas in Pyjamas, stands out on the team. He is no stranger to North America, having been on loan from Quincy Crew in 2019, so he knows the region well.

The current TSM was assembled based on the Undying team, which, in turn, was formed mainly by representatives of the disbanded CR4ZY team: mid Bryle, support MoonMeander, and DuBu, note that the latter still has experience as a coach. The Korean played at The International 2015 as MVP and finished 7th-8th in the tournament at the time.

An interesting carry player in the TSM squad is the Peruvian Timado, who has shown consistent performance. At TI10, there was not much faith in these guys, but they managed to surprise by taking points away from any team. Virtus.pro and T1 were able to beat the Americans, but OG and Invictus Gaming could not overpower the feisty Immortal guys. Immortals even managed to beat their principled opponents from EG but lost to the losers in the first round of the playoffs. After TI10, the team did not change their lineup but only got organized, and they are now TSM.

Gaimin Gladiators: The team will make a misfire

The European gladiators, unexpectedly for many, had a great group stage and secured first place in Group B. They only lost to their European colleagues Team Liquid (0:2), plus they drew with TSM and Thunder Awaken. 

The European team's drafts are good. I do not particularly believe in the top 3 of this team because I do not understand why the Gladiators have such a good group stage, but with the T1 team very easily handled in the first round of the playoffs. However, there are collected experienced fighters, for which the lan is not the first.

But with TSM, I think it will be extremely difficult, and the Europeans will make a misfire. The guys will not see a guaranteed top-3 for now.

Expert Betting Tips

Bookmakers believe more in the Europeans, but let's be honest. TSM looks one or even two heads better in this tournament in terms of tactics. Yes, the Gladiators are throwing a lot of teams off, but that will not work with the Americans. I suggest we take a chance and bet on TSM for 2.37.

We probably won't do without three maps, so Total Over 2.5 maps for 1.99 looks probable.

Let's also try 4.24 for a correct score of 2-1 in favor of TSM.

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