Rare Atom topped Group C with a 3-1 record and just one defeat against Huya BUG. Losing against an amateur team in a best-of-one isn’t a good lock and while it doesn’t prove that RA are weak, they’ll have a hard time winning against LNG Esports.

With the addition of jungler Wei “Weiwei” Bo-Han and support Ling “Mark” Xu, LNG Esports enter the 2024 season as one of the most stacked teams in the LoL Pro League (LPL). And we’ll see the new-look lineup on full display on Monday.

Even though this is LNG Esports’ first official match since the LoL World Championship, it’s very tough to doubt them and their chances to sweep Rare Atom, who look like a mid-table LPL team at best.

Top Esports cruised through the Demacia Cup 2023 group stage, ending Group D with three wins against EQX, Ultra Prime, and Team WE. This success isn’t that shocking, knowing that TES sent their entire starting lineup to the Demacia Cup 2023, yet they’re expected to struggle against JD Gaming.

JD Gaming came close to completing the Golden Road last season but fell flat in the League of Legends World Championship 2023 semifinals. Still, they won the Mid-Season Invitational and both LPL splits.

For the 2024 season, JD Gaming have made a few roster changes, including the addition of top laner Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun, and mid laner Zeng “Yagao” Qi. While not massive improvements, JDG have definitely not downgraded.

JDG’s core dominated the LPL last split, and things likely won’t change this year either. And even though Top Esports look potent, this is JDG’s game to lose.

Latest esports tips

Rare Atom have made several roster changes ahead of the 2024 season, adding four new players to the lineup. Top laner Xu “Xiaoxu” Xing-Zu and ADC Zou “Assum” Wei who are the only carryovers from 2023 link up with jungler Yang “naiyou” Zi-Jian, mid laner Lee “VicLa” Dae-kwang, and support Liu “ShiauC” Chia-Hao, forming a fairly competitive roster.

However, while Rare Atom have made some improvements, Rare Atom won’t compete for the LPL title, and they’re not even expected to do well at the Demacia Cup 2023. Priced at $3.25 on the outright markets with the top Esport betting sites, behind Invictus Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix, RA weren’t considered serious candidates to win Group C.

FunPlus Phoenix haven’t made any significant roster changes. While the team have added four new players, most are young and unproven talent from the secondary league. The potential is there, but until FPX shows something, that’s all they have.

This looks like a 50-50 match, so we’ll gladly side with Rare Atom.

By signing junglers Cai “milkyway” Zi-Jun and Wang “moyan” Xin, support Kim “Life” Jeong-min, and ADC Seo “deokdam” Dae-gil, FunPlus Phoenix look much different than how they did last season. But this roster still lacks some pieces to be competitive at the top level.

The biggest concern is the addition of a few unproven players, who regardless of their potential, will need time to adjust to the new environment. Still, we can have the same concern about most other Chinese LoL teams, including Invictus Gaming.

Ahead of Demacia Cup 2023, Invictus Gaming have added top laner Liao “Wen” Wen-Wei, jungler Guo “Tianzhen” Qi-Fan, mid laner Yuan “Cryin” Cheng-Wei, and ADC Luo “xiaoyueji” Shi-Hao. Besides Cryin, the three new additions are all products of IG’s academy division, and they all proved their worth in the development leagues.

Both teams field a mix of experienced and unproven players, adding more volatility to the already unpredictable best-of-one format. And since there’s not much to separate them quality-wise, Invictus Gaming at $1.80 are an obvious choice with GG Bet.

League of Legends betting sites have Invictus Gaming and Rare Atom priced at about the same odds, suggesting this will be a close affair. Considering both teams have made several roster changes and added players from the development league, it’s fair to assume that the fixture is close to a coin flip.

But Rare Atom should have a much stabler top side, and if jungler Yang “naiyou” Zi-Jian does well, it’s tough to find a win condition for Invictus Gaming. The bot side looks slightly in favour of Invictus Gaming; however, even there, the difference isn’t significant.

Bookmakers have Rare Atom priced as $1.80 favourites, which is a fair offer.

Latest esports tips

?Luxury Esports and Burst The Sky Esports will clash in the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) 2021 Winter third-place decider, after dropping their games in the semis against CERBERUS Esports (1-3) and GAM Esports (0-3) respectively.

Luxury looked good in their last outing and even took a map from the regular-season champions, CERBERUS, but that doesn’t mean much. Burst The Sky achieved less in their playoffs opener, but it mostly came down to small things in the mid-late game.

Burst The Sky and Luxury last met in the penultimate week of the regular season, when BTS won 2-0, and there is nothing that would suggest they can’t do it again. Admittedly, Luxury played well against CERBERUS, but that hardly justifies the offered LoL betting odds.

The odds on Burst The Sky seem a bit too high, so we have to take the outsiders to deliver.

?LNG Esports enter this bout as $1.24 favourites, which may seem fair considering how good their roster looks on paper. With Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang as the starting mid-laner and Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong in the jungle, many observers feel LNG are set for a successful season, but we have our doubts.

LNG have big names on the roster, but all of their star players seem to be on a decline, making LNG a team we will look to fade in the 2022 season. Admittedly, LNG look stronger than FunPlus Phoenix, and you could even say that they played better in the first round, but $3.79 on FPX looks too big.

We have to take FunPlus Phoenix with a map handicap. They might look like a team that can’t match LNG individually, but as they have shown, FPX are a solid side that can put up a fight and make LNG Esports work for the win.

?The offered LoL betting odds on this match suggest we will be in for a closely contested series, and we can’t argue with that. Even though we have yet to see Royal Never Give Up play this tournament, the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational champions are expected to field their LoL Pro League (LPL) roster, so they should be fine.

We also know what to expect from Top Esports, who have remained mostly unchanged from the 2021 LPL season. The only addition of the offseason was top laner Zhang “Zoom” Xing-Ran, who is a sideways move at best and hardly someone who can help the team reach new heights this season.

Top Esports played well during the group stage (3-1), but it’s easy to look good against weaker teams or rosters made up of academy players. Top are a solid team, but we are leaning more towards RNG.

?EDward Gaming’s roster consists of support Wang “Xiamu” Yong-Xu, ADC Hu “Leave” Hong-Chao, mid laner Zhang “maolv” Bao-Long, jungler Guo “Brave” Zi-Yang, and top laner Mak “Solokill” Fu Keung. This is essentially the EDward Gaming Youth Team.

There is a possibility EDward will field their starting top laner, Huang “Xiaoxiang” Xiang, for this match, but that’s unlikely to happen unless they fall behind in the series and need a boost. Unlike EDG, Invictus Gaming enter this match with their LPL lineup, which could explain the LoL betting odds had Invictus not promoted the majority of their academy lineup to the main roster this offseason.

Since this is a clash between two academy rosters, the offered betting odds on this match make no sense. IG did well in the group stage (4-0), but this is still the same core that played for Invictus Gaming Young last season, and they weren’t that much better than the EDG Youth Team. The value is with EDward Gaming.

Demacia Cup 2020

?JD Gaming enter the 2021 season with a couple of big additions to their roster, namely ADC Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun and ex-Suning coach Shih “Chashao” Yi-Hao. With a new strategist, JDG might improve on their shaky drafts and team synergy, but until we see them in action it’s hard to say how high can they fly.

Victory Five enter this match already warmed up and in great form, having won all of their group stage fixtures. JDG, on the other side, have yet to play a single match since the 2020 LoL World Championship, so they’re likely a bit ring rusty and vulnerable enough for V5 to cause some serious damage.

?Team WE did not make any huge additions to the team during the off-season besides promoting mid laner Chen “Yimeng” Ming-Yong and signing former Oh My God top laner Chen “Breathe” Chen. LGD Gaming, meanwhile, initiated a full roster rebuild, promoting three academy players and signing a couple more from other teams.

LGD now field a mostly rookie team, so it’s fair to say they won’t be threatening the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) title anytime soon. But WE are not especially strong or consistent, which is why we don’t believe they can manage a 3-0 sweep.

Funspark Rivals Pre-Season

?W2c are a newly re-built Mongolian CS:GO squad without any recognisable names in the team besides their coach, Erdenedalai “maaRaa” Bayanbat. They recently attended two Hyperion x OEL CS:GO Launch: Asian qualifiers but lost both semi-final bouts against Huat Zai and CHECKMATE.

Unlike w2c, After Gaming field a few known players from the scene, including Zhiwei “0i” Liu, XueBing “B1NGO” Dai and his former teammate at EHOME Tzu-Chi “Marek” Huang, but that does not necessarily spell out quality. Last month they attended the Asian Legend Challenge League and finished in fifth place, so it’s not like they’re a dangerous team.

After Gaming should still be stronger than w2c, but these low-tier Asian CS:GO fixtures are very unpredictable unless we are talking about the top dogs dominating weaker sides. The outsiders are well worth a shot here.

?The latest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting odds suggest that D13 should win this match more times than not, but in our book, their chances to triumph are about 50%. That’s not necessarily because they lack strong individual players, but rather due to their poor form.

D13 enter this match with a 2-8 record since the start of the month, which includes losses against w2c (twice) and New Happy (twice). Their only two wins of the month came against Mazaalai (16-14) and Triumphant Song Gaming (16-10), but that’s hardly worthy of praise since D13 ended up losing both rematches with 8-16 and 3-16 respectively.

ZIGMA, meanwhile, are 8-2 in their last 10 outings and hold the Asian Legend Challenge League title. The only concern we have with ZIGMA is their 0-3 head-to-head record in this matchup since August, but they are now facing a far weaker version of D13 than ever before.

Esports multi bet tips for Friday, December 25

Vulkan Fight Series

?9INE enter this match on the back of two 1-2 losses against ex-Ethereal and Lilmix, meaning they’re only one defeat away from an early elimination. The same holds true for Team Unique, who didn’t win a single map in their losses against Lyngby Vikings and Project X.

Unique have produced only three wins since late October, and even those came against Saints (twice) and HONORIS. That is significantly worse than 9INE, who have bested the likes of Nordavind, Movistar Riders, LDLC, HellRaisers and other solid tier-two teams during that stretch.

9INE can be somewhat inconsistent at times, but this is still their game to lose. There is good money in backing the favourites to cover the line.

Demacia Cup 2020

?After topping their group ahead of Oh My God, Rogue Warriors, Shu Da Xiong Gaming and HMG, FunPlus Phoenix are now set to face their toughest challenge of the tournament. Top Esports secured a comfortable 2-0 sweep when these teams last met in July, and it’s difficult to imagine this fixture will play out any differently.

Top have kept their roster intact, whereas FPX have added Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon to the top lane as a replacement for Kim “GimGoon” Han-saem and Kim “Khan” Dong-ha. This should make FPX deadlier, but until we see a bit more from them, Top should remain the favourites in these meetings.

?Suning made quite a statement with their runner-up finish at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, so it is reasonable to see them priced at such low odds. Although it is highly likely they will try out their new ADC Xie “Jinjiao” Jin-Shan instead of Tang “huanfeng” Huan-Feng for this match, that shouldn’t harm their overall quality too much.

ViCi are a team with potential, but that’s all they can offer for now. They did not make any notable additions to the team during the offseason and even lost their best-performing player from the last League of Legends Pro League (LPL) split, Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo, to Bilibili Gaming.

There is a world where ViCi win one map, but we don’t expect much more from them. An outright bet on Suning is a solid pick, even at the short odds.

CasterMuse StarLeague Season 4

?The first thing that caught our attention here is the huge gap in the odds at most StarCraft II betting sites. Not only will this match be played as best-of-one fixture, but Jang “Snow” Yoon Chul lost to Lee “Sacsri” Yah Hoon only two weeks ago.

What’s more, Sacsri is extremely effective against Protoss (60.95% win rate), whereas Snow has not been too successful when facing Zergs of late. At these odds, Sacsri to win is great value.

GG year 2020

?Out of six head-to-head bouts in 2020, Ivan “Vanya” Chepurnov’s only defeat so far came in a best-of-one clash in July. He has since triumphed twice with 3-0 in October and 2-0 in November. Vanya usually does well against Terran (62.67%), which is significantly higher than Mykhailo “Kas” Gaida’s 57.08% win rate against Zergs.

Everything is pointing towards another easy win for Vanya, but there is some value in siding with the outsider. At $2.77, the esports bookmakers are implying Kas has only a 9.06% chance to win, which is too low even in a best-of-three series.

Kas proved with his 2-0 sweep of Dmytro “DIMAGA” Filipchuk (Zerg) on Monday that he is not to be ignored. If that match is any indication, the 32-year-old Ukrainian just might produce another upset.

Esports multi bet tips for Thursday, December 24?

JD Gaming vs Bilibili Gaming

• Friday, December 27 – 11:00 CST

Ahead of 2020 season, JD Gaming ($1.77) failed to make any drastic additions to their roster besides the arrival of Lee “LokeN” Dong-wook, signing of former Rogue Warrior academy team support Lin “Peace” Shang-Ren (formerly Panfeng) and former Invictus Gaming academy team top laner He “705” Yu-Long.

On the other side, JD Gaming waved goodbye to their ADC Gu “imp” Seung-bin who retired earlier in November, junglers Sung ” Flawless” Yeon-jun and Pan “Xiaohan” Han and substitute top laner Park “Morgan” Gi-tae. Other than that, Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok decided to re-join JD Gaming after having spent five months with the team as a loanee from Griffin.

LoKeN arrived back to the team as a replacement for the now-retired JD Gaming star adc imp, meaning he will have huge shoes to fill. That being said, LoKeN is in our eyes a solid replacement and arguably an upgrade for the team, considering he was one of the best ADC mains throughout 2019 LPL season.

With that in mind, JD Gaming should be fine without imp and we can expect to see them compete for a top-eight finish in LPL once more. Bilibili Gaming ($1.91) have prepared themselves for 2020 LPL season with a handful of changes to their roster and coaching staff.

Early in November, their coach Park “Shadow” Jae-seok left the organization and got replaced by Chen “Achie” Chen-Chi who arrived from MAD Team and Wei “Java” Yi-Fan, who previously coached Bilibili’s academy team. As far as player departures are concerned, Lee “Kuro” Seo-haeng left for KT Rolster, while substitute top laner Han “Alielie” Dong-Xu and substitute support Xie “Kine” Chao left for the academy team.

On the other side, support Yang “Moonlight” En-Jian joined from the academy team and took over the starting position over Wang “xiaoliulian” Shu-Kai. The team also signed former Taipei Assassins and J Team mid laner Chu “FoFo” Chun-Lan as a replacement for Kuro.

FoFo will play a pivotal role in Bilibili’s success and while this will be his first time playing in LPL, he was one of the best mid laners in LMS, which makes us believe he won’t have a hard time competing at this level.

Last season JD Gaming and Bilibili met twice, with JD Gaming winning both bouts, however, with the recent changes, we believe Bilibili are slightly stronger as compared to last season. For that reason will take our chance with the underdogs to deliver here and defeat JD Gaming.

• Prediction: Bilibili to win @ $1.91 @ GG Bet

Royal Never Give Up vs Rogue Warriors

• Friday, December 27 – 16:30 CST

Entering the quarter-finals, RNG ($1.30) have a major issue on their hands, seeing how they won’t be able to count on their star ADC Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao to play due to his ongoing health issues. Due to Uzi’s injury problems, RNG signed Lu “Betty” Yu-Hung as his replacement, and while Betty is a solid ADC, he is by no means on the level of Uzi.

Ahead of 2020, RNG went through many changes, with the most notable being the arrival of Betty and Li “XLB” Xiao-Long (formerly xiaolongbao), as well as the signing of Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong as their new head coach.

Despite boasting with some very solid players, we have serious concerns about how the team will perform without Uzi who has been a major part of the team since his arrival in 2016. Without him, RNG were visibly struggling in the group stage, which only goes to show RNG are weaker as they were last season and arguably weaker as what the odds suggest.

In the offseason, Rogue Warriors ($3.13) signed four new members in mid laner Wang “Wuming” Xin (previously Steel), top laner and former SKT T1 substitute Kim “Crazy” Jae-hee, mid laner Lee “Ruby” Sol-min and support Le “Ley” Yi. The team also added Kim “HooN” Nam-hoon as their new head coach.

Looking at the new roster, we believe Rogue Warriors are entering 2020 season stronger compared to last season, where they finished among the bottom four in both LPL splits.

Comparing the two sides, RNG still look as favourites, but we can’t agree with the odds provided by the top esports bookmakers. Without Uzi on the team, RNG are much weaker and we believe they will have hard time justifying the odds here. Rogue Warriors already defeated RNG once last season (0-2) and with the improved roster they are ready to cause an upset.

• Prediction: Rogue Warriors +1.5 @ $2.07 @ GG Bet

Demacia Cup

Missing League of Legends at the highest level? It’s hardly surprising, it’s been over a month since we saw the FunPlus Phoenix triumph in the Worlds 2019 final, but don’t worry – we won’t have to wait long for the next matches with the new world champions.

We are not talking about the return of the LoL Pro League, but about the Demacia Cup. This tournament presents an opportunity for the Chinese teams to test out their rosters against the most talented teams of the region.

A total of 20 participants are competing for the championship – all teams from LPL and four from the second league in China – LoL Development League.

The first stage of the Demacia Cup is the group phase which splits 16 teams into four groups. From each group, the two best teams will advance to the next round. Play-offs will start after three days of break and the winner of this year’s edition will be announced on December 30.

On paper, this competition should be dominated by FunPlus Phoenix but prepare yourselves for surprises as the teams will be eager to take a shot at the reigning world champions.

Kespa Cup 2019

One of the most anticipated tournaments of the Christmas/New Year break is taking place in the competitive world of League of Legends. The Kespa Cup 2019 is paving the way for the competitive landscape as it will host the best teams in the Korean region in a battle for pre-season supremacy. The competition is a good opportunity for the roster to showcase their new signings as we head into Season 10.

Tips: Kespa Cup predictions

The top four teams of the LCK Summer 2019, have the privilege of starting directly from the playoffs. Meanwhile, the rest of the sixteen teams are competing in a fight for survival in the single-elimination bracket. All matches of the first bracket are being played in the best-of-three format. At the end out of the sixteen teams, only four will move on to the playoffs.

The first round of the playoffs will be played in the best-of-three format. The semifinals and the finals will be played in the best-of-five format. The competition kicked off on December 23 and will run until the January 1, so rest assured you can enjoy your holidays by watching the best teams from Korea competing for bragging rights.

Obao Elite Challenge

If you were starting to think that you were going to spend holidays watching only League of Legends then you are wrong. Fans of Dota 2 can also rejoice as some of the best teams in China will compete in the Obao Elite Challenge. The competition provides a good opportunity for the sides to prepare for the minor and major DPC tournaments that will take place in January 2020. All matches of the tournament are set to be played in the latest 7.23e patch, so it is fair to say that no team will be fully prepared and will have to learn as the tournament progresses.

Twelve teams will fight for supremacy and lion’s share of ￥200,000CNY(? $28,540USD) prize pool. The first phase of the tournament is the group stage, where the 12 candidates have been split into two groups. All the matches will be played in a two-game series.

In the end, only the top two teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. In the playoffs, the matches will be played in the best-of-three format. While the grand finale will be played in the best-of-five format. The winner of the tournament will take home ￥100,000CNY and will be announced on the 30th of December.

LBET Invitational 2

The passionate community of FPS will also be happy to know the CS:GO LBET Invitational 2 also deserve to enjoy some rich competitive action of its beloved eSports title. From December 23-29 some of the talented teams of Counter-Strike will compete in the LBET Invitational 2. Eight teams will attend the tournament and will kick off the competition in the group stage where they will be split into two groups. All the matches of the tournament will be played in the best of three format. Out of the eight candidates, only the top two sides from each group will advance to the playoffs and will compete for the lion’s share of the $ 20,000 prize pool.

Two teams to look out for in the tournament are NaVi Juniors and Invictus Gaming. The former side was recently developed as a second-team to one of the best teams in the world, NaVi. Meanwhile, Invictus has recently competed in WESG 2019 and also managed to participate in one of the biggest tournaments of the year, StarSeries Season 8. It will be exciting to see how these teams will live up to the expectations over the course of the festive season.

A word from the www.fridaynightmadness.com team

Firstly, the editorial team at www.fridaynightmadness.com would like to wish our readers a merry and safe Christmas/New Year period. We hope our wrap has provided something for every fan of the video gaming industry. These esports tournaments will showcase the most talented teams in action during this period in their respective genres. Remember, we have 100s of guides about the various games and aspects of the esports industry. We look forward to continuing to provide market-leading esports betting coverage into 2020 and beyond.

ViCi Gaming vs Top Esports

Thursday, December 26 – 11:00 CST

ViCi Gaming ($4.46) earned their spot in the Demacia Cup playoffs with a dominant run in the group stage, where they clinched the top seed with a 3-1 record.

The only team that bested ViCi in the group were the reigning world champions, FunPlus Phoenix, while LinGan e-Sports, Suning and Team WE failed to see the same success against Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun and his men.

ViCi have gone through a lot of changes in December, with some of the most noteworthy arrivals being former SKT T1 coach kkOma, mid laner Deng “Forge” Jie, jungler Lee “Chieftain” Jae-yub and support Hu “Maestro” Jian-Xin.

With that, the Chinese team now boasts with a very young and talented roster. That being said, they have lost a lot of quality with the departure of their bottom lane tandem of Su “Southwind” Zhi-Lin and Ding “Puff” Wang, both of whom opted to leave for 2018 world champions Invictus Gaming.

Like ViCi, Top Esports ($1.15) finished the group stage with an impressive 3-1 record. While they lost to EDward Gaming, they made easy work of LGD Gaming, Victory Five and Gama Dream.

Top Esports made a handful of roster changes in the offseason. In December, they acquired Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan from RNG as their new jungler, which is a massive upgrade to Xiong “Xx” Yu-Long, who left the team shortly after. They also signed Ying “Photic” Qi-Shen from their academy team and welcomed back Zhang “QiuQiu” Ming as their support.

With the departure of Top Esports’ bottom lane, we believe they lost a lot of quality. ViCi might lack some quality, but they have one of the best coaching staffs in the scene. For that reason, we trust ViCi to give Top a run for their money and win two maps.

Prediction: ViCi Gaming +1.5 maps – $2.62 at GG Bet

EDward Gaming vs Team WE

Thursday, December 26 – 16:30 CST

EDward Gaming ($1.28) enter their Demacia Cup quarter-finals bout priced as heavy favourites to win, and we can’t argue with esports bookmakers here.

EDward Gaming went through some changes in the offseason, but to a lesser degree than some of their counterparts. Zhao “Aodi” Ao-Di joined as a top laner, whereas Wang “Hope” Jie returned to the team after his short stint in EDG Youth Team. ED also promoted Ming “Clearlove” Kai to head coach and lost Jeon “Ray” Ji-won and Hu “iBoy” Xian-Zhao to KT Rolster and ViCi Gaming respectively.

With those changes, it’s hard to say how strong EDward Gaming will be in 2020. That being said, promoting Clearlove to a head coach position is a massive move. While he failed to impress as a player last season, he is still an excellent team leader and has the tools to succeed as a coach.

If betting odds are anything to go by, Team WE ($3.23) will have a hard time stacking up with EDward Gaming here. Looking at their roster after all the transfers, it seems like the the bookies are spot on.

Team WE saw their ADC Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun and mid laner Su “xive Han-Wei leave for Adreeca Freecs and Dominus Esports respectively. Wan “Clever9” Zhi-Cong was demoted to the academy team, while their substitute top laner Ke “957” Chang-Yu departed. On the other side, they signed Bae “Plex” Ho-young, Chen “yimeng” Ming-Yong and a promising youngster in Park “Morgan” Gi-tae.

EDward Gaming should come out ahead here, yet we don’t believe they will manage to defeat their opponents with ease. It’s worth noting Team WE bested FunPlus Phoenix in the group stage, which leads us to believe they should win at least one map here.

Prediction: Over 3.5 maps – $1.44 at GG Bet