ESL One Germany

Even though Team Secret have lost only 11 series since The International 9 and enter this bout on a 20-game winning streak, the European juggernauts are not invincible – as seen last Friday, when Clement “Puppey” Ivanov and co. nearly lost to Team Nigma (2-1). That is not to say we trust mudgolems to snap Secret’s streak, but Neta “33” Shapira’s squad fields enough individual quality to exploit Secret’s minor weaknesses.

Esports bookmakers have mudgolems priced at around $3.05 to win at least one map, which is very generous considering they took care of Team Liquid (2-1) on Saturday and recently swept Nigma and Natus Vincere. At these odds, we will gladly take our chances with the outsiders to keep the series close.

After a somewhat lacklustre run through the group stage where they lost to Team Liquid (1-2) and mudgolems (0-2), Natus Vincere bounced back and defeated OG (2-1) in the first round of the playoffs. However, that does not justify the surprisingly high odds offered on Vikin.gg, who defeated this roster in August and come into this match following a convincing 2-0 sweep of Alliance.

It’s hard to call out a winner for this bout, but we can say for certain this won’t be a one-sided affair. There is a world where Vikin.gg wins, but we will play it safe and predict each team to win at least one map.

Top Clans 2020

Motivate.Trust Gaming are 8-1-1 across the last three weeks, and that record includes two clashes with Neon Esports. One of those meetings ended in a stalemate, and the other in a 2-0 win for Anurat “boombell” Praianun and his crew.

Neon’s 2-4-4 record across the last couple of weeks is somewhat unconvincing, but they grabbed stalemates against TNC Predator and BOOM Esports and also bested Team MagMa. Out of 12 meetings with Motivate.Trust Gaming, Neon have won five, drawn three and lost four, but they are 0-3-2 in their last five clashes.

Neon should put up a fight, but the odds are slightly too short for us to consider siding with the outsiders. Instead, we will trust Motivate.Trust Gaming to take down Neon once more.

Galaxy Racer have yet to achieve any remarkable feats since the formation of their Dota 2 esports squad in July, but nor have they looked too shabby. Their only defeat in October came against Army Geniuses, yet even that loss should be taken with a grain of salt since Galaxy Racer had other obligations that day and likely did not put too much effort into that bout.

Similarly, Adroit showed solid form throughout October (5-1-2), although they did not face any tough opponents. Out of eight games, the only two notable teams Adroit played against were Zerothreetwo Dota (2-0) and Among Us (1-1).

At higher odds, Adroit would be worth a shot. However, as it stands now, siding with Galaxy Racer is the smarter pick.

DreamHack SC2 Masters 2020 Winter Europe

Leon “goblin” Vrhovec can be extremely satisfied with his performances so far this competition. Even though he dropped his most recent game against Nikita “SKillous” Gurevich, we can’t look past goblin’s 2-1 over one of the tournament favourites in Gabriel Raffaele “HeRoMaRinE” Segat.

Krystian “Krystianer” Szcz?sny, meanwhile, left a lot to be desired with his 0-2 losses against Alexis “MarineLorD” Eusebio and HeRoMaRinE. While he deserves some praise for defeating Julian “Lambo” Brosig (2-1), that hardly compares to what his next opponent has shown.

We don’t expect to see any upsets this Wednesday. If goblin can show even half of what he did against HeRoMaRinE, this clash should be a cakewalk for the Croatian StarCraft II esports pro.

League of Legends World Championship

DAMWON Gaming’s performances this tournament were quite impressive, but we can’t overlook the fact that G2 Esports are a strong team that usually does well into Korean teams. What’s more, DWG are known as a team that regularly underperforms in high-stakes international matches, whereas G2 thrive in high-pressure situations.

While DWG might be individually stronger, G2 have an upper hand in other departments. Besides the aforementioned advantages G2 have, Korean teams are also far less experienced playing best-of-five (Bo5) series, and usually underperform if the series go the distance, so there is some value in backing G2 Esports to win Game 5.

ESL One Germany

Alliance hold a 8-2 record and a perfect 3-0 run since the start of October. Vikin.gg have seen a similar level of success with seven wins in last 10 and are also 4-2 since the start of the month.

Out of four meetings between Vikin.gg and Alliance since April, each side won twice. Their most recent bout happened in September during the OMEGA League: Europe Immortal Division, where Alliance won 2-0.

Because of their recent success, Alliance come off as a better team, however, they have lost at least one map in seven out of their last nine games. We don’t expect that to change here and like our chances with Vikin.gg to steal at least one map.

Mudgolems’ only two losses in the last 10 came against Vikin.gg and Liquid, which is not terrible considering they went on to sweep both Nigma and Natus Vincere. Meanwhile, Liquid are 7-3 in their last 10 with losses to Secret (0-2), VP.Prodigy (0-2) and Alliance (0-2).

Although we believe Liquid should be slightly favoured over Mudgolems, the $1.49 seems a bit too low. Mudgolems might have lost their most recent bout with Liquid (0-2) two weeks ago, but they are capable of much more than what they have shown that day so we have no issues trusting them to win at least one map and force a three-map series.

ESL India Premiership – Fall 2020

Orgless picked up a few solid wins this tournament, including 16-10 against Phoenix Esports and 16-9 against Reckoning. But they also disappointed with losses against BL4ZE Esports (5-16), We Own All (12-16) and most recently against 2ez Esports (10-16).

2ez Esports lost only one game this tournament against BL4ZE Esports (10-16), but had no real issues when faced with other teams. In all of their wins, 2ez kept their opponents to 10 or fewer rounds which is a fairly impressive feat.

BL4ZE Esports and 2ez Gaming are two of the strongest teams at the tournament, whereas Orgless can hardly be regarded as such since they have yet to show anything that would inspire confidence. We expect another effortless win for 2ez Esports.

2020 Global StarCraft II League Season 3

Unlike most other players who struggled with their form after returning from military duty to StarCraft, Park “Armani” Jin Hyuk is in the prime of his career. Much of it comes down to the fact that the current SC scene is far weaker than how it was back in the day, but that does not take away from Armani’s strong showings which includes a 4-3 win over Joo “Zest” Sung Wook in the quarter-finals.

Cho “Maru” Seong Ju has turned many heads with his commanding 3-1 win over Cho “Trap” Sung Ho and is now only two games short of adding another trophy to his cabinet. Usually, Maru should be the favourite over Armani, and while we would understand if esports bookmakers priced Armani at slightly shorter odds, the current prices make no sense. Maru is overpriced at $2.42, which makes him a no-brainer pick for our prediction.

CDA-FDC Professional Championship

Invictus Gaming find themselves in a downwards spiral which seems to have no end. The only two teams IG managed to defeat in their last 10 fixtures were Phoenix and Sparking Arrow Gaming, while they severely underperformed even against some weaker sides – including Team Aster (0-2).

While it would be hard to say Aster are comparable to the likes of PSG.LGD, ViCi Gaming and other Chinese Dota2 juggernauts, Jiang “天命” An and co. are playing some solid Dota. Aster went 6-4 in their last 10 and forced ViCi to three maps (1-2) en route to the OGA Dota PIT bronze medal, which suggests they are more than capable of defeating the struggling IG again.

ESL One Germany

Natus Vincere ended the group stage with a slightly disappointing 3-2 record. While they defeated Cyber Legacy (2-0), Winstrike (2-0) and Yellow Submarine (2-1), they underperformed against Team Liquid (1-2) and mudgolems (0-2).

OG came out of the group stage with a slightly better 3-1 record. Their only loss came against Alliance (1-2), but that does not take away from their 2-0 sweeps of Winstrike Team, Vikin.gg and Yellow Submarine.

OG are not nearly as strong as they were in 2018-2019. NaVi have already bested them twice this year, so we could be in for another close match. A bet on NaVi to win 2-1 is worth considering, but over 2.5 maps is the safer bet.

Team Secret are priced as massive favourites over Team Nigma for the opening round of the ESL One Germany playoffs. That is no shock considering how dominant Secret have been not only throughout the group stage (3-0) but for a good portion of 2020.

To put Secret’s supremacy into a perspective, they have not lost a single match since June and have dropped only nine series out of 86 played since the turn of the year. However, three out of those nine losses came against Team Nigma.

Although Nigma have an extremely talented roster, their lack of consistency makes it hard to trust them as a longshot bet. Still, the odds on the +1.5 handicap are high enough for us to take a punt.

Prime League Pro Division 2020 Grand Final

Team GamerLegion have been performing extremely well this tournament. That especially holds true for their top laner, Christian “Phones” Sieg, who is averaging the third-highest KDA (8.8) in the competition.

However, those efforts are overshadowed by the performances of the mousesports players, who occupy five of the top six spots in the KDA standings. Top of the pops is their support, Hampus Mikael “promisq” Abrahamsson, with an absurdly high 28.0 KDA.

GamerLegion have beaten mousesports before, but that does not convince us they can do it again. Mouz’s individual quality seems to be far above any other team at the tournament, so we are confident they can seal this series with at least two maps to spare.

DreamHack Open Fall 2020

Team Vitality finished their IEM New York campaign in third-fourth place, and they will now look to build on that success at DreamHack Open Fall. Vitality’s opening fixture is against mousesports, who defeated them in the ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe group stage just a couple of weeks ago.

Mousesports, while not as strong as they were in 2019, look quite decent despite the departure of ?zgür “woxic” Eker. They finished fourth in the ESL Pro League, where they lost only to the two finalists in Natus Vincere (1-2) and Astralis (1-2).

Vitality (4th) are ranked higher than mousesports (15th) but have shown a lack of consistency in recent weeks. Mouz have the tools to deal with them, we will gladly take the odds on the outsiders.

These teams last met on Sunday in the semi-finals of Intel Extreme Masters XV New York Online Europe, where OG defeated Fnatic with 16-13 on Train, 11-16 on Inferno and 16-9 on Mirage. The latest CS:GO betting odds suggest OG are poised to do it again, but that is far from guaranteed.

Despite OG’s success at IEM New York, we are not convinced they should be priced at such short odds. They looked very scrappy in their 0-3 grand finals loss to FaZe Clan and will likely struggle to outshine Fnatic.

Even though the Swedes can be hit-or-miss at times, they’re more than capable of defeating OG. At the offered odds, it makes much more sense to back the outsiders.

ESL One Germany 2020

Vikin.gg started their ESL One Germany campaign with a narrow win against HellRaisers (2-1) but failed to show up against OG (0-2). Meanwhile, 5men lost 0-2 loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas and won 2-0 against EXTREMUM.

Vikin.gg have met with 5men three times since September, winning two series and losing one, yet even that was more of a fluke loss than anything else. While their results this competition have not been spectacular, the same holds true for 5men and their showings.

Neither side is in good form, so it’s safe to expect an open match with all three maps played. Alternatively, a bet on Vikin.gg to win 2-1 can be considered.

At the end of September, Natus Vincere decided to trial FlyToMoon’s roster. That proved to be a good move as NaVi finished fourth at OGA Dota PIT, where they managed to defeat OG (2-1) but were eliminated by eventual finalists VP.Prodigy (1-2).

NaVi carried over some of that momentum into ESL One Germany, where they swept Cyber Legacy (2-0) but narrowly lost to Team Liquid (1-2). Winstrike Team have produced far less inspiring results, with a humiliating 0-2 loss to OG and a narrow win over HellRaisers (2-1).

Winstrike bested FlyToMoon’s roster in June during the Parimatch League Season 3 Round Robin. However, they’ve lost many key players since then, so we don’t believe Winstrike will manage to repeat that feat on this occasion.

League of Legends World Championship

This fixture is billed as the most one-sided match of the 2020 LoL World Championship quarter-finals. However, that does not necessarily mean we are in for a 3-0 sweep.

Fnatic are renowned for their fast decision-making, deep champion pool and solid team-fighting. What’s more, they field one of the best-performing junglers in Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek, a very potent bottom-lane duo, one of the best laning mid-laners in Tim “Nemesis” Lipov?ek and a very stable weak-side top lane.

That does not take away from the fact that Top Esports have stronger individual pieces, but they – like many other Chinese teams – tend to draft for lanes rather than team-fighting compositions. Could that turn around and bite them?

We are not expecting Fnatic to defeat Top Esports, but there is definitely a chance the Europeans can win at least one map. The safe play is the +2.5 handicap on Fnatic, but there is value in backing Top to win 3-1.

Intel Extreme Masters XV New York Online

These teams last met in July during Mythic Invite League Season?1, where Chaos Esports Club picked up a comfortable 2-0 win with 16-6 on Overpass and 16-3 on Nuke. Since late June, Chaos have met Mythic on the battlefield three times and won each encounter convincingly, allowing Mythic to reach double digits on a map only twice.

Even though this is an online tournament, we don’t expect to see any surprises. While the odds offered on Chaos to win 2-0 are relatively short, they still offer great value. Alternatively, a -5.5 round in-play bet on Chaos for the first map is worth considering if the series begins on either Train, Nuke or Mirage.

?These sides last met in August during DreamHack Open Summer 2020 North America, where Team Liquid pocketed a 2-0 win with 16-12 on Dust II and 16-5 on Inferno. Since then, Liquid have won eight out of 14 games while Team oNe have won 10 out of 11.

However, we must note that Liquid have played significantly stronger opponents. While they’ve faced some of the best teams from the region, Team oNe have won most of their games against semi-amateur squads at ESEA Premier Division.

Despite oNe’s strong form, they don’t have the tools to defeat Liquid, nor do we believe they will manage to keep the bout close. A -4.5 round bet on Liquid is the best option regardless of the map.

ESL One Germany 2020

?Nigma and Yellow Submarine will clash for the first time in their history this Wednesday in what promises to be a very one-sided bout. The short odds on the favourites offer no value here, nor do the map handicaps, but that does not necessarily mean there are no betting opportunities.

Some esports bookmakers are offering as much as $1.83 on the first map to end in under 33 minutes, which is far too high considering the massive quality gap between the teams.

This will be Nigma’s easiest match since their formation in November 2019. Considering we have seen them run over A-Tier teams before, there is no reason to believe they can’t defeat Yellow Submarine in under 30 minutes.

It’s hard to make sense of Natus Vincere’s recent results. They have managed to defeat the likes of OG (2-1) and Nigma (2-0) yet dropped the ball against VP.Prodigy (1-2), 5men (0-2) and Cyber Legacy (0-2), who they last met at the start of September.

Cyber Legacy have been far more consistent, putting together an impressive 8-2 run. However, their last match was at the start of September when they lost to FlyToMoon (0-2), which suggests the Russians will enter this match a bit ring rusty.

There are some concerns with CL’s lack of competitive gametime, but that does not justify the surprisingly low odds offered on NaVi, who are far too inconsistent for us to believe they can manage a 2-0 sweep. We will take our chances with the underdogs to win at least one map.

FunSpark ULTI 2020 Asia

These teams have met 14 times in 2020. While Invictus Gaming emerged as the stronger side in nine of those clashes, we should not ignore Lynn Vision Gaming’s five wins, which include their most recent clash at the start of August.

The latest CS:GO betting odds suggest IG should win comfortably. While that might be the case, Lynn are by no means a bad team. They have won five tournaments since the turn of the year and last month finished third at WDNMD Asia Invitational 2020 – far above IG, who ended in seventh-eighth place.

Lynn have also won four out of their last five games, while IG have managed only two wins from their last five against teams of similar quality. Lynn should not be priced at such high odds, so it makes sense to take a shot with the underdogs.

Intel Extreme Masters XV New York Online

Team Vitality defeated Fnatic 2-0 just under a month ago during the ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe Regular Season, but that does not justify the surprisingly high odds offered on the Swedes.

Despite their 0-3 record against Vitality since the turn of the year, Fnatic have looked the better team of late with their three-map series against Complexity Gaming and Astralis as well as their 2-0 win over Ninjas in Pyjamas. In contrast, Vitality were smashed 0-2 by both mousesports and Complexity.

Despite what the odds suggest, we expect Fnatic to come away victorious. A three-map series seems like the most likely outcome, which is why we recommend a dabble on the underdogs for a 2-1 win in the correct score market.

G2 Esports failed to impress in the ESL Pro League, where they crashed out of their group with a 2-5 record. Complexity Gaming saw far more success in the group stage (5-2) but started to slump in the playoffs, where they lost to eventual finalists Natus Vincere (0-2) and Astralis (0-2).

Much of Complexity’s struggles came on the heels of Owen “oBo” Schlatter’s controversial departure. While that has left them weaker, they are still strong enough to hold their own against the inconsistent G2. Complexity are more than capable of winning at least one map, although we don’t expect much more from them.

ESL One Germany 2020

Vikin.gg have met with HellRaisers four times this year for two wins, one loss and a draw, the last of which came in their most recent meeting in September. Both teams attended BTS Pro Series S3 EU/CIS, where HR produced a 4-2-4 record and Vikin.gg won the title with a 9-2-2 record.

Even though HR forced a stalemate last time they met with Vikin.gg, it’s far from guaranteed they will manage to see the same success on Tuesday. Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp and co. enter this match in hot form, which leads us to believe HR will have to outperform themselves to come even close to winning a map.

We don’t agree with the Dota 2 betting odds for this match, which seem to be based on the teams’ brand value alone. Even though Team Liquid are a strong side, they should not be priced at such short odds here.

Mudgolems are not a team we rank very highly, but they’re still a group of highly experienced players who have proven their worth on the big stage. While they went down 0-3 to Vikin.gg in the BTS Pro Series grand finals last week, the team’s lossless run to get there was impressive nonetheless.

Liquid are still the most likely victors, but we would not write off mudgolems just yet. They have the individual quality to give Liquid a run for their money and make the series interesting.

League of Legends World Championship 2020

G2 Esports look set to lock in a ticket for the playoffs after their win over Suning, while Team Liquid have found themselves in a much tougher position after their humiliating loss against Machi Esports. Liquid have time to turn things around, but they’ll need a bit more input from their individual pieces if they wish to progress any farther.

This leads us to the main issue Liquid will have to deal with in this match: containing the in-form Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther and Martin “Wunder” Nordahl Hansen. Although Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen and Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong are not bad players by any means, they have not shown enough to suggest they can win their respective lanes.

While there is always room for upsets in a best-of-one (Bo1) fixture, G2 Esports are playing a level or two above Liquid and should win this game with relative ease.