ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe

?After four rounds of play, Complexity Gaming hold a perfect 4-0 record and equally impressive 8-2 map differential. They only lost maps against Team Spirit and Fnatic last week, but even those were very close.

Mousesports are 2-2 after losing both of their Week 2 fixtures against Astralis and Ninjas in Pyjamas, which is cause for concern since they’re now facing one of the strongest teams in the ESL Pro League.

Unlike mouz, Complexity have yet to show any signs of slowing down, so we have to trust Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and co. to secure their third clean sweep of the tournament this Wednesday.

?ENCE are 4-1 after five rounds of play compared to OG’s 2-3 record, which paints a clear picture of which side is better prepared for this bout.

ENCE were well beaten in their opening map against AGO (2-16) on Sunday but struck back with 16-4 on Train and 16-4 on Dust II, so there is no denying the Finns are in great form. They also swept G2 Esports and Natus Vincere and defeated the current no.3 team in the world, Heroic (2-1).

In contrast, OG lost to NaVi (1-2) and G2 (1-2) and struggled against GODSENT (2-1). The choice is obvious.

?GODSENT managed to win only one map in all of their matches last week against ENCE, OG and Heroic. The clash with OG was especially worrying, as they won a mere 10 rounds across Inferno (4-16) and Train (6-16).

BIG choked against Heroic (1-2) last week but managed convincing wins against AGO (2-0), OG (2-0) and even G2 (2-1), who they kept to only four rounds on Nuke.

Siding with GODSENT – even in the handicap market – offers no value. While they can have their moments, this match looks more like a 2-0 stomp by BIG than anything else.

ESL Pro League Season 12 North America

?Evil Geniuses won 2-0 against Gen.G last week, but they dropped 27 rounds across Dust II (16-14) and Inferno (16-13). That does not inspire much confidence since they lost 0-2 to Chaos Esports Club only four days prior.

FURIA might not have had a perfect run through the ESL Pro League so far, but they proved their worth on Sunday when they swept Team Liquid while keeping them to only eight rounds on both Nuke (16-8) and Vertigo (16-8).

While Evil Geniuses are still regarded as the strongest North American CS:GO team, their recent form drop suggests there is value in siding with FURIA to cause an upset.

LoL European Masters 2020 Summer

AGO ROGUE are looking like one of the strongest playoffs teams, but there is a possibility Misfits Premier could derail their Polish counterparts.

While Misfits had their slip-ups in the group stage, mid laner Ronaldo “Ronaldo” Betea (6.3 KDA) continues to impress and should prove to be a worthy opponent for AGO ROGUE’s Pawe? “Czekolad” Szczepanik (5.5 KDA).

All other lanes favour AGO ROGUE, but the differences are marginal. For that reason, we are confident Misfits Premier can put up enough of a fight to force a three-map series at least.

?K1CK Neosurf will look to spring an upset when they face mousesports in the EU Masters quarter-finals, but that might be easier said than done.

Mouz field one of the best players in the competition in jungler Patrick “Obsess” Engelmann, who holds the highest KDA (10.0) in the league, as well as ADC Jesper “Jeskla” Klarin Str?mberg (8.6 KDA) and ex-G2 Esports support Hampus Mikael “promisq” Abrahamsson (5.4 KDA, 11.7 APG).

A lot will have to go right for K1CK Neosurf to win here. While ADC ?ukasz “Puki Style” Zygmunciak is capable of carrying his team to victory, he has proven to be too inconsistent for us to consider trusting the underdogs.

BTS Pro Series Season 3 Southeast Asia

NEW Esports failed to show up on Monday when they lost 0-2 to Neon Esports, which was quite a shocking result considering they swept Fnatic just two days prior. One could say NEW overachieved a bit on the opening day and are now showing their true colours.

Motivade.Trust Gaming might not be one of the strongest teams in the BTS Pro Series, but they have shown solid form across the last month with a 6-1-3 record. Their run also includes a 2-1 win over Adroit, a 1-2 series with TNC Predator and a 2-0 sweep against 469 Gaming.

NEW Esports look stronger on paper, but we like Motivade.Trust better on form.

Prediction: Motivade.Trust Gaming to win – $4.54 at BetOnline

BTS Pro Series Season 3 Europe/CIS

HellRaisers have managed only two draws so far in the BTS Pro Series, but their stalemates with Vikin.gg and mudgolems are not without value. Facing them this Wednesday will be Team Unique, who lost their opening match against Vikin.gg (0-2) but won against B8 (2-0) on Monday.

Unique and HellRaisers have met four times in 2020, each winning twice. Unique were the most recent victors during the OMEGA League in August (2-1), but HellRaisers look much stronger than their CIS rivals heading into this clash.

The odds offered on HellRaisers are very generous, so we don’t have to think twice before deciding on our pick.

ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe

?GODSENT did not look too sharp in the opening week of the ESL Pro League when they lost 0-2 to both Natus Vincere and G2 Esports, but they managed to regain some traction with a reverse sweep over ENCE on Tuesday. Likewise, OG lost their opening two fixtures against G2 (1-2) and BIG (0-2) but took down AGO (2-0) on Sunday.?

Even though OG’s 1-2 record is not terrible, their recent form slump is a concern as they prepare to face the surging GODSENT. Ignore the odds – OG’s struggles make this match a complete coin-flip, so it makes sense to side with the outsiders.

?

European Masters 2020 Summer

Perhaps the most one-sided fixture of the day will see WLGaming Esports clash with Misfits Premier, who are among the favourites to win the league. Misfits have won all three of their group stage fixtures so far, whereas WLGaming managed only one victory in three outings.

Even though WLGaming’s win over ?7more7 Pompa Team was fairly impressive, we can’t forget how one-sided the previous meeting between WLG and MSFP was, and there is no reason to believe this match will play out any differently.

Instead of betting on the result, we will instead shop for higher odds in the first blood market. MSFP jungler Thomas “Kirei” Yuen and top laner Tobiasz “Agresivoo” Ciba boast 100% first blood participation, and since WLG’s Dimitris “IceBreaker” Chatzitsobanis is one of the worst top laners in the league, it’s highly likely MSFP will claim the first blood in the top lane like they did in each of their last three games.

7More7 Pompa Team failed to show up in the opening rounds of the group stage and lost all three of their fixtures. Having said that, we have to give them some praise for their solid performance against Misfits Premier.

Vodafone Giants are 2-1 having already defeated 7More7 Pompa Team and WLGaming Esports. Their most recent win came solely due to the performance of ADC Amadeu “Attila” Carvalho, but he will likely struggle to have another strong showing against 7PT’s Damian “defles” Filipow.

This match will be an uphill battle for 7More7 Pompa Team, but if defles continues to perform, we believe the underdogs can upset the 2019 EU Masters Summer runners-up.

Overwatch League 2020 North America Playoffs

?Atlanta Reign got off to a strong start of the 2020 Overwatch League NA playoffs with a 3-2 win over Paris Eternal, yet they fell 1-3 against the reigning champion San Francisco Shock. Florida Mayhem dropped their opening match of the OWL playoffs against Los Angeles Valiant (2-3) but bounced back with a commanding 3-0 in over Los Angeles Gladiators last Sunday.

Looking at the past four clashes between Reign and Mayhem, the latter won all four with a commanding 12-3 map differential. The last time these two sides met was a month ago during the Countdown Cup, where Florida swept Atlanta 3-0.

Since then, Atlanta have lost five of seven matches, while Florida have produced a slightly better 3-3 record which includes two wins over the Gladiators and one against Vancouver Titans. Even though both teams have shown similar form of late, Mayhem’s impressive head-to-head record gives them a significant edge.

?Los Angeles Valiant started the OWL playoffs with a shock 3-2 win over Florida Mayhem but failed to keep their wheels spinning, as they lost 0-3 to Philadelphia Fusion in the semi-finals. Nevertheless, the Valiant have proven they’re the real deal this season by locking in a top-five finish in their division, albeit with a slightly underwhelming 12-10 record.

Washington Justice finished the regular season in 12th place with a poor 4-17 record. While they have shown some signs of improvement this month with clean sweeps against Vancouver Titans, Dallas Fuel and Paris Legion, consistency has never been the Justice’s strong suit.

Even though Justice looked decent in the opening rounds of the OWL playoffs, we feel like the odds offered on the Valiant are way too high. LA have exceeded everyone’s expectations this season and have swept Justice before, so there is no reason to believe they can’t do it again.

ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe

?Natus Vincere managed a solid 2-1 record in the opening week of the ESL Pro League,?yet Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov and co. left a lot to be desired with their inconsistency and some scrappy individual performances.

AGO lost two fo their first three games, although they took down the no.3 team in the world in Heroic (2-1) and held their own against BIG on Vertigo (14-16) – both praiseworthy accomplishments for a team of this calibre.

Even though AGO are by no means a top-tier team, they have shown enough to suggest they can take one map off NaVi, who are looking progressively worse.

?After winning ESL One Cologne 2020 Online Europe, Heroic coach Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen was suspended for exploiting the coach spectator bug, which has left the Danish squad in shambles. They have started to show cracks and lost both of their opening fixtures in the ESL Pro League, including a 1-2 defeat to AGO.

BIG, while not nearly as good as they were in?July when they took the top spot in CS:GO global rankings, looked fairly solid last week with 2-0 wins against AGO and OG. If they can continue playing at the pace they have shown, a clean sweep of Heroic is a real possibility.

?This match should be much closer than the odds at most CS:GO betting sites suggest. G2 Esports often underperform against weaker sides these days, as they lack the cohesion they once had.

ENCE are rarely regarded as one of the top CS:GO esports teams, but their results in the opening week of the ESL Pro League are nothing to sneeze at. Much of their success comes down to Aleksi “allu” Jalli, who has started to show glimpses of his old form.

If allu keeps performing and ENCE play like they did in the first week, the outsiders could be a real threat.

ESL Pro League Season 12 North America

?Despite the fairly short odds offered on 100 Thieves, they are still a bit too high considering they are facing a team that continues to struggle with roster stability. Not only have Chaos lost Logan “Voltage” Long and Cameron “cam” Kern, but they also parted ways with in-game leader Joshua “steel” Nissan, who was arguably the only reason why the team saw any sort of success in their recent endeavours.

Chaos defeated 100 Thieves 2-1 just over two weeks ago, but we don’t believe they will come even close to repeating that feat this time out. Without steel, Chaos will crumble on tactical maps and could end up with doughnuts.

LoL European Masters 2020 Summer

?LDLC and Schalke 04 Evolution met at the end of August, when S04E claimed a comfortable win with 18-4 in kills and over 8k gold lead. While the match was relatively close for the first 20 minutes, Schalke outclassed their French opponents without any real difficulties.

Not a lot has changed since then. While LDLC managed to defeat K1CK Neosurf last Thursday, that alone is not enough for us to believe they are better prepared for the Prime League Pro Division 2020 Summer runners-up.?

?K1CK Neosurf defeated Samsung Morning Stars at the end of August and will now look to repeat their success this Thursday. While the odds suggest K1CK should come out ahead once more, we can’t be too optimistic about the Polish side after their round four loss to LDLC.

SMS still have a lot to prove, but they held on well in their recent clash with Schalke 04 Evolution, which suggests the Italian side are capable of avenging their loss.

?The surprisingly high odds on Samsung Morning Stars make little sense to us. While there is no going around the fact that SMS lost two of their opening three games, they also defeated LDLC in one of the most one-sided fixtures of the tournament so far.

Some may argue SMS’s win over LDLC was a fluke – and perhaps it was – but the French side have not shown enough for us to believe they should be priced at $1.29. We will side with the underdogs for a chance at a generous payout.

?K1CK Neosurf can be fairly inconsistent, which especially holds true for ADC ?ukasz “Puki Style” Zygmunciak. He was impressive in K1CK’s recent win over Schalke, but he has struggled to make an impact since.

Even if Puki Style performs up to par, a lot will have to go wrong for Schalke 04 Evolution to lose. The Germans hold one of the most stacked rosters at the EU Masters – including four players with League of Legends European Championship (LEC) experience – and we don’t feel comfortable betting against that kind of quality.

?This match has a stomp written all over it. Even though Schalke 04 Evolution looked shaky against SMS last time out, that was in most part due to Nihat “Innaxe” Aliev having an off day. We don’t expect to happen again with a playoffs ticket on the line.

?This is perhaps the most unpredictable fixture of the day, since it will depend on how these two teams perform in the matches leading to this one. For K1CK, it will be Puki Style’s form that will dictate their success, whereas LDLC will need to find some traction in the two preceding games.

LDLC came out ahead last time, so we don’t have a problem with the odds. Since there is not a lot to set these two teams apart, however, it’s better to side with the underdogs.

Eight teams that survived the gruelling four days of EU Masters summer group stage are: mousesports, Rogue Esports Club, BIG, devils.one, Vodafone Giants, Excel UK, Fnatic Rising and Team-LDLC.

All of the qualified teams have already been seeded into the playoffs, where they will compete against each in a single-elimination bracket, best-of-three (Bo3) series in the quarterfinals and in best-of-five (Bo5) series in semi-finals as well as in the grand finals.

Pairs for the quarter-finals are as follows:
Saturday, September 21

• mousesports v Excel UK
• Rogue Esports Club v Vodafone Giants

Sunday, September 22

• BIG v Team-LDLC
• devils.one v Fnatic Rising

In this article, we will look over day one fixtures of the playoffs, featuring mousesports v Excel UK and Rogue Esports Club v Vodafone Giants.

mousesports v Excel UK

Mousesports (1.57) came from the group stage as the champions of Group A, which should not come off as a surprise to anyone. Mouz were considered the favourites to win their group, which they did after defeating REC in an exciting fixture that took place on the last day of the group stage.

While without a doubt the strongest team from group A, mousesports also did not fail to entertain the crowd with more innovative and exciting picks, that were anything but “traditional”.

Excel UK (2.25) enter this fixture as underdogs, which considering the overall quality of the two sides is a fair assessment. That being said Excel UK looked very strong in the play-ins and even in the group stage, where they have shown hunger to win and desire to push deep into the tournament.

Excel UK walked away from the play-ins with a perfect 6-0 score, to which they added a solid 2-1 record in the group stage. They might not be the favourites to win EU Masters, but they are at the same time a team that we should keep an eye on.

mousesports v Excel UK Tips & Predictions

• Expect Excel UK to push mouz to their limits and take the series to three games.
• Prediction: Over 2.5
• Odds: 2.00

Rogue Esports Club v Vodafone Giants

Rogue Esport Club (2.75), finished their group stage campaign as runners up in group A, which earned them a ticket for the playoffs. That being said, it was not all smooth sailing for them.

Despite entering the group stage as one of the two favourites to claim the top spots, Rogue Esports Club had to work overtime to defeat Campus Party Sparks and For The Win Esports, who came extremely close to defeating RNC. Nonetheless, RNC pushed through and now deservingly sit among the final eight.

Vodafone Giants (1.40) finished as the champions of Group C, where they rose above Excel UK, WLGaming Esports and Godsent.

Overall, we liked what we saw from the Spanish team, who looked very organized, composed and much better prepared for their fixtures compared to their opponents.

Vodafone Giants enter this fixture as heavy favourites, which is a fair assessment. That being said, the current meta, or shall we say, the current way the teams in EU play the game, makes matches highly unpredictable. Unusual picks and unordinary strategies turn many fixtures into so-called “fiestas”, which more times than not work in favour of the underdogs.

All things considered, Rogue Esports Club have the needed quality to stand up against Vodafone Giants, and due to the reasons stated above, we feel confident they can win at least one map, which is why we will settle for a +1.50 handicap bet on the Polish squad.

Rogue Esports Club v Vodafone Giants Tips & Predictions

• Prediction: Rogue +1.50
• Odds: 1.57

Origen (Spain) vs. Illuminar Gaming (Poland)

As covered in the previous article, Illuminar had enough strength to topple yet another favoured team, this time smashing the previously unbeaten French champions in an easy 2-0. Kikis and the bunch are playing terrific, and the opponents seemingly don’t even matter to them anymore. Woolite is showing that he still has amazing mechanics even after three years of being out of LCS, and IceBeasto might just be the best non-LCS top laner in Europe. The veteran mid laner Sebekx also showed up in the semifinals, and is looking crisp on meta champions. Illuminar have also demonstrated that they can end games quickly after getting a lead, and their macro has been getting cleaner and cleaner every round of the tournament.

Origen, on the other hand, had a very tough semifinals against MAD Lions thet they managed to win through the sheer quality of their squad, which is also gelling together much better than at the start of the tournament. After Froggen’s performance yesterday, I think we can safely say that the legendary Dane is the absolute MVP of the tournament so far, performing great as both a hard carry player in game 2 and a secondary carry and mindgame king in game 3. FORG1VEN finally reminded us of his old days, playing a fantastic Tristana in game 3, and Jesiz has been a monster and definitely proved that he’s a very good, LCS-tier support.

It’s hard to predict the winner between Illuminar’s fantastic form and Origen’s raw, untamed power. I would say Illuminar is about to surprise yet again, but this time I think Froggen is just too good at the moment and no regional squad can find a solution for him. The Polish team shoudn’t be sad, though, as they’ve already achieved much more than anyone thought was possible.

Betting prediction: Origen to win 3-0, paying $2.10 at GG Bet.

The semis will be played on April 28th, starting at 18:00 CEST.

MAD Lions (Spain) vs. Origen (Spain)

Origen’s squad of superstars isn’t smurfing as many have expected, but they’re doing their job well enough. Mid laner Froggen is the heart of this team, and every performance of his is a pure joy to watch for hard-carry playstyle fans. Jungler inSec has been playing very well after enduring some criticism in Origen’s first games, and his aggressive picks like Lee Sin or Kha’zix often leave the enemy unable to answer. Expect has been having consistently solid games in he top lane, both on carries and tanks, and the only issue of this roster could be the bottom lane. Greek legend FORG1VEN has had some iffy performances at the tournament, dying a lot more than we were used to see from him, and after the announcement that he will not be playing for nearly two seasons following the EU Masters, we have to question his motivation to even try to show his amazing skills here.

On the other hand, MAD Lions have stormed through the tournament without dropping a game, and all their players were individually on point. The synergy between Selfmade and Nemesis is definitely LCS tier, and these two players are the main tool through which the Lions generate leads. Werlyb is a very experienced and extremely mechanically skilled top laner, and Crownshot and Falco prefer to take a back seat in the bot lane and then pop off in teamfights. The teamfights themselves weren’t always needed. though, since the Lions sometimes just stomp their opponents in the laning phase and win from there.

In short, MAD Lions are probably the best team in this tournament, and are the #1 favourite to win it all. I do believe that Origen’s individual strengths can help them beat the best Spanish team, but I just don’t believe it hard enough. MAD Lions are simply too good at the moment.

Betting prediction: MAD Lions to win, paying $1.40 at GG Bet.

GamersOrigin (France) vs. Illuminar Gaming (Poland)

Illuminar are definitely one of the most unexpectedly impressive team in the Masters. The Polish squad that barely scraped their way out of groups have been playing very well since, taking down championship contenders Movistar Riders and Millenium. It feels like the team is finally clicking together, as they finally provide proper support to their volatile AD Carry Woolite, who returns the favour by dealing huge amounts of damage. IceBeasto, their rock in the top lane, has been unmatched in teamfights, and Kikis is looking more and more comfortable in his new/old role.

However, GamersOrigin is a different beast than Movistar or Millenium. France’s best team is yet to lose a game at the tournament, and have looked very strong and coherent throughout the games. GO has a very strong core of individuals, composed of the fantastic carry-oriented jungler TynX, France’s upcoming mid talent Tonerre, former LCS top laner Phaxi and a skilled Lithuanian duo in the bot lane. The team synergy is also on point, as their strong early game performance often translate into great objective plays and a swift end for their opponents. It seems like there’s no weak point in this team that Illuminar could exploit, and it should also be noted that GamersOrigin absolutely dominated them in the group stage.

There’s no denying that GamersOrigin are a heavy favourite here, and the match will most likely go their way. If you feel adventurous, though, the odds on Illuminar winning are very high, and the Poles might just manage a third crazy upset in a row.

Betting prediction: Illuminar Gaming to win, paying $6.50 at GG Bet.