HARD LEGION ESPORTS vs NORDAVIND CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

HARD LEGION ESPORTS vs NORDAVIND #HOMESWEETHOME: WEEK 6 BETTING PREVIEW

The opening Group D fixture of #HomeSweetHome: Week 6 will mark the first official Counter-Strike meeting between Russia’s Hard Legion Esports and Norway’s Nordavind.

There is a sense of excitement whenever two esports teams meet for the first time, as it is often difficult to tell which side will have the upper hand. For this fixture, however, it’s hard to argue against Hard Legion’s substantial advantage.

Sviatoslav “svyat” Dovbakh and co. enter this match following an impressive run through ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS, where they finished third behind Winstrike Team and Team Spirit. Throughout the group stage, Hard Legion picked up wins over Syman (2-1), pro 100 (2-0), Virtus.pro (2-1) and even against the reigning IEM Katowice champions, Natus Vincere (2-0).

In the playoffs, however, Hard Legion failed to overcome Winstrike, who defeated them 19-16 on Vertigo and 16-7 on Mirage. On the bright side, svyat’s squad took down Virtus.pro in the third-place decider match and with that earned 1,400 Regional Major Ranking points, which puts them at the top of the CIS standings.

Hard Legion also participated at the fourth and fifth week of #HomeSweetHome. They reached the playoffs in both events but failed to make it past the quarter-finals, losing to Gambit Youngsters (1-2) and Heroic (1-2) respectively.

Despite their 58.1% win rate across the past three months and a very impressive 7-3 record in their last 10, Hard Legion have struggled to deliver when it matters. Nonetheless, their consistent performances in group stages should give them plenty of confidence for Friday’s fixture.

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Nordavind will look to improve upon their fifth-eighth finish at #HomeSweetHome: Week 5, where they looked fairly solid throughout the group stage but fell apart in the quarter-finals against SMASH Esports (1-2).

In their four group stage fixtures, Nordavind defeated SKADE twice (16-4 and 2-0), but failed to deliver against the eventual champions, Heroic (0-2). They put up a lot of resistance against Heroic, however, taking them to 40 rounds (18-22) on the first map, which suggests Jesper “tenzki” Plougmann and co. are not as terrible as they’re portrayed to be.

Nordavind also participated at LOOT.BET/CS Season 6 and BLAST Rising, finishing in third-fourth place at both events after losing their semi-final bouts against Heroic (0-2) and Endpoint (0-2) respectively. Again, those fixtures were closer than the scorelines appear to suggest.

While it is hard to criticise Nordavind for their lack of success in recent weeks, their failure to close out crucial matches is concerning. That issue is a byproduct of losing their in-game leader, Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel, to a wrist injury at the start of March.

Nordavind enter this match with a 50% win rate from the last three months and a 5-5 record in their last five. Tenzki and his team picked up wins against HAVU, AGO, FATE and twice against SKADE, but they failed to see the same success against Sprout, Endpoint, Heroic, Smash and most recently against Nemiga at ESEA Season 34: Premier Division – Europe.

HARD LEGION ESPORTS vs NORDAVIND #HOMESWEETHOME: WEEK 6 BETTING PREDICTIONS

Because this is the first-ever fixture between Hard Legion and Nordavind, it’s difficult to predict how these two sides will stack up against each other. The best-of-one (Bo1) online format does not make it any easier.

Form-wise, Hard Legion hold a slight advantage over Nordavind, while the CIS roster’s average player rating is marginally higher across the last three months (1.048 – 1.018). In their last five fixtures, HL defeated HellRaisers, Tricked and AGO, while Nordavind only managed two wins over SKADE.

The map pools look fairly similar, although they further solidify Hard Legion’s favouritism. Nuke and Train are likely to be banned, and the Russians hold a better win rate on three of the remaining five maps. Even then, Nordavind’s advantage on Overpass (58% – 56%) and Inferno (45% – 39%) is only slight.

No matter which way you look at it, Hard Legion should have the upper hand in this contest. The online format will keep it entertaining, but Nordavind, missing their IGL, will struggle to stay within three rounds.

The post Hard Legion vs Nordavind betting tips – #HomeSweetHome Week 6 appeared first on Esport Bet.

SKADE vs SMASH CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

SKADE vs SMASH #HOMESWEETHOME: WEEK 4 BETTING PREVIEW

SKADE and SMASH Esports will begin their journey at #HomeSweetHome Week 4 this Thursday when they meet in the opening fixture of Group C.

After a runner-up finish in Week 2 and a semi-final appearance in Week 3, SMASH will look to go one step further in Week 4 and hoist their first tournament title since October, when they won LOOT.BET/CS Season 4 and the WePlay! Forge of Masters Season 2: Online Stage.

SMASH have the same roster they fielded during Week 3. Their most recent addition is Kristjan “shokz” Jakobson, who arrived on April 27. Although an unproven talent before he joined SMASH, the 22-year-old has carried his weight with a 1.06 average rating across 22 games with his new side.

SMASH’s most recent bout took place on Sunday when they faced BIG in the #HomeSweetHome Week 3 semi-finals. Although Anton “ToH1o” Georgiev’s charges started well with a 16-12 win on Dust II, they failed to keep up the tempo and were reverse swept on Overpass (13-16) and Nuke (9-16).

The final result was no great shock since BIG field Ismailcan “XANTARES” D?rtkarde?, who is widely regarded as one of the best online players in the CS:GO esports scene. However, SMASH would have been disappointed to throw away an early lead. They came close to clinching it on Overpass, where they held BIG at 13-14, but the poor form of Denis “grux” Gutaj (0.63 rating) proved costly.

SKADE were not as successful as SMASH in their previous appearances at #HomeSweetHome, where they finished fifth-eight in Week 1, ninth-12th in Week 2 and 13th-16th in Week 3. While that trend is far from encouraging, there are still a few positives we can take away from the team’s recent showings.

At the start of May, SKADE defeated Singularity (16-12) and crushed GamerLegion (16-5). While those are solid results that point to a decent second-tier team, they also show how inconsistent the Bulgarians can be. Only one day after they defeated GamerLegion, SKADE were stomped by both Team Secret (9-16) and Endpoint (0-2) at #HomeSweetHome Week 3.

SKADE have not made any personnel changes since appointing Nikolay “pNshr” Paunin as their head coach at the start of March.

SKADE vs SMASH #HOMESWEETHOME: WEEK 4 BETTING PREDICTIONS

Although SKADE are the higher-ranked team, we have a hard time understanding why they are the bookmakers’ favourites for this matchup.

The Bulgarian company have won only two of their last five games, while SMASH have shown a bit more with their 3-2 record. Also, the underdogs recently played a close series against BIG after defeating the likes of AGO (2-0), Nordavind (2-1) and Complexity (16-13).

These two teams have similar map pools, and we can almost guarantee that Vertigo will be banned. SKADE are very efficient on Inferno (76% win rate) and Overpass (70%), so SMASH will look to ban those two maps. That means this bout is highly likely to be played on Dust2, where both sides hold a 50% win rate.

SMASH have looked slightly better in recent weeks, while SKADE have a little more firepower in their armoury. That suggests this will be a tough match to call, so you might as well take the better odds on the outsiders.

The post SKADE vs SMASH Esports betting tips – #HomeSweetHome Week 4 appeared first on Esport Bet.

SKADE vs ENDPOINT CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

SKADE vs ENDPOINT #HOMESWEETHOME WEEK 2 BETTING PREVIEW

SKADE and Endpoint are slated to clash this Friday in the opening match of Group D during the second week of the #HomeSweetHome CS:GO tournament.

SKADE enter Week 2 after a quarter-final appearance in Week 1. The Bulgarian squad produced an impressive run through the group stage but fell flat against Sprout, who disposed of Teodor “SPELLAN” Nikolov’s squad with a 16-11 result on Mirage and 16-12 on Inferno. Nonetheless, it’s hard to overlook SKADE’s dominant performance in their group, where they defeated Team Singularity (16-10) and reverse-swept AGO with a 16-12 win on Train and 16-9 on Mirage.

Since their last appearance at #HomeSweetHome, SKADE have maintained their form with a solid run at the ESEA MDL Season 33 Europe Relegation tournament. A closely fought 2-1 win over FATE Esports followed by another three-map win against Salamander Gaming earned SKADE a spot in the upper bracket finals, where they reverse-swept Ambush and secured a ticket for ESEA Season 34: Premier Division – Europe.

Now SKADE are set to take another swing at #HomeSweetHome, this time in Group D alongside Gambit Youngsters, Copenhagen Flames and Endpoint.

After a turbulent year which saw a total of 22 roster moves, a complete rebuild in June and the disbandment of the entire squad in November, Endpoint decided to start fresh by acquiring the ex-Phoenix core in January. That proved to be a good decision, as the team have since risen to an all-time high of 35th in the CS:GO esports world rankings.

Although Endpoint have not won a tournament since ESL Premiership – Winter 2019, they’ve produced a few solid showings this year. That includes a third-fourth finish at Europe Minor Championship – Rio 2020: Open Qualifier #3, top-six placements at DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020 and SECTOR: MOSTBET Season 2, and a runners-up finish at ESEA Season 33: Advanced Division – Europe earlier this month.

Looking back at Endpoint’s run through #HomeSweetHome Week 1, the European-mix squad got off to a slow start and lost to AGO (21-25) in the opening match. However, they quickly dusted themselves off and picked up a commanding 2-0 win over Team Singularity and later sealed a revenge win over AGO to secure a spot in the playoffs. While North bested them with a perfect 2-0 series in the quarter-finals, it’s worth noting that Endpoint took the Danes to 30 rounds on vertigo (14-16) and 29 on Train (13-16).

Endpoint also participated at ESEA MDL Season 33 Europe Relegation, where they defeated OFFSET (2-0) and Vexed Gaming (2-1) but went down to the new-look Wisla Krakow squad with defeats on Dust II (16-10) and Train (16-12).

SKADE vs ENDPOINT #HOMESWEETHOME WEEK 2 BETTING PREDICTIONS

Although SKADE (39th) sit slightly lower in the global rankings than Endpoint (36th), they are favourites on form. While the Bulgarians are on a three-match winning streak, their next opponents are regrouping after a humiliating defeat to Wisla Krakow.

Dust II should be Endpoint’s first venue of choice. It is their second-best map behind Vertigo, which SKADE will most certainly ban. This, however, could be a problem for Endpoint, as SKADE are on a four-map winning streak on Dust II and also hold a higher win rate (62% – 57%). SKADE have the advantage on every other map – especially Inferno (80%), where Endpoint have won only two out of their six matches.

With better form and a stronger map pool, SKADE should claim the spoils on Friday.

The post SKADE vs Endpoint betting tips – #HomeSweetHome Week 2 appeared first on Esport Bet.

BIG vs SYMAN CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

BIG vs SYMAN #HOMESWEETHOME WEEK 1 BETTING PREVIEW

BIG and Syman will meet on the battlefield on Tuesday in their opening Group A fixture in Week 1 of the #HomeSweetHome CS:GO esports tournament.

In January, BIG announced huge changes to their CS:GO roster, which saw the departure of Owen “smooya” Butterfield and the benching of Johannes “nex” Maget in favour of ex-Sprout duo Florian “syrsoN” Rische and Nils “k1to” Gruhne. That controversial move proved to be beneficial for BIG, who look to be much stronger with syrsoN and k1to on board.

Since the roster changes, BIG have won DreamHack Open Leipzig 2020, topped the Europe Minor Championship – Rio 2020: Open Qualifier #1 and Flashpoint Season 1: LAN Qualifier, and produced some big performances in high-profile events, including their 2-0 win over Natus Vincere at ESL Pro League Season 11 Europe. The recent surge in form has seen BIG climb to 19th spot in the CS:GO world rankings, far above their regional rivals Sprout (32nd).

Despite BIG’s recent improvement, however, they failed to impress throughout March, when they crashed out of the Europe Minor Championship – Rio 2020: Closed Qualifier in round two and finished 16th-18th at ESL Pro League Season 11 Europe. While those results fail to inspire much optimism, it’s worth noting that BIG’s next opponents have not played a single competitive match since losing to forZe in the ESL Pro League on Tuesday, March 24.

Syman enter the #HomeSweetHome tournament with an incomplete roster. Their two permanent members, Sanzhar “neaLaN” Ishkakov and Nicolas “Keoz” Dgus, are joined by loanee David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan and trialists Rasmus “kreaz” Johansson and Rustem “mou” Telepov.

The CIS team have lost some individual quality since they parted ways with Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy, who left for Natus Vincere in late January. Based on their performances through February and March, however, neaLaN and co. are holding up surprisingly well. In fact, they have dropped only four spots in the global rankings since January and are now sitting at 31st place, which is commendable for such a young and inexperienced team.

Since the turn of the year, Syman have participated at the DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020: European Open Qualifier, Flashpoint 1 European Closed Qualifiers and BLAST Premier CIS Cup: Open Qualifier #1, where they finished ninth-16th, ninth-12th and second respectively. Notable results in that stretch include 2-0 wins over HellRaisers and Hard Legion as well as a battling performance against the surging HAVU, who they took to overtime on the second map in a 0-2 defeat.

BIG vs SYMAN #HOMESWEETHOME WEEK 1 BETTING PREDICTIONS

Syman are clearly the underdogs heading into this bout, but that does not necessarily mean they don’t have a chance to surprise BIG.

Online matches are notorious for upsets. What’s more, this is a best-of-one (Bo1) fixture, which will suit the outsiders.

In a perfect world, BIG would come out ahead on merit alone. They might do so here, but at $1.40 there is little value in siding with the favourites. Instead, we like the generous odds offered on Syman, who are priced as high as $2.77 for the win at some esports bookmakers.

The post BIG vs Syman betting predictions – #HomeSweetHome Week 1 appeared first on Esport Bet.