After a 0-2 start to the stage, Fnatic picked up victories against ENCE and WYLDE last week, which puts them back into the playoff race. According to the top Rainbow Six Siege betting sites, however, winning will not come easy on Tuesday.

Virtus.pro have done relatively well in this stage, with victories against Into the Breach and Team Secret. But they also lost to Wolves Esports in the second round and suffered a huge defeat against ENCE on Wednesday.

Fnatic bested Virtus.pro in April, and while the Black & Orange have since made roster changes, the two teams’ past showings make it hard to find that many reasons to price VP as $1.46 favourites. The value is with the underdogs.

Into the Breach were billed as one of the more dangerous outsiders heading into Europe League Stage 2. However, five rounds in, Luke “Kendrew” Kendrew and co. have managed just one victory against Fnatic.

Team Secret are the complete opposite when comparing results against expectations. They have secured 10 points from five games, with victories against ENCE, G2 Esports and Team BDS.

Beating one good team can be considered a fluke, but a 7-4 victory against BDS suggests Team Secret are strong. At $2.35 to win with three rounds to spare, BLAST R6 Major Manchester 2024 quarterfinalists are an obvious choice.

ENCE picked up their first victory of the stage on Wednesday, when they made it past the struggling Virtus.pro in 12 rounds. Besides that victory, ENCE have not shown much of late, so it is not surprising to see them priced as outsiders for this series.

Wolves Esports have lost just one series against the region’s top dogs, Team BDS, and even that was a competitive series. The only concerning display from Yanis “Mowwwgli” Dahmani and his crew was an overtime victory against Fnatic, but that is more of an indication of Fnatic’s strength than anything else.

Wolves are effective in beating lesser teams, as they have already shown in the first stage of the season, so it is hard to doubt their chances to run over ENCE.

WYLDE had an explosive start to the stage, nearly beating Team BDS before adding a 7-1 victory against Team Secret in the third round. However, since then, WYLDE have not looked as potent with losses against Wolves Esports and Fnatic.

G2 Esports have so far lost only to Team BDS and the surging Team Secret, yet they’ve had an easy time beating Fnatic, ENCE and Into the Breach. This suggests G2 should not struggle too much against another weaker opponent.

WYLDE can be a bit up-and-down, yet they can be tough to beat when Layton “Layton” Goldring steps up — as seen in their victory against Secret. This is still G2’s game to lose, but we can expect a closer affair.

Esports betting tips

With a dominant performance in Malta and a 4-0 start to the Europe League 2024 – Stage 1, Team BDS proved why they’re considered Europe’s super team. They have so far beaten WYLDE, G2 Esports, Into the Breach, and Wolves Esports with an incredible 28-9 round record and 12-1 on defensive rounds.

Team Secret have not looked as exceptional as Team BDS this season, but the changes they’ve made during the transfer window proved to be considerable upgrades. With the addition of Adrian “Adrian” Tryka and Marc “jume” Steinmann, Team Secret looks very strong, and their wins against ENCE, Virtus.pro, and WYLDE prove that Secret have the talent to compete against the best.

Rainbow Six Siege betting sites have Team BDS priced as firm favourites, which is fair, but Team Secret have shown many good qualities and are a solid outsider bet at the offered odds.

G2 Esports have managed two wins so far this stage, against Fnatic and ENCE, and two losses against Team BDS and Virtus.pro. Against Fnatic and ENCE, G2 Esports performed admirably well, but they didn’t seem nearly as dangerous when faced with tougher opponents in Team BDS and Virtus.pro, suggesting that G2 Esports don’t belong in the elite few.

Into the Breach have won just one game so far – against Wolves Esports in the first round – to which they added two rough losses against Fnatic and Team BDS. Losing to Team BDS isn’t too worrying, but Into the Breach didn’t look great against Fnatic, which is concerning.

G2 Esports have proven they can perform well against weaker opponents, but siding with the underdogs makes more sense at the offered price. G2 Esports are stronger, but they’re not that much stronger.

Fnatic enter the second week of Europe League 2024 – Stage 1 with a 1-1-1-1 record and six points, which isn’t great, but it’s enough for them to sit in third place. They lost their opening series of the stage against G2 Esports, defeated Into the Breach in 11 rounds, lost to Wolves Esports, and added their second victory against ENCE on Tuesday.

Fnatic’s record is a bit misleading, as they could’ve done better against Wolves and ENCE had their opponents not managed four combined clutches, which cost Fnatic valuable points. While their results don’t paint a great picture, Fnatic’s last two should be taken with a grain of salt.

WYLDE enters this match with three defeats against Team BDS, ENCE, and Team Secret. This is far from good; however, against ENCE, they forced overtime, and we can’t blame WYLDE for losing against two of the league’s top dogs.

Fnatic’s and WYLDE’s records are a bit misleading, as they could’ve had more points had they played different teams or delivered in clutch moments. But even if we bump up both teams, there’s still a considerable gap between them.

Esports betting tips

Led by Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and his squad, G2 showcased their prowess by triumphing over Into the Breach and Eternal Fire in best-of-one matchups before clinching a crucial victory against FaZe in a best-of-three qualifying showdown.

Copenhagen, be ready, @G2CSGO is coming after a 3W-0L record at the PGL CS2 RMR EU 1!#PGLRMR pic.twitter.com/TpUSTrUjAV

— PGL (@pglesports) February 15, 2024

Undoubtedly, the standout performer for G2 was Nikola “NiKo” Kova?, whose stellar performance was instrumental in securing the team’s triumph.

Particularly noteworthy was NiKo’s outstanding display on maps like Anubis and Ancient, where he showcased his prowess with critical plays and clutch moments, significantly improving upon his recent performances.

On Anubis, a closely contested affair early on, G2’s T-side prowess ultimately proved decisive, with NiKo’s exceptional performance and unexpected contributions from HooXi tipping the scales in their favour.

Moving to Ancient, a map where FaZe had previously bested G2, NiKo once again shone, delivering clutch plays, including a remarkable 1vs2 ace clutch, to secure victory for his team.

Despite the loss, FaZe remains a formidable contender, with opportunities still available in the 2-1 pool.

Virtus.pro, on the other hand, has also secured their place at the PGL Major Copenhagen with an impressive performance in the Europe RMR A tournament.

@virtuspro has officially qualified for the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024!

They delivered a stunning 2-0 victory against @natusvincere in a spectacular BO3 among teams with a 2W-0L record at the PGL CS2 RMR EU 1. #PGLRMR pic.twitter.com/pZlCbtPdql

— PGL (@pglesports) February 15, 2024

Virtus.pro recorded dominant wins over SAW and Fnatic in best-of-one series before easing past Natus Vincere in two maps to lock in their spot at the Major.

Led by Dzhami “Jame” Ali, Virtus.pro displayed resilience and dominance throughout, securing straightforward wins and showcasing their potential as a formidable force in the upcoming Major.

The PGL Major Copenhagen will be a chance for VP to get redemption after they were unable to qualify for the BLAST.tv Paris Major in 2023.

Meanwhile, Into The Breach and Ninjas in Pyjamas’ dreams of making the opening Major of the 2024 season were crushed as they were eliminated from the Europe RMR A in last place.

Friday’s Europe RMR A matches

• AMKAL ($2.62) vs Falcons ($1.44) @ 1pm EET
• Fnatic ($1.57) vs KOI ($2.25) @ 1pm EET
• 9 Pandas ($1.83) vs 3DMAX ($1.83) @ 4pm EET
• FaZe Clan ($1.53) vs Eternal Fire ($2.37) @ 4pm EET
• Enterprise ($2.62) vs SAW ($1.44) @ 7pm EET
• Natus Vincere ($1.28) vs BetBoom Team ($3.50) @ 7pm EET

More esports news

These teams last met on September 4 in the first round of Europe League 2023 Stage 2 Group A, when Team Secret won 7-4. However, despite winning the opening series, Secret finished the group stage in fourth place – one below Into the Breach.

In the knockout stage, ITB lost against Wolves Esports (1-2) and were swept by WYLDE (0-2), proving that Luke “Kendrew” Kendrew and his crew are not that competitive. And that explains why Into the Breach are priced as underdogs for this match.

Team Secret have already beaten Into the Breach in this tournament, so it’s fair to believe that it will happen again. However, like ITB, Secret are inconsistent, so there’s a good chance this series will get decided on the third map.

WYLDE finished the Europe League 2023 Stage 2 group stage in second place with a 2-0-1-1 record and just one defeat, which came against Into the Breach (7-8). However, they didn’t make it far in the knockouts, where they were swept by MNM Gaming.

Even though WYLDE could’ve shown more of late, they’re expected to have a field day when they face KOI, who are, results-wise, the worst team in the Europe League. They didn’t win a single game during the group stage and ended the season’s first stage with a -13 round differential. However, KOI forced the league champions, Virtus.pro, to overtime in the final round, which is a promising sign.

WYLDE showed solid form early into the group stage but also produced some stinkers. And considering KOI won six rounds against Virtus.pro, they might not be as weak as they seem. An upset is unlikely, but KOI winning a map is a real possibility.

More esports betting tips

After last weeks as a stand-in, we can finally officially welcome Kévin as a new ITB player!

Welcome @misutaaaCSGO #UpTheKnights #ITBCS pic.twitter.com/40YJiNkDhC

— ITB SHUFFLE (@ITBesports) September 3, 2023

Misutaaa had been trying out with the team for the month and has already shown his skills in official matches making his signing unsurprising.

This acquisition comes after a series of shake ups within the Into the Breach roster.

Two months ago, Sebastian “volt” Malo? and Cai “CYPHER” Watson bid farewell to join GamerLegion and TSM, respectively.

The coaching staff also underwent a change as Gustavo “Juve” Alexandre took a break.

To bring back stability Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar, Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras and Martin “trace” Heldt were brought in.

However NEOFRAG was quickly removed due to behaviour that did not align with the organizations values of inclusivity and equality.

The recent departure of Thomas “Thomas” Utting has created a gap in the teams composition posing a challenge for Into the Breach as they search for a replacement.

With players from nationalities, on their roster it highlights the global nature of CS:GO.

With the inclusion of misutaaa, Into the Breach is poised to navigate and flourish in the evolving realm of CS:GO esports.

Enthusiastic followers eagerly await the effects these modifications will have on the teams expedition.

Into The Breach CS:GO roster

• Karol “rallen” Rodowicz
• Joey “CRUC1AL” Steusel
• Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras
• Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier

More esports news

NEOFRAG, who was only added to the roster three weeks ago, joined Into The Breach during the CS:GO player break alongside Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras to fill the two spots left vacant by Cai “CYPHER” Watson and Sebastian “volt” Malos.

However, after playing just five matches for Into The Breach, the team has chosen to part ways with the 22-year-old due to recent behavioural issues.

ITB released a statement on their Twitter page explaining the reasoning for the decision.

“The expectations of our organization are clear — and we hold everyone to the same standard. There have been unequivocal breaches of our morals and company standards we cannot overlook,” the statement read.

“Our decision is based on comments and perspectives displayed which do not align with our attitudes regarding inclusivity and equality.”

After failing to qualify for the IEM Cologne group stage, Gamers8 and ESL Pro League Season 18, Into The Breach will have a lot of big decisions to make in the coming weeks.

Along with recent changes to coaching staff, ITB now also have to replace NEOFRAG and work out how they will get this roster back to the level that delivered a fifth-eighth finish at the BLAST.tv Paris Major earlier this year.

Statement regarding our CS:GO roster and NEOFRAG. pic.twitter.com/CLDkFN2g5r

— ITB SHUFFLE | IEM Cologne 2023 (@ITBesports) August 3, 2023

More esports news

After their much-improved performance in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, Ninjas in Pyjamas enter the IEM Cologne play-in stage as one of the favourites to advance to the main event. Into The Breach will be playing their first competitive map after the player break, so expect them to be a little rusty; however, given their performance at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, they have a good chance to advance to the main event.

MOUZ and TheMongolz will debut new rosters in their opening IEM Cologne play-in series. MOUZ will be looking to start a new chapter under the Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek’s leadership, after he returned to MOUZ from GamerLegion during the player break. Both teams have proven that they are able to match it with the best in the world; however, with new rosters engaged on both sides, we could see a bit of rustiness early on.

This is set to be one of the best series of the opening round, with both Fnatic (17th) and Complexity (19th) sitting inside the top 20 in the CS:GO world rankings. Complexity will be looking to bounce back after they ended their BLAST Premier Fall Groups campaign with three straight losses, while Fnatic will be playing their first series since the player break.

OG are yet to win a series with their new roster, having lost against FaZe Clan, G2 Esports and BIG in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. 9INE have been consistently good during 2023, earning qualification to most of the S-Tier events so far this year. Given that they didn’t make any changes to their roster during the player break, we expect 9INE to begin their play-in campaign with a win over OG.

Astralis and Team Liquid both made changes to their rosters. The new-look Astralis side qualified for the BLAST Premier Fall Final after they defeated Team Liquid 2-0 in the final round of the playoffs. Despite that result, we expect Liquid to put up a better showing and play out a close best-of-one series here.

This series between Monte and Imperial appears to be one of the hardest series to predict, as both teams have made roster changes that don’t seem to be improvements. Monte lost one of their better players in Mohammad “BOROS” Malhas, who carried them to their fifth-eighth finish at the BLAST.tv Paris Major. Meanwhile, Imperial lost in-game leader Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, who moved to FURIA during the player break. Anything could happen here, so the outsiders at the round line looks a solid play.

Apeks only made the one change to their roster over the player break, adding Aleksandar “CacaNito” Kjulukoski for Justinas “jL” Lekavicius. After finishing third-fourth at the BLAST.tv Paris Major earlier this year, the world no.9 team comes into this with a bit of buzz around it. BIG had an up-and-down BLAST Premier Fall Groups, and this new roster may take some time to work things out, so all signs point to an Apeks win.

Grayhound are one of the underdogs to qualify for the IEM Cologne main event, and they will be up against when they take on the best Brazilian team in the tournament. FURIA are ranked 18th in the world, but with the new additions of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes, they have improved their roster massively. FURIA are not only short favourites to get out of the play-in, but they are eighth favourite to win IEM Cologne.

More esports betting tips

The British esports organisation is now back to having five players, after parting ways with Cai “?CYPHER?” Watson and Sebastian “?volt?” Malos earlier this year. This occurred following their quarter-finals finish in the BLAST.tv Paris Major.

NEOFRAG, who joins Into the Breach from OG, reached the semi-finals of the Global Esports Tour Dubai 2022 and BLAST Premier World Final 2022 with his previous team. He was one of the casualties of OG’s recent revamp in July, leaving the team with a 1.00 rating after over a year in the lineup.

Initially, NEOFRAG made a name for himself as a SINNERS player, holding a 1.18 rating over a period of two years. However, he failed to replicate this performance in the international squad.

Bymas, meanwhile, had previously played for MOUZ between September 2020 and February 2023. He was placed in free agency earlier this year, after being moved to the bench in August 2022 to make room for academy player Dorian “?xertioN?” Berman.

Bymas stayed in the inactive line-up until officially parting ways with MOUZ in February of this year. His move to Into the Breach marks his return to competitive gaming a year after his final LAN event, the IEM Cologne, where his team reached the quarter-finals before Bymas was benched.

Marvin “Punico” Matthes, Into the Breach’s Head of CS:GO, welcomed the new players in a statement, revealing the organization’s intentions to reach the top 15 with the new lineup.

“After the departures of volt and CYPHER, we had to look for international replacements with enough experience to finalize our roster ahead of IEM Cologne and the CS2 release,” Punico said.

“We are thrilled to welcome NEOFRAG and Bymas, two young and promising players, to our team. With this new roster, we aim to maintain a place within the top 15 and continue to attend EPT and all other Big Events in the future.”

Into the Breach’s current roster includes NEOFRAG, Bymas, Karol “?rallen?” Rodowicz, Thomas “?Thomas?” Utting, and Joey “?CRUC1AL?” Steusel, with Gustavo “?Juve?” Alexandre as coach.

The organization debuted their updated CS:GO lineup in the Gamers8 2023 open qualifiers, where they suffered a 10-16 loss on Inferno to MB.

Into the Breach is set to participate in the Extreme Sports League Pro League Season 18 NC Europe Qualifier from July 14 to July 16. They will face off against the winner of the ECLOT vs. ex-Genk match in their opening game. They are also slated to take part in IEM Cologne 2023 at the end of the month.

More esports news

Team Vitality claimed the title in France, which has seen Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and his squad elevated to no.1 in the Counter-Strike world rankings.

With yet another strong performance and a third-fourth placing at the Paris Major, Heroic have maintained their top-two spot in the world rankings — albeit losing their no.1 spot to Vitality, who have now won back-to-back events.

The runner-up at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, GamerLegion, were the big surprise packet at the tournament, considering the international squad came into the event as the world no.37.

Since their second-place finish, Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek and his young squad have skyrocketed up the world rankings, jumping to the no.7 spot.

Apeks and Monte have also seen their rankings improve massively, with the former rising 15 spots to no.9 and the latter rising 12 spots to no.10.

Outside of the current top 10, Into The Breach have seen their ranking jump sharply to no.15 in the world after their quarterfinal exit at the hands of Team Vitality.

Top 10 teams in CS:GO world rankings

Current as of May 22, 2023

More esports news

Going into the first round of the playoffs, the Heroic and FaZe Clan series was tipped to be one of the best series of the tournament, and it did not disappoint.

The clash between world no. 2 Heroic and world no.3 FaZe was built up to be the clash that Counter-Strike fans deserved at the final CS:GO Major, with two of the best and most consistent teams in the last three years battling it out for one semi-final spot.

The series started on Nuke – map pick of FaZe – where FaZe won five of the first six rounds, however, Heroic took the seventh and began a 13-round win streak, shooting out to a 14-5 lead early on in the second half.

On the back of Robin “ropz” Kool and Helvijs “broky” Saukants coming up clutch in a few rounds, FaZe began one of their trademark comebacks to bring the map score all the way back to 15-14, but Heroic steadied and took the final round, securing a 16-14 win to take the first map of the series.

The series then went to Overpass – map pick of Heroic – and from the very beginning FaZe held seemed to be in control, taking a 10-5 half-time lead.

Once again, one of these teams found 15 early in the second half, but couldn’t finish, as Heroic made a run of their own, winning seven rounds before FaZe eventually won their 16th round and sent us to the third map, Mirage.

After witnessing two cracking clashes on the first two maps, the third was more of a let-down, as Heroic took a dominant 12-3 lead into half-time before wrapping up the series at 16-6.

With the 2-1 series win, Heroic booked their spot in the semi-finals, and await the the winner of the Monte vs GamerLegion series.

The second quarter-final took place later in the day in the Accor Arena, with Team Vitality and their French superstars clashing with surprise Champions Stage quarter-finalists Into The Breach.

As we predicted in our preview of this series, the difference in ability and massive difference in the world rankings would prove too much for the world no.28 Into The Breach, as the world no.1 flexed their muscles in a 2-0 victory.

Things didn’t look great for Vitality on the opening map of Vertigo, as Into The Breach took a 9-6 half-time lead, however, with the help of the home crowd and some top tier teamwork, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and his squad won 10 of the last 12 rounds and took the map 16-11.

Going into Anubis – map pick of Vitality – Into The Breach put up more of a fight, but on the back of a huge performance by the French superstar AWPer Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Vitality took the map and booked their place in the semi-finals, awaiting the winner of the Team Liquid vs Apeks series.

The third and fourth quarter-finals will be played on Friday, with the matches and odds listed below.

Quarter-Finals

• Monte ($1.61) vs GamerLegion ($2.20) | Friday @ 15:00 CET
• Team Liquid ($1.40) vs Apeks ($2.75) | Friday @ 19:00 CET

More esports news