Afreeca Freecs teammates Jun “TY” Tae Yang and Cho “Trap” Sung Ho will duke it out in the IntoTheAlphaX Pro Circuit 5 semi-finals on Wednesday, which will mark their third head-to-head bout of the year. TY came out ahead (3-2) in his most recent clash with Trap last month, yet he is still priced as an underdog for the rematch, and there is a good reason for that.

At $2.20, the StarCraft II esports bookmakers imply TY has a 45.5% chance of winning this best-of-five series, which is a bit too high in our book; a more realistic probability would sit around 27% at odds of $3.70. Although TY has shown good form of late, he is still fairly inefficient against Protoss (58.15%), whereas Trap’s best matchup is against Terran (62.12%).

We expected to see Trap priced closer to $1.35, making this a great value bet. However, we are chasing a higher payout with a bet on Trap to win with at least two maps to spare.

The second IntoTheAlphaX Pro Circuit 5 semi-final will see Lee “INnoVation” Shin Hyung clash with Joo “Zest” Sung-wook for the first time since February 6, when Zest won his 30th head-to-head bout (30-36) with 3-0.

INnoVation enters this match on the heels of a ninth-12th finish at IEM Katowice 2021, where he was eliminated by Won “PartinG” Lee Sak (1-3) in the first round of the playoffs. Although a solid placement, it can’t compare to Zest, who reached the grand finals but lost 2-4 against Riccardo “Reynor” Romiti.

Given Zest’s success at IEM Katowice, it is reasonable to see him favoured to win this match. We would go even so far as to say the odds are very generous. The real dreamers might want to consider a -1.5 handicap bet on Zest.

?INnoVation and Cure will clash on Wednesday for the first time since the former’s 3-1 win in October. That marked his 14th head-to-head victory of 2020 (14-6) and his 30th (30-10) since 2014.

INnoVation enters this match rightly priced as the favourite with StarCraft II betting sites, but we don’t expect to see a one-sided affair. INnoVation deserves some praise for his 4-3 record in his last seven outings – a run that includes a 4-1 win against Cho “Dream” Joong Hyuk on Monday – but we can’t look past Cure’s 12-1 record across the last week.

This should be a much closer bout than expected, and we would even go so far as to say Cure has a legitimate chance to cause an upset. A bet on Cure to win 2-1 might appeal to some, but we are taking the overs.