Before the start of the LPL 2024 Summer regular season, Rare Atom and Team WE looked like two prime candidates to top Group Nirvana. Three weeks into the split, we know there is no clear favourite to win this section.

Team WE enter the fourth week on a three-game losing streak, with defeats against ThunderTalk Gaming, Oh My God, and Ultra Prime. Most of their issues stem from a passive playstyle and an unwillingness to actively search for opportunities to get ahead, and that could be a problem on Thursday.

Rare Atom did not produce the most convincing performance in their last series either, yet they are 4-1 and will have side choice. For those reasons, Rare Atom are a much wiser pick at plus money with top betting sites.

Royal Never Give Up suffered their fourth defeat of the split on Monday when they lost against Rare Atom. It was a concerning display from RNG, who had their moments but made way too many mistakes to be left unpunished.

Invictus Gaming won their second game of the split on Friday when they swept EDward Gaming. While they still have some work to do, it was a much better performance than against Oh My God at the start of last week.

Even though the rule for Group Nirvana is to back the underdogs if the betting odds go far above even money, Royal Never Give Up have looked bad enough to make Invictus Gaming a better bet at this price.

Weibo Gaming took a bite out of Bilibili Gaming on Tuesday, proving they can dance with the LPL top dogs. LGD Gaming, on the other side, lost their fifth consecutive game of the split on Saturday against Top Esports.

The teams are trending in opposite directions, but there is an unwritten rule never to trust Weibo Gaming as heavy favourites. Moreover, LGD Gaming are not as bad as their record suggests, as it takes a solid team to fight back from early deficits so consistently.

Weibo Gaming should win, but since both teams are volatile, it is fair to believe LGD Gaming can take at least one map.

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Invictus Gaming and EDward Gaming are tied at 1-3 after four rounds of action, having played teams of similar quality. But even though there is not much to set the teams apart, it’s hard to have much faith in Invictus Gaming after their horrendous display against Oh My God.

EDward Gaming aren’t great — although most teams in Group Nirvana are bad, with poor macro and a lack of individual talent. This also explains all the upsets we have seen in this bracket, which makes backing favourites less appealing.

This game is an exception, mainly because of Invictus Gaming’s horrendous performances over the last couple of weeks. True believers might also consider backing EDG to sweep at $2.59 with the best esports betting sites.

Although LGD Gaming are 0-3, they have played Anyone’s Legend, JD Gaming, and Bilibili Gaming — all of the best LPL teams except for Top Esports. This explains why LGD have the league’s worst gold difference at 15 minutes (-2882).

FunPlus Phoenix have not looked as good as they should have over the last few weeks. Their only victory came against Ninjas in Pyjamas, but even that was not too exciting.

LGD Gaming are a capable team, but they have not shown a lot of quality yet. The same applies to FunPlus Phoenix. We can give LGD a slight bump with side choice, but that is not enough to believe they will manage a clean game.

The last time these sides met in a best-of-three series, Ninjas in Pyjamas closed as $3.13 underdogs. This time they are paying $4.33 with GG Bet, and it is not hard to see why.

Ninjas in Pyjamas are an incredibly frustrating team. Their macro and decision-making are atrocious; they are just a group of extremely good players who know how to fight as a unit. This is usually enough to stomp on weaker teams, but they are exposed when matched with any semi-capable squad.

JD Gaming have had a couple of hiccups this split, but they are still an elite team with solid fundamentals, which is more than enough to expose Ninjas in Pyjamas for what they are.

Esports betting tips

League of Legends bookmakers have priced LGD Gaming as $2.18 underdogs to defeat Royal Never Give Up, even though they won their last meeting on Friday. Interestingly, RNG closed as $1.81 favourites for that match with GG Bet and are now priced even shorter to get their revenge.

To make matters more confusing, Royal Never Give Up are in a pseudo-rebuild mode, trying out new players despite posting relatively good results against Team WE and Bilibili Gaming. While they have potential, RNG seem a bit overrated at the offered price.

LGD Gaming are not a good team, but they’re better than what the market suggests. LGD were severely underrated last split and it doesn’t seem that has changed, even though they showed some improvement last week.

Most notably, LGD Gaming managed to convert their leads against Royal Never Give Up last Friday, which is uncharacteristic of them. And while there’s no telling whether LGD have actually improved in that department, they beat RNG convincingly, and there’s no reason to believe they can’t do it again.

Bilibili Gaming have picked up three wins over the first two weeks of LPL 2024 Summer Placements. They swept Royal Never Give Up and LGD Gaming but had to dig a bit deeper to make it past Team WE, who took a map off them last Thursday.

Team WE received some help from Bilibili Gaming to win map one in that series, as BLG threw away a sizeable lead. Map two looked a bit more competitive, although Bilibili were in full control, whereas the third map started well for Team WE before they botched it.

Despite the loss, Team WE did a good job challenging Bilibili Gaming, which is worthy of praise — even though BLG are not at 100% yet.

LoL betting sites have Team WE at $2.33 to take a map on Tuesday, which is an excellent offer considering what we saw from them last week.

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LGD Gaming finished League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2024 Spring in 12th place with just six victories, but this number is a bit misleading. LGD performed well in the first half of the season and consistently put themselves in advantageous positions; the problem was they were extremely bad at converting that to positive results.

This roster severely underachieved, so it makes sense that LGD Gaming decided not to make any roster changes. Even though they won’t be competing for the title, they should be in the race for a spot in the playoffs if they find a way to convert their leads — which they had in 60% of their LPL 2024 Spring games at 20 minutes.

Team WE made some roster changes last month, targeting their bottom lane, which shouldn’t make WE significantly better or worse. So unless something goes terribly wrong, Team WE should remain a potent underdog with a limited ceiling.

There are reasons to have Team WE priced as favourites, including their strong showing against Royal Never Give Up on Sunday. But LGD Gaming are good enough to do some damage and force a close series.

EDward Gaming’s decision to replace their support in LPL 2024 Spring didn’t work out, and they enter the second half of the season following another questionable move, having allowed top-laner Hu “Ale” Jia-Le to move to Anyone’s Legend. But they’ve also brought in some promising additions.

Rather than taking a gamble on unproven talent, EDward Gaming added mid-laner Yuan “Cryin” Cheng-Wei and support Zhang “Wink” Rui, who should introduce some stability and fix the gaping holes. Even with Wink and Cryin, this roster doesn’t scream LPL title contenders, but all five members are LPL calibre — which should help EDG reclaim their position as a solid mid-table team.

All that still might not be enough to defeat JD Gaming, who kept their roster intact and brought in head coach Chen “WarHorse” Ju-Chih. The former Flash Wolves and Top Esports tactician alone should help JD take a step forward, in which case we can start talking about LPL title ambitions and a deep run at the LoL World Championship.

Esports betting tips

Weibo Gaming picked up a huge victory on Friday when they swept JD Gaming and secured their spot in the LPL 2024 Spring playoffs. Before that, Weibo Gaming lost to LGD Gaming, and they didn’t look good in their two games against Bilibili Gaming and EDward Gaming either.

The big reason for Weibo Gaming’s mixed results is their lack of consistency in the mid-late game, which has been a major issue for this team for most of the split. They have the talent to do well, but as proven, Weibo Gaming is not to be trusted as a heavy favourite.

Invictus Gaming had an explosive start to the split but recently hit a bit of a slump and enters this match on a four-game losing streak with defeats against LNG Esports, FunPlus Phoenix, JD Gaming, and Oh My God. The first three defeats can be overlooked, but losing to Oh My God doesn’t look good.

Weibo Gaming is a better team quality-wise but far more inconsistent, whereas Invictus Gaming is in shaky form. Weibo Gaming should win, and they get to pick a side, but we can safely assume it’ll be a scrappy game that can go the distance.

Royal Never Give Up have looked very bad throughout most of the season but found some success last week when they swept the surging FunPlus Phoenix and secured their fifth victory of the split. That victory won’t help Royal Never Give Up reach the playoffs, but at least they showed some good qualities, which is also why they’re expected to defeat LGD Gaming.

LGD Gaming won both of their series last week against Weibo Gaming and Rare Atom. This is fairly impressive, but it’s not like seeing LGD Gaming win a couple of games is too shocking. They’ve been playing well over the last few weeks, but despite their solid performances, LGD Gaming has consistently struggled to close out games.

Royal Never Give Up are running hot with three wins from their last four series, but qualitatively, these two teams aren’t that much different. LGD Gaming also has a side choice, which makes them a much more appealing pick at plus money.

Esports betting tips

LGD Gaming lost both series last week against Oh My God and ThunderTalk Gaming, although this isn’t too surprising. LGD Gaming have been doing a lot of things right this season and have produced some good performances, but they continue to struggle with closing out games.

Their early game also needs some work and overall, LGD Gaming aren’t exactly title contenders. However, they’re far from a bottom-tier team and more than capable of causing trouble to squads who underestimate them.

Weibo Gaming are 6-7, with two losses from their last three series – against Team WE and Bilibili Gaming. Throughout the entire split, Weibo Gaming have produced some weird games, showing a high degree of inconsistency; lately, that has become more prevalent in the mid-late game.

This is Weibo Gaming’s game to lose, but their tendency to botch games makes betting on over 2.5 maps a more appealing option. LGD Gaming also have side choices, which bumps them up a bit more.

Team WE enter LPL 2024 Spring Week 8 off a head-scratching loss against Rare Atom, who reverse-swept them with two dominant victories. Poor drafting contributed to it, but it was mostly an abysmal showing from Team WE.

On the other hand, Team WE have not looked bad over the last few weeks and seem to have things figured out. They have won just two of their last six series, but three of the four losses happened against JD Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, and Top Esports.

ThunderTalk Gaming picked up their fifth victory of the split on Friday when they swept LGD Gaming. Before that, they lost to Ninjas in Pyjamas and defeated EDward Gaming, and Royal Never Give Up while showing considerable improvement. However, this is still a weak team that should have no business beating Team WE.

Team WE’s recent slump might make it seem like they can lose to ThunderTalk. But their only concerning loss came against Rare Atom, and even in that game, WE played uncharacteristically poorly.

Esports betting tips

Team Spirit are undefeated across their last 22 outings (19-3-0) and enter this match on a 12-game winning streak, which includes six victories at The International 2023 against 9Pandas, Team SMG, Entity, Evil Geniuses, Shopify Rebellion, and Virtus.pro. team Spirit’s next opponents, Team Liquid, are like Team Spirit, in great form.

Team Liquid won Group B with a 3-1-0 record and one draw against Azure Ray and have since added a clean 2-0 sweep of Evil Geniuses and Talon Esports. Form-wise, the teams are in a great spot, and they both have the talent to go all the way, but there’s a reason why Team Spirit are priced as favourites.
The 2022 TI champions have beaten Team Liquid twice since July (2-1 and 3-1), and they’ve since looked progressively better. But as they’ve proven in Seattle, Team Liquid are no slouches, and they can make Spirit work hard for the win. Expect a close series.

LGD Gaming went from one of the Dota 2 underdogs to win The International 2023 to one of the main favourites to go all the way. The Chinese powerhouse won Group C with relative ease and have since added two commanding sweeps of Keyd Stars and 9Pandas.

Their regional rivals have also held on well. After placing third in Group B (1-2-1), Azure Ray swept Entity and nouns to reach the upper bracket finals, which is a big accomplishment. However, AR have only beaten Thunder Awaken, Entity, and nouns, which is nothing to write home about.

LGD Gaming have met with Azure Ray twice since July and are 1-1-0 with a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 win during Bali Major 2023. Those results would suggest that Azure Ray stand a chance to force a close game, but since TI12 started, LGD Gaming have looked like an entirely different beast. We really like LGD Gaming with the top esports betting sites.

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Team Spirit are outright favourites with top esports betting sites to win their second International title, and it’s very hard to make a case against them. The 2021 champions looked phenomenal in the group stage and haven’t lost a single map so far this tournament.

This also explains why Team Spirit are heavy favourites to defeat Group C’s fourth seed, Virtus.pro, but there’s more to the offered Dota 2 betting odds than just the team’s performances this tournament. Team Spirit have not lost against VP once this season, winning all three meetings.

However, as much as we can agree that Team Spirit are the most likely victors, this is still a regional derby between two rosters that know each other exceptionally well. And regional derbies tend to be much closer than your average matchup.

A lot will have to go right for VP to derail Team Spirit, but at the offered betting odds, Virtus.pro to win a map is the right play.

Team Liquid entered TI12 as one of the top dogs, and they’ve yet to lose that tag. Liquid finished the group stage with one upset draw against China’s Azure Rayand, then crushed Evil Geniuses (2-0) in the second phase, making a solid case for themselves as a dangerous contender to win their first TI since 2017.

Talon Esports have shown themselves to be a threat at international events this season, and they looked solid last week throughout their group stage run. However, while Talon finished the group stage in third place, they struggled when faced with stronger teams such as TSM and Tundra Esports.

Since July, Team Liquid have met with Talon Esports four times and won all but one series – a draw at DreamLeague Season 21. But even though Talon managed to take a point from Liquid in September, they’ve not shown enough in Seattle to be considered a serious threat.

LGD Gaming were priced as $11.00 outsiders on the outright betting markets before the tournament began, but as we enter the playoffs, it’s clear that number was very disrespectful. LGD Gaming were phenomenal in the group stage with wins against Gaimin Gladiators, nouns, and beastcoast and one draw against Virtus.pro.

That is a very small sample size of games, but the eye test suggests that LGD Gaming are more than ready for another deep run. Their next opponents, 9Pandas, have had their moments in Group A, where they took points from Entity and Evil Geniuses, but their overall performance was pretty mediocre.

LGD Gaming are in excellent form and arguably the second-best team entering the playoffs. We have to take the Chinese squad to sweep.

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The reigning LoL world champions, EDward Gaming, enter this bout as heavy favourites, which may seem fair, but $1.12 is a high price to pay for a roster that has been out of action since November. Admittedly, EGD are still one of the favourites to win the LPL title ($5.00), but ring rust could affect their performances in the earlier rounds of the new season.

JD Gaming failed to achieve much last term, and based on the team’s roster moves during the offseason, it’s hard to have a lot of faith in them heading into the 2022 LPL Spring. The team lost ADC Lee “LokeN” Dong-wook, support Zuo “LvMao” Ming-Hao, and top laner Zhang “Zoom” Xing-Ran and replaced them with Wang “Hope” Jie, Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng, and Bai “369” Jia-Hao, who are sidegrades at best.

But while we don’t expect JDG to compete for the title, this team still has enough talent to compete at the highest level and shouldn’t be priced as high as $5.50 for this bout. EDG are still one of the strongest teams in the world, but they’re rusty and susceptible to drop at least one map.

LGD Gaming enter the 2022 season with a new-look roster, featuring ADC He “Eric” Qiang and mid laners Ji “YeG” Xin-Yu and Chen “Jay” Bo as the newest additions. Overall, LGD has made some smart moves with the roster changes, but they haven’t really upgraded enough for us to believe they can compete for a top-10 finish.

Anyone’s Legend (formerly Rogue Warriors) haven’t made any notable changes this offseason either and enter the 2022 LPL Spring as one of the outsiders ($67.00) to win the trophy. ADC Lu “Betty” Yu-Hung and mid laner Huang “Maple” Yi-Tang are the only two players who you could consider good enough to compete at this level of play. In contrast, the rest of the team features unknown and unproven talent, putting a huge question mark above Anyone’s Legend’s long-term success.

There isn’t much to separate these two teams talent-wise, and there is no reason to have LGD Gaming priced as $2.62 underdogs with the online betting sites. They aren’t necessarily better than Anyone’s Legend, but LGD Gaming aren’t that much worse either. This seems like a 50/50 match, so we have to take LGD Gaming at the outsider odds.

?Rare Atom enter this match off a narrow 2-1 victory against Oh My God on Sunday where they showcased both their strengths and weaknesses. The series started with a classic Rare Atom game – i.e. strong start and soft finish – and while they slipped up a bit in game two, RA got the job done with a complete domination of OMG in game three.

This team is very good in some aspects, but there are games where RA gain massive leads yet still find a way to lose. Although they rarely make mistakes, those errors often cost them the win.

Luckily for Rare Atom, eStar Gaming are absolutely terrible at the moment and only seem to win games in which support Liu “ShiauC” Chia-Hao finds a play in crucial moments. Without him, eStar are easily the worst team in the league, which says a lot. We won’t overthink it – Rare Atom to win 2-0 and cover the map line.

?We talked about how eStar are potentially the worst team in the league, and here we present you with another strong candidate for that title. LGD Gaming might have won 31% of their maps so far (5-11), but the eye test reveals they are flawed in many ways and hardly worth mentioning as a playoff candidate.

Team WE’s swept eStar in their last outing a week ago. While that result is hardly worth celebrating, it’s fair to mention WE’s sweep of FunPlus Phoenix only two days prior.

Even though the betting odds at esports bookmakers are not particularly tempting, we have to take the favourites. The only way LGD can walk away with something here is if Team WE drop the ball, which they rarely do against lower-table teams.