Team LDLC and B8 will clash in the first round of the lower bracket at ESL Challenger League Season 45: Europe. It��ll mark their first meeting since February when B8 defeated Team LDLC in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR Qualifier A.
Since crashing out of the RMR, Team LDLC have looked solid, but they��ve not won a single tournament. Their best tournament results came at RES Western European Masters: Spring 2023 (fifth-sixth) and CCT West Europe Series #2 (fifth-eighth).

Like LDLC, B8 didn��t make it to the BLAST.tv Paris Major after crashing out of the RMR, and they��ve since played just six fixtures; however, most were compacted at the end of April, so it��s not like B8 will enter this match rusty. Still, B8 haven��t faced any tough opponents, so it��s hard to explain why they��re priced as $1.44 favourites.

B8 defeated Team LDLC last time, but the French squad have since made some changes and now look better, so there��s no reason to have them priced as heavy underdogs. Team LDLC to win at $2.62 or better is a solid value bet with esports betting sites.

LookingForOrg (former HEET) failed to qualify for the RMR and thus missed a chance to attend the Paris Major. However, even though HEET didn��t show much against the world��s top teams, they��ve done well for themselves.

At the end of April, the French squad won CCT Central Europe Series #6 and started their ESL Challenger League Season 45 campaign with a win against Into the Win (2-1), but proved to be no match for SAW (1-2). Regardless, LFO have shown decent results over the last few weeks.

The German CS:GO squad enter this match with a 2-3 record with wins against Insilio (2-0) and Dynamo Eclot (2-0) and three defeats against 9INE (1-2), Websterz (1-2), and Nexus Gaming (7-16).

Even before that run, Sprout haven��t produced anything remarkable, nor were they very consistent with their showings.
Esports bookmakers have LFO priced as favourites, which can be explained by looking at their title-run at CCT Central Europe Series #6, but if we zoom out, there isn��t much to set these two teams apart, so betting on LookingForOrg at $1.57 makes no sense. Value is with Sprout.

Movistar Riders had an explosive start to the tournament and demolished Iron Branch (2-0) before getting reverse-swept by EYEBALLERS (1-2) in the second round of the upper bracket. The Spaniards have since attended and won the ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne 2023 by beating Rare Atom (19-16), Bad News Eagles (16-11), ECSTATIC (2-0), and Bad News Eagles (2-0) in the finals.

Their next opponents, ex-Partizan have not achieved nearly as much recently or throughout this season. Since getting cut by the Serbian esports organisation, the Balkan roster have attended two events, the Elisa Invitational Spring 2023 and CCT West Europe Series #3, but didn��t accomplish much, with a 21st-23rd and 23rd-24th-place finish, respectively.
Even in their recent outings, ex-Partizan failed to impress, making it tough to believe we��ll see an upset on Tuesday. Movistar Riders to win 2-0 at $2.20 is more than fair.

?More esports betting tips

CSGO betting odds: Sprout $1.51 at GG Bet | HAVU $2.42 at GG Bet
CSGO betting lines: Sprout -1.5 at $2.42 | HAVU +1.5 at $1.51
When: January 22, 2020 at 16:00 CET
Watch live: Twitch

SPROUT VS HAVU UNITED MASTERS LEAGUE BETTING PREVIEW

The semi-finals of United Masters League Season 2 will kick off this Wednesday with a clash between Sprout and HAVU.

Both have taken turbulent roads through the tournament, yet they showed up when it mattered. Sprout decimated BIG in the quarter-finals, while HAVU edged past Illuminar Gaming.

SEE ALSO: BEST CS:GO BETTING SITES

Sprout have had a very busy month, as they were forced to make some roster changes after the departure of Florian “syrsoN” Rische and Nils “k1to” Gruhne to BIG. Pawe? “dycha” Dycha and Tom��? “oskar” ??astny came in as replacements, although there was some uncertainty around both signings.

In their match against BIG, Sprout secured a comfortable 16-11 win on Dust II thanks to incredible performances from Josef “faveN” Baumann and Denis “denis” Howell, who averaged 1.14 and 1.62 ratings respectively. On BIG’s side, no player besides syrsoN (1.44) ended the first map with a positive rating.

Vertigo was a much more even contest that went all the way to 42 rounds, but it was Sprout who came out on top yet again. This time it was their IGL Timo “Spiidi” Richter who shook everyone with his 1.33 rating, outperforming the likes of faveN (1.11), Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz (1.23) and syrsoN (1.17).

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HAVU failed to see much success in their opening three fixtures of the UM League. They lost to forZe and Aristocracy but defeated Hard Legion, which left their chances of advancing into the playoffs hanging by a thread. Nonetheless, HAVU stepped up when it counted and bested Team Ancient and GamerLegion to punch their ticket for the second stage of the tournament.

In the quarter-finals, HAVU met with Illuminar in what we predicted to be a bloody fight for survival, and it proved to be exactly that. Illuminar started the series by picking Overpass, where bested HAVU 16-13, but failed to see the same success on Train, where they set themselves up nicely to seal the series but dropped the ball and let HAVU catch up and win the map 19-16 in overtime.

On Nuke, the teams went back and forth, and it seemed like the match could end either way. That said, HAVU stars Joonas “doto” Forss and Lasse “ZOREE” Uronen showed up big time and carried their team to a victory, putting up 1.46 and 1.43 ratings respectively.

Since their clash with Illuminar, HAVU made an appearance at DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020 Europe Open and Closed Qualifiers. They made it through the open qualifiers, where they defeated MELBET and Team Spirit, but fell flat in the closed qualifiers against GODSENT.

SPROUT VS HAVU UNITED MASTERS LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL PREDICTIONS

Sprout and HAVU have not met since the ESEA S31 Premier Division – Europe regular season in May 2019, where HAVU won 16-14. That said, a lot has changed since, so we can’t take that result into account in this prediction.

Since May, HAVU have signed doto and appointed a new head coach in Taneli “diSTURBED” Veikkola. Sprout, meanwhile, have signed four new members in denis, oskar, dycha, and Niclas “enkay J” Krumhorn as head coach.

Sprout might be favourites with most esports betting sites, but we can’t agree with the odds. Against BIG we saw the new arrivals oskar and dycha struggling to keep up, having finished the series with 0.98 and 0.99 ratings respectively. The only reason Sprout won on that day was the impressive play of Spiidi and denis.

That Spiidi and denis have averaged 0.98 and 0.95 ratings over the past three months suggests they simply had a day out against BIG. The question is whether they can repeat that form in the semis.

This bout won’t be as one-sided as the odds suggest. Expect all three maps to be played, as neither side showed enough in the earlier rounds to make us believe they are capable of a clean sweep.

Prediction: Over 2.5 maps – $2.07 at GG Bet

• Esport Betting Odds: BIG $1.19 at GG Bet | Sprout $4.00 at GG Bet
• Betting Lines: BIG -1.5 at $1.85 | Sprout +1.5 at $1.86
• When: January 13, 2020 at 18:00 CET
• Watch Live: Twitch

BIG versus Sprout CSGO UM League Season 2 Betting Preview

Berlin International Gaming (BIG) and Sprout will lock horns this Monday, in the United Masters League quarter-finals, which will be a must-watch fixture for any CS:GO betting fan, as two of the strongest German squads go face to face in a bid to establish their dominance.

Earlier this month, BIG announced some major changes to their team, as they parted ways with Owen “smooya” Butterfield and removed Johannes “nex” Maget from the active lineup. Furthermore, coach Nikola “LEGIJA” Nini? left the organization after three years and got replaced by Fatih “gob b” Dayik as their new Head of CS:GO. While all major changes for BIG, the most important roster moves were the onsets of Florian “syrsoN” Rische and Nils “k1to” Gruhne, who were both previously members of Sprout. The arrival of two German CS:GO players, while controversial in its own regard, was not shocking, considering they were both heavily linked with this move back in December 2019.

Although it was initially believed BIG plan was to create an all-German roster, Ismailcan “XANTARES” D?rtkarde? managed to retain his spot in the team. The 24-year old Turk has been averaging 1.15 Rating over the last three months, which suggests he is a solid player and that there is no reason to replace him, yet we can��t help but wonder how does he fit in with the ��all-German�� roster, which would understandably have a significantly easier time talking in team coms. That is, however, our only concern with BIG, who overall look like a very solid team. They might not be up there with the likes of Astralis, Team Liquid or Evil Geniuses, however, they should still be more than capable of causing some damage in A-Tier tournaments and ultimately reclaim the throne as the best German team back from Sprout.

Following the departure of k1to and syrsoN in December, Sprout were left with a massive void in their roster, which they managed to partially fill by signing the former ARCY rifler Pawe? “dycha” Dycha and former HellRaisers AWPer Tom��? “oskar” ??astny. While both solid additions, Sprout lost some quality with the departure of the German duo. On a more positive note, Sprout managed to keep ahold of their core trio Timo “Spiidi” Richter, Denis “denis” Howell and Josef “faveN” Baumann, which is a plus. That being said, they will need to step up with their performances, seeing how faveN is the only player with a positive rating (1.04), while both Spiidi (0.98) and denis (0.94) put up below-average numbers in recent months.

Last season, Sprout won The WinterNational at DreamHack Leipzig 2019 in February and ESL Meisterschaft: Winter 2019 in December. They also claimed silver medals at a handful of B-Tier and A-Tier events, including Charleroi Esports 2019 in April, Games Clash Masters 2019 in September and DreamHack Open Atlanta 2019 in November. 2019 was possibly the best season Sprout had in their history, but due to the departure of two key players in January, we believe Sprout will struggle to see the same success in 2020.

BIG versus Sprout CS:GO United Masters League Season 2 Quarter Final Betting Preview

As the odds suggest, BIG will enter this bout as the heavy favourites, which is not surprising. They boast the better quality players and have three former Sprout members on their team, which will without a doubt give them an edge. That being said, the question is whether BIG can produce a clean sweep. There is a solid chance we could see that happen, yet we have to consider this will be a match between two rivals, where we rarely see one side completely dominating the other. Both teams made a few changes to their roster and considering the new arrivals have not had a chance to settle in their new teams just yet, we can��t expect either side to play to their full potential.

With that in mind, we believe a bet on over 2.5 maps is the best option here. Sprout, while significantly weaker compared to last season still have enough quality to win at least one map, as we can’t really make ourselves believe BIG will be as dominant as predicted so early into the season.

• BIG vs Sprout Betting Prediction: Over 2.5 maps – $2.25 at BetOnline

K1to only joined the German CS:GO team in May 2019 and is now rumoured to be joining Berlin-based BIG, where he is likely to reunite with former teammate Florian “syrsoN” Rische and complete an impressive all-German CS:GO roster.

MORE: GERMAN eSPORTS BETTING

K1to’s departure was formalised on Monday on Sprout’s Twitter account, where the team claimed they are separating with k1to ��with immediate effect�� with no further explanations as of why the young CS:GO pro has decided to leave the team.

K1to’s move coming just weeks after syrsoN departed Sprout but neither player is yet to formally announce they would be joining BIG, nor did BIG make any announcements suggesting they are looking to sign the German duo.

K1to started his career as a CS:GO pro in September 2016, when he joined EASYPLAY and enjoyed a short stint at DIVIZON before he moved over to Berzerk. Later in February 2018, he joined up with ALTERNATE aTTax, where he achieved a fair amount of success in B and C-Tier tournaments.

In February 2019 k1to decided to join a Belgian team Epsilon eSports and in two months later won ESEA Season 30: Premier Division – Europe and finished third-fourth at Charleroi Esports 2019. His skill and potential did not go unnoticed and it was Sprout who opted to sign k1to later in May to fill the gap left by Dennis “denis” Howell who had at that time made a move to BIG, but returned later that year to replace Sabit ��mirbit�� Coktasar who left to join Windigo Gaming.

Since joining Sprout, k1to has seen his fair share of success, including a runner-up finish at ESL Meisterschaft: Summer 2019, Games Clash Masters 2019 and DreamHack Open Atlanta 2019 as well as a first-place finish at ESL Meisterschaft: Winter 2019 earlier this month.

In the seven months he has played with Sprout, k1to averaged an overall 1.09 rating, making him the best player on the team, seeing how Josef “faveN” Baumann, Denis “denis” Howell and Timo “Spiidi” Richter averaged 1.05, 0.95 and 0.94 respectively.

As it stands now, there are no announcements from k1to about his next destination, nor did he declare he is a free agent looking for a new team, which leads us to believe the rumours that suggest he will be joining BIG could be true.

The supposed leak about k1to joining BIG surfaced earlier this November when a German CS:GO Twitter account ��German Cs Leaks��, known for being a reliable source of leaked information, made a post saying BIG are looking to replace Owen “smooya” Butterfield and ?smailcan “XANTARES” D?rtkarde? for k1to and syrsoN once smooya��s and XANTARES�� contracts expire.

If k1to decides to move to BiG, he would re-join with his former coach Tobias “tow b” Herberhold, who previously coached Sprout, but left the organization after his contract ended in August 2019.

The third CS:GO Major Championship in North America kicks off the New Year with more teams and bigger prize-pools, with twenty-four of the best professional CS:GO teams in the world competing across January 12 – 15 to take home a slice of the enticing US$1,000,000 up-for-grabs.

In conjunction with Valve, ELEAGUE have re-formatted this year’s event to include the Offline Qualifier as part of the Major Championship. The New Challengers Stage is its new name, and it will feature sixteen teams duking it out in hopes of securing a spot in the Legends Stage, which will commence next week, and eventually to become CS:GO Major Champions.

Eight of The New Challengers were the bottom eight finishers from the previous PGL Major Championship Gambit Esports in Krak��w, while the other eight teams fought tooth and nail in last year’s ELEAGUE CS:GO Minor Championships to qualify for a spot – hard-earned, and perhaps a little more battle-ready than their foes. With no announced map pool at all prior to the event’s commencement, some of these match-ups could surprise, while others are more one-sided.

Here is our betting preview, top picks and tips for Round 1 of the New Challengers Stage.

E-League Major: Boston 2018 accumulator tips

This week’s E-League Major: Boston 2018 accumulator tips come from, one of our top-rated esports betting sites for players worldwide. Our readers can unlock an exclusive bonus offer of 100% up to 100 AUD/CAD/EUR/GBP/USD (or other currency equivalent) with any payment using our exclusive bonus code, ‘esportbet’ upon making a deposit. Make sure to sign up at Arcanebet.com via our links to be able to claim the deposit bonus code offer.

E-League Major: Boston 2018 – New Challengers Stage, Round 1 accumulator picks at Arcanebet

• Renegades to beat Vega Squadron – 1.65
• Mousesports to beat AVANGAR – 1.20
• FaZe Clan – Pistol Winner, Round 1 – 1.62
• Misfits to beat FlipSid3 – 1.80

Accumulator odds: 6.38 at Arcanebet.com

Vega Squadron vs. Renegades

Game 1, Friday, January 12 from 9am EST at ELEAGUE Arena, Turner Studios, Atlanta

Vega Squadron are no stranger to the big stage but have yet to have a big break. Their performance in last year’s PGL in Krak��w left a lot to be desired, with the team dropping all three maps spectacularly despite plenty of hope from the fans. Vega have had strong form in their Asia-Pacific tournament performance, but haven’t had many opportunities to take the limelight in the EU, with only their wins against AGO and Tricked keeping them in the top 25 going into ELEAGUE 2018.

The Renegades have something to show in their first match-up against the Vega Squadron. In our eyes, they are easily a top 10 team in the making. Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis of the Renagades has demonstrated some deadly fragging as the team’s In Game Leader (IGL) and great synergy with his North American team-mate Keith ‘NAF-FLY’ Markovic, a top favourite himself who was probably the best acquisition for a permanent fifth they could have made last year. Both players have few equals on the Vega side and are widely considered to be RNG carries – but we’re also fond of their three Aussie team-mates all the same. If the map ends up being Cache, Mirage or Train, we’re confident to say Renegades have it in the bag.

The Renegades’ 2-0 steam-rolling to take the top spot in theStarLadder i-League Invitational #2 and the 1st Major Asia Minor Championship Boston 2018 to take the top spot was some great viewing last year, and they have tier 2 tournament experience under their belt going into this event. Experience, performance and the higher seeding has us rooting for the Renegades here, no questions asked.

Renegades to win – 1.65 at Arcanebet.com

Mousesports vs. AVANGAR

Game 2, Friday, January 12 from 10am EST at ELEAGUE Arena, Turner Studios, Atlanta

Mousesports or MOUZ are the favourites here and for good reason. Fresh off their 1st place win in the LOOT.BET Cup #2 and second place standings in last year’s DreamHack Open Winter 2017 Major and Esports Championship Series Season 4 Finals Premier, they have more than proved they are one of the best teams in the New Challengers line-up when it comes to BO1 (best of 1) upsets.

On a good day, they are more than capable of taking a map from higher-ranked teams like FaZe – who they performed admirably against with a hard-earned runner-ups standing at ECS Season 4 – let alone the likes of AVANGAR, who lack a significant premier or qualifier placing on their belts. AVANGAR have, however, won the hearts of some fans with their success via their qualification to Boston, suffering zero losses in the open qualifier for the CIS region��s Minor, where they smashed Quantum Bellator Fire in the Minor winner bracket and final to secure this spot.

However, while there will always be some underdogs going through CS:GO Majors, AVANGAR are not it. We’re backing pure experience and form here, and it’s definitely MOUZ.

Mousesports to win – 1.20 at Arcanebet.com

FaZe Clan vs. Team Liquid

Game 1, Friday, January 12 from 11am EST at ELEAGUE Arena, Turner Studios, Atlanta

The Swiss System is never kind to everyone and unfortunately two of the most popular North American teams in this qualifier are set to duke it out with each other in the very first round.

FaZe Clan is entering their match-up with strong form and a string of successes in the past three months, with three first place premiers under their belts, while Liquid has had some seriously bad runs in the recent ECS and EPL Season 6 Finals. Both teams croaked at the PGL Major Krak��w 2017 last year without winning a single game, perhaps FaZe’s only significant loss since. We can’t say the same for Liquid, who will be going without Brazilian pick-up Lucas ��steel�� Lopes due to Valve��s roster lock rulings.

Liquid has a long history of difficulty with overcoming FaZe. The last five matches they’ve faced-off have been utter wipe-outs, though Liquid fought hard and showed some brief promise in their ESL Pro League 16-14 standoff with FaZe. Even with three weeks of additional training under Liquid’s belts, we can’t seem them offering any counter to the recently signed Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer (named best player in the world in 2015) or Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kov��cs, the new FaZE lurker and AWPer, respectively. Apart from their close Bo1 at the EPL finals, FaZe has categorically beaten every North American team they have played since picking up GuardiaN and olofmeister.

We’re boring with our predictions here, but FaZe really is too strong right now to bet against – and they’re an easy Pistol Winner, Round 1.

FaZE Clan to get Pistol Winner, Round 1 – 1.62 at Arcanebet.com

FlipSid3 Tactics vs. Misfits

Game 1, Friday, January 12 from 1pm EST at ELEAGUE Arena, Turner Studios, Atlanta

The end of last year wasn’t too kind for FlipSid3 Tactics. One of their best players, Electronic, defected to fellow Boston ELEAGUE competitor Natus Vincere, they lost against several tier 3-4 teams in every qualifier played post-October, and placed a mediocre 5th-8th in the World Cyber Arena 2017 Europe.

Fans have barely seen Flipside play any LAN in the lead-up to the New Challengers, so confidence in their performance for a tense Bo1 (Best of 1) is low. While many will argue the team’s highest result in the top 8 standings at ESL One Cologne 2016 was managed without Electronic, his loss is too significant to not feel a lot less excited about his replacement loan, Seized.

All of that is not to say the Misfits are the clearly better pick either, with some average performance in their last few majors and premiers outside of a top placing in the Americas Minor Championship 2018 in Boston. Their latest hard-fought battle against SK can’t be faulted against them, however, and their IGL Sean “seangares” Gares definitely proved he still has it to lead the team right down to the wire.

While the two teams have not crossed paths in recent tournaments, we’re a lot more confident in the Misfits line-up here as the dark horse.

Misfits to win – 1.80 at Arcanebet.com

Sprout Esports vs. Space Soldiers

Game 1, Friday, January 12 from 2pm EST at ELEAGUE Arena, Turner Studios, Atlanta

For these kind of major qualifiers, experience always trumps “oh, but they could upset!” if you want a smart bet.

In this case, Sprout (formerly Penta Esports) have yet to play a single official CS:GO match on the level of a Major or Premier, with only a small Qualifier and Minor under their belts. Their roster, which was acquired from Seed, also lacked experience and were thoroughly annihilated by Space Soldiers under this banner at Dreamhack and ESEA on two separate occasions last year, 2-0 and 16-6. They lack team synergy and consistency due to the roster shake-ups, as most haven’t played together for very long.

The Space Soldiers form hasn’t exactly been on point or consistent for their past dozen matches, but the core group have played together for much longer and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. While they have a decent baseline with some extremely talented players in the form of Can ‘Xantares’ D?rtkarde? and Bu?ra ‘Calyx’ Ark?n, they’re lacking a consistent AWPer, and their T-side needs work.

Overall, while Space Soldiers aren’t a top tier team themselves, when they hit their stride, they can be very dangerous with their unpredictable aggro and their longer time practising and playing together is an advantage we can’t ignore. For us, it’s SS.

Space Soldiers to win – 1.51 at Arcanebet.com.

Natus Vincere vs. Quantum Bellator Fire

Game 1, Friday, January 12 from 3pm EST at ELEAGUE Arena, Turner Studios, Atlanta

Natus Vincere is one of the longest-running professional CS:GO teams with a rich history, holding the prestigious title of being the first team to win three major CS:GO tournaments in one year – the Intel Extreme Masters, Electronic Sports World Cup and World Cyber Games 2010.

Unfortunately, past success has not translated in recent years, with the team starting quite literally from the bottom 24 teams after a terrible last year with one exception – Dreamhack Winter, where they beat down Mousesports spectacularly for first place. Navi will have all eyes on them here to replicate their performance, move past being carried by star player Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev and become the come back kid many fans want them to be.

Quantum Bellator Fire have a weird name and an even stranger path to Boston, having secured their spot by beating out Team Spirit in the CIS Minor lower bracket. They face scrutiny for having the lowest rankings and most unknown roster of the New Challengers, and we can’t say we disagree. They’ve had extremely poor form in their last few matches, including a head-shaking 19th-22nd placing in the Loot Bet Cup, so we aren’t exactly about to bet on an out-of-nowhere upset versus an established team facing a bit of a bad run.

Natus Vincere to win – 1.70 at Arcanebet.com.