?Luxury Esports and Burst The Sky Esports will clash in the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) 2021 Winter third-place decider, after dropping their games in the semis against CERBERUS Esports (1-3) and GAM Esports (0-3) respectively.

Luxury looked good in their last outing and even took a map from the regular-season champions, CERBERUS, but that doesn’t mean much. Burst The Sky achieved less in their playoffs opener, but it mostly came down to small things in the mid-late game.

Burst The Sky and Luxury last met in the penultimate week of the regular season, when BTS won 2-0, and there is nothing that would suggest they can’t do it again. Admittedly, Luxury played well against CERBERUS, but that hardly justifies the offered LoL betting odds.

The odds on Burst The Sky seem a bit too high, so we have to take the outsiders to deliver.

?LNG Esports enter this bout as $1.24 favourites, which may seem fair considering how good their roster looks on paper. With Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang as the starting mid-laner and Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong in the jungle, many observers feel LNG are set for a successful season, but we have our doubts.

LNG have big names on the roster, but all of their star players seem to be on a decline, making LNG a team we will look to fade in the 2022 season. Admittedly, LNG look stronger than FunPlus Phoenix, and you could even say that they played better in the first round, but $3.79 on FPX looks too big.

We have to take FunPlus Phoenix with a map handicap. They might look like a team that can’t match LNG individually, but as they have shown, FPX are a solid side that can put up a fight and make LNG Esports work for the win.

CERBERUS Esports are one win short of a perfect 14-0 record, while Burst The Sky Esports need a win to lock in a spot in the playoffs, promising an exciting match between two win-hungry teams. CERBERUS last met with BTS on December 1, when they won in straight maps; however, they struggled a bit in map one, which could have ended differently had BTS used their early gold lead more efficiently.

BTS have since lost two games against Saigon Buffalo and GAM Esports but found traction last week and went on a four-game winning streak. It seems like BTS have found their stride just in time to lock in a spot in the playoffs, but beating CERBERUS might be easier said than done.

CERBERUS should win, but they’re not a good bet at the offered LoL betting odds. Instead, we like the kill totals since both teams want to fight and tend to produce high-scoring games. The esports bookmakers have set the kill line at 31.5, which seems a bit low, knowing that their last meeting ended in 49 and 32 kills.

For the second match of the day, we again have a team that needs a win to stand a chance of reaching the VCS Winter playoffs and a squad that is already guaranteed a top-three finish. But unlike in the first fixture, the outsiders stand a much better chance to cause an upset.

Saigon Buffalo already met with GAM Esports at the end of November, when they lost 1-2. However, it was a bizarre game in which the teams dominated the maps they won, suggesting that these head-to-head meetings are volatile, unpredictable, and will be likely decided in the early game.

Saigon Buffalo are weaker, but GAM have not impressed us with their performance against Team Secret on Wednesday. GAM should still win, but there’s a good chance they drop at least one map.

?GAM Esports are slowly catching up to CERBERUS Esports at the top of the league standings, but they’re still a bit behind, having lost two of their eight games. Still, those two defeats came against CERBERUS (1-2) and Luxury (0-2) in the first two rounds of play, and GAM have since improved.

Burst The Sky Esports have been playing relatively well, but they’re by no means title contenders. Their biggest asset is jungler Lê “Draktharr” Ng?c Toàn, who has proven to be a strong candidate for the split MVP award, but he isn’t getting much help from his teammates, so the long-term prospects for the team remain questionable.

GAM and Burst The Sky Esports met on Sunday, November 21, when GAM had to reverse sweep Draktharr and co. to collect the win. Even though GAM have since looked better, so have BTS, so there’s a solid chance we might see a repeat score.

We had Team Flash as one of the weakest sides heading into the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) 2021 Winter season, and they have yet to prove us otherwise. After two weeks of play, they’re 0-7 with an abysmal 2-14 map record.

Team Flash stole one map against CERBERUS Esports last month, but that’s hardly comforting when they have since lost against Burst The Sky Esports and SBTC Esports. Team Luxury have done much better (6-2), with a 67% map win rate (12-6), while their only two defeats came against the current frontrunners in GAM Esports and CERBERUS.

Across most metrics, Team Flash are behind Luxury, namely in objective control and laning. However, they have a higher first-blood rate (44.4%–36.5%), mainly due to their early aggression.

Even though first blood is a relatively volatile bet, it’s hard to pass on Flash at $2.31 with GG Bet.

Saigon Buffalo are considered as one of the top teams from the region, mainly due to their success during VCS Spring, but it’s been seven months since then, and evidently, the Buffalo are not nearly as strong as they were back then. We have faith that they will find some traction as the split goes on, but they have not impressed so far.

This is more of a bet against Saigon Buffalo than on Luxury Esports, even though we have seen some solid performances from the outsiders. Luxury ended the first week of play undefeated, and while they lost against CERBERUS Esports (0-2) on Wednesday, they showed enough for us to believe that they can take down Saigon Buffalo.

Burst The Sky Esports caused quite an upset on Tuesday when they won against SBTC Esports (2-1). However, seeing how dominant BTS were on the day, it can hardly be considered as an upset. Mid laner Hu?nh “Aomine” Thi?c Tu?n and ADC Lê “Glory” Ng?c Vinh both had a standout performance, continuing what they’ve already shown over the first week of action, and if they can keep it up, BTS will be in a good spot.

Team Secret haven’t had as much success so far and have managed only one win (2-1 against Team Flast) and three losses against SBTC Esports (0-2), CERBERUS Esports (1-2), and Saigon Buffalo (1-2). And yet, they are priced as the favourites for this match.

That may be somewhat justifiable since Secret are a more stacked team; however, it’s very hard to side with them until they start showing some stability. Take the in-form Burst The Sky Esports to take down Team Secret.

?SBTC Esports got off to a solid start to the VCS 2021 Winter, picking up wins against Team Secret (2-0) and Saigon Buffalo (2-0). However, they couldn’t deliver against CERBERUS Esports (1-2) last Thursday.

SBTC seem to be a more late-game oriented team. While they struggle to make much happen in the first 15 minutes (28.6% first tower, 14.3% first blood), their strong teamfighting and solid macro play come to the fore as the game wears on.

Burst The Sky Esports have achieved far less than SBTC over the first week of play (0-3), but they’ve showcased solid early-game play with a 60% first blood rate and 40% first tower rate. And those are impressive numbers considering they have had to face Luxury Esports, GAM Esports, and Saigon Buffalo.

We don’t expect Burst The Sky to cause an upset, but since they tend to do well in the early game, we have to take the outsiders to secure first blood at $1.90.

?Team Flash are one of the league’s weakest teams, as highlighted by their 0-3 record in Week 1. Their next opponents, GAM Esports, are known as one of the strongest Vietnamese LoL teams; however, like Team Flash, they haven’t had much success so far (1-2).

GAM have a much higher ceiling and deserve respect for that, but they need a bit more time to find traction. This could present the underdogs with an excellent opportunity to cause an upset and secure a crucial win before the reigning champions find their groove.

This is a longshot bet, but we have to consider backing the outsiders at the offered LoL betting odds. While Team Flash are weak, they have had some good moments, and GAM look shaky enough for us to believe Flash can find a way to steal one map.

?Team Secret lost their opening match against SBTC Esports (0-2) but bounced back with a 2-1 victory against Team Flash on Thursday. Although a shaky start to the split, we believe this team is capable of great things, mainly due to their jungler ?? “DNK” Ng?c Kh?i, who ended the series against Flash with a combined score of 19/8/21.

Secret’s next opponents, CERBERUS Esports, are undefeated after two rounds of play, having picked up wins against GAM Esports (2-1) and SBTC Esports (2-1). What’s more, CERBERUS are 2-0 up in the head-to-head against Secret, but that doesn’t guarantee them success on Saturday.

From the limited film we have on the teams, we have found that CERBERUS’s only real advantage is their strong lanes. However, Teams Secret have showcased a better sense for macro play, which should earn them at least one map.

?We’re very early into the season, making these huge price differences hard to explain. Even though Saigon Buffalo look stronger on paper, they’ve only beaten one team so far (2-0 against Team Flash).

Saigon Buffalo and SBTC Esports last met in March, when Buffalo won 2-0. However, SBTC has since replaced its entire roster, adding a couple of highly talented players from the region, including jungler Nguy?n “Penguin” ??ng Khoa, who already has two MVPs.

One thing that could work against SBTC is their weak early game, but they seem to work well as a unit, which should help them turn the game around in the mid-late game if they fall behind. Saigon Buffalo might still end up justifying their tag as the favourites, but we haven’t seen enough from them to believe they can do so without dropping a map.

These two sides are set to lock horns for the first time since the VCS 2021 Summer Promotion event in May, when Luxury Esports won 3-0. Despite that result, Luxury enter this bout as $2.06 underdogs, which has to do with their roster changes during the offseason.

In October, Luxury lost top laner Hu?nh “KemKen” T?n Danh, jungler Nguy?n “Sorn” Minh Hào, and support Nguy?n “Bisbo” Lam Vi?t Sinh. Still, the departure of three players is hardly concerning, since they have ?inh “Coated” V?n Tráng in the top lane, Lê “Killerqueen” L?u Bách ??t in the jungle, and former VCS finalist Lê “H3” Hoàng H?i as their support.

Regardless of what the latest LoL betting odds suggest, there isn’t a lot to separate the teams quality-wise. What’s more, this will be their first official match in six months, so some ring rust is expected. As a result, we anticipate a scrappy game where both teams get on the board.

?GAM Esports are the reigning VCS champions and, besides Saigon Buffalo, the only team from the region to have gained international recognition. While CERBERUS Esports are also one of the top teams in the VCS, this squad appears unlikely to compete for top spots.

CERBERUS last met with GAM in April, when they lost 1-2, emulating the result from February when they clashed in the fourth week of VCS 2021 Spring.
The top esports betting sites seem to be putting too much weight on past results and the teams’ form in April, and they appear to have overlooked the long break since their last official match.

GAM might be stronger, but they will likely struggle to show that due to ring rust. While we don’t believe CERBERUS can pull off an upset since they’re in a similar spot, they should be able to take one map and make it interesting.