By eliminating the Bees, G2 Esports are guaranteed their fourth top-two finish in an S-Tier tournament just a week after reaching the semifinals at ESL Pro League Season 20.

The fixture marked the first clash between G2 Esports and Team Vitality since BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024, when G2 Esports still fielded Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi?.

Now, with a new lineup and largely thanks to the newest member Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa, G2 got their revenge.

NiKo Leads G2 Esports to Victory

The BLAST Premier: Fall Final semifinal series kicked off on G2 Esports’ pick of Anubis, yet despite choosing the map, G2 failed to get over the finish line and lost 9-13.

That also marked Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov’s first map of a 29-map streak in which he failed to post a positive rating. Still, despite the slow start for the Russian AWPer, he managed to pick up the pace in the final two.

The series moved to Vitality’s map pick, Dust2, which started close, entering half-time with a narrow 7-5 lead for G2.

Vitality responded on CT-side, winning the first two rounds, but could not find a response for NiKo, m0NESY, and malbsMd, who carried their side to victory with seven straight rounds to close the map.

After a back-and-forth start, the series moved to the deciding map �C Mirage, which continued the theme of the semifinal.

Team Vitality started strong, and on the back of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, took three of the first four rounds but quickly lost momentum and entered the half-time 5-7 down.

Not to repeat the situation from Dust2, Vitality put their foot on the gas and secured seven of the first nine rounds on CT-side, setting themselves up for success.

But even after reaching a comfortable 12-9 lead Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and co. failed to close out the series.

Despite their best attempts, Vitality could not get the final map which would take them to the grand final.

They were unable to stop NiKo, who put on a masterful display and dragged his side into overtime, where a closely contested six maps ended in a well-deserved 16-14 victory for G2.

The Bosnian Counter-Strike superstar ended the series with a 1.47 performance rating, closely followed by malbsMd at 1.43.

G2 Esports are set to face Natus Vincere on Sunday, September 29. Counter-Strike betting sites have NiKo and co. priced as $2.54 underdogs for the BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024 grand final.

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The international Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, led by Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Lotan “Spinx” Giladi, demonstrated exceptional composure and expertise throughout the match, ultimately emerging victorious with a dominant performance on Mirage (16-11) and a steady showing on Vertigo (16-8). Although they suffered a challenging defeat on Nuke (13-16), the team remained composed and ultimately secured their spot in the BLAST Premier Spring Final.

The match commenced on Mirage, which was picked by Heroic. Danish rifler Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard gave his team an early lead, as he secured a triple kill. However, Vitality’s AWPer ZywOo quickly responded with a powerful 4k hold on the A site, slowing down the Danish team’s momentum.

Capitalizing on this early advantage, Vitality focused on building up their economy and establishing a solid lead with a score of 6-2. ZywOo continued to dominate throughout the game, with his 18-4 K-D differential and 113 ADR contributing greatly to Vitality’s victory. Heroic were only able to secure two more rounds, resulting in a commanding 11-4 lead for Vitality at the end of the first half.

As the second half of Mirage began, both teams engaged in a back-and-forth battle, trading rounds until Vitality managed a three-round winning streak to gain a significant lead and reach map point at 15-6. Despite being at a disadvantage, Heroic refused to give up and with Martin “stavn” Lund making a consistent impact around Connector, they were able to reduce the deficit to just five rounds at 10-15. However, Vitality quickly closed out the match, with double-kill entries from ZywOo and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen on the A site dismantling Heroic’s defenses, leading to a final score of 16-11 in favor of Vitality.

The second map, Nuke, began with Vitality securing the first pistol round of the series. However, the map became a back-and-forth battle, with Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and his team narrowly coming out on top in a crucial engagement. They were able to maintain their composure and slowly build a 5-2 lead while playing on the T-side.

Despite this, Heroic were determined to stay in the game and a strong hold on Ramp by Rene “TeSeS” Madsen in the 8th round started what became a five-round run for the Danish team, allowing them to take the lead with a score of 7-5. However, Spinx stepped up for Vitality and turned the tide with a crucial 1v1 clutch, giving the team a slim one-round lead heading into halftime.

As Vitality took the defensive side on Nuke, their utility usage and crossfire tactics proved to be too much for Heroic to handle. The Danes faced an uphill battle as they struggled to break through the strong defense of Vitality. However, in round 22, the team’s in-game leader Casper “cadiaN” M?ller delivered a standout performance with a 1vs5 ace clutch, preventing a potential economic and map-wide defeat for his team.

This fresh momentum inspired Heroic to fight back and close out another challenging situation, resulting in a 12-12 scoreline. The remainder of the map was dominated by cadiaN’s strategic calling and Heroic’s ability to overcome difficult situations, ultimately leading to a close 16-13 win and thereby forcing a decider map, Vertigo.

The final map Vertigo was off to a strong start as Vitality’s rifler duo of dupreeh and Emil “Magisk” Reif secured four kills in the opening pistol round. This set the tone for the rest of the map as the team used this momentum to establish a significant lead thanks to their defensive efforts. Despite the efforts of Heroic’s TeSeS and jabbi, who led the charge with a combined 20 kills, they were only able to reduce the deficit to one round, 5-6. As the half came to a close, Vitality solidified their defense with multi-kill rounds from ZywOo, Spinx, and dupreeh, giving them a comfortable lead of a nine-round differential at halftime.

Vitality secured victory in the final half of the three-map series, allowing only two rounds to slip by before taking home the win. Magisk, the 24-year-old rifler, stepped up and continued to lead the team on the offensive side, ultimately ending the game with a remarkable 26 kills and 114 ADR.

ZywOo was the standout player for Vitality, delivering an outstanding performance throughout the entire series against Heroic. On Mirage, his exceptional K-D ratio of 18-4 and 113 ADR were instrumental in guaranteeing Vitality’s victory. He also proved to be a formidable force on Vertigo, registering double-kill entries on the A site proving to be too much for Heroic’s defenses to handle, and ultimately securing the win for Vitality.

Another player who had a strong showing was Spinx, who was one of his team’s highest performers in the series. He consistently performed at a high level throughout the series, earning a 1.24 rating and 82 ADR. His strong showing in the match was reminiscent of his exceptional performances in the first half of 2022, and he played a vital role in helping his team advance to the BLAST Premier Spring Final.

Though Heroic’s journey in the upper bracket has come to an end, the team is not yet out of contention for a spot in the BLAST Premier Spring Final. They will now move on to the knockout stage, where they will have the opportunity to earn a spot in the final by defeating the winner of the round one fixture of the Play-In Stage between BIG and Liquid. However, should they suffer a loss in this stage, they will have to compete in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, scheduled to take place from April 12-April 16, in order to secure a spot in the final.

“While we are working hard on preparing for the upcoming VCT league season in 2023, we want to take our time to close the VRL chapter of our organization,” the press release read.

The French esports team, have made advancements to major leagues lately, so their withdrawal from the aforementioned league will not be the end of them on the big stage. As a result of this exit from the French league, the team will most definitely be parting ways with the majority of the players who were on their roster in 2022. The players who have been revealed to be leaving the team are Kamil “baddyG” Graniczka, Joona “H1ber” Parviainen, and Nathan “nataNk” Bocqueho.

“With the release of these three players we look back at what we achieved together. NatanK, BaddyG, H1ber,” according to the press statement.

“We want to once again thank the guys for all their incredible performances and work they��ve done as players for Team Vitality. We wish you all the best moving forward, and we hope to see you on the server again in the future!”

The organization also acknowledged the improvement these players added to their game play and also noted their wins since they joined the team a few months ago.

“They all joined Team Vitality in May of 2022 after a lacklustre Stage 1 where we didn��t qualify for the playoffs. After a rocky 1-3 start in the first two weeks, it was clear that the new arrivals had levelled up our game and with only one loss in the last 14 matches we secured our spot in the Playoffs with a beautiful 14-4 record,” the organization noted.

The three players who are leaving the team, together with Jok��bas “ceNder” Labutis and the Finnish player Santeri “BONECOLD” Sassi, who are supposedly staying with Vitality next year, won the VRL France: Revolution league earlier this year and reached the grand final of the VRL 2022 Finals, where they were defeated in five maps by the Turkish team, FUT Esports.

The organization has also made a milestone like other resilient esports organizations by becoming a full-time partner in the top-tier Valorant Championship Tour EMEA league in 2023.

In accordance with Vitality’s partnership in the Valorant league, the organization is preparing to build a new roster. From all indications, it is clear that Vitality has lofty goals for the 2023 tournament. According to a report, the organization is planning to sign former members of OG LDN UTD Micha? “MOLSI” ??cki and Tomas “Destrian” Linikas as well as Karel “Twisten” A?enbrener from the German esports outfit, BIG.

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In the first series of the day, the top-ranked side in the European BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, Team Vitality, will take on the lowest-ranked team, TYLOO, in what looks to be a very tough assignment first up for the underdogs. As for the world no.3, it seems as though Vitality should be able to get to the semi-finals quite easily.

Vitality beat TYLOO 16-9 in the IEM Cologne Play-In, back in July of this year, and even though the scoreline makes the game look close, it must be noted that the ledger was 14-1 at halftime. Vitality will have been playing a lot better since they were knocked out of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups and were dropped into the Fall Showdown. They have since won ESL Pro League Season 16 and qualified for the IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage.

This game looks pretty simple to us. Vitality should be winning, and winning convincingly, leaving nothing to chance here. We suggest taking Vitality at the rounds handicap of -13.5 at $1.80.

Astralis and Eternal Fire will do battle in the second series of the day, after meeting each other only two weeks ago in the IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR A. Although Astralis won 16-9 on that occasion, it is the only win they have recorded in their last five series over the past month. Eternal Fire, however, have won three of their last six series since that loss to Astralis.

Depending on which version of Astralis turns up, we could see them take out this series 2-0 or lose 0-2. Over the last few months, the Danes really have let their fans down by dropping a lot of games they really shouldn��t have. Eternal Fire are in good form, and if they play some of their best Counter-Strike, they could beat Astralis here and get their revenge.

We believe this series will go the distance, so we are taking the overs in the total maps market.

The first series of the Americas BLAST Premier Fall Showdown will feature the 19th-ranked team in the world, Complexity, against the world no.166, Sharks. After being knocked out of ESL Pro League S16 and the IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR, the North Americans will be looking to find some form and get themselves into the BLAST Premier Fall Final, by taking out the Americas Fall Showdown.

Sharks were invited to the Fall Showdown, and even though they are entering the event in decent form after winning five of their last eight series, they have been playing in a much lower level of competition compared to this.

We expect to see Complexity take this series out, and most likely in 2-0 fashion, so we will be taking the favourites at the rounds handicap of -10.5 with GG Bet.

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The first match for the BLAST Premier Fall Groups will be the battle of two top-20 ranked teams in Vitality and OG. Vitality will enter the event as the no.7 ranked team in the world, whereas OG will start as the 16th ranked team in the world.

Vitality have finally swung the axe and made a much needed change to their CS:GO roster, with Kevin ��misutaaa�� Rabier departing the organisation and being replaced by one of the biggest up-and-coming CS:GO talents, Lotan ��Spinx�� Giladi.

Vitality have now assembled, what looks to be on paper, one of the most talented and experienced rosters across the CS:GO landscape. They will take a little bit of time to iron out the creases as they learn to play with one another, but Vitality as an organisation will be expecting and hoping for more success in the near future from this roster.

OG have a relatively new roster, as only two of their five players have been with OG for more than six months. OG have already participated in an event since the mid-season break where they finished in 2nd-place at the SteelSeries Nova Invitational 2022, losing 2-0 to FaZe Clan in the Grand Final.

After making some changes and adding three new players over the last few months, OG will be looking for a change of fortunes with some winnable series on the horizon, but this match here may not be one of them.

As we have already mentioned, Vitality has now got the roster to mix it with the very best in the CS:GO world and therefore we will be taking them to win this match over OG at the money-line.

The second opening round match for Group A will be between the Swedish and Danish juggernauts, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Astralis. Both of these teams are ranked in the top 10 with Ninjas in Pyjamas at no.5 in the world and Astralis at no.4.

Ninjas in Pyjamas have not played in any event since their 7th-8th-place finish at IEM Cologne back in mid-July. The Ninjas have not been at their best so far this year with only one tournament win at the Global Esports Tour 2022 in Dubai. Although they have only been successful in one tournament, the ranking of this Ninjas in Pyjamas roster has been steady, still sitting inside the top five in the world, showing that without winning they have still been around the mark at most events.

Astralis have been slowly but surely grinding their way back up the world rankings after their ranking slipped to no.13 in the world back in June of this year. Currently Astralis sit at number four in the ESL world rankings which is their highest position they have been in since August of 2021.

After showing great signs at IEM Cologne with a 3rd-4th-place finish, we may now be seeing what this new Astralis roster is finally capable of and they are starting to become a scary proposition for many teams around the world, once again.

Both of these teams are going to be looking for a positive start to their BLAST Premier Fall Groups campaigns, and due to the amount of talent on both sides of the server we see this match being very close. We suggest taking the overs in the total rounds market with esports bookmakers at 27.5 rounds, with current odds of $2.

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Twelve teams have been split into three groups of four sides each and all the games will be played in best-of-three format. On February 16, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the Spring finals, meanwhile, the bottom two sides will have to take the long road as they will have to compete in the Spring Showdown.

Teams will be keen to get the lion��s share of the $300,000 prize pool which will be distributed among all the competing sides depending on their final placements.

BLAST Premier Spring Series dates and venue

The BLAST Premier Series Championship will be held from January 31 to February 16, 2020, in London. It will be held at 3 Mills Studios. 12 teams will play for $ 300 thousand. The two best teams from each group will go to the finals of the tournament, the prize fund of which will be $ 750 thousand.

Preview of BLAST Premier Spring Series teams 2020

Let’s have a look at some of the teams that we believe will surely qualify for the BLAST Premier Spring series finals, and we warn you it’s going to be hotly contested CS GO event. Our expert tipster has cast his eye over all the main chances ahead of the January 31 start.

Astralis preview

The Danes are the best title contenders coming into this tournament and why wouldn��t they be. Astralis had a phenomenal 2019 which saw them winning, the BLAST Pro Series Global Final, ECS season eight, IEM Beijing, StarLadder Berlin Major, BLAST Pro Series S?o Paulo, and IEM Katowice Major. The team almost won the ESL One New York and BLAST Pro Series Madrid as it finished in the 2nd spot. Astralis was unarguably the best team in 2019 but even after these remarkable achievements they didn��t manage to top their overwhelming 2018 campaign since they had some tough moments in the first few months, as Team Liquid was seeing success and was tipped by many to finish the year as the No.1 team. Nonetheless, the Danes managed to came back strong and showed the world that they cannot be dethroned.

Team Liquid preview

The NA organization has had its fair share of success in 2019. They won the IEM Chicago, BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles, ESL One Cologne, EPL season nine, DreamHack Masters Dallas, and IEM Sydney. They also managed to claim silver at BLAST Pro Series Global Final, ECS season eight, BLAST Pro Series Miami and BLAST Pro Series S?o Paulo. 2019 was the best competitive year in CSGO for Liquid, as the team not only managed to lift its first major trophy since its formation in 2015. But also went on winning six consecutive competitions in just 60 days, which ultimately led to them being crowned the best CSGO team in the world during the mid-year. The world will be anxious to see how Liquid will learn from their mistakes and pose a fight for the top spot. BLAST Spring series is a good opportunity for the team to showcase its talent. Liquid is in Group A alongside FaZe, NiP and Brazilian MIBR.

Evil Geniuses preview

The most exciting prospect of 2019 was indeed another North American organization, Evil Geniuses. Initially, the entire roster of EG was playing for NRG and made a terrible start to the year by losing all of its games at IEM Katowice Major which saw them replacing Fugly with Tarik and also signing a new in-game leader Stanislaw. We’re predicting the Evil Geniuses to go close, but ultimately fall short.

The fans of the team were horribly disappointed by the side as this roster never even managed to qualify for the grand finale of any tournament. The best achievement of the team under NRG banner was finishing in the top-four five times, which also includes their phenomenal run in the StarLadder Berlin Major. The fortunes of the team changed when EG decided to acquire them just before the ESL One New York. The side performed brilliantly as the won the title by defeating Astralis in the grand finale.

ESL wasn��t the only triumph of the year, as the team also claimed the title of the StarSeries i-League season eight. But unfortunately, the team had some disappointing results which saw them ending the year with two trophies. Some believe that the poor performance of the team at the end could be attributed to all the traveling they did to China. Nonetheless, EG should be refreshed for the BLAST Premier Series, the team is in Group C alongside, G2 Esports, 1000 Thieves and OG. We believe that the side has what it takes to finish in the top two and qualify for the finals.

Vitality preview

After looking at the teams that we think will finish in the top spots in the respective groups. Let’s have a look at one of the second spot contenders. Vitality managed to establish a strong line-up in 2019 as they signed ALEX. He and NBK had a phenomenal partnership as the duo led the side to win the ECS season seven and cs_summit four.

But as the teams excelled to success ego plagued the side which ruined the chemistry and saw Vitality crashing out of the StarLadder Berlin Major. So the team has decided to bring some maturity to its roster by signing the former in-game leader of G2, Richard ��Shox�� Papillon, as a player.

The team has yet to lift a trophy with the French superstar but they are showing some improved results which will surely play a crucial role in Vitality’s ambition to secure a spot in the Spring finals. As previously mentioned, the team is in Group B alongside NAVI and Astralis. We believe that the only difficulty for the French team will against the Danes and they will see off the rest of their rivals in style.

Blast Spring Series winner prediction

Prediction:

Astralis is in Group B of the BLAST Premier series and will play alongside NAVI, Vitality, and Complexity. We have no hesitation in tipping them for the no.1 spot that they won��t have much difficulty in finishing at No.1 spot and be the overall winner of the BLAST Spring Premier Series. You can read more esports predictions here, or sign up at one of the following CSGO betting sites:

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Both teams performed well on the road to the finals. Vitality earned their spot with a superb performance in ECS Season 7 – Europe, where they joined Ninjas in Pyjamas, North and Astralis as one of four teams to progress. FURIA had to go through the ECS S7 – North America tournament, where advanced alongside joining MIBR, NRG and compLexity.

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FURIA, who were put in Group A with NRG, Astralis and NiP, managed to finish second with a 2-1 record, which they earned with a 2-1 win over Astralis in the decider match on June 7. The most impressive part here is that FURIA defeated the former no.1 team in the world Astralis in a convincing fashion, 16-10 on Mirage and 16-13 on Nuke.

Vitality also claimed second spot, but in Group B, where they sealed the deal with a 9-16 win over compLexity and then defeated the same opponent 2-0 in the decider match.

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The playoffs saw Vitality paired with NRG, while it was North who stood in the way of FURIA in the semi-finals. Against all odds, both NRG and North went down in clean sweeps to set up a grudge match between two teams that met at the recent DreamHack Masters Dallas event. FURIA won on that occasion, but Dan “apEX” Madesclaire made it clear in the lead-up to the ECS S7 Finals that Vitality were out for revenge.

Vitality entered Inferno hungry for a win and dominated FURIA in every possible department, even managing to shut down the aggressive playstyle that has been the bane of many teams. Only one point separated the two teams at half-time, but the French side blasted away after the break to claim a 16-9 win.

Vitality entered the second map (Overpass) with all guns blazing and finished the first half with a 12-3 lead. They needed to win only four more rounds after the interval and got them with relative ease, thus winning the map and the series.

A lot of credit for Vitality’s dominance must go to Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, who walked away from the ECS Finals with a 1.81 HLTV rating, but it was a team effort that got them the title.

The 18-year-old CS:GO esports player started off his career in 2014, when he joined dizLown. In the years that followed he played for four other teams – nevermind, E-Corp Bumpers, WySix Team and against All authority – until October of 2018, when he joined Team Vitality.

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During his time with E-Corp Bumpers and against All authority, ZywOo won two minors (Pasino Gaming Days by LanEx and ESL Championnat National – Summer 2018), but it was not until he joined Vitality that he started winning some of the bigger tournaments. In fact, the win at DreamHack Open Atlanta 2018 came barely a month after he joined.

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Strong performances in big events all over the world earned ZywOo and Vitality a ticket into the elite field of six teams at cs_summit 4. They topped the group stage in Los Angeles and defeated ENCE in the semi-finals to set up a title match with Team Liquid. Although the North Americans came into the tournament as heavy favourites, it was Vitality who emerged with a 2-0 win and $64,000 cash.

The player who carried most of the workload for the French team was ZywOo. He ended the tournament with an average rating of 1.33, which included an impressive 1.00+ rating in 14 out of the 15 maps Vitality played.

ZywOo shone brightest where it mattered the most: against ENCE in the semi-finals and against Team Liquid in the grand finals. On both occasions, he was by far the highest-rated player, surpassing all his teammates and opponents with a 1.38 HLTV rating in semis and a 1.44 HLTV rating in the grand finals.

But it was not only the overall ratings where ZywOo stood out, as he also topped the charts for most damage dealt (86.6 ADR), opening kills (0.15/round) and best fragging ability (0.86 KPR) en route to his first-ever MVP award.

The next for Vitality and their young star is DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, which starts this week.

Featuring six of the world’s best CS: GO esports teams and a $150,000 prize pool, the tournament promised to be an exciting one to watch and it managed to live up to expectations.

The group stage ended as expected, with Ghost Gaming and Renegades in the bottom two places. Ghost are simply not of the same level as the other teams that participated in cs_summit 4 and Renegades had to play with a stand-in, which greatly hindered their performance.

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On the other side, Team Vitality finished the group in first place with a 3-2-0 record and 24 points – six points above Team Liquid, who entered the tournament as favourites. Still, the French team had it all to do.

The semi-finals featured Team Vitality vs ENCE and Team Liquid vs NRG Sports. Liquid managed to defeat NRG 2-0, while the match between Vitality and ENCE proved to be closer than expected. Vitality lost the first map 14-16 but managed to get back up with a convincing 16-8 result on Overpass and a close yet impressive 19-15 win in the deciding map, Inferno.

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That left us with the two finalists: Team Liquid, who we all expected to see in the grand finals; and Team Vitality, who had an impressive run behind them and the hardest task right in front of them.

The grand finals began on Nuke, which was the map where Vitality celebrated a convincing 16-3 win against Team Liquid in the group stage. While we did not expect to see a repeat, the start of the map surely caused TL some flashbacks to day two of the tournament.

It did not take long for Vitality to get a 5-1 lead, which soon turned into a 15-4 advantage. Trailing by 11 points, Liquid managed to hold on for five more rounds, but in the end it was Team Vitality who secured a 16-9 win.

The second map was Overpass, which looked far better from Team Liquid’s perspective. The NA team started well and got out to a 3-0 lead, but they once again crumbled under pressure and let Vitality run away with it. Before the home side realised what was happening, it was already half-time and they were 11-4 down.

The second half saw Liquid rising and slowly catching up to Vitality, but it was too late and too little. Team Vitality finished the series with a 16-13 victory and their fourth map win against Team Liquid for the tournament.

The cs_summit 4 MVP award went to Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut, who came out of the finals with an impressive 1.44 HLTV rating.

Another glorious four-leg multi payout was just out of our reach last week after Splyce disappointingly rolled over to ROCCAT, though Fnatic, Misfits and Schalke continued to pull the rug from under the EU LCS’s favourites as we predicted.

Here are our top picks for Week 3 of the EU LCS Spring Split.

EU LCS Spring Split, Week 3 Accumulator of the Week with Betway Esports

• H2K Gaming to beat Unicorns of Love – 1.80
• Giants Gaming to beat ROCCAT – 1.85
• Team Vitality to beat Schalke 04 – 1.70
• Misfits to beat Fnatic – 1.90

Betway.com fourfold accumulator pays 10.75

Unicorns of Love vs. H2K Gaming

Game 1, Friday, February 2, 5pm GMT / 6pm CET

Unicorns of Love remain the only winless team in the EU LCS heading into Week 3 and we’re not surprised one bit.

They’re prone to sudden collapse after any opponent gets a teamfight snowball rolling and without a strong shotcaller, their indecisiveness has led to predictable, albeit entertaining massacres.

H2K Gaming fared little better last week in match-wins, but they scored plenty of First Bloods and early skirmish victories that showed some significant improvement in their lane-control.

Both teams will be looking to bounce back from straight losses, but we reckon H2K are due for a proper comeback game this Friday.

H2K Gaming to beat Unicorns of Love – 1.80 at Betway.com

Giants Gaming vs. ROCCAT

Game 2, Friday, February 2, 6pm GMT / 7pm CET

Both the Giants and ROCCAT head into their clash on Friday in form, though we think the former are better equipped to deliver the upset.

The Giants have opted for the long-game over aggro plays to find great success this series, patiently gold farming and handing off a few battles here or there before overwhelming their overconfident foes around the half-hour mark.

Mid laner Felix ‘Betsy’ Edling is the Giants player to beat after his excellent performance as Veigar last week, smartly using his stack of AP to decimate G2 and secure his team’s logic-defying comeback victory. AD carry Pierre ‘Steeelback’ Medjaldi and his late-game Kog’Maw is another emergent threat ROCCAT will need to shut down early.

ROCCAT doubled down on its aggressive objective baiting last week which worked against both of its weaker, more impatient opponents. However, the Giants are a much more disciplined threat, and so long as they keep promising ROCCAT mid-laner Jin ‘Blanc’ Seong-min from dominanting as Azir, they can set the pace once more.

Giants Gaming to beat ROCCAT – 1.85 at Betway.com

Schalke 04 vs. Team Vitality

Game 3, Friday, February 2, 7pm GMT / 8pm CET

Mid-lane marvel Erlend ‘Nukeduck’ Holm continues to be instrumental in Schalke 04’s handful of surprise victories this EU LCS series.

With pinpoint precision as Malzahar, Nukeduck and company have shut out numerous enemy carries and turned around many early skirmishes with calm and coordinated counter-plays.

As much as we’ve rooted for Schalke since the preseason, however, Team Vitality have shown superior macro play in almost every single match to-date – and we’re expect another decisive victory here.

Whether it’s mid-laner Daniele ‘Jiizuke’ di Mauro assassinating foes left, right and center as Ryze or support Jakub ‘Jactroll’ Skurzy��sk making the most of the late-game, they show no signs of ceding their top position.

Team Vitality to beat Schalke 04 – 1.70 at Betway.com

Fnatic vs. Misfits

Game 5, Friday, February 2, 9pm GMT / 10pm CET

Fnatic are on the verge of a bottom placing and desperately need the win this Friday.

However, their performance last week shows they have yet to improve upon their terrible lane management habits, allowing several opponents to backdoor their Nexus with inefficient recall.

Fnatic’s midlaner Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther is the weak point the Misfits are more than capable of exploiting, particularly if Steven ‘Hans sama’ Liv can continue his teamfight domination while jungler Nubar ‘Maxlore’ Sarafian sows discord with more sneaky objective captures.

Misfits to beat Fnactic – 1.90 at Betway.com

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