by ESB returns with free StarCraft II betting predictions for the second round of the 2022 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 2 on Thursday, December 1. Here are our selections for Kim “herO” Joon-ho vs Lee “Bunny” Jae-seon, Park “DRG” Soo-ho vs Kim “Ryung” Dong-won, Park “Dark” Ryung-woo vs Eo “soO” Yun-su, and Shin “RagnaroK” Hee-beom vs Kim “Cure” Doh-wook.
HERO vs BUNNY SCII BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | herO -250 at BetOnline | Bunny +175 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 1, 2022 | 17:00 KST |
| Watch Live: | AfreecaTV (https://play.afreecatv.com/gslenglish) |
The second round of 2022 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 2 starts with a clash between Kim “herO” Joon-ho and Lee “Bunny” Jae-seon, who last met in the DreamHack Masters 2022 Atlanta finals on November 20, when herO won 4-3. The 30-year-old was 1-3 down but came back to defeat Bunny for the 18th time in his career (18-6) and the sixth time in 2022.
HerO has since played just three matches and lost two, including his most recent outings against Kim “Classic” Doh-woo (0-2) and Cho “Maru” Seong-ju (0-2). Yet despite his shaky record ahead of this match, herO is priced as a favourite, which has to do with his strong head-to-head record against Bunny, who has not played a single match since his defeat in Atlanta.
Given his history against Bunny and his recent success, it’s fair to view herO as the most likely victor, but the win odds seem a bit too pricey. It’s fair to mention that his narrow victory against Bunny in Atlanta marked only his first head-to-head win after two back-to-to-back losses (both online).
HerO should win, but we predict another close affair, so we prefer to place our money on Bunny with a 1.5-map handicap.
Bunny +1.5 maps
DRG vs RYUNG SCII BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | DRG -833.33 at BetOnline | Ryung +450 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 1, 2022 | 18:30 KST |
| Watch Live: | AfreecaTV (https://play.afreecatv.com/gslenglish) |
Priced at -833.33, Park “DRG” Soo-ho is expected to crush Kim “Ryung” Dong-won on Thursday and add a fifth consecutive head-to-head victory to his resume. The two Korean StarCraft II pro players last met at the start of June, during HomeStory Cup 21: South Korea Qualifier #1, when DRG won (2-0), adding to his 2-1 victory in March during the 2022 GSL S1 Qualifier.
But while DRG has proven himself as a better player, he hasn’t achieved much lately. Currently ranked no.9 on the Korean EPT ladder, DRG crashed out of DreamHGack SCII Masters 2022 Atlanta in 9th-16th place and wasn’t too convincing at PiG Sty Festival 2.0 (5th-8th) at the start of the month either.
That’s not to say that Ryung has looked much better, but he has been improving and is ranked no.14 in Korea and no.26 in the world. At +450 in the head-to-head market at BetOnline, Ryung is underrated by quite a bit and shouldn’t be priced much higher than +300, in our book.
Ryung with a 2.5-map advantage at -200 is not a bad choice, but we like a 1.5 handicap at +175 better.
Ryung +1.5 maps
DARK vs SOO SCII BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Dark -1000 at BetOnline | soO +600 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 1, 2022 | 20:00 KST |
| Watch Live: | AfreecaTV (https://play.afreecatv.com/gslenglish) |
Park “Dark” Ryung-woo is one of the best StarCraft II players ever to touch the game and someone you should never underestimate, but he might be a bit overrated at -1000. Still, there is a perfect reason why he is a heavy favourite here.
Dark has lost just four matches since the start of November, which translates to a 32-4 record (88.89% win rate). During that stretch, Dark has won four tournaments (including AfreecaTV Champions Cup), finished second twice, and reached at least semi-finals in all eight.
His next opponent, Eo “soO” Yun-su has won just a single event (Steadfast Birthday Bash: ByuN herO soO Show Match) since August and wasn’t very convincing in Atlanta either (17th-24th). However, he has been winning games (12-7), and his TvT record is fairly solid (63.16% win rate), but he hasn’t played many mirrored matchups lately.
Dark should defeat soO, and while there’s a chance he might drop one map, Dark winning 3-0 is a more appealing bet at the offered SCII betting odds.
Dark -2.5 maps
RAGNAROK vs CURE SCII BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | RagnaroK -109.89 at BetOnline | Cure -125 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 1, 2022 | 21:30 KST |
| Watch Live: | AfreecaTV (https://play.afreecatv.com/gslenglish) |
The second round of 2022 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 2 will culminate with what the esports betting sites believe to be a very closely contested affair between Shin “RagnaroK” Hee-beom and Kim “Cure” Doh-wook. And that makes sense considering RagnaroK and Cure have split their six meetings in 2022 (3-3), with a 10-9 map record in favour of RagnaroK.
Cure last met with Ragnarok on November 13, when he won 2-1 and avenged his 1-3 defeat from ITaX Pro Circuit 9 in September. Since that victory, Cure has played 24 games and won half of them. In contrast, RagnaroK has played only five, and won all but one, against Joona “Serral” Sotala (1-3) in the DH SC2 Masters 2022 Atlanta semi-finals).
Even though RangaroK has played fewer matches over the last month, he has looked better in his games. Moreover, RagnaroK holds a 59-57% win rate with Terran players over his last 47 outings, while Cure’s Terran vs Zerg win rate over the last 72 is in the red (48.61%).
Even throughout his career, Cure has always struggled against Zerg players, which is just another reason to like RangaroK better. RagnaroK is an easy choice at the offered StarCraft II odds.
