The post FaZe Clan vs mousesports betting tips – ESL Pro League S11 appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>FaZe Clan and mousesports are slated to clash this Monday in the second stage of ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe in what will be their second meeting of the tournament.
FaZe started their campaign with a commanding 2-0 win over the struggling TYLOO. A pair of 1-2 losses to mousesports and G2 followed, but they rallied to close out the group stage with a brace of 2-0 wins over Virtus.pro and OG.
Finishing second in Group C with a 3-2 record, FaZe then had to play ForZe in a tiebreaker for the right to progress to the second stage. Nikola “NiKo” Kova? and his crew proved far too strong for their Russian adversaries, winning 16-4 on Inferno and 16-10 on Nuke to book a spot in the last six.
While FaZe have not looked particularly strong in the last few months, they’ve shown moments of greatness. One of those occurred at Intel Extreme Masters XIV Beijing, where they reached the semi-finals. Another was in the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season, where FaZe secured the top seed by dominating their group with a 2-0 win over Ninjas in Pyjamas and consecutive sweeps against Team Liquid.
Even their run at IEM Katowice was not as bad as it may seem at first glance. Although FaZe finished in seventh-eighth place, their only two defeats came against the eventual champions, Natus Vincere, in round one (1-2) and in the final match of the lower bracket (1-2).
Mousesports rose to fame at the end of 2019 when they won the CS:GO Asia Championships, ESL Pro League Season 10 – Finals, cs_summit 5 and made it to the finals of EPICENTER 2019. It did not stop there, as Finn “karrigan” Andersen and co. carried their momentum into 2020 and won the ICE Challenge at the start of February.
Their impeccable run left the CS:GO esports community in disbelief, but it all came crashing down in March when mouz failed to impress at IEM Katowice. Although the European mix started their journey with a commanding win over TYLOO, they were stopped in their tracks in round two when they suffered a humiliating reverse sweep at the hands of G2. Later on, mouz made easy work of MAD Lions (2-0) but fell flat against 100 Thieves, who handed them reverse sweep in the lower bracket finals.
Mouz have looked solid throughout the ESL Pro League. They picked up a 2-1 win over FaZe and 2-0 wins over TYLOO, G2 and Virtus.pro, while their only defeat so far came against OG (1-2). Still, karrigan and his crew are not looking quite as sharp as they did in latter months of 2019.
This is an online tournament, so most of the results these two sides produced before the COVID-19 outbreak can be thrown out of the window. Having said that, we can’t ignore the fact that mouz have been on a downwards trajectory while FaZe have been steadily improving.
Although FaZe are not as solid as they were in 2018, they have consistently ranked among the top-10 teams in the world since November 2019. What’s more, they have been performing well throughout their online endeavours. That suggests they should do just fine against mouz this Monday, despite the fact they lost to karrigan and co. only last weekend.
An outright bet on FaZe is something to ponder, but mouz are not a team to underestimate. Backing a three-map series is a much safer option and still offers decent odds.
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]]>The post Team Liquid vs Evil Geniuses betting tips – ESL Pro League appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses are slated to clash this Friday on the final day of ESL Pro League Season 11 North America regular season.
Since they lifted the Intel Grand Slam Season 2 trophy and went the distance at BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles back in July 2019, Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella and his crew have entered a tough period. Liquid’s poor results from the final months of 2019 have stretched to March 2020, as they failed to make any serious noise in the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season and later ended their IEM Katowice journey in the quarter-finals.
Despite their struggles, Liquid entered ESL Pro League Season 11 North America as the team to beat. They have thrown up some mixed results, however, defeating MiBR (2-0) and 100 Thieves (2-0) but falling short against Swole Patrol (0-2) and FURIA (1-2).
Those outcomes create more questions than answers. The one match that stands out is Liquid’s 0-2 loss to Swole Patrol, which is not something we expected to see from the no.6 team in the CS:GO esports world rankings. In their defence, online matches are often unpredictable and Jake “Stewie2K” Yip clearly had an off day.
Evil Geniuses have enjoyed a solid stretch since returning to the CS:GO competitive scene in September 2019, but it seems like the ex-NRG squad have run out of steam. They have participated at two events in 2020, finishing seventh-ninth at the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season and ninth-12th at the Intel Extreme Masters XIV World Championship.
That poor form is reflected in EG’s ESL Pro League results. In Week 1 they suffered a reverse-sweep at the hands of 100 Thieves, to which they added a shaky display against Swole Patrol on Monday. Although Evil Geniuses defeated Ryan “freakazoid” Abadir and co. by a 2-0 scoreline, they still struggled to keep Swole Patrol at bay on Vertigo (16-14).
Both these teams put up questionable performances against Swole Patrol, the lowest-ranked team in the division. While Liquid did end up losing that bout, they also defeated 100 Thieves – something Evil Geniuses could not do.
Liquid have looked the stronger side so far this tournament, so esports bookmakers are right to price nitr0’s squad as the favourites. Having said that, their inconsistency leads us to question whether they are capable of a clean sweep – especially in an online format, which tends to produce “coin-toss” fixtures.
Back Team Liquid to win, but also consider the overs on the 2.5-map handicap.
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]]>The post OG vs Virtus.pro betting tips – ESL Pro League S11 Europe appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>OG and Virtus.pro are slated to clash this Thursday in the second-to-last matchday of ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe.
OG have put up some impressive results throughout their ESL Pro League venture, including wins over TYLOO (2-0), mousesports (2-1) and G2 Esports (2-0). Although OG’s triumph over TYLOO was expected, Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and co. deserve all the praise they can get for defeating mouz and IEM Katowice runners-up G2.
The match against mousesports started with Finn “karrigan” Andersen and his crew securing a 1-0 lead by edging past OG in overtime (19-16) on Mirage. However, the no.4 team in the world were utterly destroyed on Train (5-16) and Inferno (2-16) thanks to the phenomenal performances of Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski and Valdemar “valde” Bj?rn, who ended the series with 1.32 and 1.31 HLTV ratings respectively.
OG managed to carry that momentum into their clash with G2, where they produced one of the biggest upsets of the tournament with a 16-7 scoreline on Mirage and 16-8 on Dust II. Again, it was valde (1.43 rating) and mantuu (1.21 rating) who stepped up for OG, while their teammates Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt and Issa “ISSAA” Murad averaged 1.28 and 1.17 ratings respectively. It seems like the online format suits OG, as this is probably the strongest version of this team we have seen since their inception in December 2019.
Unlike OG, who are on the rise, Virtus.pro have been struggling since December when they acquired the AVANGAR CS:GO roster in a bid to re-establish themselves as one of the top dogs in the scene.
Shortly after signing Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev and his crew, Virtus.pro finished top four at cs_summit 5 after suffering a 1-2 reverse sweep at the hands of G2 in the semi-finals. While that was a decent result, the seventh-eighth place finish at EPICENTER 2019 and DreamHack Open Leipzig, followed by fifth-sixth at ICE Challenge 2020 and first-round elimination from IEM Katowice were not exactly what the CIS squad were hoping for.
Virtus.pro entered ESL Pro League S11 hoping to end their cold streak, but they ran into a wall when they lost to FaZe (0-2) in round one. While Virtus had a legitimate chance to win at least one map, poor performances from AdreN and Sanjar “SANJI” Kuliev denied them that feat.
AdreN and SANJI averaged 0.89 and 0.81 ratings respectively in their series with FaZe, which is only an extension of their shaky showings in recent months. Although the duo looked slightly better in Virtus.pro’s defeat against mousesports (0-2) on Tuesday, their 0.97 and 0.96 ratings are nothing to write home about.
It’s tough to find a solid argument in favour of Virtus.pro, who are in desperate need of a roster change if they wish to compete against the top teams. With all due respect, AdreN and SANJI are holding this squad back and should be on the chopping block.
OG might not have achieved anything spectacular since their top-four finish at cs_summit 5 back in December, but they are looking very sharp in the ESL Pro League. With wins over mousesports and G2 under their belt, OG should have no issues against a struggling Virtus.pro.
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]]>The post OG vs TYLOO betting predictions – ESL Pro League S11 Europe appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>OG and TYLOO will meet on the battlefield for the first time this Friday in the second fixture of Group C at ESL Pro League Season 11 Europe.
OG come into this event with designs on claiming their first-ever title. Although their road to the top won’t be a cakewalk, Aleksi “Alaksib” Virolainen and co. will fancy their chances against a TYLOO outfit billed as one of the weakest teams in the tournament.
OG saw a reasonable amount of success in the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season in February, where they took down Evil Geniuses twice but fell short in the group finals against the reigning IEM Katowice silver medallists, G2 Esports. A runner-up finish was enough to earn them a spot in the Spring 2020 Finals, which is exactly what this team needed following iffy displays at IEM Katowice Open qualifiers and ICE Challenge 2020.
OG, however, failed to carry that momentum into the European Minor Championship Closed Qualifier, where they suffered a shock 0-2 defeat against Team Heretics in round one. They bounced back with a 2-0 thrashing of KOVA Esports, but a 1-2 defeat to GODSENT in the second round of the lower bracket saw them finish in ninth-12th place.
TYLOO, despite hailing from a weaker region, had always carried the element of surprise, which made them a dangerous team for those who underestimated them. That, however, changed in December, when Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand left for Gen.G and took with him the only serious quality on the roster.
Since the turn of the year, TYLOO have attended the Intel Extreme Masters XIV World Championship Asian Qualifier, IEM Katowice main event and Asia Minor Championship Chinese Closed Qualifier, with varying degrees of success. TYLOO made it to the finals of IEM Katowice qualifiers but suffered a humiliating 0-3 loss to ViCi, although they still secured a ticket for Poland because ViCi were unable to secure their visas for the prestigious tournament.
In Poland, TYLOO failed to represent their region properly without BnTeT on the team. A 0-2 loss against mousesports in the opening match of Group B and a clean sweep in round one of the lower bracket against 100 Thieves saw TYLOO end their IEM Katowice endeavour in last place with a consolation prize of US $2,500.
Their venture into the Asia Minor Championship qualifiers failed to bare any more fruits. Although TYLOO made easy work of Wubbalubbadubdub and Lynn Vision in the first two rounds, they failed to overcome ViCi and later lost their ticket for the Asia Minor with a 0-2 loss to EHOME in the lower bracket finals.
Since BnTeT left, TYLOO are not the same team that pocketed a top-four finish at CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 in November. While they saw some success against weaker Asian teams in recent tournaments and qualifiers, OG will prove to be an entirely different beast.
We could argue that this is an online tournament, which should, in theory, give the underdogs a fighting chance, but the quality gap here is way too big.
OG are the stronger team and esports bookmakers did a fine job setting the odds. TYLOO will be fighting an uphill battle and the favourites should come out with a perfect 2-0 win.
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]]>The post Team Liquid vs MiBR betting tips – ESL Pro League Season 11 appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>ESL Pro League Season 11: North America is set to begin this Thursday, when Team Liquid and MiBR will meet on the battlefield for the first time since late January.
Team Liquid have been on a rollercoaster of results since July, when they won ESL One: Cologne 2019 and scooped US $1 million Intel Grand Slam Season 2 prize. Although the North American juggernauts managed to keep their fire going throughout the summer and pocketed the BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019 and Intel Exteme Masters XIV Chicago titles, everything fell apart for them at the Berlin Major in September when they got stomped by Astralis in the quarter-finals and finished fifth-eighth.
Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella and co. have put together a few solid showings since then, including gold at ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas, silver medals at the Esports Championship Series Season 8 Finals and BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019, and a top-four finish at ESL One: New York. Since the turn of the year, however, Team Liquid have failed to make much noise. They finished fourth-sixth at BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 after losing to FaZe in the Group A finals and earlier this month TL claimed an underwhelming fifth-sixth place finish at IEM Katowice.
The iffy displays since mid-2019 have seen Liquid drop from the top of the world rankings down to the sixth place, which is the lowest they have been since May 2018. They are still, however, one of the best CS:GO esports teams on the planet, and it is worth noting they were unfortunate to be paired with eventual champions Natus Vincere in the quarter-finals at IEM Katowice.
MiBR were once regarded as one of the strongest teams in the world, assembled from the legendary Brazilian CS:GO squad SK Gaming. Looking at them now, however, it makes it hard to believe MiBR were ever anything more than a B-Tier team.
Although the name MiBR will always hold some special prestige in the CS:GO world, their results over the last 12 months were anything but great. Their last LAN tournament title came at the ZOTAC Cup Masters in August 2018. Some of their most notable results in recent months were a top-four placement at CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 in November, ninth-12th place at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals and a sixth-place finish at cs_summit 5.
MiBR came close to securing a ticket for IEM Katowice but lost to Cloud9 in the finals of North American qualifiers. In February they participated at BLAST Premier and DreamHack Open Anaheim, finishing 10th-12th and fifth-sixth respectively. Most recently, MiBR played two games at FLASHPOINT Season 1, where they they lost 0-2 against Chaos ESC and swept Envy 2-0.
Team Liquid might have lost the momentum they gained with their dominant run throughout the summer of 2019, but they are still one of the top teams in the world. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for MiBR, who are on a downward projection and recently dropped to 26th in the world rankings – an all-time low for the organisation.
To put that into perspective, both forZe (22nd) and BIG (17th) are now ranked higher than MiBR, so it’s fair to say Team Liquid are a level or two above their Brazilian adversaries.
Esports betting sites have Team Liquid priced as heavy favourites for the win, while most bookmakers also fancy them to cover the 1.5-map handicap. Although the ESL Pro League is played online – a format that is notorious for upsets – the massive quality gap here points to a straightforward 2-0 win for the North American powerhouse.
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]]>The post Astralis vs Team Vitality betting tips – ESL Pro League S11 appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>The final day of ESL Pro League Season 11 Group A fixtures will begin with a clash between two teams that met at the Intel Extreme Masters Season XIV World Championship, where Astralis secured a convincing win over Team Vitality.
Astralis enter Tuesday’s fixture with a 3-1 record. After a humiliating 0-2 defeat against Ninjas in Pyjamas in round one, the Danes bounced back with consecutive wins against GODSENT (2-0), ENCE (2-1) and Team Spirit (2-0).
Astralis were billed as one of the favourites to hoist the title, which is nothing out of the ordinary for Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and company. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen the tournament moved from a LAN format to all-online play, which rarely benefits the stronger teams.
Astralis were stomped by NiP on Vertigo (6-16) and Overpass (8-16) and later ran into some struggles against ENCE, but individual quality prevailed as Peter “dupreeh” Rasumssen and Andreas “Xyp9x” H?jsleth led the charge with 1.26 ratings across the series.
Team Vitality have gone through quite a turbulent period since the turn of the year. Although the French squad ended 2019 by winning the EPICENTER title, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and co. have struggled in the early months of 2020. They finished seventh-ninth in the BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Regular Season and put up an underwhelming performance at IEM Katowice last month, where they did not make it past round two of the group stage.
Shortly after Vitality’s less-than-impressive Katowice run, in-game leader Alex “ALEX” McMeekin announced he was leaving due to the team’s overwhelming competitive schedule. As his replacement, Vitality signed Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier – an unproven talent who had played only for some lesser CS:GO esports teams.
Misutaaa’s debut with Vitality came against GODSENT in round one of the ESL Pro League, where he put up an impressive 1.23 rating and helped his new team secure their first win of the tournament. Although the 17-year-old struggled against ENCE (0.86 rating), Vitality still managed to pocket a hard-fought win to start their venture with two wins from two outings.
Vitality failed to keep their fire alive, however, as they suffered a reverse-sweep against Team Spirit on Friday, meaning they enter round four of the group stage with a 2-1 record to their name.
As seen throughout the first stage of the ESL Pro League, online format tends to produce a lot of upsets. Astralis losing to Ninjas in Pyjamas in the first round, while Natus Vincere went down to BIG on Thursday.
It is fair to say Astralis are a level above their French adversaries – not only due to individual quality, but also the fact that Vitality have been a shambles since ALEX left the team. While we can’t praise Astralis too much for their 0-2 loss against NiP and 2-1 win over ENCE, we also can’t ignore that Vitality lost to Team Spirit.
The online format makes it tempting to side with Vitality at big odds, but there is a reason esports bookmakers are offering such a high price for the French squad. While Astralis might not look as strong as usual, a 2-0 win to the champion Danes is still the most likely result.
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]]>The post Natus Vincere vs BIG betting tips – ESL Pro League S11 appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>The reigning IEM Katowice champions, Natus Vincere, will look to bounce back from a shock 0-2 defeat against North when they lock horns with BIG this Thursday in the second round of ESL Pro League Season 11.
Despite the coronavirus outbreak which has affected all of the esports scene, ESL Pro League S11 launched as intended but with one small change – the league is run entirely online, which can alter the performance of the teams. Natus Vincere were the first to fall victim to the change in format on Monday when they dropped the ball against their Danish counterparts North, who humiliated them with a 10-16 score on both Nuke and Dust II.
It’s hard to explain the exact effect online play has on the teams as opposed to LAN format; however, if there is one thing for certain, it is that upset wins are fairly common, and that is something Natus Vincere will hope to avoid this week.
NaVi have soared to new heights this year, with their title-winning run in Katowice catapulting them to the top of the CS:GO world rankings for the first time since April 2016. That result was no surprise, as the team have improved rapidly since they parted ways with Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács and replaced him with Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy.
Still, there is a long road ahead of them before Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and co. can prove their Katowice title was not a one-off. Hoisting the ESL Pro League trophy is exactly what they will look to achieve.
BIG entered ESL Pro League S11 as a replacement team, but the German squad have shown they are ready to leave a mark and become a thorn in the side of some of the strongest teams in Group B.
Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz and his crew began their ESL Pro League venture against Fnatic, which was billed as a one-sided bout where the Swedish squad should come out ahead with relative ease. That, however, was not the case, as it was BIG who claimed the W with impressive performances on Inferno (16-7) and Mirage (16-12).
All eyes were on Can “XANTARES” D?rtkarde?, who is known as one of the best online players in CS:GO esports, yet it was tabseN and Florian “syrsoN” Riche who put up the strongest performances with 1.25 and 1.22 ratings respectively. Tabsen also had a +16 KD, while syrsoN ended the series with +9.
Esports bookmakers have Natus Vincere priced as heavy favourites (-434.78). Anything can happen in an online match, however, so siding with BIG to take another scalp is very tempting at the +331 odds offered.
BIG have a better record on Inferno (75%-71%), Nuke (89%-44%), Overpass (25%-0%) and Vertigo (50%-0%), while NaVi hold an edge on Dust II (54%-44%) and Mirage (71%-59%). It’s also worth noting that NaVi defeated BIG in all of their last four meetings dating back to StarSeries i-League Season 7 in March 2019.
Siding with NaVi might be the reasonable thing to do here, but it’s very difficult to defend s1mple and his crew for their lacklustre performance against North. While they’re still the no.1 CS:GO team in the world, online Counter-Strike is not the same as LAN play.
BIG are by no means a stronger team than NaVi, but they can go toe-to-toe with NaVi in an online environment. Their success will heavily rely on XANTARES, who is regarded as an ‘online God’. If he can step up and deliver, BIG will have a legitimate chance to upset their Ukrainian adversaries.
The odds on BIG are way too generous for an online match, which is why we will gladly take our chances with the German squad.
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]]>The post Fnatic vs BIG betting predictions – ESL Pro League Season 11 appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>Fnatic and BIG will meet this Tuesday in the last fixture of the opening matches in Group B at ESL Pro League Season 11. It will mark their first clash since October 2019, when Fnatic defeated BIG at Esports Championship Series Season 8 – Europe.
Fnatic have come a long way since they acquired Maikil “Golden” Selim and Robin “flusha” R?nnquist back in September 2019. Although the arrival of two CS:GO veterans was accepted with a lot of scepticism at first, the duo quickly proved their experience and synergy was exactly what the team needed.
Since September, Fnatic have won DreamHack Masters Malm? 2019, finished second at both StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 and the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals, and ended the year with a top-four placement at the Esports Championship Series Season 8 Finals and a silver medal at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals. Fnatic made it to the semi-finals at the Intel Extreme Masters XIV World Championship in February and most recently put up a commanding run at the Europe Minor Championship – Rio 2020: Closed Qualifier, where they lost only one map throughout the whole tournament.
Fnatic’s surge in form catapulted them from 21st place in the CS:GO esports world rankings to second in December, which marked the first time they ranked as a top-five team since April 2018. As it stands now, Fnatic are ranked sixth in the world behind Team Liquid, G2 Esports, mousesports, Astralis and the IEM Katowice champions, Natus Vincere.
BIG were supposed to compete in FLASHPOINT but withdrew from the tournament at the last minute and instead decided to attend ESL Pro League Season 11. In terms of their chances of winning anything, however, it might have been better if they’d remained at FLASHPOINT.
Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz and co. were seeded into a very tough ESL Pro League group, featuring Natus Vincere, forZe, Complexity, North and Fnatic. It would be fair to say Fnatic are the second-strongest team in Group B behind NaVi, so facing the Swedes in game one and NaVi in game two might be a positive for BIG, who will have a chance to put all their energy into the last three fixtures and hope they can secure a top-three seed.
BIG went though some massive roster changes at the turn of the year and produced quite a remarkable run through FLASHPOINT qualifiers, but their performances at the Europe Minor Championship – Rio 2020: Closed Qualifier and ESEA Season 33: Premier Division – Europe: Regular Season were very iffy.
A ninth-12th place finish at Minor Championship qualifiers and losses to AGO (6-16) and Sprout (14-16) at ESEA earlier this month suggest BIG are not in the best shape ahead of their ESL Pro League S11 endeavour. As such, it seems like they will be fighting an uphill battle against Fnatic.
Fnatic have the better form rating, a 3-2 record in their last five and are higher rated than BIG. The German squad, however, have produced a slightly higher average rating over last three months (1.092) compared to Fnatic (1.082), but the difference is negligible and it’s worth noting that Fnatic have played significantly stronger opponents.
Looking at the map pool, BIG hold a better win rate on Inferno (73% – 67%), Nuke (89% – 0%) and Vertigo (50% – 0%). What’s more, BIG are on a six-map winning streak on Nuke and have played more games on Mirage (16), where they won nine (56%), while Fnatic have played only three and won them all.
Despite the better map pool, it’s hard to side with BIG over Fnatic. There is a chance BIG might edge out one map, but their form is less than inspiring. Side with the Swedish squad to repeat their success from ECS and claim another clean sweep.
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