Intel Extreme Masters XV Beijing Online: Europe

These teams will cash on Saturday for the first time since June, when Natus Vincere eliminated MAD Lions from DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe. Not much has changed in the balance of the matchup over the past five months, and we would even go so far as to say NaVi are much heavier favourites this time out.

MAD have looked weaker since they parted ways with Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen. Also, they have competed mostly in B-Tier tournaments of late – most recently at Nine to Five #5, where they lost to Wisla Krakow (1-2). NaVi, meanwhile, attended the BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Regular Season, where they defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas twice but lost both of their bouts with OG.

NaVi have been looking much sharper, but the Ukrainian squad are known for their iffy showings in the early stages of any tournament they attend. This should give MAD a good shot at winning at least one map.

Two weeks ago, Complexity Gaming signed ex-100 Thieves player Justin “jks” Savage as a replacement for Owen “oBo” Schlatter. They have played three games since then, defeating FaZe Clan (0-2) but losing to Team Vitality (1-2) and BIG (0-2).

Fnatic are on a three-game losing streak that includes losses to Astralis (1-2), NiP (1-2) and BIG (0-2). They did, however, sweep Complexity (2-0) at the start of October and later defeated OG twice, which is a promising sign even though Fnatic have not played an official match in two weeks.

There are arguments to be made in favour of Complexity, but they have not shown enough for us to believe they should be priced at only $1.65. Fnatic might not be in the best form, but they look overpriced here.

Iberian Cup 2020

These teams last met in July during the LVP SuperLiga Orange (SLO) 2020 Summer regular season. There, S2V secured a shock win thanks to a strong performance in the bottom lane from ADC Nicolás “Nixerino” Canellas Colocho and support Adrián “Homi” Moldes López, who got their hands on Yuumi-Twitch combo.

Giants are heavy favourites at most League of Legends betting sites, but it’s hard to believe they will secure a 3-0 victory. Giants have been slacking for the past month and seem very susceptible to dropping at least one map.

If S2V manage to shut down Giants’ bottom lane and enable their capable mid-laner, Sergi “Lvsyan” Madrigal Gómez, they might force a very tight bout, but we will play it safe and settle for the +2.5 handicap.

AfreecaTV Starleague Season 10

Lim “Larva” Hong Gyu and Lee “Flash” Young Ho will clash this Saturday in the AfreecaTV Starleague Season 10 third-place decider. It will mark their first meeting since KCM Race Survival 2020 Season 3, where Flash defeated Larva twice.

Flash is up 5-0 in head-to-head with Larva, so it’s not shocking to see him priced as the favourite. Still, Larva has improved drastically in recent months and left quite a statement with his dominant performance against Kim “Soulkey” Min Chul in the quarters.

Widely feared by many top names in the StarCraft II esports scene for his ability to cause upsets, Larva is not to be ignored – even though he lost badly to Kim “ZerO” Myung Woon on Monday. Larva is also known for his all-in playstyle, which can be tough to combat and could earn him win if he can overcome Flash’s midgames.

Elisa Invitational Fall 2020

GODSENT are 5-5 in their last 10 games, which is not too bad considering they faced the likes of BIG (1-2) and FaZe Clan (2-1) at DreamHack Open Fall 2020. Lyngby Vikings are 9-1 in their last 10, which looks far better on paper, but they have played only in third-tier tournaments.

Lyngby hold a marginally better win rate on two maps, but those stats are also skewed by the quality of their opposition. This looks like an easy 2-0 for GODSENT, who should not drop more than 10 rounds no matter the map pick.

Dignitas made a couple of promising roster changes last week when they acquired Haris “H4RR3” Had?i? and Ludvig “HEAP” Alonso as replacements for Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and Richard “Xizt” Landstr?m. There are, however, some concerns as to whether Dignitas will manage to showcase their full potential on Tuesday given they’ve been inactive since early September.

Unlike Dignitas, HAVU have been very busy throughout October, although they’ve not impressed. Their last three games resulted in losses to Gambit (1-2), forZe (1-2) and AGF Esports (1-2), so the form is terrible. Unless they find a way to improve, they will likely struggle even against the ring-rusty Dignitas.

Show Your Valor

CR4ZY are the outright favourites for the title after finishing the group stage with an impressive 6-1 record and +33 map differential. Euphoria couldn’t match that form, dragging their way into the knockout rounds with a 3-4 record and 73-81 differential.

CR4ZY’s only loss of the competition came against Team Toxic, and that looked more like a fluke than anything else. CR4ZY have kept their opponents to eight or fewer rounds in four of their wins, including their 13-5 triumph over euphoria last Tuesday.

Euphoria had a couple of solid showings in the group stage, but nothing that would convince us they can cause any problems to CR4ZY. Expect a clean 2-0 win from the favourites.

The esports betting odds slightly favour MUTED, who defeated Team Toxic (13-11) last weekend and finished the group stage one win ahead of their regional rivals. Despite MUTED’s success that day, the betting odds should be much closer than what they are.

Toxic are 2-1 in their last three games, including a 6-13 loss to Marten. MUTED have won three in a row, with two narrow comeback wins against Kum Gaming (13-10) and Marten (13-8).

There is not a lot to set these two teams apart, so it makes much more sense to side with the underdogs for a chance at a bigger payout.

AfreecaTV Starleague Season 10

Kim “ZerO” Myung Woon is still regarded as one of the best StarCraft II esports players in the world, but he is not nearly as good as he once was. Still, he topped his group with a 2-0 record, which indicates he is a threat for the title.

Doh “BeSt” Jae Wook has produced fairly volatile results in recent weeks and dropped a game against Lee “Light” Jae Ho in the group stage. That, however, does not necessarily mean he should be written off for this match.

ZerO should be priced as a slight favourite, but there is no reason for such a massive price gap. We will gladly take our chances with BeSt to repeat his success from September and defeat ZerO once more.

The two StarCraft stars are playing for the right to face the winner of Flash v Snow in the second semi final bracket.

Our Starcraft expert Zak takes a look at how the match will pan out.

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Mini V Larva

Protoss v Zerg

Maps:
Third World
Gladiator
Sparkle
Transistor
Third World

Mini vs Larva is going to be a good match, but the smart money is on Larva.

Larva is widely considered the second-best zerg in all of Broodwar, next to Jaedong (who Larva beat handily in their last match).

Larva is a much more accomplished player than Mini, as Larva finished fourth in the last ASL, getting eliminated by Bisu and also came second in the WEGL StarCraft Remastered Super Fight, where he was eliminated by Soulkey. He also won the DanJJING Star League Season 2 this year.

Mini for his part was taking part in Korea’s compulsory military service for the last two years and didn’t have very much tournament success before that. Mini winning this match would be a real upset.

Betting prediction:Larva to win, paying $1.44 at GG Bet.

The two StarCraft II stars are playing for the right to meet Rain in the first semi final, who advanced through with a win over Shuttle on Sunday.

Our SCII expert Zak takes a look at how the match will pan out.

ALSO READ: FREE ESPORTS TIPS
WATCH SC: HOW TO STREAM STARCRAFT
HOW TO BET: STARCRAFT BETTING STRATEGY

Mind v Hero predictions and analysis

Mind versus Hero will pit a Terran and a Zerg against each other over five maps.

Maps:
Third World
Transistor
Sparkle
Gladiator
Third World

With both players fairly evenly matched in the odds, this is simply a question of who is going to win, and the answer to that question is Hero.

Hero has been much more present in the Broodwar scene as of late, and is in general a great reactionary Zerg who is capable of handling any of the surprises his terran opponents throw at him.

If you look at the map pool that they are going to be playing on, a few of the maps are Zerg favoured, such as Sparkle and Transistor.

Mind has also been performing pretty weakly on Sparkle to date in TvZ.?

Overall this should be a decently close match but there is definitely good value in betting on Hero.

Best bet: Hero to win, paying $2.00 at GG Bet

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Action vs Sharp

March 25, 2018 – 19:00 KST
Zerg vs Terran
Map: Sparkle

Action is a solid buy here at 1.83 because Sparkle is a great map for zvt; the extra early gas really enables the zerg to tech up quickly. Couple this fact with the reality that Action is just a generally stronger player and you will see that he is a much larger favorite than the odds are making him out to be.

Best bet: Action to win $1.83 with GG Bet

Soulkey vs Mini

March 25, 2018 – 19:00 KST
Zerg vs Protoss
Map: Sparkle

Soulkey vs Mini also on Sparkle, while Soulkey is slightly favoured here Mini is a great buy at 2.75. Sparkle is just not a great map for Zerg vs Protoss and the odds-makers are definitely overestimating Soulkey’s chances.

Best bet: Mini to win $2.75 with GG Bet