Intel Extreme Masters XV Beijing Online: North America

?Since their 0-2 loss against Evil Geniuses at ESL Pro League Season 12: North America in September, Chaos Esports Club have enjoyed a solid 7-2 run which includes wins against Cloud9 (2-0), FURIA (2-1) and 100 Thieves (2-0). During that time, Evil Geniuses have put together only nine wins in 15 games, failing to beat any top-tier team since they took down Team Liquid in the final match of the ESL Pro League group stage.

Despite EG’s lack of consistency, they should still win this match since they usually do well against Chaos. But unless they step up their game, we don’t see how Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and co. will manage a clean sweep.

National Electronic Sports Tournament 2020

?After topping their group ahead of Royal Never Give Up and Invictus Gaming, Vici Gaming enter the quarter-finals as heavy favourites to stop Suning from repeating their success from 2018 and reaching a top-four finish at NEST.

Vici’s success this tournament hardly means anything in the greater picture given that they are – unlike most other teams – fielding almost a complete starting roster. However, that does not take away from the fact that they’re one of the favourites to hoist the trophy on Sunday.

CDA-FDC Professional Championship Season 2

?Sparking Arrow Gaming have clashed with iG.Vitality five times in 2020 and won on each occasion, dropping only two maps out of 13. Both of the last two series – including their most recent clash last Thursday – went the distance, which suggests the gap is slowly closing.

Since their 2-1 win against iG.V last week, SAG have won only three out of nine matches. They enter this clash on a six-game losing streak, although each of those losses came against some of the strongest teams in the region.

Due to SAG’s poor form, there is a chance iG.Vitality will steal a map, but there is more value in taking the favourites the cover the -1.5 handicap.

China Dota2 Pro Cup Season 2

?Vici Gaming are in a very good position to win this match. Not only have they won all of their last four outings at the tournament, but they are also 10-3 up in head-to-head matches with RNG in 2020.

Vici have defeated RNG in all of their last six meetings, with a near-perfect 12-1 map differential. Even though most of those games took place over a month ago, Vici proved on Wednesday they’re still the better team when they swept RNG 2-0 at the CDA-FDC Pro Championship, so there is no reason to believe they can’t sweep their regional rivals again.

?Elephant enter this match with a 3-2 record which includes losses against Vici Gaming (1-2) and EHOME (0-2), and wins against Team Aster (2-1), Sparking Arrow Gaming (2-0) and Invictus Gaming (1-2). PSG.LGD, meanwhile, took down Royal Never Give Up (2-1), EHOME (2-0) and Invictus Gaming (2-0), to which they added two losses against Vici (1-2) and Team Aster (0-2).

Both sides have produced volatile results this tournament, so it’s hard to say what to expect on Saturday. PSG.LGD are still the better team, but after seeing them lose to Aster, we find the over 2.5 maps a far safer bet than the -1.5 handicap.

WardiTV Invitational 11

Park “Armani” Jin Hyuk and Cho “Trap” Sung Ho will clash in the opening match of Group D at the WardiTV Invitational 11. It will mark their first clash since The Falling Leaves Invitational, where Trap won two series with 2-1 and 2-0.

Historically, Armani does well against Trap (45.83% win rate), but he has lost all of the last five meetings with his compatriot. Trap is also in great form and holds a 56.8% Protoss vs Zerg record, which makes him a good value bet despite the shorter odds.

Like the opening WardiTV Invitational 11 Group D fixture, this one seems very one-sided, although there are some arguments to be made in favour of Li “TIME” Peinan. The last meeting between he and Lee “INnoVation” Shin Hyung was last week, when TIME swept the Korean SCII superstar to take his head-to-head advantage in 2020 to 5-3.

INnoVation is still a great player, but he has not been too sharp of late and has managed a rather poor 2-4 record this month. Anything above $2.60 on TIME is a good bet and can be paired with an outright bet on Trap for an accumulator which pays out at around $3.30.

EPIC League Division 2

Live to Win have not played a single match since their loss to Yellow Submarine during the EPIC League qualifiers, whereas Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek and co. have played three games and won only one. Last week Yellow Submarine lost against mudgolems (1-3) and Just Error (1-3), to which they added a convincing 2-0 win against Cyberium on Saturday.

Even though LtW recently lost to Yellow Submarine, they have previously beaten 5men, Winstrike, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Tempo Esports, which is enough for us to believe they can steal at least one map.

Winstrike Team enter this bout with a 3-2 record which includes losses to Yellow Submarine and Live to Win as well as a 2-1 win against Nemiga Gaming. Ninjas in Pyjamas are 2-3 in their last five, with losses against the same two teams and a 2-0 win against Nemiga.

Even though the teams have shown similar form, the esports bookmakers are pricing NiP at only $1.19, which makes no sense. That is not to say Winstrike are guaranteed to win, but unless NiP step up their game, the underdogs should win at least one map.

CDA-FDC Professional Championship S2

Invictus Gaming are in terrible shape and lost to PSG.LGD three weeks ago during the first season of the CDA-FDC Professional Championship. They have since failed to produce anything noteworthy besides their three-map loss to Elephant.4AM.

PSG.LGD hold a near-perfect 9-1 record since early October. They have bested some of the strongest Chinese Dota2 teams in that run, defeating the likes of 4AM, EHOME and Royal Never Give Up this month alone.

The odds offered on PSG.LGD are fairly low, but we expected them to be even shorter. Some Dota 2 betting sites are offering as much as $2.09 on PSG.LGD to win 2-0, which is way over the odds considering they swept IG in each of their last two meetings.

Perfect World Dota2 League – Division A

Team MagMa recently attended the CDA-FDC Professional Championship, where they lost their group stage matches against Royal Never Give Up (1-2), EHOME (0-2) and Elephant.4AM (0-2) to finish in last place. With those losses, MagMa have gone 4-2-4 across the last two weeks.

Galaxy Racer have put together a similar 4-3-3 record across the last 14 days. Their most notable results include a stalemate with BOOM Esports and a 2-0 sweep of Adroit this Wednesday.

MagMa last met with Galaxy Racer four days ago during the Moon Studio Mid-Autumn League, where they won 2-1. The match was very close for the most part and seemed like it could easily end in Galaxy Racer’s favour, so there is value in siding with the outsiders to avenge their loss on Friday.

DOTA Summit Online 13 Americas

Despite their relative success against Plasma1337x (2-0) and Thunder Predator (1-1), Team Brasil struggled to show up against catJAMMERS (0-2) and Infamous (0-2). Spirits Esports have looked even worse, dropping all but one of their games.

These teams have never met before, but we don’t need the head-to-head record to know which of the two is the most likely victor. Brasil might not be a top-tier team, but they have at least put together a few solid showings, whereas Spirits are without a win in their last seven games.

Team Zero and Infamous share the same 2-1-1 record in this tournament. Infamous looked decent in their win over the current frontrunners, catJAMMERS, but we should not underestimate Team Zero’s win over beastcoast or their stalemate against 4Zoomers.

What catches our attention here is the surprisingly long odds on Team Zero. While their results are far from perfect, they field a stacked roster with former Cloud9, business associates and Geek Fam players including Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao and Braxton “Brax” Paulson.

We might see a draw, but at $4.02, we will gladly take our chances with EternaLEnVy and his crew.

CDA-FDC Professional Championship

Out of 15 head-to-head bouts with Royal Never Give Up this year, PSG.LGD have won 10 series and 31 games (31-18). That record includes victories in each of the last four meetings, where they put together an impressive 8-2 map differential.

Although RNG and PSG.LGD usually produce close fixtures, we don’t believe that will be the case here. Not only have PSG.LGD been playing much better Dota 2 of late, but RNG also looked very shaky in the group stage with their loss to EHOME (0-2) and their narrow win over MagMa (2-1).

There is a world where RNG impress and steal one map off PSG.LGD, but they have not shown enough in this competition to suggest they can cover the map line in this one.

ESEA Season 35 Premier Division NA

Russian Canadians are 2-3 in their last five games. That record includes wins against ImPerium (22-20) and ex-Polar Ace (16-1), as well as three losses against Depth (13-16), Springroll (8-16) and Third Impact (21-25).

Rebirth Esports have shown similar form with losses to Rugratz (12-16), Mythic (14-16) and New England Whalers (7-16), and two wins against Morning Light (2-0) and ImPerium (16-11).

Picking a winner is difficult since these low-tier NA CS:GO teams usually make plenty of mistakes and drop rounds they should win. This, combined with the fact that both Russian Canadians and Rebirth played over 25 rounds in 60% out of their last five series, makes the overs on total rounds very appealing.

CDA-FDC Professional Championship

Invictus Gaming find themselves in a downwards spiral which seems to have no end. The only two teams IG managed to defeat in their last 10 fixtures were Phoenix and Sparking Arrow Gaming, while they severely underperformed even against some weaker sides – including Team Aster (0-2).

While it would be hard to say Aster are comparable to the likes of PSG.LGD, ViCi Gaming and other Chinese Dota2 juggernauts, Jiang “天命” An and co. are playing some solid Dota. Aster went 6-4 in their last 10 and forced ViCi to three maps (1-2) en route to the OGA Dota PIT bronze medal, which suggests they are more than capable of defeating the struggling IG again.

ESL One Germany

Natus Vincere ended the group stage with a slightly disappointing 3-2 record. While they defeated Cyber Legacy (2-0), Winstrike (2-0) and Yellow Submarine (2-1), they underperformed against Team Liquid (1-2) and mudgolems (0-2).

OG came out of the group stage with a slightly better 3-1 record. Their only loss came against Alliance (1-2), but that does not take away from their 2-0 sweeps of Winstrike Team, Vikin.gg and Yellow Submarine.

OG are not nearly as strong as they were in 2018-2019. NaVi have already bested them twice this year, so we could be in for another close match. A bet on NaVi to win 2-1 is worth considering, but over 2.5 maps is the safer bet.

Team Secret are priced as massive favourites over Team Nigma for the opening round of the ESL One Germany playoffs. That is no shock considering how dominant Secret have been not only throughout the group stage (3-0) but for a good portion of 2020.

To put Secret’s supremacy into a perspective, they have not lost a single match since June and have dropped only nine series out of 86 played since the turn of the year. However, three out of those nine losses came against Team Nigma.

Although Nigma have an extremely talented roster, their lack of consistency makes it hard to trust them as a longshot bet. Still, the odds on the +1.5 handicap are high enough for us to take a punt.

Prime League Pro Division 2020 Grand Final

Team GamerLegion have been performing extremely well this tournament. That especially holds true for their top laner, Christian “Phones” Sieg, who is averaging the third-highest KDA (8.8) in the competition.

However, those efforts are overshadowed by the performances of the mousesports players, who occupy five of the top six spots in the KDA standings. Top of the pops is their support, Hampus Mikael “promisq” Abrahamsson, with an absurdly high 28.0 KDA.

GamerLegion have beaten mousesports before, but that does not convince us they can do it again. Mouz’s individual quality seems to be far above any other team at the tournament, so we are confident they can seal this series with at least two maps to spare.

Moon Studio Mid-Autumn League

Galaxy Racer made it through the Southeast Asian group without dropping a single match, although they also drew four (4-4-0), so their run was far from perfect. DeMonster saw similar success (4-4-1) in the Chinese group, with their lone loss coming from their bout with Team Sirius.

Even though DeMonster are a stack of amateur players, they should not be underestimated. They played stalemates with MagMa and LBZS – who caused serious damage to some of the best Chinese Dota 2 teams last month – so they are not a bad team and should be more than capable of defeating Galaxy Racer.

Neon Esports completed the group stage with a 3-5-0 record, but they managed to pick up a stalemate against the reigning BTS Pro Series Southeast Asia champions, Motivate.Trust Gaming. Team Sirius ended the group stage at 4-5-0, although they picked up two forfeit wins, so they really only beat MagMa and DeMonster.

These teams have met only once before – back in October 2019 – when Neon swept Sirius 2-0 during Hainan Master Cup qualifying. Neon were the stronger team back then, and it seems like that hasn’t changed. We are happy with the head-to-head price, but the -1.5 handicap on the favourites is worth a shot as well.

CDA-FDC Professional Championship

Elephant.4AM (Four Angry Men) are a newly formed team comprised of some of the biggest names in the Chinese Dota2 scene, including ex-PSG.LGD players Lu “Somnus丶M” Yao and Xu “fy” Linsen, former ViCi Gaming members in Zhou “Yang” Haiyang and Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun (aka Paparazi), and ex-Sparking Arrow Gaming support Ru “RedPanda” Zhihao.

That is a stacked roster, so it’s fair that 4AM are heavy favourites over the struggling Royal Never Give Up. However, we feel like esports bookmakers have gone a bit loose by pricing RNG at $3.50. There is huge value in siding with the underdogs here, even at the +1.5 handicap.

Nine to Five #5

Since the start of September, Hard Legion have parted ways with Erik “AKIMOV” Akimov, placed Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko on the transfer list and promoted Dmitry “rAge” Bolotov to assistant coach. Only Sergey “starix” Ischuk and Anton “DrobnY” Drobny have come in as replacements, meaning head coach Sergey “starix” Ischuk is likely to fill in for this game.

KOVA’s only recent roster change came in August when they benched Nikita “Derkeps” Sirmitev in favour of Nikita “Derkeps” Sirmitev. Since then, the Finnish squad have produced mediocre results. They’re 3-2 in their last five, including a 1-2 loss to HAVU and 1-3 to SJ Gaming.

Since HardLegion enter this match with an incomplete roster, it’s hard to trust them. HL have also recorded very shaky results this month, including two losses to Illuminar Gaming (5-16 and 13-16).

Although Lilmix have won five matches in a row, their only notable result in that run came against Giants Gaming (16-2) last Friday. While LDLC mostly play weaker, semi-amateur teams, Lambert “Lambert” Prigent and co. recently beat Movistar Riders (16-10) and before that demolished S-Gaming (16-9) and Wisla Krakow (16-4).

LDLC and Lilmix last met on October 10 at ESEA Season 35 Advanced Division Europe, where the French squad bounced back from a 6-9 deficit after the first half to secure a 16-14 win. Considering their last meeting was fairly open, we can expect another close affair with all three maps played.