?Los Angeles Guerrillas won their first bout with Toronto Ultra (3-2) back in February but lost the next two in March (2-3) and April (0-3). Considering the Ultra’s improvement over the last few months and the Guerrillas’ rapid decline, it’s easy to understand why the Canadian side are priced as hot favourites to come out ahead once more.

Bryan “Apathy” Zhelyazkov and co. are 0-3 on the stage with losses to New York Subliners (1-3), Dallas Empire (0-3), and Florida Mutineers (1-3). On the other side, Toronto sport a 2-1 record with a 2-3 loss against the Mutineers and two clean-sweep victories against the shaky Empire and London Royal Ravens.

Although the Guerrillas can be competitive, they aren’t nearly good enough for us to believe they can take down the surging Ultra. The underdogs might steal one map, but there’s an equal chance they end up getting swept, so we have to take the better odds on the favourites covering the map handicap.

?Seattle Surge have yet to find their stride and seem like a strong candidate to finish the year in last place. The Surge have managed only four wins (4-18) this season and a 33% map win rate (28-58). Things haven’t improved during CDL Stage 4 either, seeing how they are 0-3 with a 3-9 map record.

OpTic Chicago players clashed last month due to some internal disagreements, but it seems those sparks reignited the fire within the team. The Green Wall finished in seventh-eighth place at the CDL Stage 3 Major, which marked their best CDL Major placement since Stage 1 – a feat that is that much more impressive if we consider that they had to start their journey from the lower bracket.

OpTic might still be a class below the likes of Atlanta FaZe, but they’re often very effective against weaker teams. That said, Seth “Scump” Abner and his crew are still a bit inconsistent and will likely drop a map on Thursday.