After going three-for-three with our League of Legends betting tips for Tuesday, ESB returns with the best bets and top odds for Friday’s 2021 LoL Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) semi-final bout between Royal Never Give Up and PSG Talon.

?Royal Never Give Up and PSG Talon will clash in the first semi-final match of the 2021 LoL MSI. It will mark only their third meeting, after splitting the first two best-of-one (Bo1) bouts.

The LoL Pro League (LPL) champions finished the MSI group stage with a perfect record. They weren’t nearly as impressive during the Rumble Stage, however, as they fell to MAD Lions, PSG Talon and Cloud9.

We’re not trying to bash on RNG for dropping those games, but results like that show that the Chinese squad aren’t quite the untouchables that some thought they were. They continue to make mistakes in execution and force their games through the top side.

PSG Talon have already beaten RNG once before, and they might have won both of their Rumble Stage meetings had they not choked on Monday. Despite that, Talon look overall far cleaner and less mistake-prone than RNG. The Hongkongers have proven that they’re a world-class team, and while they might have lost four games in the Rumble Stage, two of those were due to some early-game shenanigans.

Best-of-five (Bo5) bouts are entirely different to one-off encounters. Best-of matches often favour individually stronger teams, but they also heavily punish squads with linear and predictable playstyles. RNG are both of that.

PSG Talon have a realistic chance to win, so it’s hard to pass on the opportunity to back them at $5.66. They’re weaker on paper, but they have proven before that they can go toe-to-toe with anyone. Alternatively, you can back the outsiders with a +1.5 map handicap at $2.97.