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.

FLASHPOINT Season 2

Despite Gen.G’s convincing win against Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and co. last Thursday, they enter the rematch as heavy underdogs. OG’s performance in their first match was an aberration, and they should put up much more resistance this time out.

OG are the stronger team overall and should claim a revenge win, but we wouldn’t count on a clean sweep. Expect Gen.G to steal at least one map and force the series to three.

Intel Extreme Masters XV Beijing Online: Europe

We can’t quite agree with the esports betting odds offered on this match, since there is no reason for Complexity to be priced as the favourites. BIG have played 10 maps against Complexity since May and won seven, including all of the last six and a 2-0 sweep three weeks ago.

Even though BIG have not produced any outstanding results this month, neither have Complexity. While Jamie “keita” Hall’s team defeated Natus Vincere (2-1) and Fnatic (2-0), we wouldn’t rank those wins too highly since both teams are in bad shape.

Intel Extreme Masters XV Beijing Online: Oceania

Since the esports scene transitioned to online play, most Counter-Strike: Global Offensive clashes in the Oceania region have became complete coin-flips. However, we don’t feel like this match will follow that rule. That is not necessarily because Avant Gaming are a bad team, but rather because Renegades are much stronger than any other team in the region.

Renegades enter this match with a phenomenal 48-6 record in 2020 and a 16-game winning streak that includes a 3-0 head-to-head record and 7-1 map differential against Avant. We should still give Avant some praise for their 8-2 run across the last month, but they’re simply not at the level of Renegades.

EPIC League Division 1

Team Secret have split their two games this tournament with a narrow win against mudgolems (2-1) and a loss against Vikin.gg (0-2). Team Liquid have not impressed either, losing to Natus Vincere (1-2), Vikin.gg (1-2) and Just Error (0-2).

Secret and Liquid are both in questionable form, which suggests this game can go either way. While Secret seem like the most likely victors given they have won eight out of 11 meetings with Liquid this year, Jacky “Stewie2k” Yip and co. completed a clean sweep in their most recent clash at ESL One Germany. On that basis, we like the outsiders to pinch a map at the very least.

National Electronic Sports Tournament 2020

Both teams field a mix of main roster and academy players, which will result in a couple of mismatches in the mid lane and jungle. Royal Never Give Up enter this match with Li “XLB” Xiao-Long and Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao, who should have a fairly easy time against FunPlus Phoenix’s academy jungler Liao “Youxin” Zhi-Hui and academy mid laner Ye “Insulator” Zhi-Wei.

Even though FPX’s academy players have performed well so far, they will struggle to compete with RNG’s starters. Furthermore, the current meta prefers a strong mid-jungle synergy over anything else, so it’s very difficult to side against the favourites.

Intel Extreme Masters XV Beijing Online: Asia

The esports betting odds heavily favour ViCi Gaming for this bout, which is reasonable given that they have beaten Invictus Gaming in each of their last six meetings.

Neither of these teams have played an official match in over a month, and that might give IG a chance to make something happen. They hold a comparable win rate on Inferno (56% – 60%) and are not too shabby on Mirage (43% – 60%) and Train (50% – 58%) either.

National Electronic Sports Tournament 2020

LGD Gaming decided to field their full academy roster for the National Electronic Sports Tournament 2020. Oh My God, meanwhile, chose to bring in three academy players, which gives them an option to mix players from the main and academy rosters.

LGD’s and OMG’s academy squads met once in the League of Legends Development League (LDL) Summer, where Oh My Dream forced a three-map series (1-2). Since they will now have Yang “H4cker” Zhi-Hao in the jungle and possibly Xie “icon” Tian-Yu in the mid lane, OMG look an appealing bet at $2.62.

EPIC League Division 1

The newly formed Just Error feature some of the biggest names in the Dota2 esports scene, including Syed “Sumail” Hassan, Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanov, Alexey “Solo” Berezin, Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko and Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev. So far they have played only one game, winning 3-1 against Yellow Submarine.

Even though Natus Vincere deserve some praise for their performance against Team Liquid on Thursday, the quality gap makes us lean more towards Just Error for this one. Unlike other new teams, Just Error don’t need to worry about their synergy considering that Solo, No[o]ne, Zayac and RAMZES666 all previously played together at Virtus.pro. If they can show even half of what they did against Yellow Submarine, Sumail and co. should win with ease.

Team Secret lost two out of their last three bouts, going down to mudgolems and Team Liquid at the ESL One Germany, but they’re still 17-2 since August.

Vikin.gg made quite a statement with their perfect run through DOTA Summit 13 Online: Europe & CIS, where they humiliated Team Liquid (3-1) in the grand finals.

Vikin.gg have looked quite strong of late, but we have to consider they are 1-5 against Secret in 2020, which includes four consecutive 0-2 losses since May. Despite their two recent defeats, Team Secret are still a great pick to win 2-0.

Team Nigma are 2-3 in their last five, which is far from perfect, but they deserve some praise for two three-map series (1-2) against Team Liquid and Team Secret.

Similarly, mudgomems’ form is not phenomenal, but they’re still 7-3 across the last two weeks. That run includes wins over Secret (2-0), Liquid (2-1), NaVi (2-0) and Nigma, who they swept a month ago during ESL One Germany.

We would be fine seeing Nigma priced as the favourites, but the odds offered on mudgolems make no sense. Not only have they beaten Nigma before, but mudgolems also humiliated Liquid and Secret, so there is no reason to believe they can’t defeat Nigma again.

Intel Extreme Masters XV Beijing Online: Europe

These two will clash on Friday for the first time since June, when ENCE defeated Astralis 16-13 in the group stage of the BLAST Premier Spring 2020 European Showdown. A month prior, ENCE also forced Astralis to a three-map series (1-2) during the ESL One Road to Rio, which would suggest the Finns do well against their Scandinavian neighbours.

Astralis now field their old roster, which makes them much stronger, but their recent showings have not been too convincing. Astralis dropped maps against G2 Esports (2-1) and MiBR (2-1) and managed only 24 rounds in their 0-2 loss to G2 last week.

ENCE shouldn’t upset Astralis, but unless the Danes improve upon their showings from last week, we don’t see why ENCE can’t win at least one map.

There is not a lot to set these teams apart given that they have split their last two meetings, but BIG have been playing better of late. While they lost the final round of BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Regular Season against Vitality (1-2), it’s hard to look past BIG’s triumphs over FaZe Clan (2-1), Complexity Gaming (2-0) and MiBR (2-1).

Mousesports are 2-3 in their last five, which includes a three-game losing streak. What’s more, the European mix have not played an official match since mid-October, when they crashed out of DreamHack Open Fall 2020.

Given their lack of playtime, we don’t expect mouz to impress. Nevertheless, they beat BIG 2-0 last month and look solid enough for us to believe they can make this match close.

Intel Extreme Masters XV Beijing Online: Oceania

Avant are coming off a commanding 3-1 win over Chiefs ESC in the LPL Pro League Season 3 grand finals and will now chase their third title of the month. Meanwhile, ORDER have not won a single piece of silverware since September, when they swept Rooster in the ESEA Season 34 Premier Division: Australia final, while they played mostly semi-pro teams throughout October.

It makes no sense that Avant are priced as the underdogs in this matchup, especially if we consider that ORDER lost to them only last Wednesday. It would be foolish to pass on the generous odds offered on Avant.

National Electronic Sports Tournament 2020

Suning made quite a statement with their 2-1 win over Bilibili Gaming on Wednesday. While their performance was far from perfect, the young squad showed a lot of confidence – especially Zou “Assum” Wei, who decided to pick Draven in games one and three.

Rogue Warriors looked far more convincing in their 2-0 win over Bilibili, but they did not show anything that would lead us to believe they should be priced at $1.60. If Suning show the same fire they did against Bilibili, they should win at least one map.

EPIC League Division 1

We can’t deny Team Liquid are a very solid team, which they proved by winning ESL One Germany 2020. At the same time, it is silly to have Vikin.gg priced at such high odds.

Vikin.gg are 6-4 in their last 10 matches, which is not too exciting, but they enter this one on a three-game winning streak. That includes wins against Live to Win, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team Liquid, who they crushed 3-1 in the DOTA Summit 13 Online: Europe & CIS finals on Sunday.

Even though Liquid are in great form and should win this match more times than not, the $2.48 offered on Vikin.gg is way too high. Anything above $2.20 is worth a bet.

FLASHPOINT Season 2

?Cloud9’s new CS:GO roster will make its debut on Thursday against the prominent CIS esports organisation Virtus.pro. Even though C9’s project looks quite promising, it’s hard to expect any impressive results until the squad finds the needed synergy.

On the other end of the spectrum we have VP’s core of former AVANGAR members who have been playing together for over three years. What’s more, VP are in great form. Even though they recently lost to K23 (0-2) and Gambit (1-2), they went 21-0 throughout October.

VP are not the same team that terrorised the competitive scene in the early years of CS:GO esports, but they are showing good form and should do well against C9.

?Gen.G are not in a good spot ahead of this bout, which is clearly reflected in the esports betting odds. Not only did they lose Sam “s0m” Oh to VALORANT in October, Gen.G have also been inactive since late September.

Gen.G’s lack of playtime alone is a massive factor that makes us like OG more. Even though Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and co. are still a bit inconsistent, we don’t see how they can lose this bout. Anything less than a 2-0 win for OG seems unlikely.

Intel Extreme Masters XV Beijing Online: Europe

?There is a reason why Heroic are the no.2 team in the world and North are only 23rd in the global rankings. While the online format might have something to do with Heroic’s success, that only makes them more dangerous at this year’s IEM Beijing event.

Even though Heroic lost to GODSENT (0-2) and Apeks (16-19) at Elisa Invitational Fall 2020, they are still the reigning DreamHack Open Fall 2020 champions. They defeated North 2-0 in that event, and we expect another sweep for Heroic here.

?G2 Esports have become deadly since they signed Nikola “NiKo” Kova? from FaZe Clan, which is something FURIA (2-0), MiBR (2-1) and Astralis (2-0) can all attest to.

Ninjas in Pyjamas, meanwhile, have not changed much in the past few months. Tim “nawwk” Jonasson returned to the active roster last month but has failed to lead NiP to any outstanding results, although they are still showing a lot of promise.

G2 should take this match, but it’s hard to imagine they will manage a 2-0 sweep. NiP are well coached and solid enough to make G2 work hard for the win.

National Electronic Sports Tournament 2020

?Like many other League of Legends esports teams from China, IG decided to give some of their academy players a chance to prove their worth at NEST 2020, which explains the gap in the betting odds. Royal Never Give Up, meanwhile, decided to enter NEST 2020 with their entire roster, although it remains to be seen which players will be shown a green light for the Thursday match.

On paper, RNG look stronger largely because IG are fielding four academy players, but we don’t see a reason to bet on RNG at $1.62. They have struggled throughout most of this season, and until we see some improvement, we will continue to believe IG can force a three-map series.

China Dota2 Pro Cup Season 2 Qualifier

Sparking Arrow Gaming beat Aster.Aries in a pair of clean sweeps just over two weeks ago during the CDA-FDC Pro Championship qualifiers. With those results, SAG extended their head-to-head record to a perfect 5-0 with a 10-0 map differential.

The Dota 2 betting odds suggest SAG are a much stronger side, and we can’t argue with that. Even though they’re not nearly as strong as they were before the exodus of their key players from July to September, SAG are still a class above an Aster.Aries outfit who only perform well against weaker teams.

Team MagMa and iG.Vitality have met only twice before. The first clash happened at the start of October, when iG.V celebrated a 2-0 victory, while the second bout two weeks later saw MagMa reverse sweep iG.V to win 2-1.

MagMa enter this bout without a single W in their last six (0-2-4) and only one win in their last nine games. IG.Vitality are in a similar position with only one win in the last seven, but they have also not played an official match in over two weeks.

Both teams are struggling with their form, which suggests this game can go either way. There is some value in backing Team MagMa, but we will play it safe and go for overs.

CDEC Gaming have met with Team Sirius six times in their history and won all but one fixture. But that strong head-to-head record does not hold much weight for our prediction, largely because CDEC are not the same team they once were.

Once regarded as one of the strongest Chinese Dota2 teams, CDEC are now only a shadow of their former selves – and even that is an understatement. They lost all five of their key players in September and now field a bunch of unknowns who have lost to DeMonster, Matador and other semi-professional teams.

CDEC’s lack of success makes it hard to believe they can win here. There is a world where Sirius produce a clean sweep, but we won’t push our luck.

National Electronic Sports Tournament 2020

It may be shocking to see the 2020 LoL World Championship finalists priced as underdogs against Bilibili Gaming, but Suning have entered NEST 2020 with their secondary lineup rather than the five-man roster that made such a big splash on the international stage.

While it’s hard to say how well Suning’s substitutes will perform, it’s also difficult to justify the large gap in the LoL betting odds. Bilibili Gaming were one of the worst teams in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2020 Summer season, while they lost to Rogue Warriors 0-2 on Monday.

Bilibili might still come out victorious, but after their shaky performance against RW, we don’t see how they will manage a clean sweep.

FunPlus Phoenix have not impressed in the 2020 season, but they’re still a very strong team who have had to make do with an unfavourable meta. Meanwhile, eStar had a breakthrough split in the LPL 2020 Spring when they finished fifth, but they severely underperformed in the LPL 2020 Summer as they fell to 16th place with a 3-13 record.

FPX are firm favourites for good reason, but the odds could be even shorter. People tend to forget just how stacked FPX’s roster is and rather focus on eStar’s one-off run in the spring.