?The only player to end the group stage with a flawless record was the current world champion Joona “Serral” Sotala, who won all seven games without dropping a single map. The 24-year-old carried over the momentum into the first round of the playoffs, where he crushed Julian “Lambo” Brosig (3-0).

Now Serral will face his toughest challenge yet, as he clashes with his nemesis, Riccardo “Reynor” Romiti, who has caused him problems before. The two European SCII superstars had met twice in 2022, first at IEM Katowice, where Serral won 3-2, and most recently during King of Battles 3 at the start of May, when Reynor won 4-0.

Despite his success last time out, Reynor enters this match as a $2.25 underdog, which makes sense considering that Serral has yet to drop a map this tournament. However, that doesn’t mean that he will remain untouched.

Historically, the Serral vs Reynor meetings have been unpredictable, and the two players have often exchanged blows. So even though Serral has looked better this tournament, we don’t like him at the offered price.

Realistically, wagering on Reynor to hand Serral the first tournament defeat isn’t a wrong choice especially knowing that he crushed the Finn just one month ago, and still we’re getting plus money on the Little Caesar.

?Clément “Clem” Desplanches placed second in Group D with two defeats (5-2) against Tobias “ShoWTimE” Sieber (2-1) and Thomas “ShaDoWn” Labrousse (0-2). Likewise, Kevin “Harstem” Koning won five series in Group C, with defeats against Nikita “SKillous” Gurevich (1-2) and Joona “Serral” Sotala (0-2).

Despite their slip-ups in the group stage, Clem and Harstem both played well in the quarter-finals, beating Miko?aj “Elazer” Ogonowski (3-0) and Gabriel Raffaele “HeRoMaRinE” Segat (3-2), respectively. But even though both have been performing well this tournament, you have to favour Clem to come out ahead on Friday.

Not only is he a more accomplished player, but Clem is also 30-15 in the head-to-head with Harstem since they first met in 2017. Moreover, Clem has not lost against the Dutch SCII pro since ESL Open Cup #33 Europe in August 2020, translating to a run of 13 series wins and a 26-1 map record.

You could argue that Harstem is good enough to compete with Clem, but their past head-to-head meetings would suggest otherwise. Clem to win 3-0 pays around $2.20 with the top StarCraft II betting sites – which is a good bet, in our book.

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