Byun “ByuN” Hyun-woo and Kang “Solar” Min-soo will meet for the first time since last Saturday, when ByuN won 3-1, marking his first head-to-head win of the year (1-9). And not only has Solar won all previous nine meetings, but he is also 27-8 up in maps won over that stretch.

The big question for this match is whether ByuN can repeat his success from last week and defeat Solar for the 40th time in his career (39-49). As much as we would like to believe that ByuN can do it, we have a tough time recommending a bet on the 28-year-old at $2.20.

He defeated Solar last weekend, but this was still his first head-to-head victory since December 2021, and you can’t ignore that. One game alone does not change the fact that Solar has dominated this matchup for the entire year. Solar at $1.61 is a no-brainer pick – we would need to see odds much closer to $3.00 to side with ByuN.

Joo “Zest” Sung-wook and Koh “GuMiho” Byung-jae have met just four times in StarCraft II during 2022, most recently in March, when Zest won 2-1. It marked his third head-to-head victory of the year and his second consecutive.

But even though Zest is the more successful player of the two this year (3-1) and across their entire history (33-21), we have to note that Zest’s last three meetings with GuMiho all reached the final map (2-3, 3-2, 2-1). Zest is still the better player, and he has a good record in Terran (62.43% win rate), but we don’t expect him to dominate the match.

Zest with a -1.5 map handicap at $1.89 is appealing, but we’re getting much more value on the over 4.5 total maps. GuMiho played well against Zest in their last two meetings, so it’s hard to doubt his ability to win at least two maps on Saturday.

?More esports betting tips

Joo “Zest” Sung-wook’s never-ending farewell tour continues on Thursday when he enters the semi-finals of 2022 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1, following two close calls against Kim “Classic” Doh-woo (3-2) and Lee “Bunny” Jae-seon (3-2).

For the past few months, Zest’s matches hinged on what version of Zest shows up – going from reaching the finals of IEM Katowice 2021 to getting eliminated from Code-A. Although Zest has been stabilising in recent weeks, it’s fair to feel scared for him for this match.

Cho “Maru” Seong-ju, who has historically struggled against Protoss, has improved his TvP matchup numbers to an impressive 82.14% win rate across the last 28 outings (23-5). However, Maru wasn’t convincing on Monday and had to dig deep to defeat Kim “herO” Joon-ho (3-2).

So while Maru has looked much better this tournament and should win, we have to take a shot with Zest to keep it close and force another five-map series.

Park “Dark” Ryung-woo proved just how efficient he is in Zerg vs Terran matchups on Monday when he swept Byun “ByuN” Hyun-woo and improved his ZvT record to a 75% win rate (48-16). Now, he’s set to clash with a Protoss player in Park “Zoun” Han-sol, for the first time since December, when Dark won 3-1.

It marked Dark’s fourth consecutive win against the 24-year-old, and according to the latest StarCraft II betting odds, the current no.4 in the Korean ESL Pro Tour standings should add another win to his tally. Priced at $1.23, Dark’s implied probability of winning this match is at 81.3%, which seems a bit low, but it’s a fair figure.

Zoun has looked good across the first two tournament rounds, but he’s terrible against Terran (10-15). So even though Zoun has been consistently a clutch player in important games, he is a clear outsider to defeat Dark on Thursday.

Lee “Rogue” Yeol is the main favourite with online betting sites ($3.75) to win DreamHack SCII Masters Last Chance 2022, while Miko?aj “Elazer” Ogonowski is priced as one of the outsiders at $67.00. That alone should paint a clear picture of how this bout should go, and we have no reason to doubt Rogue to justify his tag as the top dog.

The 27-year-old is the highest-rated player on the Korean ESL Pro Tour 2021/22 standings with 2937 points and is the reigning TeamLiquid StarLeague 8 champion. Although he hasn’t impressed anyone with his performance at Alpha X X-mas/NY Tourney (fifth-sixth) a couple of weeks back, Rogue is still one of the top SCII players in the world.

Elazer has achieved some minor success over the last 12 months, but he hasn’t won a single tournament since ESL Open Cup #75 Europe in June, while his best placement in a Premier event was a top-six finish at DH SC2 Masters 2021 Summer: Europe. It’s worth noting that Elazer has yet to lose against Rogue (1-1-0), but their last clash happened way back in 2018, so we wouldn’t put too much weight on the head-to-head record.

This should be a straightforward win for the Korean SCII pro, who should get it done without dropping a map.

The current fifth-highest rated player on the Korean ESL Pro Tour 2021/22 ladder, Joo “Zest” Sung-wook, will clash with China’s no.1, TIME, for the first time since December, when TIME won 1-0. With that, the Chinese SCII esports player claimed his second consecutive head-to-head victory and improved his 2021 record against Zest to 4-10.

Despite his recent success against Zest, we have no problem seeing TIME priced as the underdog for this bout, but we disagree with the offered betting odds. At $3.04, the esports betting sites are giving TIME only a 32.9% chance of winning, which is too low.

TIME showed a lot of quality at the start of the year, when he swept Kim “Classic” Doh-woo at Alpha Pro Series Match 308, further proving how efficient he can be against Protoss (70.69% win rate). Meanwhile, Zest hasn’t been doing too well into Terran of late (61.68%), which is one more reason why we prefer TIME to cause an upset.

LoL Worlds: Will Liquid Dominate Against Legacy?

Team Liquid will be closing day 2 of the League of Legends group stage with a Legacy battle. Team Liquid is one of the strongest in the group and will likely proceed beyond the group stages.

Their opponent, Legacy, is among the many underdogs in the competition. This squad, in particular, will bring a twist of excitement to all the games they play. The odds across all sportsbooks are stacked against them, but they will change as the campaign progresses.

It’s still unlikely that Legacy will defeat Team Liquid, who will look to dominate throughout the group stages.

Asia Esports Betting News

Global StarCraft II League Season 3

We have a doubleheader of StarCraft II this weekend. In what’ll be one of the closest games, Solar and Zest will face off. The two players match up equally. However, our money is on Solar this time around, despite sportsbooks offering evens odds.

Zest is on an inconsistent run and has lost four of his recent games. Solar, on the other hand, is arriving with multiple wins.

Cure will take on DongRaeGu in the other match, where the best esports sportsbooks have him as the favorite to win. DRG hasn’t played for a while, and Cure will be taking advantage of this.

Africa Esports Betting News

VS Gaming Masters: Who Will Face ATK?

In an epic battle, ATK Arena defeated their favorite rivals, Goliath Gaming, in the upper bracket finals. We await the result of the lower bracket between Sinister 5 and DNMK tomorrow, and we’re set for the Grand Finals of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

ATK is, hands down, one of the best teams in South Africa, and their opponent will be in for an intense game on Sunday. Our money is on Sinister 5 progressing, but esports betting sites in South Africa will be backing ATK, as usual.

Europe Esports Betting News

BTS Pro Series: Europe

The Mudgolems and Khan will be kicking off the upper bracket, round one stage for the BTS Pro Series Season three. The two will fight for a spot in the upper bracket final on September 29. The Mudgolems started on with a rough foot, but are now topping the leaderboard with six wins in the bag.

Things haven’t gone so well for Khan, who has drawn four of their games, lost two, and won two. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely they’ll stand a chance against the force that the Mudgolems are bringing, who are the sportsbooks’ favorites.

South America

League of Legends World Championship

Does Brazil’s INTZ have what it takes to defeat SuperMassive on day two? Perhaps they do, however, SuperMassive is arriving at the Worlds with a comfortable winning streak and experience from last year’s competition.

INTZ will also be in competition mode after competing in two battles on day one. They have the potential to gain momentum that’ll propel them forward if they bring their best performance.

Oceania Esports Betting News

ESL Pro League Season 12: Oceania

The Chiefs Esports and Avant Gaming will start the new week with the first of a doubleheader group stage in the CS:GO ESL Pro League. The winner will win a spot in the lower bracket finals. But, what can we expect from their meeting, and what are the bookmakers odds saying?

Both teams are coming from a relatively good win record. However, in their previous encounters, Avant has dominated, for the most part, clearing 2-0 in the last battle. They also placed second in the closed qualifier, which further extends the odds in their favor across sports bookies in Australia.