Betting-Previews.com brings you Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting previews for the opening four games of ESEA Season 37: Premier Division Upper Division Quarter-finals. The games will be played on Tuesday, June 22, all kicking off at 19:00 CEST.
LDLC vs AGO
Tuesday, June 22 – 19:00 CEST
Team LDLC have played out eight matches at ESEA Season 37: Premier Division – Europe. During that stretch, the French lost against Wisla Krakow and forZe and won against SAW, Nemiga, Aa, Apeks, and BLINK. A decent record, but nothing special.
At the end of May, LDLC won the ESL National Championship Global Playoffs Spring 2021 with three victories over Movistar Riders, Endpoint, and Sprout. With those results, LDLC hold a 60% win rate across the last three months.
AGO enter this match after a disappointing 1-2 defeat against 1WIN, an amateur team that consists mostly of Russian no-names. Prior to that, they were on a four-match winning streak with wins against Anonymo, Sprout, Sangal, and Izako Boars.
AGO have a similar record in the ESEA as LDLC, with two defeats and six wins. They won 57.5% of their fixtures across the last three months.
The last time these two teams met was back in February during the previous season of ESEA Premier. LDLC ended up winning, but it was an incredibly close match that could have gone either way. LDLC took the opening map 16-13 on Vertigo, AGO struck back with 16-14 on Nuke, and LDLC closed the series with a 16-14 win on Dust2.
There were no significant roster changes on either roster since their last meeting match. But it is worth noting that AGO have added a sixth man to their lineup; Eryk ‘leman’ Kocęba, who has since almost entirely replaced Paweł ‘reatz’ Jańczak on the starting roster.
AGO are priced as favorites for this match (around 1.60 at Pinnacle), which definitely overrates them a little. There is no clear gap between these two teams, and considering this is already an upper bracket quarter-final match, both sides should be at their best.
Value bet on LDLC! If you can, take the apparent value at Bet365!
Prediction: LDLC to win, 2.62 at Bet365 (2.25 at Pinnacle)
forZe vs GamerLegion
Tuesday, June 22 – 19:00 CEST
ForZe are priced as 1.35 favorites for this match, which is not surprising. They ended the ESEA Season 37: Premier Division – Europe group stage with a perfect 8-0 record and are – apart from BIG – the strongest team at the tournament. It would be quite surprising to see forZe miss out on the finals and a chance for promotion.
GamerLegion are not even close to being viewed as a strong contender to qualify for ESL Pro League, and they probably know that. Furthermore, knowing that they now have to face one of, if not THE best team at the tournament can’t help their morale.
On a more positive note, GamerLegion played OK during the group stage. They won four games against Anonymo, Sprout, AGO, Endpoint and lost only to Sinners and Movistar Riders. They also secured a forfeit win against Izako Board, who had to miss their match due to a scheduling conflict with another event.
ForZe and GamerLegion last met back in March, during the 36th season of ESEA Premier, when forZe secured a clean 2-0 victory. GamerLegion proved to be somewhat competitive that day, keeping the match close on the first map (Train), but hey fell apart in the series decider.
Don’t put too much weight into the said match; while forZe are still the same team, while GL made two roster changes since then.
There is an apparent mismatch in quality here, and forZe should be looking for another clean victory. The only real question is if whether they can do it in two maps.
Considering this is an online match – notorious for unpredictable results – the outcome of the match going under or over 2.50 maps seems like a complete coin toss. That’s why backing the under (2.5 maps) doesn’t present any value for me here, and the high odds on forZe to cover the map handicap at Bet365 looks the best bet. No bet under 2.01!
Prediction: forZe -1.50 Maps – 2.25 at Bet365 (2.09 at Pinnacle)
BLINK vs SINNERS
Tuesday, June 22 – 19:00 CEST
SINNERS have recently won Sazka eLEAGUE Spring 2021, a domestic tournament, where they beat two amateur teams in Enterprise and Entropiq Prague. SINNERS might have won a trophy, but considering the quality of the teams they had to face, it is nothing to write home about.
They even dropped the opening map against Entropiq Prague in the grand finals (13-16 on Nuke), but then they bounced back and managed to win the remaining three maps. The Czech squad ended up winning the bout, but the result was much closer than what was expected from SINNERS, who allowed Entropiq Prague to reach double digits on all three remaining maps.
BLINK started their ESEA Season 37: Premier Division – Europe campaign with a four-game losing streak against BIG, forZe, LDLC, and Nemiga, but I have to say they did reasonably good as they managed to take a map off each opponent and stealing a map of BIG and forZe is not exactly easy for no.65 team in the world.
After a tough losing streak, BLINK bounced back and won the remaining four matches against Apeks, SAW, Aa, and Wisla Krakow. They’re now holding a 50% win rate across the last three months.
BLINK are not exactly a stable team, but they should feel good about reaching the playoffs after starting off the tournament with a 0-4 record. And that should translate to a more confident approach when they face off the favored Czechs.
Given how unpredictable SINNERS can be and the solid form BLINK have been showing of late, this match feels like it can go either way. If the vintage Tomáš ‘oskar’ Šťastný can locate his old mousesports form again, SINNERS should walk away with a W, but if not, we’re likely in for a close match, and with these odds, there’s some value in backing the Albanians.
An upset is not beyond the realms of possibility. Back BLINK to make the SINNERS cry!
Prediction: BLINK to win – 2.37 at Bet365 (2.28 at Pinnacle)
BIG vs Sangal
Tuesday, June 22 – 19:00 CEST
BIG are the best team at the tournament and are way too good to be playing in such competitions. However, that worries me the most, as it’s highly unlikely that a world no.9 team will take these games too seriously. And it’s fair to assume BIG won’t put in as much time to prepare themselves for this bout as they would have had they been facing G2 Esports or Natus Vincere.
There are also rumors suggesting that their star player Ismailcan ‘XANTARES’ Dörtkardeş will be leaving the team after the IEM Cologne 2021, to join Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker in a “Turkish superteam”. Decisions like that suggest that there might be some internal issues in BIG, considering XANTARES is prepared to join another potentially less paying team.
Sangal Esports are nothing special, but these lower-ranked teams usually get hyped when they get to play a proper Tier-1 squad such as BIG. The added motivation should make Sangal far more competitive and considering BIG’s (supposed) internal struggles; the Turks might even cause some serious damage.
Given the quality difference, I would say that BIG take this match, but Sangal definitely can make some noise. This is a big IF, but the offered odds make it worth it for a bet on the series to go the distance.
Prediction: Over 2.50 Maps – 2.81 at Pinnacle
