The fifth day of the WePlay Academy League kicks off on Friday, July 23, with another set of four games between eight Counter-Strike: Global Offensive academy teams. Here are our betting previews and predictions for four games slated for Friday, July 23.
CS:GO WePlay Academy League Day 5
Out of our four selections for CS:GO WePlay Academy League Day 4, only one hit the mark, with VP.Prodigy playing a tight match against FURIA Academy, who they edged out with 16-14. However, the opening three games haven’t gone as planned, with NAVI Junior, BIG Academy, and Young Ninjas all underdelivering.
Our record on the tournament is now at 11-6, with 6.75 units of profit and 40.9% ROI. If you’re following our WePlay Academy League betting selections, make sure to look around for the best odds!
FURIA Academy vs BIG Academy
Friday, July 23 – 17:00 CEST
FURIA Academy enter this match following a very disappointing loss against VP.Prodigy, where they almost mounted a comeback but eventually fell flat in the final round against VP. Prodigy’s weak buy. Sure, they got blown out of the server in the first half of the game, but their attempted comeback was quite respectable, and to be honest, after a couple of rounds, it seemed like they would even take the W, but VP.Prodigy woke up and closed the series with a little luck.
FURIA Academy are now 2-2 with two wins against Astralis Talent and mouz NXT, and two losses against fnatic Rising and VP.Prodigy, which just shows you the unpredictability of this tournament.
BIG Academy lost their first match yesterday against Fnatic Rising (11-16) on Inferno. Their star player Nico ‘Aqua’ Kembitzky was nowhere to be seen with only 8 frags, 46.6 ADR, and a 0.62 HLTV rating, which was quite different from his stats from the opening three bouts of the tournament.
Anyway, the whole team played poorly, as none of them even came close to reaching the 1.00 HLTV rating line – but I guess that is to be expected when you only win six rounds. It looks like BIG Academy don’t really have a strong map pool, and I am not sure what would be their third-best map if you ban Mirage and Nuke.
I have no idea who will win this game. There is some value on BIG Academy (1.90 at Bet365), and there is also value backing Over 26.50 rounds (1.95 at Unibet), so take your pick! In the end, we are betting on children playing a video game and most of the time, and I expect these games to be close since there is no real quality difference between the teams apart from some top teams having some additional structure.
It isn’t easy to properly analyze the teams, so the best way to bet these matches is to include as many external factors as possible in your decision-making.
Prediction: Over 26.50 Rounds – 1.95 Unibet (0.50 units)
Alternative: BIG to win – 1.90 Bet365 (0.5 units) / BIG +2.50 Rounds – 1.80 Unibet (0.50 units)
Mouz NXT vs NAVI Junior
Friday, July 23 – 18:00 CEST
Mouz NXT will have the »home team« advantage with vetoing here, which they can use to punish NAVI Junior, since the latter are pretty predictable when it comes to vetoing maps – more on that below. However, mouz’s tournament record is not perfect, with losses against BIG Academy and FURIA Academy and wins against Fnatic Rising and Young Ninjas.
Mouz NXT won their last match against Young Ninjas 16-11, where they played good CS, and it looks like they are still the best team at the tournament, despite the BO1 losses.
I don’t know who is doing vetoing for NAVI Junior, but the one thing I know is that he has no idea what he is doing. They picked Mirage against BIG Academy and now Vertigo against Astralis Talent, which is completely unreasonable! NAVI’s map pool is fragile, they are constantly removing Nuke, Overpass, and Inferno, and this will be targeted by the other teams, no matter who has the »home team advantage«.
This NAVI Junior team feels like just the main Natus Vincere roster; they can win against anyone, but you never know which version of the team will you get. They have looked both fantastic and shaky at times, and I have no idea where this team will finish at the end.
Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov is clearly an asset, and he was once again the best player on the server against Astralis Talent with 21 frags, 91.2 ADR, and 1.43 HLTV rating, but sadly his teammates managed nowhere near his stats. Losing against one of the worst teams at the tournament 8-16 is not acceptable.
The bookmakers are expecting a fairly comfortable victory for mouz NXT, which is not out of the question considering what we saw yesterday; however, these are all young players, and to expect consistency out of them, you would have to be mad.
At 2.70, NAVI Junior are a must bet, but you could look for some security of 3.50 rounds if you wish to. The best value bet is over at Uniber for the over 26.50 rounds option.
Prediction: Over 26.50 Rounds – 1.95 Unibet (0.50 units)
Alternative: NAVI Junior +3.50 Rounds – 1.95 Unibet (0.50 units)
Young Ninjas vs Fnatic Rising
Friday, July 23 – 19:00 CEST
Young Ninjas played fairly well against mouz NXT last time out, and at some point, it seemed like they would even mount a comeback. Unfortunately, they didn’t do enough in the first half to really have a legitimate chance. Still, an 11-16 loss against one of the tournament favorites is not a bad result, and a couple of additional rounds in the first half could easily seem them winning the match.
Young Ninjas are now 2-2 at the tournament, with wins against some of the worst teams in VP.Prodigy and Astralis talent, and losses against some of the best in mouz NXT and NAVI Junior(depends on what NAVI you get, they certainly got that main NAVI roster energy).
Fnatic Rising are a pleasant surprise at the tournament. They lost their opening match against mouz NXT, but they made them work hard for it with 18-22 on Vertigo. After that loss, Fnatic Rising won their remaining three matches against VP.Prodigy (19:17 on Vertigo), FURIA Academy (16-5 on Inferno), and BIG Academy (16:6 on Inferno).
They are now up against Young Ninjas, and I am sure they will fancy their chances to go 4-1. Iulian ‘regali’ Harjău didn’t even have to do a lot against BIG Academy, and they still won 16-6, which makes me believe that Fnatic Rising have quite a lot of firepower and that their AWP doesn’t have to do everything for them to win.
Young Ninjas have the needed structure to beat Fnatic Rising, but I am not really sure if they have the necessary tools, firepower-wise, to shut them down completely. I can see both teams winning the match, and there is some value backing Fnatic at 2.50 at Unibet, but the best option would be to go for over 26.50 rounds, which is available at mouth-watering 2.00 at Unibet.
Prediction: Over 26.50 Rounds – 2.00 Unibet (0.50 units)
Alternative: Fnatic Rising to win – 2.50 at Unibet (0.50 units)
VP.Prodigy vs Astralis Talent
Friday, July 23 – 20:00 CEST
VP.Prodigy have a huge problem closing out their games. They pushed Young Ninjas to 30 rounds but failed in the last round to force OT, they choked against Fnatic Rising with a 14-7 lead, and they barely made it past FURIA Academy 16-14 after holding a fairly decent lead. Between all that, they also lost 1-16 against their regional rivals, NAVI Junior.
Astralis Talent were absolutely horrendous in their first three matches at this tournament. They lost (10-16) against FURIA Academy, Young Ninjas (3-16), and BIG Academy (11-16), but they managed to bounce back against NAVI Junior, who they beat 16-8 on Vertigo.
Astralis looked way more compact in that match than before. They were trading efficiently, and their communication sounded on point. I am still not completely sold on this team, but they were the deserved victors against NAVI Junior.
I have no idea who will take the W here; the match feels like a complete coin toss. Astralis Talent enter this match following an impressive victory and will take on VP.Prodigy, who are having issues closing out games, so take your pick. The bookmakers favor the Russians at 1.60, which overrates them a little, especially in the BO1 type of match, where a couple of lucky rounds are usually enough to walk away with the match.
Prediction: Over 26.50 Rounds – 1.85 at Unibet, 1.83 Bet365 (0.50 units)
Alternative: Astralis Talent +2.50 Rounds – 1.917 Pinnacle (0.50 units) / Astralis Talent to win – 2.23 Pinnacle (0.50 units)
Check back tomorrow for our esports betting previews and predictions where we cover the sixth day of WePlay Academy League. Also, don’t forget to look at our League of Legends betting picks and predictions for LEC 2021 Summer Week 7 – Day 1!
