Betting-Previews.com is back with another set of betting previews and predictions for the sixth day of play at WePlay Academy League. Since it’s Saturday, and we have a lot of work on our hands to provide our premium members selections for sports and other esports, we will keep our written part slightly shorter for today, so you’ll have to excuse us for that.
WePlay Academy League Day 6
After two shaky days, we bounced back with our WePlay Academy League Day 5 picks and hit two of our main selections, but if you were instead betting on match winners, you would have hit three – BIG Academy at 1.90 (Bet365), Fnatic Rising at 2.50 (Unibet), and Astralis Talent at 2.23 (Pinnacle).
We’re now at 13-8 with our main picks on the tournament, with 6.72 units of profit and a 36.3% ROI. Once again, we would like to remind everyone how important it is to look around for the best odds if you’re following our WePlay Academy League betting picks!
NAVI Junior vs Fnatic Rising
Saturday, July 24 – 17:00 CEST
As already talked about yesterday, NAVI Junior have a very weak map pool, and they were punished for that twice already – against mouz NXT and Astralis Talent, who both got their preferred map Vertigo. In both fixtures, NAVI Junior struggled and didn’t even reach double digits!
NAVI Junior are now 2-3 at the tournament, with losses against BIG Academy (6-16), Astralis Talent (8-16), and mouz NXT (9-16). NAVI’s two victories came against Young Ninjas (16-11 on Mirage) and their regional rivals VP.Prodigy (16.1 on Ancient).
Despite their poor map pool, NAVI Junior have some good players, namely Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov and Eugene “Aunkere” Karyat, and if these two go off at the same time, even the best teams will have a hard time beating them.
Fnatic Rising are on a four-match winning streak with wins against Young Ninjas, BIG Academy, FURIA Academy, and VP.Prodigy. Their only loss was the tournament opener against the WePlay Academy League favorites, mouz NXT, who bet them 22-18 on Vertigo.
Iulian “regali” Harjău is Fnatic Rising’s key player who can win them games on his own. It’s also worth mentioning that Kevin “Kevve” Bohlin was once an analyst for the main Fnatic roster, and apparently, the academy roster is also getting some help from the former Fnatic In-game leader, Maikil “Golden” Selim, so it looks like they are in good hands.
Originally we weren’t going to bet on this match, as yesterday evening, the odds were 1.80 – 1.90 in favor of Fnatic Rising, but now we can get a decent value bet on NAVI Junior at around 2.10-2.28, which is way too high in my book.
Sure, Fnatic Rising are playing like one of the best teams at the tournament, but at the same time, they are only playing online BO1 matches, where a couple of lucky rounds can easily turn the game upside down, so don’t go overboard with the hype until we see them perform in proper LAN environment playing BO3 matches.
At these odds, NAVI Junior are a no-brainer pick.
Prediction: NAVI Junior to win – 2.28 at Pinnacle, 2.25 at Unibet (0.50 Units)
Young Ninjas vs FURIA Academy
Saturday, July 24 – 18:00 CEST
Young Ninjas were touted as the second-best team at this tournament, but so far, they have only beaten the likes of VP.Prodigy and Astralis Talent, and lost to NAVI Junior, mouz NXT, and Fnatic Rising. Granted, these are all solid teams and they played well in some of these matches; however, you at least have to win a couple of these close matches if you want to be taken seriously.
I am not impressed with Erik “ztr” Gustafsson. He was previously a part of NIP’s main roster (before he got kicked in favor of Nicolai “device” Reedtz from Astralis), so he should have a much greater impact playing at this level of CS if you consider his experience. Unfortunately, we have yet to see anything special from him – but you have to give him some slack since he is only 17.
FURIA Academy started the tournament strong with wins against Astralis Talent and mouz NXT, but now they are on a three-match losing streak, having lost against Fnatic Rising, VP.Prodigy, and BIG Academy. They lost their last outing against BIG Academy in an almost comical fashion; FURIA were up 11-4 at HT, yet still lost 14-16, even though BIG Academy had to play with a stand-in who replaced one of their players mid-match.
Young Ninjas enter this match priced as favorites around 1.44, while FURIA Academy are around 2.66 to win the match, which underrates the Brazilians a little, especially in a BO1 type of a match. Young Ninjas have one of the strongest map pools at the tournament, and a couple of bad results shouldn’t change much in their approach to the game. They should grind this game out, but FURIA Academy has enough talent to keep this one close.
Prediction: Over 26.50 Rounds – 1.90 at Bet365 (0.50 Units)
Alternative: FURIA Academy +3.50 Rounds – 1.83 at Bet365 (0.50 Units)
BIG Academy vs VP.Prodigy
Saturday, July 24 – 19:00 CEST
BIG Academy are 4-1 on the tournament, which includes wins against NAVI Junior, Astralis Talent, mouz NXT, and FURIA Academy. Their only loss came against Fnatic Rising, who beat them 16-6 on Inferno. Yesterday, BIG Academy beat FURIA Academy with 16-14, after being 4-11 down at HT. They also had some connectivity issues and were forced to use a stand-in, Christian “ND” Wolff, who replaced Niklas “NIKZEj” Burmeister.
VP.Prodigy are the complete opposite; they won only one match against FURIA Academy, and even that win was close (16-14 on Vertigo), and at times it even looked like FURIA Academy will force an OT. As for their losses, The Russians fell flat against Astralis Talent, NAVI Junior, Fnatic Rising, and Young Ninjas.
The betting odds at Bet365 are beyond reasonable, even if you factor in the unpredictability of BO1 matches. VP.Prodigy are not nearly as good as that these odds suggest. I don’t think these betting odds will last very long, VP.Prodigy are priced around 1.48 at Pinnacle and 1.52 at Unibet, which are way more reasonable odds, so be quick if you want an obvious value bet!
Prediction: BIG Academy to win, 1.80 at Bet365 (0.50 Units)
Astralis Talent vs mouz NXT
Saturday, July 24 – 20:00 CEST
Astralis Talent bounced back from their defeats against FURIA Academy, Young Ninjas, and BIG Academy with two commanding victories against NAVI Junior and VP.Prodigy. The Danes are still one of the weaker teams at the tournament, and I don’t really expect anything significant from them based on what I have seen – their wins against VP.Prodigy and NAVI Junior were solid, but I don’t believe Astralis Talent will be able to achieve the same success against mouz NXT.
Mouz NXT are now 3-2 at the tournament, with two losses against FURIA Academy and BIG Academy and wins against NAVI Junior, Young Ninjas, and Fnatic Rising. I don’t think this one will be close, and the odds already suggest that. Mouz NXT looks better on all fronts, and a dominant win is expected here!
Prediction: mouz NXT -4.50 Rounds – 1.746 at Pinnacle (0.50 Units)
Alternative: Under 25.50 Rounds – 1.90 at Bet365 (0.50 Units)
Check back tomorrow when we return with our betting Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting previews for the seventh day of action at WePlay Academy League. Also, don’t miss out on our League of Legends European Championship (LEC) 2021 Summer betting picks, which will get posted early this afternoon.
