🕹️ Esports 🎮 Prediction & Discussion Thread

[emrecemsan]

We are getting close to the end in IEM Dallas...

We got some surprising results meanwhile. At least for me.    9z beat Vitality by 2-0. Natus Vincere were beaten by Spirit and HEROIC and said goodbye early. MOUZ also were eliminated but at least they already have a quota in IEM Cologne which is one of the biggest organizations this summer.

The odds for quarter finals:

Friday                      Saturday
FaZe: 1.38                 Vitality: 1.28                          
G2: 2.80                    HEROIC: 3.30

FaZe and Vitality might be combined in a parlay but the total odds are not even over 2.00.    Maybe I might make a single bet on G2 to look for some surprise.

Being successful in such tournaments is very important to be comfortable in big tournaments. As they gain success, the team will be more comfortable in other big organizations.

Of course, I agree. It always helps with the self-confidence in the end. Our last Major performance was generally wonderful. We could have done more than that as well but we were the victim of not being able to control our mental condition.    But in time I believe in them to get over mental issues as a team.

[arallmuus]

I guess that Riyadh Masters organizers became fair on this one because they should have allotted more slots to their very own MENA region.

It's also the ESL organizers behind the tournament, and they'll always do their best to make it as fair as possible.

Speaking of Riyadh Master, the prizepool is only $5M though. Its actually lower than what I hoped it would be. I knew that they are not going to increase it over $15M but it should be $10M instead. Well still a decent amount but lowering this tournament prizepool actually will give TI some highlights because last year, there wasnt really that much highlights on TI because prizepool was simply lower compared to Riyadh Master

FaZe: 1.38                 Vitality: 1.28                          
G2: 2.80                    HEROIC: 3.30

FaZe and Vitality might be combined in a parlay but the total odds are not even over 2.00.    Maybe I might make a single bet on G2 to look for some surprise.

Yeah its pointless to actually parlay it when the odds are lower than 2 so instead of parlaying it, you might want to consider Team Vitality -1.5. Odds should be closer to 2 compared to the parlay but atleast its a single bet rather than parlay and obviously Vitality is way better than HEROIC

[passwordnow]

I guess that Riyadh Masters organizers became fair on this one because they should have allotted more slots to their very own MENA region.

It's also the ESL organizers behind the tournament, and they'll always do their best to make it as fair as possible.

Speaking of Riyadh Master, the prizepool is only $5M though. Its actually lower than what I hoped it would be. I knew that they are not going to increase it over $15M but it should be $10M instead. Well still a decent amount but lowering this tournament prizepool actually will give TI some highlights because last year, there wasnt really that much highlights on TI because prizepool was simply lower compared to Riyadh Master

I think that Esports World Cup did distributed it on other esports. While we're expecting like $10M-$15M of share for this Riyadh masters, that's fine. $5M is still big and the other esports are only getting $1M for which, it's already a good share for this tournament.


And speaking of Riyadh Masters, there are two teams that are already eliminated in the SEA qualifiers. They are the teams below;

• Execration
• IHC esports

What I like here is that SEA will get two slots, so that's for the upper and lower bracket and to have some glimpse of it, this is the current update about the brackets. Tomorrow, we'll see who gets in first at the upper bracket for the 1st slot as their ticket to Riyadh Masters.



I might place some bets later.

[Harkorede]

I guess that Riyadh Masters organizers became fair on this one because they should have allotted more slots to their very own MENA region.

It's also the ESL organizers behind the tournament, and they'll always do their best to make it as fair as possible.

Speaking of Riyadh Master, the prizepool is only $5M though. Its actually lower than what I hoped it would be. I knew that they are not going to increase it over $15M but it should be $10M instead. Well still a decent amount but lowering this tournament prizepool actually will give TI some highlights because last year, there wasnt really that much highlights on TI because prizepool was simply lower compared to Riyadh Master

I think that Esports World Cup did distributed it on other esports. While we're expecting like $10M-$15M of share for this Riyadh masters, that's fine. $5M is still big and the other esports are only getting $1M for which, it's already a good share for this tournament.


I might place some bets later.

I might have just fell for a trap here on IEM CS, I caught the FaZe and G2 match tied at 7 apiece and I went with FaZe to win the 1st map with hope that I've gotten a bargain bet @ 1.72 Odds, only for G2 to show complete dominance and go on a winning rampage, currently 11-7  


What a mistiming for me, I sure should have just kept watching to know who is actually doing better  

[arallmuus]

-snip

I think that Esports World Cup did distributed it on other esports. While we're expecting like $10M-$15M of share for this Riyadh masters, that's fine. $5M is still big and the other esports are only getting $1M for which, it's already a good share for this tournament.

Oh yeah I just noticed this, There are tons of game out there that is labeled with Esport World Cup on Liquipedia. I dont even know like atleast half of those games lol. Rough count of the prizepool shows that atleast $20M in total for the prizepool spread across the game so yeah but honestly I dont know why the only left cs2 with $1M prizepool though considering that cs2 is probably top3 among all those games

What a mistiming for me, I sure should have just kept watching to know who is actually doing better 

Dang, too bad though. I probably wouldnt take live bet on cs2 ever again. I mean the game progress really fast and by the time the bet got accepted by bookies, score could have change by 1-2 points already so sometimes its kinda makes me feel anxious lol. I'd rather take pre bets on cs2 though

[emrecemsan]

FaZe really lost against G2 and it was even by 2-0. The map scores were like 13-8 on Dust2 and 13-2 on Nuke.    I wasn't expecting them to even lose so I didn't get brave enough to bet on G2 @2.80 like I said, lol.

Especially m0NESY and NiKo made a huge impact on both maps. I shouldn't overlook huNter's fragging skills too though.    I never expected FaZe to be crushed like this and I bet nobody did either.

Now the semi-finals:

9z @2.90 v G2 @1.35
Spirit @1.55 v Vitality @2.30

Who are your favourites?    I'm going with G2 and Spirit. I feel like Spirit have a good potential to even become champions from now on. Vitality look more unbalanced after losing to 9z.

[ralle14]

Dang, too bad though. I probably wouldnt take live bet on cs2 ever again. I mean the game progress really fast and by the time the bet got accepted by bookies, score could have change by 1-2 points already so sometimes its kinda makes me feel anxious lol. I'd rather take pre bets on cs2 though

Same, the live odds sometimes overreact after the buy rounds and once the round is over it'd take a few moments before the odds stabilize.

Who are your favourites?    I'm going with G2 and Spirit. I feel like Spirit have a good potential to even become champions from now on. Vitality look more unbalanced after losing to 9z.

Those are my bets for later today, and i'd feel like 9z is more likely to pull off an upset if there is one in the semis.

[passwordnow]

-snip

I think that Esports World Cup did distributed it on other esports. While we're expecting like $10M-$15M of share for this Riyadh masters, that's fine. $5M is still big and the other esports are only getting $1M for which, it's already a good share for this tournament.

Oh yeah I just noticed this, There are tons of game out there that is labeled with Esport World Cup on Liquipedia. I dont even know like atleast half of those games lol.

There are too many of it and I think the other esports that aren't crowded yet, if someone out there is planning to be a pro. You can spend months playing and mastering the game and you'll definitely be able to reach the pro scene. But it's not for everybody if you don't really have the talent and mechanical and logical skills.

Rough count of the prizepool shows that atleast $20M in total for the prizepool spread across the game so yeah but honestly I dont know why the only left cs2 with $1M prizepool though considering that cs2 is probably top3 among all those games

I agree, they should have added more on it instead of just allotting $1M on it. But what can we ask for? ESW is doing a great job in honoring esports and helping to make this event happen for each esports that we love and have been playing all of this time.


Going back to the discussion of Dota 2 at SEA region, Aurora is the first team to qualify on the Riyadh Masters. While later on, three teams left but the first series will be up against Blacklist and TNC while Talon Esports is waiting whoever is the winner of that series. And then, whoever wins against Talon or the TBA team will qualify for the slot. While on the EEU, Virtus Pro is waiting for the grand finals. The teams that they're waiting to be match up against with are Na'vi and Yellow submarine, so good luck also on that region whoever gets their one very slot.
On NA, the qualifiers are also happening, it is going to be quick, tomorrow we shall see who qualifies.

[Balmain]

Dang, too bad though. I probably wouldnt take live bet on cs2 ever again. I mean the game progress really fast and by the time the bet got accepted by bookies, score could have change by 1-2 points already so sometimes its kinda makes me feel anxious lol. I'd rather take pre bets on cs2 though

Same, the live odds sometimes overreact after the buy rounds and once the round is over it'd take a few moments before the odds stabilize.

Who are your favourites?    I'm going with G2 and Spirit. I feel like Spirit have a good potential to even become champions from now on. Vitality look more unbalanced after losing to 9z.

Those are my bets for later today, and i'd feel like 9z is more likely to pull off an upset if there is one in the semis.

Team Sprit is the most talked about team lately, with a player with firepower like Donk. They won 2-0, they did not have much difficulty, Vitality's comfort was obvious in both maps. Donk did not perform as expected. On the Vitality side, Zywoo was good as always and it was very easy because his other teammates also contributed. Sprit is a really good team, they came this far by beating Faze and Navi, but Vitality beat them very easily.

[emrecemsan]

Those are my bets for later today, and i'd feel like 9z is more likely to pull off an upset if there is one in the semis.

I'm sorry about your loss.    Both of us expected an upset by Spirit but they were beaten 2-0 by Vitality (13-6 on Dust2, 13-11 on Mirage).

ZywOo was really impressive though by 22 frags on each map. mezii had his best performance ever since he joined Vitality here I guess. 27 frags on Mirage.    I think he is a good signing from fnatic.

G2 didn't surprise me by winning the series. But rather than 2-0 I expected a 2-1 win. 9z showed a good character against Vitality but we couldn't see it in this one.

Vitality @1.38 v G2 @2.80 in the grand final today. I think G2 have a chance here and can make the bettors playing on the underdog really happy. 

[passwordnow]

Congratulations to Blacklist International for qualifying to the Riyadh Masters. They're the 2nd team to qualify in the sea region.
It is satisfying to see Abed go into the international scene again with this tournament.


Currently, I am watching the grand finals for this qualifier in North America. The match is up with Shopify Rebellion against nouns.
The score is 1-0 in favor of SR but this is different since there will only be one team to qualify there so it's a best-of-5 series.


While in China, three teams to qualify and the first one get that slot is G2xIG.


Later on, is the start of TI2024 open qualifiers for the SEA region.

[ralle14]

Vitality @1.38 v G2 @2.80 in the grand final today. I think G2 have a chance here and can make the bettors playing on the underdog really happy. 

G2 made it happen and beat Vitality 2-1. I'm glad I didn't make a bet on this match because I would've gone with Vitality assuming they're back on form after taking down Team Spirit.

Currently, I am watching the grand finals for this qualifier in North America. The match is up with Shopify Rebellion against nouns.
The score is 1-0 in favor of SR but this is different since there will only be one team to qualify there so it's a best-of-5 series.

Nouns finally came out on top with the reverse sweep and denied SR their slot for the Riyadh Masters, it's been a while since we saw SR get dethroned.

[passwordnow]

Currently, I am watching the grand finals for this qualifier in North America. The match is up with Shopify Rebellion against nouns.
The score is 1-0 in favor of SR but this is different since there will only be one team to qualify there so it's a best-of-5 series.

Nouns finally came out on top with the reverse sweep and denied SR their slot for the Riyadh Masters, it's been a while since we saw SR get dethroned.

I have watched the few series of this match and went away, I thought that this is going to be Shopify Rebellion but nouns was able to do it, thanks to Yuma's meepo in the 4th map. That was the decider match and able to make the game up to 5th map. If this was a best of 3 series, SR would have taken the slot. Going back with the 4th map, there's silencer, es and axe and they're not able to stop yuma's meepo. Props to him.


Now, going on with CS2. Congratulations to G2 esports for winning IEM Dallas 2024. They also now have got the direct qualification to IEM Cologne 2024. Well done for the entire team and also Stewie2k as stand-in for them. Monesy is the MVP.

[arallmuus]

G2 made it happen and beat Vitality 2-1. I'm glad I didn't make a bet on this match because I would've gone with Vitality assuming they're back on form after taking down Team Spirit.

I would have done so as well lol. If I wasnt that occupied with UCL then I would have, kinda forgotten about this after the UCL game lol as I was probably abit washed up after the game


Anyway, the Riyadh Master regional qualifiers are kinda fun to watch. Currently watching Nigma but yeah I dont really have any expectation with them anymore but you know its my soft spot so Im still hoping that they would win

Virtus Pro actually qualified easily by winning every single map in EEU qualifiers. China on the other hand has 3 slots on Riyadh master which is pretty weird

[Balmain]

G2 made it happen and beat Vitality 2-1. I'm glad I didn't make a bet on this match because I would've gone with Vitality assuming they're back on form after taking down Team Spirit.

I would have done so as well lol. If I wasnt that occupied with UCL then I would have, kinda forgotten about this after the UCL game lol as I was probably abit washed up after the game


Anyway, the Riyadh Master regional qualifiers are kinda fun to watch. Currently watching Nigma but yeah I dont really have any expectation with them anymore but you know its my soft spot so Im still hoping that they would win

Virtus Pro actually qualified easily by winning every single map in EEU qualifiers. China on the other hand has 3 slots on Riyadh master which is pretty weird

LOL.. Who knew that the G2 team, which came to the tournament with a substitute player, would win the cup, and I would probably choose Vitality. The absence of HooXi gave G2 the cup, I think it shouldn't happen anymore. Stewie has done well even though he hasn't played in the pro arena for many years. Stewie, maybe the team can become permanent and they can make a new contract after this tournament.

[ralle14]

LOL.. Who knew that the G2 team, which came to the tournament with a substitute player, would win the cup, and I would probably choose Vitality. The absence of HooXi gave G2 the cup, I think it shouldn't happen anymore. Stewie has done well even though he hasn't played in the pro arena for many years. Stewie, maybe the team can become permanent and they can make a new contract after this tournament.

Yup, it's so random and the last time I can recall we saw a CS team this successful with a stand-in was when s1mple played for Team Liquid. I still have doubts about Stewie potentially being picked up by a team because he didn't stand out as much when you look at his stats.

China on the other hand has 3 slots on Riyadh master which is pretty weird

They probably based those extra slots on the EPT leaderboard as G2.IG and Azure Ray are the next two teams that could've received an invite.

[emrecemsan]

G2 made it happen and beat Vitality 2-1. I'm glad I didn't make a bet on this match because I would've gone with Vitality assuming they're back on form after taking down Team Spirit.

I also didn't make any bet on this one. But I wish I did because I was thinking of taking a chance with G2 win here.    With this win G2 have secured a place in IEM Cologne. Now the decided teams are MOUZ, FaZe, G2 and Spirit. 4 more teams to come by ESL ranking. I guess this means Vitality, Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro and Astralis are going to fill those places. Apart from these, 8 more teams are going to join by play-in.



By the way xQc must be an insane guy to bet $100k on 2-1 score for G2.    He is streaming on Kick so I don't know if the money is sponsored by Stake. But the amount is just huge anyway for a bet like this.


_{The tweet: https://x.com/xQc/status/1797390341907128616}

[ralle14]

By the way xQc must be an insane guy to bet $100k on 2-1 score for G2.    He is streaming on Kick so I don't know if the money is sponsored by Stake. But the amount is just huge anyway for a bet like this.

That's probably sponsor money since he's still consistently streaming on Kick. The impressive part is that his correct score bet got him more winnings than G2.  

While waiting for the TI closed qualifiers, i'll take a shot at one of the many bo1 matches at the YaLLa Compass tournament. Mongolz are on their way to top the group and Heroic is potentially going 0-3 based on their struggling form.

[passwordnow]

The International's China region closed qualifier is now finally done. Yesterday, Team Zero won against Azure Ray so TZ have taken the first slot for TI's qualified team in their region.
Today, Azure Ray played against G2 x IG but before G2 x IG played against them, they have to beat Team Turtle first which is another team that's composed of experienced, notable and known players from China. So, this is a memorable day for the G2 x IG because they have to go through with two great teams before they've finally taken their ticket going to this year's TI. Way to go for them and with their match against Azure Ray, it was a reverse sweep that they did there. So, congratulations both for Team Zero and G2 x IG and it's sad that the LGD won't be participating this year's TI when they've been participating it for more than a decade.  

A recap of what happened:

[ralle14]

and it's sad that the LGD won't be participating this year's TI when they've been participating it for more than a decade.  

The org had some financial problems and it's why their squad hasn't been producing enough good results, but still, they qualified for the other tournaments.

Earlier today, i've watched some of the CS2 matches from the Blast tournament, and it's nice to see Navi gaining form after seeing them always on and off in some of the recent tournaments they've been on. Also, their path to the finals seems the easiest as they'll be facing the winner of Astralis/Virtus.pro while Team Spirit has to face Vitality or Faze.