ESports betting -CS:GO, DOTA 2, LOL, Valorant - discussion thread

[Pumared]

Vitality faced an unexpected result. After losing the match against B8, Vitality dropped to the lower bracket.

Teams like Vitality and Spirit have been getting surprising results recently. I really wonder whether any of them will be competitive enough for the EWC championship.

Looking at the data for both teams, Spirit is the better one. At IEM Cologne they finished third. At BLAST Bounty they finished second. So Spirit's track record is good; the bad impression is more due to their best-of-one matches.

Vitality, on the other hand, has been really bad. Since winning BLAST Rivals, their positions were fifth place at IEM Atlanta, fifth place at IEM Cologne, and seventeenth place at BLAST Bounty.

So my prediction is that Spirit will go to the Semifinals, eliminating either FaZe or Vitality. What are your impressions of both teams?

[rdbase]

They managed to defeat Magic 9Z, one of this year’s breakout teams. On Magic’s side, we see that two players surpassed the 70-kill mark in this specific match. AW and Tenzy carried their team through this match, successfully leading them to the playoffs. 9Z is indeed one of the teams that has really emerged recently and become a strong contender, but it’s also worth noting that Magic is a team that has managed to defeat strong opponents in recent times. I would have expected 9Z to win and advance to the playoffs here, but AW and Tenzy stepped up despite the poor performance of their teammates and played a key role in securing the team’s spot in the playoffs.

If you hadn't mentioned about this match I wouldn't have noticed. Since 9Z are familiar team reaching deep into tournaments, Magic are not one of those many are use to seeing.
So they are the winners of the lower bracket of the semi-finals EWC, let's see how far they make it through to their next opponents when they resume in two days.

Vitality faced an unexpected result. After losing the match against B8, Vitality dropped to the lower bracket.

Teams like Vitality and Spirit have been getting surprising results recently. I really wonder whether any of them will be competitive enough for the EWC championship.

Looking at the data for both teams, Spirit is the better one. At IEM Cologne they finished third. At BLAST Bounty they finished second. So Spirit's track record is good; the bad impression is more due to their best-of-one matches.

Vitality, on the other hand, has been really bad. Since winning BLAST Rivals, their positions were fifth place at IEM Atlanta, fifth place at IEM Cologne, and seventeenth place at BLAST Bounty.

So my prediction is that Spirit will go to the Semifinals, eliminating either FaZe or Vitality. What are your impressions of both teams?

I have the opposing prediction when it comes to Team Spirit. Since they lost so badly to MOUZ in the last major I have much doubt they can beat a Vitality or Faze team in these championships.
You could see the confidence level of their players were at an all time low, especially Donk who had slammed his table several times early on in that match. So I don't think they have enough time to recover since that defeat.

[Pumared]

Vitality faced an unexpected result. After losing the match against B8, Vitality dropped to the lower bracket.

Teams like Vitality and Spirit have been getting surprising results recently. I really wonder whether any of them will be competitive enough for the EWC championship.

Looking at the data for both teams, Spirit is the better one. At IEM Cologne they finished third. At BLAST Bounty they finished second. So Spirit's track record is good; the bad impression is more due to their best-of-one matches.

Vitality, on the other hand, has been really bad. Since winning BLAST Rivals, their positions were fifth place at IEM Atlanta, fifth place at IEM Cologne, and seventeenth place at BLAST Bounty.

So my prediction is that Spirit will go to the Semifinals, eliminating either FaZe or Vitality. What are your impressions of both teams?

I have the opposing prediction when it comes to Team Spirit. Since they lost so badly to MOUZ in the last major I have much doubt they can beat a Vitality or Faze team in these championships.
You could see the confidence level of their players were at an all time low, especially Donk who had slammed his table several times early on in that match. So I don't think they have enough time to recover since that defeat.

The most likely scenario is that it will indeed be Spirit versus Vitality. But Spirit's track record pleases me more than Vitality's. As I said, Vitality hasn't been in the top 3 of a tournament for at least three months, since Blast Rivals in May. From the beginning of the year until May, they had practically only wins. But everything changed at IEM Atlanta, and since then they've only lost. I would trust Spirit more at this moment precisely because they have a more recent history of wins and being at the top, but Vitality can win again at any moment, although I don't believe that will happen now.

[xLays]

Is anyone here into chess? Did anyone watch the EWC Chess tournament? I guess I can post this here since EWC chess is also considered an esport. Right??

No one has been able to beat Magnus Carlsen in EWC Chess. Back2back EWC championships for him. And the way he won was incredible. He knew exactly what he was doing. Imagine being 99% accurate in Game 4. That queen sacrifice was insane. If you're something into chess you'll definitely enjoy watching this tournament too.

[passwordnow]

But with VG's loss, it's almost an instant.

I hope that disband causes XG to bring in Xm and XinQ because that 2025 roster should've run it back for one more season.

There's an issue there, so it seems that XG and VG needs to reform their roster. I think that the original, XM, Ame and XinQ needs to come along, they're good with each other. We're already in the playoffs, no chinese team nor an org will participate in the venue in Shanghai, China. LOL.

Is anyone here into chess? Did anyone watch the EWC Chess tournament? I guess I can post this here since EWC chess is also considered an esport. Right??

No one has been able to beat Magnus Carlsen in EWC Chess. Back2back EWC championships for him. And the way he won was incredible. He knew exactly what he was doing. Imagine being 99% accurate in Game 4. That queen sacrifice was insane. If you're something into chess you'll definitely enjoy watching this tournament too.

Yes, it's okay to post it here as well since chess is also part of EWC so it's now an esport as well. And Magnus' organization is Team Liquid which is a known esports organization. Congrats to him winning the EWC championship this year.

[ralle14]

We're already in the playoffs, no chinese team nor an org will participate in the venue in Shanghai, China. LOL.

I even saw a post saying it's a new record for the region. I had a bit of hope for LGD after they started 1-0 against Yandex, but unfortunately, one game was all they could get out of that series.

The most likely scenario is that it will indeed be Spirit versus Vitality. But Spirit's track record pleases me more than Vitality's. As I said, Vitality hasn't been in the top 3 of a tournament for at least three months, since Blast Rivals in May. From the beginning of the year until May, they had practically only wins. But everything changed at IEM Atlanta, and since then they've only lost. I would trust Spirit more at this moment precisely because they have a more recent history of wins and being at the top, but Vitality can win again at any moment, although I don't believe that will happen now.

Both teams have the potential to go all the way through the semis, but i'd rather choose Vitality over Spirit. Even with the bigger picture showing Vitality is struggling, it's getting hard to trust this current version of Spirit with Hally.

Maybe they could start smoothing out their problems with the help of each series, but I prefer to back a roster that's best at their roles despite the lack of results in the recent tournaments.

[execijutiere]

Our representative Aurora has been matched up against FURIA. Our other representative, FUT, will face the magic team. Frankly, the brackets didn’t turn out well for us. Let’s say Aurora defeats FURIA and the team coming from the upper bracket, and if FUT beats Magic and then defeats the winner of the GamerLegion vs. MOUZ matchup—which will most likely be MOUZ—we could see a FUT vs. Aurora showdown in the semifinals. Of course, that would be a huge surprise. In the scenario where FUT beats Magic, I’m not entirely convinced they have the strength to defeat the opponent coming out of the MOUZ-GL matchup.

[T1HGO]

But with VG's loss, it's almost an instant.

I hope that disband causes XG to bring in Xm and XinQ because that 2025 roster should've run it back for one more season.

There's an issue there, so it seems that XG and VG needs to reform their roster. I think that the original, XM, Ame and XinQ needs to come along, they're good with each other. We're already in the playoffs, no chinese team nor an org will participate in the venue in Shanghai, China. LOL.

So, from what i could gather from what actually happened to XG, from chinese sources, here's what happened:
This is all XG's owner fault. During last year, when XG reached TI final, XG owner always saw XM and xinQ as the ugly ducklings of the team. He always thought XM was not skilled enough to win a TI, and xinQ lacked professionalism, always wanting to take breaks.

Apparently XG's owner is a very supersticious guy. So, after TI, he decided to remove XM and xinQ from the team(against Ame and XXS will) and bringing NTS and fy, as he believed recreating the old LGD squad was that the team needed to take the extra step to win TI.

Ame and Xxs gave it a shot, but it quickly became obvious NTS and fy were massive downgrades to the team. They kept trying hard and they even got top3 at ESL Birmingham.

However, this was when the team finally cracked. At ESL Birmingham, in game 3 of Yandex vs XG for the lower bracket final, xiao8 insisted on picking Keeper of the Light for NTS. The team was not really on board with this pick, and XG lost the match. XG's owner, then decided to hire maps, to be like a secondary coach to xiao8.

Xiao8 felt disrespected and left the team. Ame and Xxs tried many times to convince xiao8 to stay, but xiao8 felt he was being disrespected and there was nothing they could do to make him stay.

So, now we have Ame and Xxs against the kicks of XM and xinQ, against the signings of NTS and fy, and against the xiao8 departure. Ame tried to jump ship to Vici as last resort, before TI, but got rejected. Now all there was left was participate at TI and get it over with. Very sad turn of events. That XG owner completely ruined a team that showed so much promise last year.


HOWEVER

BIG NEWS. Topson just announced he wants to play professionally at least one more season!!!
Quote from an interview from cybersport with Topson:

— Okay. I guess that's my last question. Now that you're back at TI, and this tournament is coming to an end, do you feel like you want to continue your career longer? Like, another two years?

— Yes. I wouldn't want to finish my career in 12th place. It's a bad feeling. I'm definitely thinking about playing one more season and then seeing how things go. Let's see if any good team even wants me. That's the first thing. The offer would have to be really good for me to consider playing, because I have a very stable life as a streamer.
So in order to leave this life and start competing again, the offer must be very profitable.

— The third Aegis and finally retirement?

- Yes, we need to win another one.

[Pumared]

The most likely scenario is that it will indeed be Spirit versus Vitality. But Spirit's track record pleases me more than Vitality's. As I said, Vitality hasn't been in the top 3 of a tournament for at least three months, since Blast Rivals in May. From the beginning of the year until May, they had practically only wins. But everything changed at IEM Atlanta, and since then they've only lost. I would trust Spirit more at this moment precisely because they have a more recent history of wins and being at the top, but Vitality can win again at any moment, although I don't believe that will happen now.

Both teams have the potential to go all the way through the semis, but i'd rather choose Vitality over Spirit. Even with the bigger picture showing Vitality is struggling, it's getting hard to trust this current version of Spirit with Hally.

Maybe they could start smoothing out their problems with the help of each series, but I prefer to back a roster that's best at their roles despite the lack of results in the recent tournaments.

I agree, Vitality has a lot of experience and they're not completely finished yet. But if you look closely at the maps and this possible match between the two teams has Dust2 + Anubis + Mirage, Spirit has a great chance of winning. Vitality can't play Dust or Anubis. Mirage is a technical draw between the teams. Vitality only has an advantage on Nuke + Inferno, and I agree that Spirit loses on those maps. There are many more things involved, but Vitality depends on ZywOo while Spirit has donk + sh1ro.

[arallmuus]

The offer would have to be really good for me to consider playing, because I have a very stable life as a streamer.
So in order to leave this life and start competing again, the offer must be very profitable.

I mean no disrepect toward this guy but he should have stayed retired.

He is married with 1 kid and have a stable life as streamer, that should be a good ending for his story but instead he chose to come back on the competitive scene. There are plenty of pos 2 talent that are way cheaper than him, obviously you need to offer Topson lots of money with no guaranteed results and so far we have seen that he is no longer the same guy like he used to be

Still good but not something as extraordinary like 6-7 years ago


So anyway, which teams will bag the TI trophy this year ? VISION obviously the best right now but its just boring if they win easily on most tournaments

[ralle14]

There are many more things involved, but Vitality depends on ZywOo while Spirit has donk + sh1ro.

This might sound like me just glazing Vitality, but their current roster doesn't have to rely on Zywoo all the time now that they have ropz, flamez, and mezii who can also be a threat to the opposing team.

Either way, this depends on how both teams can bounce back stronger because at the highest level, almost anything is possible, like flipping a switch.

So anyway, which teams will bag the TI trophy this year ? VISION obviously the best right now but its just boring if they win easily on most tournaments

Still sticking to my gut with VISION, even the majority of the BSFL peeps went for VISION. If i'm going for a wildcard pick, it'd be Nigma Galaxy or Iron Wing on the other side.  

[goodpunt]

Would it be smart to back all 4 outsiders in today's CS World Cup matches?

I'm tempted to back Astralis today but H2H looks quite one sided in recent matches.
Maybe I will just wait until the match starts and get involved in-play.
There will surely be some underdog wins today.

[T1HGO]

The offer would have to be really good for me to consider playing, because I have a very stable life as a streamer.
So in order to leave this life and start competing again, the offer must be very profitable.

I mean no disrepect toward this guy but he should have stayed retired.

He is married with 1 kid and have a stable life as streamer, that should be a good ending for his story but instead he chose to come back on the competitive scene. There are plenty of pos 2 talent that are way cheaper than him, obviously you need to offer Topson lots of money with no guaranteed results and so far we have seen that he is no longer the same guy like he used to be

Still good but not something as extraordinary like 6-7 years ago


So anyway, which teams will bag the TI trophy this year ? VISION obviously the best right now but its just boring if they win easily on most tournaments

Lots of pro players are married and with kids. Being a tier1 player pays well enough for them to keep competing. He didn't actually chose to comeback, it was supposed to be just a last minute standing situation. And given the time he had to prepare (literally 2 days) plus he has been retired for 2 years, and some of that period he didn't even touch Dota, like when he had to complete mandatory military service for Finland, i would say he player pretty damn well at this TI. Far from his peak, it's true, but he actually did pretty well.

As for winning TI, i think for the first time probably ever, every team at the playoffs has a real chance to win the whole thing. Competition is that tight this year. Last year, both Xtreme and Tidebound dominated groups, and neither of them ended up winning. If i had to pick the team i saw with the most potential to win  from what i saw in group stage, excluding Parivision, i would say Liquid. I am impressed.


BIG RUMOURS COMING FROM CHINA

LGD is already forming a new roster for next season. This source is actually credible in China. Here's the rumoured roster:

Ame
Topson
Ws
XinQ
Sneyking

Also, same source says Vici gaming's roster is moving to Xtreme Gaming, with the exception of XinQ(joining LGD). Probably either with fy or planet for pos4.