Elisa Invitational Spring 2023 enters the main stage on Monday 24, with eight Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matches scheduled over the next three days, and here you can find our top betting picks for the first round. Our esports tipster Michael Lee has betting previews and tips ready for three Round 1 matches, including 500 vs Dynamo Eclot, Sangal Esports vs 00 Prospects, and Apeks vs ENCE Academy.
Esports Betting Tips: Wednesday, April 26th 2023
500 vs Dynamo Eclot
Elisa Invitational Spring 2023
Dynamo Eclot fought their way into Elisa Invitational Spring 2023 Main Stage through the Contenders Stage, where they recorded a 3-2 record. They started the Contenders Stage with back-to-back defeats against PALOMA (1-2) and 359 (0-2) but then did the impossible and won three straight series against empiregoblins (2-1), Tricked Esports (2-1) and ENTERPRISE esports (2-1).
Although a commendable achievement, Dynamo Eclot didn't have to play any good teams. They also lost one map in all three series which makes their comeback not as impressive.
500 received a direct invite to the Main Stage and are one of the leading candidates to win it all. But we haven't seen 500 achieve much this season. Their best tournament performances include winning European Development Championship Season 7 in February and finishing third-fourth at CCT North Europe Series #4 a month later.
Since then, 500 have not placed higher than eight across six events. But in their defence, 500 had to play some of the top teams in the world, so despite their lack of silverware, 500 are battle tested and shouldn't struggle too much when facing teams like Dynamo Eclot.
500 -1.5 maps
$2.20 (1 Unit)
Sangal Esports vs 00 Prospects
Elisa Invitational Spring 2023
00 Prospects finished the Contenders Stage with a 3-1 record, including one loss against LDLC (1-2) and three straight wins against NtK (2-1), Tricked Esports (2-0), and 359 (2-0). Overall, 00 Prospects left a good impression. So even though 00 Prospects had the luxury of only playing against the tournament's weakest team, they look ready to fight for a spot in the final stage.
Sangal Esports were invited to the Main Stage, which makes it seem like they're class above squads from the Contender Stage. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
Sangal Esports have not won a single event this season, and they haven't shown much in their recent games. Despite holding a 3-2 record from their last five, Sangal have only won against Sprout (2-0), Let them cook (2-0) and ALTERNATE aTTaX (2-0) and lost against Sampi (1-2) and ENDPOINT (0-2). Their poor performances don't inspire much confidence, so it's not too surprising to see 00 Prospects priced as 1.66 favourites.
There's nothing here to overanalyse. Sangal Esports are not great, and even though it's hard to praise 00 Prospects too much, they're in excellent form, having lost just two of their last 16 games.
We could see Sangal Esports win a map, but 00 Prospects should come out ahead and keep their winning streak alive.
00 Prospects to win
$1.66 (1 Unit)
Apeks vs ENCE Academy
Elisa Invitational Spring 2023
Apeks are priced as 1.20 favourites to defeat ENCE Academy, which makes sense considering how bad ENCE Academy looked during the Contenders Stage. They finished the opening stage of the tournament with defeats against HEET (0-2) and iNation (0-2) and picked up three easy wins against Illuminar Gaming (2-0), Iron Branch (2-0), and ex-Partizan Esports (2-1).
ENCE Academy have also won a few games in other tournaments, including European Pro League Season 7. But they only played third-tier teams, so it's not fair to praise them too much for their 5-1 record ahead of this match.
In contrast, Apeks are 4-2 from their last six games, with wins against Sprout, B8, ex-Partizan, and K23, while their only two defeats happened against FaZe Clan (13-16) and Bad News Eagles (16-19) – which are still very impressive results for Apeks' standard.
There's a reason why Apeks are priced as such heavy favourites; they have been playing much stronger teams over the last two months, and often they performed well. ENCE Academy can have their moments, but I've yet to see them do well against a stronger opponent.
Apeks -1.5 maps
$1.83 (2 Units)
