Our esports tipster Michael Lee brings you his top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting picks for two ThunderPick Bitcoin Series #2and one ESL Challenger League Season 43 Europe match on Monday, December 12. Today he covers MASONIC vs 00 Prospects, ex-Into the Breach vs Dynamo Eclot, and Team Spirit vs Sprout.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, December 12th
MASONIC vs 00 Prospects
ThunderPick Bitcoin Series #2
MASOINIC and 00 Prospects have managed a 2-2 record four rounds deep into ThunderPick Bitcoin Series #2 as they now clash in the final elimination match, which will determine which of the two teams will advance into the Play-In Stage.
MASONIC had a strong start to the tournament, beating Nexus Gaming (16-10) and Invictus Gaming International (16-5), but then lost against IKLA (0-2) and Permitta Esports (1-2). 00Prospects started the tournament with a 16-14 victory against EYEBALLERS, then lost back-to-back series against IKLA (12-16) and Invictus Gaming International (12-16), but bounced back on Friday, with a close 2-1 victory against Endpoint, who they beat in overtime on Ancient (22-20).
The two teams have also played matches in various other tournaments, but only MASONIC since the last match of ThunderPick Bitcoin Series. They attended ESEA S43 Advanced and CCT Central Europe Series #4, and lost against ALTERNATE aTTaX (0-2) and ESTOWNIA (1-2). 00 Prospect have not played a match since their win against Endpoint, but have before that lost against Into the Breach (1-2) at CCT Central Europe #4.
Comparing the results of the two teams, they look evenly matched and even talent-wise, there isn’t much to separate them. 00 Prospects are 1.57 favourites which likely has to do with MASONIC losing their last two games, but two iffy performances don’t mean much.
At 2.25, I like MASONIC better. They’re not stronger than 00 Prospects, but they definitely aren’t weaker. This is a 50-50 match in my eyes.
MASONIC to win
$2.25 (1 Unit)
Ex-Into the Breach vs Dynamo Eclot
ThunderPick Bitcoin Series #2
Into the Breach released its entire roster this weekend, but the players will remain together for a while longer, now competing under the ex-ITB banner. Having been released from the organization likely won’t have much impact on the player’s performances nor do I expect it to affect the morale. It might even make the ex-Into the Breach players perform better as they now have to prove their worth to get picked up by another team.
Ex-Into the Breach are 1-2 ahead of this match with two defeats against IKLA (11-16) and EYEBALLERS (17-19), and one victory against ALTERNATE aTTaX (2-0). Those are not great reaulrs, but we also saw ITB defeat Websterz (2-0), 00 Prospects (2-1), and Anonymo Esports (2-1) at the end of last week.
Dynamo Eclot hold the same 1-2 record, with a win against ALTERNATE aTTaX (16-2) and two defeats against Tricked Esports (20-22) and Permitta (5-16). The Czech Squad are also 1-4 from their last five games, with defeats against GamerLegion, Prtemitta, HONORIS, and Into The Breach, who beat them 2-0 on Wednesday.
Despite winning, this match 2-0 less than a week ago, Into the Breach are 2.25 underdogs for this affair, which likely has to do with the fact that Eclot had to play with a stand-in for their last meeting with ITB. While I wouldn’t be surprised if Dynamo Eclot get their revenge here, I also don’t believe they deserve to be priced as 1.57 favourites. Value is with ex-Into the Breach.
ex-Into the Breach to win
$2.25 (1 Unit)
Team Spirit vs Sprout
ESL Challenger League Season 43: Europe
Team Spirit and Sprout will play the final upper bracket quarterfinal match of ESL Challenger League Season 43: Europe in what should be a very straightforward W for the CIS squad. Team Spirit are fresh off a very solid run at IEM Rio Major, where they reached the quarterfinals and are a much more established squad that Sprout.
But Spirit have also played just one official match since Rio, when they edged past HEET (2-1) in the first round of play at ESL Challenger League Season 43: Europe. They also nearly lost that series, needing 59 rounds (31-28) to claim the first map.
So even though Spirit clearly field much better players, their form is not where it needs to be for me to consider them a 1.28 favourites. Sprout won their opening two games of the tournament with relative ease, sweeping UNGENTIUM (2-0) and 1win (2-0), which are not very good teams, but it’s not like Sprout struggled against either.
But since their perfect run to the quarters, Sprout have played four games and won just one. They lost against BIG Academy (1-2), ALTERNATE aTTaX (1-2), and Dynamo Eclot (0-2) and only found success against ONYX Talents (2-0).
Had Sprout won those games, I would start believing they could cause problems for Spirit, but after seeing them struggle against much weaker squads, I don’t believe this is a game where you take the underdogs. Spirit’s lack of games is concerning, but this is the world’s 11th-highest-rated team that not long ago competed with some of the strongest squads in the world.
Team Spirit -1.5 maps
$2.10 (1 Unit)
