Michael Lee is back with more esports betting picks and predictions for Monday, February 21. Today, he takes a look at two League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2022 Summer matches and provides you with the best bets for Victory Five vs LGD Gaming and Top Esports vs FunPlus Phoenix.
Remember to check out our Esports Betting Tips page for regular updates on Monday and Tuesday every week. Also, check out PickleBet for the best dedicated esports betting site in Australia!
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, February 21st
Victory Five vs LGD Gaming
League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2022 Summer
Victory Five played their last match on Wednesday when they won against Royal Never Give Up as underdogs with 2-0 and improved their season record to 6-1. LGD Gaming, on the other side, are 1-6, with only one win against Oh My God (2-1), who they beat under a month ago.
LGD Gaming had some solid games this season, but they're simply not good enough to compete for the title or come even close to it. Although I didn't expect them to be in the conversation for a strong finish, LGD Gaming's record tells enough about their chances to impress this season.
On a more positive note, LGD Gaming have won at least one map in all but two of their defeats, which might sound excellent. That is until you realise that LGD won a map against Rare Atom, Team WE, Ultra Prime, and Anyone's Legends, which are four of the current bottom-seven teams in the league.
Victory Five are the favourites to win this match, which doesn't surprise me, nor am I too shocked to see LGD Gaming priced at 8.50 to cause an upset.
At the offered odds, it might make sense to take a shot with LGD Gaming with a map advantage, but I don't see how they can defeat Victory Five, who are arguably one of the strongest teams in the league. Victory Five should sweep LGD in two quick maps that shouldn't see too many kills.
Under 25.5 Kills (Map 1 or 2)
$1.83
Top Esports vs FunPlus Phoenix
League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 2022 Summer
FunPlus Phoenix lost against EDward Gaming on Friday, which was an unfortunate defeat for the former world champions. They were the underdogs, so the result isn't surprising, but FunPlus Phoenix played well and did everything right conceptually.
Unfortunately, in games where two very strong teams meet, one simple mistake can lead to conditions for the opponents to snowball, and that's what happened on that day. We also saw a handful of hero plays from EDG, which further helped the reigning LoL world champions secure their seventh victory of the season.
With that defeat, FunPlus Phoenix are now 4-4 (11-10 in maps), sitting right in the middle of the league standings, which is a solid spot to be in as the teams head into the second half of the Summer Split.
Top Esports are tied with FunPlus Phoenix at 4-4, but they have a slightly worse map record (9-11). Top Esports played two games last week and won both against ThunderTalk Gaming (2-0) and JD Gaming (2-1), which are expected results, and to be honest, nothing too spectacular.
Against JD Gaming, Top Esports weren't too convincing, but they still deserved to win. Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo had a pop-off performance and was the main reason why Top Esports came out ahead, which should make you excited about the team going forward. But by now, everyone should know that JackeyLove is a type of player that can look very good one day but perform terribly the next, so take his recent performance with a grain of salt.
Most people won't trust FunPlus Phoenix due to their shaky start to the season, but behind their defeats are fundamentally solid performances which give me hope this team can improve as the season goes on. This match seems like a complete coin-flip, and I'm happy to take FunPlus Phoenix at 2.10.
