Another great night of esports action coming up this Thursday night and once again, Michael Lee has you covered with his best bets for the night! In this slate, he focuses heavily on the CS:GO cs_summit 7 for all three of his best bets, a tournament featuring some of the best Counter Strike teams in the world.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, January 25th
Fnatic vs Complexity
cs_summit 7
Fnatic and Complexity will clash on Monday, in their opening fixture of cs_summit 7. It will mark their first head-to-head bout since November when Complexity bested Fnatic 2-0 at the IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe.
Fnatic enter this match as 1.80 favourites, which I don't agree with. They have recently parted ways with Robin "flusha" Rönnquist and replaced him with Jack "Jackinho" Ström Mattson, who is a relatively unproven player with no previous experience with playing at this level.
This roster change also means Fnatic will likely struggle with their synergy, at least for the first couple of weeks. Complexity, on the other side, enter cs_summit 7 straight after a not-so-successful campaign at the BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020, where they lost against two semi-finalists in Vitality (0-2) and Natus Vincere (1-2).
I wouldn't put too much weight on those results since Complexity were expected to lose those games, especially considering they were playing without their AWPer Valentin "poizon" Vasilev, who got replaced by Jakob "JUGi" Hansen. On a more positive note, Complexity's recent two games at least served as a good warm-up ahead of this bout, which should give them an edge over the ring-rusty Fnatic, who played their last game at the start of December.
Even though poizon is still not able to help his team, Complexity should not be priced as the underdogs. They had some solid moments at BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 and should be more than ready to hand Fnatic their first loss of the new season.
FURIA vs Cloud9
cs_summit 7
FURIA enter this match straight off an early-elimination from the BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020, where they lost against Evil Geniuses and G2 Esports, however, it's worth noting that FURIA won one map in both series. What makes that even more impressive is that they managed to achieve that feat with a rookie player Lucas "honda" Honda replacing Paytyn "Junior" Johnson.
Even though I wouldn't value FURIA too highly, I simply have to view them as a superior team to Cloud9 mostly due to the issues the North American squad are dealing with.
Across the last month, Cloud9 not only lost their head coach Aleksandar "kassad" Trifunović, but have also parted ways with Özgür "woxic" Eker. They got replaced by Chris "Elmapuddy" Tebbit, who joins C9 as their new head coach and ex-Chaos Esports Club player Erick "Xeppaa" Bach.
Making such drastic moves only days before cs_summit 7 won't do C9 any favours and while I expect them to find their footing, later on, I don't believe Cloud9 will manage to impress anyone only days after making changes to their roster and coaching staff.
FURIA might not be one of the best teams in the world, but they're better than C9. Bet on FURIA to win 2-0!
Virtus.pro vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
cs_summit 7
Virtus.pro and Ninjas in Pyjamas will clash on Monday for the first time since November 2019, when Virtus.pro were still playing under the AVANGAR banner. The match ended with a convincing 2-0 sweep for NiP who won 16-6 on Overpass and 16-12 on Train, however, I wouldn't put too much weight on that result considering the game was played over a year ago.
These teams look equally matched which is why I can't agree with the betting odds that show Virtus.pro as a 1.69 favourite. It is important to consider VP have not played a single match in over a month and even then, they were facing mostly second-tier teams such as sAw, Gambit, Espada and forZe.
Ninjas in Pyjamas, on the other side, played their most recent match just two weeks ago, when they met with BIG in a best-of-five Showmatch. Even though NiP lost the bout 2-3, they played surprisingly well and did not disappoint with what they have shown.
There is not a lot to separate these two teams quality-wise, so it's only reasonable to side with the underdogs. If NiP show the same fire they had against BIG, they should win this match 2-0, but at 2.09, even an outright bet offers good odds. Bet on NiP to win!
