The League of Legends Summer Split is in full swing and Michael Lee is back with his picks for two LoL Pro League (LPL) and one LoL Circuit Oceania (LCO) match on Monday, July 18. Today he looks at Team WE vs Anyone's Legend, Invictus Gaming vs JD Gaming, and MAMMOTH vs ORDER.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, July 18th
Team WE vs Anyone's Legend
LPL 2022 Summer
Team WE won a map against Royal Never Give Up last week, which is no indication of WE's quality rather than how much advantage teams on the blue side have in the current meta. That's not to say that a team is guaranteed to win on blue side, but it certainly makes it a bit easier.
Knowing that, I would steer clear of any bets on teams to cover a map handicap until we see some balance. But I wouldn't think about backing Anyone's Legends to win this bout 2-0 regardless. Anyone's Legend are 6-3, which is impressive for their standards, but while watching some of their games, I can say that Anyone's Legend are a bit lucky to hold a 67% win rate.
Even last week, when they defeated Ultra Prime, Anyone's Legend did not impress me. They lost the second map despite a huge gold lead and shouldn't have won the third one either. I'm not sold on this squad, regardless of what their record shows.
This is a spot where Team WE could potentially win their first series of the season, and I wouldn't be surprised if they actually do it. Still, there are just two reasons why I have faith in WE – Anyone's Legend aren't good, and Team WE will start on blue side. With that in mind, I would much rather take Team WE to win the first map at 2.50.
Team WE to win Map 1
$2.50 (1 unit)
Invictus Gaming vs JD Gaming
LPL 2022 Summer
Invictus Gaming lost their eighth series of the split last week against Victory Five (0-2), which more or less eliminated them from the playoffs contention. This also explains why IG decided to bring in Li "Mole" Hao-Yan and suggests that they might want to start exploring more options across the final weeks of the split. We might even see some weird team compositions from IG; who knows? They have nothing to lose and three more weeks of the split to have a bit of fun.
So, how do you approach betting on a match with a team with nothing to lose? Invictus Gaming is not a bad team relative to other LPL bottom dwellers, but there is a clear quality difference here. JD Gaming might not be at the level of Victory Five, but they're damn good and easily one of the top teams in the world.
JD Gaming are clear favorites, but they're not perfect, and they've been caught off guard several times this split. Moreover, at these prices, It's tough not to consider betting on the outsiders.
Priced at 2.25 to win one map, Invictus Gaming is an appealing pick, but I would prefer IG to start on blue side in this matchup. Instead, we'll take under 25.5 kills on Map 1 mainly because JD Gaming haven't been too bloody in their wins.
Map 1 Under 25.5 Kills
$1.83 (2 Units)
MAMMOTH vs ORDER
LCO 2022 Split 2
MAMMOTH picked up a massive victory last week when they defeated Gravitas and kept themselves in the playoffs contention. It was a huge victory from that perspective, although beating Gravitas in their current state is hardly something to write home about.
Interestingly, by beating Gravitas, MAMMOTH re-wrote history and handed Gravitas the unenviable tag as a team with the worst start to a season in Oceania (0-13) since OPL in 2015. Coincidently, the team that previously held that record was MAMMOTH, who went 0-12 in Split 2 of last year.
MAMMOTH are still second-to-last with a 4-9 record, but they've not been playing nearly as poorly as their numbers suggest – at least relative to the expectation of this rookie squad. MAMMOTH have put up solid performances against stronger teams and earned my approval as dangerous underdogs.
ORDER are in an excellent spot ahead of the seventh week of the split. They hold a 8-5 record, which isn't quite as good as Chiefs (13-0) but good enough to be considered one of the top teams in the league.
ORDER are very good, but they're not exactly untouchable and hardly deserving to be priced at only 1.16 for this match. They should win, but the kill handicap seems a bit too generous, so the choice is obvious.
