The Esports action continues on Monday, June 19th as our resident Esports guru Michael Lee takes a look at matches from the LPL 2021 Summer tournament as well as the WePlay Academy League Season 1.
ESports Betting Tips: Monday, July 19th
Rogue Warriors vs TT Gaming
LPL 2021 Summer
TT Gaming played well against Bilibili Gaming on Tuesday, when they secured the first blood to earn us a nice payout at 2.03, but were a bit too late in taking down the turret, denying us a strong start of the day. TT Gaming ended up losing the match 1-2 which isn’t that surprising, but it was definitely a good effort from the underdogs.
That loss marked TT Gaming’s 10th of the season (1-10), which earned them the second-worst record in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), better than only Victory Five, who have yet to taste victory in the summer split. Their next opponents, Rogue Warriors, have enjoyed far more success and mustered a 4-7 record, which sits them in 13th place.
I wouldn’t call Rogue Warriors a good team, but they have had some great games recently. At the start of the month, they upset Invictus Gaming (2-1), to which they added two more impressive victories against the reigning LoL World Championship finalists, Suning (2-1) and Rare Atom (2-1).
Rogue Warriors won those three fixtures by turning their games in completer clown fiestas and they just happened to walk away from the chaos victorious. I wouldn’t value those wins as much as some might, since Rogue Warriors clearly aren’t good enough to keep performing against top teams.
This one is difficult to call since you either pick the over-hyped Rogue Warriors or TT Gaming, who haven’t had any success this season. Instead of picking out a winner, I will take a shot at the first blood market.
TT Gaming might have struggled in closing out their games, but they’re a very aggressive team, averaging the third-highest First Blood rate in the league (62.5%), while Rogue Warriors average the lowest (30.8%) in the LPL. Despite the apparent gap in the metrics, TT Gaming are priced at 1.89 to get their names on the board first, which is obviously way too high for this matchup.
TT Gaming - 1st Blood
$1.89
Victory Five vs Invictus Gaming
LPL 2021 Summer
Victory Five have yet to win a single match this season and have managed only one map victory from 21 played (1-20). Their situation is as bad as it can get, making it very difficult to have any faith in this team.
In their last match, Victory Five lost to Royal Never Give Up even though they led 7-0 in kills on the first map, which doesn’t strike me as shocking. Victory Five’s mid game is disastrous, to say the least, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg of the issues this team needs to address.
Their next opponents, Invictus Gaming, are one of those teams that you don’t know where to place. And that’s mainly due to their volatility.
With Invictus Gaming you never know what you’re going to get. They can play like an elite team one day and lose against an underdog the next. Betting on Invictus Gaming is essentially like flipping a coin, and it’s been like that for the past two years.
Even though Victory Five are a much weaker team than Invictus Gaming, this is exactly the kind of spot where Victory Five would pick up their first win. They are a weaker team, and I don’t really mind that because Invictus Gaming are the type of team that can implode and lose to anyone.
Invictus Gaming’s bottom lane is the main reason for their struggles this season, where Victory Five seem to be the strongest. There’s a good chance Victory Five win one map.
Victory Five +1.5 Maps
$2.39
Astralis Talent vs FURIA Academy
WePlay Academy League Season 1
Astralis and FURIA Academy will clash on Monday, July 19, in the opening round of WePlay Academy League Season 1. Astralis Talent enter the tournament with a 4-3 record from their last seven, which doesn’t look that bad, however, the Danes have managed only five wins in their last 17 fixtures.
FURIA Academy are 8-4 in their last 12, earning them a better form rating. Despite that, the Brazilians are priced as 2.26 underdogs by PickleBet, which underestimates them a bit.
You could argue that Astralis Talent had to face better opponents than FURIA Academy, but that doesn’t mean anything if they weren’t winning. Their only wins in the last three months happened at Dust2.dk Ligaen Season 17: Regular Season, and even there, Astralis Talent finished in seventh place.
We don’t know much about these squads outside of what they have produced against some more-known CS:GO teams, making this a coin-flip match that can quickly end one way or another. That alone is enough for me to pick FURIA Academy at the offered odds, although it’s not hard to bet against a team that hasn’t won anything outside of a few games at a “for fun” tournament.
