The last Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament ahead of the player break is just around the corner, and Michael Lee is back with his esports betting previews and tips for three games on Tuesday, July 5. Today he looks at the opening three matches of IEM Cologne, including Heroic vs Sprout, MOUZ vs paiN Gaming, and Team Spirit vs Complexity.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, July 4th
Heroic vs Sprout
IEM Cologne 2022
The Intel Extreme Masters Cologne will kick off on Tuesday, July 5, at 11:00 local time (CEST) with a clash between Heroic and Sprout, who have yet to meet with their current rosters. We saw the two CS:GO teams face off way back in May 2021 during Flashpoint Season 3, when Heroic smashed Sprout (2-0), but it has been a while since, and the current rosters look much different.
Still, one thing has remained the same – Heroic are still heavy favorites to win, and I find it hard to find any reason to fight with that logic.
Heroic have recently parted ways with Ismail “refrezh” Ali, who got replaced by Jakob “Jabbi” Nygaard from Copenhagen Flames, and I can’t say that Heroic have looked any weaker with the new rifler. With Jabbi, heroic have played six games and have won all but the one where Jabbi made his debut, against Fnatic (14-16).
Since then, Heroic have picked five straight wins and won Pinnacle Cup Championship with a 2-0 sweep of Astralis. With those results, it’s fair to say that Heroic look just as strong as they did before the roster moves.
Sprout are the same Sprout we’re used to seeing. They’re not terrible, but they have no business competing at the top level. They’ll get an upset win here and there, but there are also many games in which Sprout lose against much weaker squads.
There is no reason to doubt Heroic for this match. They’re much stronger as a unit and will face a team that is strugling with defeats against SAW, Movistar Riders, FTW, Eternal Fire, and Bad News Eagles.
Heroic -5.5 Rounds
$1.90 (1 Units)
MOUZ vs paiN Gaming
IEM Cologne 2022
MOUZ are 1.36 favourites for this match, which overestimates them quite a bit. They’re 3-3 across the last six fixtures, with wins against Team Falcons, Movistar Riders, and Imperial and defeats against Ninjas in Pyjamas, ENCE, and Eternal Fire.
PaiN Gaming are 4-2, with defeats against FaZe and Vitality and wins against mythic, Evil Geniuses, and ATK. So form-wise, the teams are pretty equal since they’ve not beaten any noteworthy squads.
I can admit that MOUZ have a higher ceiling, but it’s not like they’re much stronger than paiN currently. The Brazilian squad have achieved some success in May when they won the BLAST Premier Spring American Showdown and have since dropped just five games, granted they have been playing fairly weak squads.
If MOUZ step up, they should win, but this is still a BO1 match, so it’s not entirely unlikely for paiN to surprise them. I would expect paiN to win at least 11 rounds, so over 26.5 total rounds at 1.80 is appealing, but I’m going all-in on paiN at 3.00.
pain gaming to win
$3.00 (1 Unit)
Team Spirit vs Complexity
IEM Cologne 2022
Complexity seem to be hitting new lows week after week, and with their defeat against SINNERS at Elisa Invitational Spring 2022 last week, Complexity have found themselves in a very rough spot. It marked their eighth consecutive defeat, and they’ve managed to win just two of their last 13 official matches.
They had to face some tough teams over that stretch, but their losing streak also includes some humiliating showings, namely a 1-16 defeat against Vitality and 4-16 against MIBR. Moreover, Complexity played a 29-round series against IHC at the Major.
Team Spirit impressed the CS:GO world with their run to the semis at the Antwerp Major, and even though we’ve not seen them achieve much since, this is still a squad that deserves respect. However, Spirit have recently parted ways with their star AWPer Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov and they’ve not won a single series since (0-2).
Without degster, I don’t see Spirit being able to reach the same heights as they had last month, but in regards to this match, I don’t believe it matters. Complexity are in complete shambles, and until they make some major changes, they’re more than capable of losing against anyone.
Team Spirit -3.5 Rounds (2 Units)
$1.80
