We're back with your daily dose of esports action with our best bets from the CS:GO and DOTA2 platforms for Sunday evening and into Monday morning!
Esports Betting Tips: Sunday, April 26th
Team Nigma vs Team Liquid
WePlay! Pushka League Season 1: Division 1
Emotions will be running high as Team Liquid clashes with their former roster who left the North American organisation to play under Team Nigma banner. Quality-wise, there is no denying Nigma are the superior team, but there is one thing these two teams have in common - inconsistency. Solely looking at Nigma's individual quality, this should be a team who could and should contest for the TI title, but based on their recent showings, it seems unlikely they will even make it to the latter stages of The International if they don't find some stability. Team Liquid, on the other side, have put up some humiliating performances during ESL One Los Angeles 2020 - Online: Europe & CIS, where they lost to Team Unique (1-2), Team Spirit (1-2) and Chicken Fighters (1-2).
Nigma and Liquid met three times before, with Liquid winning their first bout at StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 Europe Qualifier (2-0) and Nigma getting their revenge in the reverse fixture (2-0) and most recently at WeSave! Charity Play (3-1).
The head-to-head record suggests Nigma should come out ahead with relative ease, but this match seems more like a 50/50 to me. As mentioned, Nigma struggle with their consistency and considering this will be their first match since they lost to Chicken Fighters (1-2) at ESL One Los Angeles 2020 - Online: Europe & CIS, I have a hard time believing they can pull out a clean sweep. Team Liquid should be capable of winning at least one map, but I still don't expect them to sweep Nigma.
Value: Nigma win 2:1 Correct Score ($3.05 at Picklebet)
Team Secret vs OG.seed
WePlay! Pushka League Season 1: Division 1
Although OG.Seed are not a bad team, they can hardly stack up with Team Secret, who have been dominating the DPC scene for the last two years. It's worth noting that OG.seed have put up some solid results lately, namely their wins over Chicken Fighters and Vikin.gg, although they failed to impress with their 1-2 loss to NiP in their opening match of the tournament.
Team Secret are priced at $1.51 on a -1.5 map handicap which seems fair and while it might be tempting to side with OG.Seed to win at least one map, Secret looked too solid in their win over Alliance for me to believe they will stumble and fall here.
Team Secret -1.5 maps
$1.51
Movistar Riders vs c0ntact
ESL One Road to Rio – Europe
Movistar Riders and c0ntact met three times before, with Movistar picking up two wins at ESEA MDL (16-14 and 16-10), while c0ntact (playing under CR4ZY) hit back with a commanding 16-8 win at the DreamHack Open Sevilla in December. I would not put too much emphasis on those results, however, as Movistar and c0ntact played with different rosters compared to what they field now.
The main factor to consider here is that c0ntact are still playing with their head coach instead of a "real player", which is not optimal. While they might get away with it when they play against weaker teams, having such a disadvantage won't do them any good against the likes of Movistar, who are coming into this match high on morale, following a 2-0 win against mousesports. Bet on Movistar Riders to continue their run.
Movistar Riders to win
$2.02
North vs mousesports
ESL One Road to Rio – Europe
The last time North and mousesports met on the battlefield was back at StarSeries i-League Season 8 in October, when we saw North produce an upset 2-1 win. It's also worth noting, that back then North still played with their old IGL, Jakob "JUGi" Hansen. He has been since replaced by Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen, who is definitely an upgrade for this squad, so it's fair to say North look stronger as they did back in October.
Mousesports are entering this match following a humiliating 0-2 loss against Movistar Riders in the opening match of ESL One Road to Rio – Europe, which is concerning, to say the least. Having said that, this is still an online tournament, so upset results like that are bound to happen to any team. North, on the other hand lost their opening match to FaZe (1-2), although it was a relatively close bout, so they deserve some praise for going toe-to-toe with the surging FaZe.
Based on what we have seen so far from these two sides, a close and exciting bout is on the cards and while North might struggle to seal the series, they will surely fancy their chances to take one map off a team that got stomped by Movistar Riders. Bet on North to win at least one map.
