Our Esports betting guru Michael Lee is back for his best bets from around the Esports world for Thursday, January 14th. Today, we head to the LCK 2021 Spring, as well as the LPL 2021 Spring.
ESports Betting Tips: Thursday, January 14th
Nongshim RedForce vs Liiv SANDBOX
LCK 2021 Spring
Nongshim RedForce (formerly Team Dynamics) will meet with Liiv SANDBOX in their LCK 2021 Spring debut in what promises to be an exciting battle between two main contenders for a sixth-place finish and the final ticket leading into the playoffs.
Since there is a massive gap between the top-five teams and the rest of the league, the bottom five teams will have to do their best to secure as many wins as possible by the end of the split, making this match an extremely important to win for both sides.
Comparing Liiv SANDBOX to RedForce, there is really not a lot to set them apart. RedForce definitely look stronger after the rebrand with jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho, mid laner Park “Bay” Jun-byeong and support Kim “Kellin” Hyeong-gyu, but it's hard to look past SANDBOX, who looked fairly solid towards the end of the 2020 LCK Summer and have also acquired ex-T1 support Lee “Effort” Sang-ho to bolster their squad for the 2021 season.
RedForce have recently made it to the finals of KeSPA Cup, which explains the shorter odds, but success at KeSPA rarely translates to LCK. SANDBOX have the tools to win this match and at 2.50, they're a great bet.
Afreeca Freecs vs DRX
LCK 2021 Spring
After fielding one of the best rosters in the world, DRX more or less started from scratch in 2021 by acquiring three rookies who will play alongside jungler Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon as the only remaining player of DRX's old roster. ADC Jeong “BAO” Hyeon-woo, support Son “Becca” Min-woo and mid laner Song “SOLKA” Su-hyeong have all been promoted from DRX's academy roster, leaving top laner Hwang “Kingen” Seong-hoon as the only player with LCK experience besides Pyosik.
Afreeca Freecs, meanwhile, freshened up their roster around their top laner Kim “Kiin” Gi-in. The most exciting change, however, is their new bottom lane where they now field Bae “Bang” Jun-sik and arguably one of the best supports in the world Son “Lehends” Si-woo.
Bang is the only big question mark on the team, considering he has spent the last two years in the LCS, but even he will slowly find his old form, which should help Afreeca grab a playoffs spot.
While I don't believe AF are capable of great things this season, they're clearly much better than DRX, who simply lack quality to compare to most of the league. I am ready for DRX to prove me wrong, but until we see how these young players perform on stage, AF are a much safer bet.
JD Gaming vs Bilibili Gaming
LPL 2021 Spring
JD Gaming started their LPL 2021 Spring campaign with a 0-2 loss against Invictus Gaming which is not all that exciting, even though they were unfortunate enough to play their first game against such a strong opponent. That, however, hardly justifies their loss given that JD Gaming are widely regarded as one of the best teams in the league, but then again, we are in the opening stages of the season, where upset wins are fairly common.
Bilibili Gaming, on the other side, secured their first win of the season on Monday when they edged past eStar (2-1). Although winning with a slim margin against eStar is not what you could call great, Bilibili still seem like a team that is capable of much more than what they lead many to believe.
During the offseason, Bilibili Gaming massively powered up thier bottom lane, which effectively fixed their biggest problem from last season. Replacing Chu "FoFo" Chun-Lan is a downgrade quality-wise, but it should improve the team's chemistry.
Bilibili players have massive ceilings and while a lot will have to go right for them to reach for the stars, they definitely have the needed quality to cause some damage to JD Gaming, who were anything but convincing in their season opener.
Bilibili Gaming +1.5 Maps
$1.60
