It's time for our Esports betting tips for Thursday, March 11th. Today, our Esports guru Michael Lee takes us to the ESL Pro League Season 13 tournament where he has plucked out three of his best bets for the day. Check out his thoughts below!
Esports Betting Tips: Thursday, March 11th
OG vs Heroic
ESL Pro League Season 13
OG and Heroic last met at the start of the year, during cs_summit 7, where Heroic won 2-0 (16-12 on Nuke and 16-10 on Inferno). Despite what the scores would suggest, the match was very one-sided throughout, seeing how Heroic built a sizable HT lead on both maps (10-5 on Nuke and 12-3 at Inferno).
Nikolaj "niko" Kristensen, who now plays for OG, was the best player on Heroic with 46 frags and 1.26 HLTV rating, while IGL Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen emerged as the best player on OG with 39 frags and 1.22 HLTV racing. I wouldn’t take too much from that match as it was played at an event that is known to be taken lightly, on top of the fact that Heroic no longer field two players they had back then.
One thing to take away from OG and their recent showings is that they clearly have some issues closing out close series, and since I expect a close match on Thursday, I have to favour Heroic slightly more. They have pleasantly surprised me with their roster changes and against a disorganised side such as OG, they should be gunning for a W.
OG can still be a dangerous opponent if you don't take them seriously as they have enough firepower to take a map off almost anyone, but as noted before, Map 3 should almost always end in the hands of OG's opponents. Heroic take this one 2-1!
BIG vs FunPlus Phoenix
ESL Pro League Season 13
BIG and FunPlus Phoenix (then GODSENT) last met way back in October 2020, during DreamHack Open Fall 2020, when BIG won 2-1. GODSENT took the series lead with a 19-17 win on Mirage but fell apart on Overpass, which fell in hands of BIG with 16-12. The last map was incredibly close and could have gone either way, but it was BIG who pulled ahead with an OT 19-15 win on Inferno.
Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş was doing most of the heavy lifting for BIG with 99 frags and 1.47 HLTV rating, while Pavle "Maden" Bošković tried his best to save GODSENT with 79 frags and 1.20 HLTV rating.
I'm not sure what's going on with BIG, who aren't playing as well as they have just a few weeks back, and I would even go so far as to say that what they're showing recently is not up to the standards of what you would expect from such a stacked roster. BIG were a joy to watch a couple of weeks ago, but after their disappointing run at IEM Katowice, something changed and they simply aren't the same team they once were.
FunPlus Phoenix are nothing special, but with the amount of firepower they have, FPX should give the Germans a hard time. BIG are a good team on paper, but on the battlefield, they're mediocre at most. Value bet on FunPlus Phoenix!
Renegades vs Complexity
ESL Pro League Season 13
Complexity are finally looking like their old selves from 2020, when they dominated the scene and were quite enjoyable to watch. It may be too early to say, but Complexity seem like proper tournament contenders, whereas Renegades are not even a team that will make out of groups.
Upsets are fairly common in online CS, but I'm giving Renegades zero to no chance of winning on Thursday. Complexity have more firepower and are also far more tactically sound, effectively meaning Renegades need a miracle to walk away with something.
The Aussies have failed to win a single map against way worse opponents than Complexity this tournament and I don't see a valid reason why they would start winning maps against one of the best European teams now. They only thing that works in Renegades' favour is the fact that they're playing without any pressure since no one expects them to win, but the same argument could have been made for all of their previous matches - which they lost 0-2. Complexity should win this one with eyes closed!
Complexity -1.5 Maps
$1.68
