Big night of esports coming up this Thursday night and into Friday morning with a variety of different events on the card! Today we take a look at some of the key matchups from the FLASHPOINT 2 as well as the IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe.
ESports Betting Tips: Thursday, November 19th
Fnatic vs Dignitas
FLASHPOINT 2
The last time these two sides met was in June during the BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Europe Showdown, where Fnatic won 16-9 on Dust2. Results from BO1 series, however, don't mean much, so we have to take a look at the most recent BO3 series which took place way back in April with Dignitas winning 2-1.
Fnatic took the series lead with 19-17 on Train and came extremely close to sealing the series 2-0. Unfortunately, they fell apart and suffered a devastating 22-25 overtime defeat on Overpass and 14-16 on Dust2.
Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund and Adam "friberg" Friberg were leading the charge for Dignitas with 1.14 and 1.13 HLTV rating respectively and played a crucial role in the upset win. On the side of Fnatic, Robin "flusha" Rönnquist was the only individual with a solid performance (88 frags and 1.19 HLTV rating).
A lot has changed since that bout, namely in Dignitas, who have made several roster changes. Halvor "vENdetta" Gulestøl was promoted to head coach after Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson transitioned to a more managerial role, while Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund and Richard "Xizt" Landström both got benched in favour of Haris "H4RR3" Hadžić from Nordavind and Ludvig "HEAP" Alonso from Begrip Gaming.
Dignitas' new roster played only four games so far and managed only one win against c0ntact. They had to admit defeat to HAVU, MAD Lions and Lyngby Vikings where they had to field their coach as a stand-in.
Even though I don't expect much from Dignitas who did not look too good in their recent matches, I am not too confident about Fnatic either. This will likely turn out to be a classic Swedish derby, where no team will have an easy time winning. Value bet on Dignitas to win one map!
FaZe Clan vs G2 Esports
IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe
The last time FaZe Clan clashed with G2 Esports was about a month ago in a ninth-12th place decider match at the DreamHack Open: Fall 2020 where FaZe took the W with 2-1. At the time FaZe were still playing with Nikola "NiKo" Kovač, who had an impressive performance and ended the series with 80 frags and 1.64 HLTV. On the side of G2, it was his cousin Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač, who shone the brightest with 53 frags and 1.06 HLTV rating.
NiKo has since left FaZe and teamed up with G2 Esports and considering he was a key member of FaZe, the previous results between these two teams don't tell us much about how this one will play out. With the arrival of NiKo, G2 now have a lot more firepower under their hood, but the same holds true the other way around with Helvijs "broky" Saukants and Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye both improving their performance since the departure of NiKo.
FaZe will enter this match hungry to defeat their former captain and since they're in great form, I would not be comfortable betting against them. This will likely turn out to be a great and entertaining match that should go the distance. Bet on over 2.5 maps!
Astralis vs Natus Vincere
IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe
Natus Vincere will seek revenge for their 2-3 loss at the ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe Grand Finals against Astralis this Thursday when the two CS:GO juggernauts will meet in the quarter-finals of IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe.
Looking back at ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe Grand Finals, NaVi were entering the match with a map advantage and even took a 2-0 series lead with 16-12 win on Dust2, however, they were unable to close the deal. After finding themselves two maps down, Astralis shifted into a higher gear and reverse-swept NaVi with 16-14 on Nuke, 22-19 on Train and 16-11 on Overpass to produce an incredible comeback victory.
Much of Astralis' amazing performance that day was due to Nicolai "device" Reedtz who ended the series with 91 frags and 1.13 HLTV rating, however, his teammates were not too far behind. The only player on Astralis who had a negative rating was IGL Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander. On the side of NaVi, only Denis "electronic" Sharipov and Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev stepped up but even their 1.19 and 1.15 HLTV ratings were not enough to carry their team to victory.
Astralis are in great form and have lost only one match (against G2 Esports) in the last five so I don't see a problem with bookmakers pricing them at around 1.50. Even though NaVi are not a bad team, they have recently lost to OG and Complexity and only managed to defeat Spirit, MAD Lions and Ninjas in Pyjamas which does not convince me in their ability to upset the Danes.
Like most previous fixtures, this one should be a close one, but if I had to pick a side, you can't go wrong with Astralis. Bet on Astralis to win 2-1!
Value: Astralis 2-1 ($3.05)
