The action in the CS:GO IEM New York continues this Thursday night and into Friday morning and as usual, Michael Lee is back to preview some of the key matchups and give his best bets in the world of esports below.
Esports Betting Tips: Thursday, October 8th
Complexity vs Vitality
IEM New York 2020 Europe
Complexity and Vitality last met one month ago during the ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe where Complexity secured a comfortable 2-0 win with 16-10 on Nuke and 16-11 on Vertigo. As the score would suggest, Complexity were by far the better side that day and deserved to claim the W.
Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke and Benjamin "blameF" Bremer were the best-performing players for Complexity with 1.48 and 1.38 HLTV rating respectively, while Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut did his best to help Vitality with 43 frags and 1.10 HLTV rating. At this point it's worth noting that Complexity were at the time still playing with Owen "oBo" Schlatter who left the team and took with him a lot of firepower which made Complexity so strong.
As oBo's replacement Complexity acquired Niels-Christian "NaToSaphiX" Sillassen who is not at the level of his predecessor. The Dane has severely underperformed in all games he has played for Complexity and averaged a disastrous 0.89 HLTV rating.
Vitality are entering this match as favourites which I don't have a problem with considering Complexity's obvious struggles. Having said that, Vitality did not impress me with what they have been showing lately either, especially in their bout against Fnatic.
Despite Complexity's worse overall performances, k0nfig and blameF are still playing surprisingly well and if they can continue showing the same form, Complexity should at least steal one map off the French squad. Bet on Over 2.50 Maps!
OG vs FaZe
IEM New York 2020 Europe
FaZe came out ahead the last time they met with OG with a fairly convincing 2-0 sweep during the ESL Pro League Season 11 Europe. Håvard "rain" Nygaard and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač shone the brightest that day and produced surprisingly high 1.35 and 1.34 HLTV ratings respectively.
On the side of OG, Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski and Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså were the only two players who had decent performances, both ending the series with 1.15 HLTV rating. Their teammates, however, all failed to break the 1.00 line.
The most recent meeting between FaZe and OG took place way back in April, when FaZe were still playing with Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer who was considered as a "dead weight" and was after two roster swaps permanently replaced by Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye, who in all honesty is not much of an improvement.
I would consider OG a better team largely due to their superior tactical prowess, but they historically struggle against FaZe and teams of similar quality, so there is no real reason to have them priced at such low odds. Sure, FaZe are not in the best shape, but they have managed three consecutive wins against the likes of Heroic, Complexity and Ninjas in Pyjamas which suggests they are well prepared to hand OG another L. Bet on FaZe to win!
100 Thieves vs Chaos Esports Club
IEM New York 2020 North America
The last time we saw 100 Thieves and Chaos Esports Club on the same battlefield was about one month ago when 100T humiliated Chaos with 16-5 on Dust2 and 16-3 on Nuke, largely thanks to Justin "jks" Savage, who had a phenomenal performance and put up 40 frags and 1.65 HLTV rating. Chaos players all underperformed, seeing how their best player Edgar "MarKE" Maldonado managed only 21 frags and 0.84 HLTV rating.
Despite their poor performance against 100T, Chaos held on surprisingly well considering they have not long ago lost their in-game leader. They put up good performances against some much stronger sides and even picked up a few big scalps with wins against FURIA, Cloud9, Gen.G and other teams of similar calibre.
Chaos also managed to win 73.1% of their games in the last three months and considering they mostly played against the best teams in the region, their record is quite impressive. While I don't have a problem seeing 100T priced as the favourites, the Australian squad have not been looking too good in the online era of CS.
Quality-wise, 100 Thieves are much stronger, but since they're clearly struggling, while Chaos Esports Club seem to be on a steady upward trajectory, this match definitely has the potential to see an upset win. Bet on Chaos to win!
