Another night of esports betting tips coming up this Tuesday, the 27th of April! Our gaming expert Michael Lee is on the case with a full preview and betting tips for some of his favourite matchups of the night across the Flashpoint Season 3: Closed Qualifiers.
Esports Betting Tips: Tuesday, April 27th
Sprout vs SKADE
Flashpoint Season 3: Closed Qualifiers
Sprout and SKADE will clash on Tuesday, April 27 in the first round of Flashpoint Season 3 closed qualifiers. These sides last met way back in May 2020, when Sprout won 19-17 and once before in April when Sprout swept SKADE 2-0.
I would not put too much thought into those results and I wouldn't even take them into account for this prediction. That is because both sides have made several roster changes since then and now field entirely different rosters.
SKADE now field three new players in Viktor "duplicate" Mitev, Blagoi "Oxygen" Dimitrov, and Georgi "SHiPZ" Grigorov. Sprout, on the other side signed Can "kyuubii" Kamber, Marko "kressy" Đorđević, and Fritz "slaxz" Dietrich to join their core and form a six-man roster.
The bookmakers have SKADE priced as 1.49 favourites, which doesn't seem right to me. Although this squad enjoyed a very long winning streak, they enter this match off a 1-2 loss against FunPlus Phoenix which doesn't look too good.
And it’s not necessarily because SKADE's win streak got broken in half that I’m not too excited about them, but mainly because I don't view FPX as a very strong team. Sprout, on the other side, have been struggling a bit of late (3-2), but they field better players and are severely underrated at the offered odds. Value with Sprout!
ENCE vs Anonymo Esports
Flashpoint Season 3: Closed Qualifiers
ENCE are a far more established team and arguably field a much more stacked roster than Anonymo Esports. That, however, doesn't convince me we are in for a one-sided match.
ENCE enter this bout with a 3-3 record in their last six. That run includes wins against Tricked Esports (2-0) and two victories against Double Poney (2-0 and 2-1), as well as losses against Nordavind (0-2), Young Ninjas (9-16), and SKADE (0-2).
Even before that run, ENCE haven't exactly impressed me. They're 4-5 since the start of the month, with a 17-19 loss against an amateur team Entropiq. Results like that lead me to believe ENCE might not be very stable.
Anonymo Esports are a team you could easily describe as a team that is nothing special. They field decent players, but none is a standout star, so you shouldn't expect this squad to achieve too much.
That said, Anonymo have at least looked far more stable and consistent in their recent fixtures. They're 7-1 in their last eight, with their sole loss coming from the in-form SKADE (1-2).
Outside of that, Anonymo demolished the likes of Poney (2-0), OFFSET (2-0), Galaxy Racer (16-11), Endpoint (2-0), Unicorns of Love (16-5), and RedFear Esports (16-5).
ENCE seem like the most likely victors because of their individual quality, but I don't expect them to have an easy time on Tuesday. Anonymo are in good form and should at very least keep this match close.
Movistar Riders vs AGO
Flashpoint Season 3: Closed Qualifiers
As a qualifying tournament for Flashpoint, you won't be seeing any top-tier teams and even looking at these two, neither is exactly a team you will see competing at the highest level of CS:GO scene. That said, Movistar Riders have a significant edge over AGO and likely over any other team at this tournament - simply because of one player.
Movistar Riders' AWPer Owen "smooya" Butterfield is widely regarded as a Tier-1 player that is - shockingly enough - playing for Tier-2 and Tier-3 teams. And it was not his poor performances that led him to this point, but rather his toxicity that prevented him from playing for a top-tier team.
Regardless, he is still one of the best AWP players in the scene. Since joining Movistar Riders in February 2020, smooya has averaged a 1.22 rating and is generally a very consistent player, with a 1.19 career average.
What's more, he has been showing solid form of late, averaging a positive (+1.00) rating for seven consecutive maps. That includes a 1.92 and 1.64 in a 2-0 win against OFFSET on Thursday.
And it's not like smooya is the only good player on Movistar. The team as a whole have been playing very well for the past month, posting a 17-4 record since the start of April. AGO have managed a 5-8 record in the same stretch.
Even without smooya on the team, I would lean more towards Movistar over AGO, so it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out what my prediction for this match is.
