Another night, another round of esports betting tips coming at you from our gaming expert Michael Lee! This Tuesday night, he focuses in on the CS:GO Nine to Five tournmanet for his top two bets before heading to the Eden Arena Malta Vibes Cup.
Esports Betting Tips: Tuesday, July 14th
Hard Legion vs AVEZ
Nine to Five 1
Hard Legion won only two games out of last five played and are coming into this match with a 2-3 record. They defeated Sprout and forZe, but lost to CR4ZY, Nemiga and FATE. Even though a 40% win rate across the last five does not look all too promising, all three losses were a bit unlucky, since HL looked like the better team and arguably should have won all three.
Most recently, Hard Legion also finished second at the Hellcase Cup 8, where they lost only to Sprout and later against Nemiga in the grand finals, where Hard Legion were once again unlucky not to win the series.
AVEZ, on the other side, are 4-1 from their last five. They lost only to Endpoint, but had no issues taking down FATE, Wisla Krakow and twice CR4ZY. Even though AVEZ are in better form compared to Hard Legion, I would not rank their 4-1 run too highly, since they faced weaker teams compared to their next opponents.
I can't agree with the high betting odds offered on Hard Legion and I don't understand why they are priced as the underdogs. Sure, AVEZ have won more games lately, but they are nowhere near as strong as the odds would lead us to believe. This match can end either way, which makes Hard Legion a great value bet!
Secret vs AGF
Nine to Five 1
Secret lost only one game in their last five against Nordavind, while they managed to pick up wins against LDLC, sAw, Tikitakan and AGO. From what I have seen from this team, Secret are looking quite solid and their 58% win rate across the past three months only further proves that. On a negative side, I'm not too impressed with their recent roster changes and I would not be surprised if those changes contribute to Secret's downfall or at least some sort of a slump in results.
AGF, on the other side, managed a slightly worse 3-2 record in their last five. They lost to HellRaisers and forZe, but defeated CR4ZY, lvlUP and WIsla Krakow. Their only defeat at the Nine to Five 1 came at the hands of sAw in the opening match, but AGF have since won four in a row, so it's fair to say they will be entering this match with high morale.
Secret recently lost Flatron "juanflatroo" Halimi and Filip "tudsoN" Tudev, who they replaced with Danni "smF" Dyg and Haakon "Radifaction" Tholo, the latter of who is a temporary stand-in. Looking at those roster moves, they don't inspire much confidence and it makes me wonder whether Secret should really be priced as the favourites.
Secret have not beaten any team worth mentioning in a while which proves they are nothing special and while something similar can be said about AGF as well, betting on the underdogs here is worth a shot. Secret tend to rely too much on Anarkez to carry them and if he has an off-day, I'm confident saying AGF will be bringing this one home with ease. Value bet on AGF!
FATE vs Budapest Five
Eden Arena Malta Vibes Cup 3
Budapest Five, previously known as Salamander Gaming, have made only one roster move recently when they signed Levente "fleav" Fodor from Tenerife Titans and appointed Viktor "flash" Tamás as their new head coach. Form-wise, B5 won only two games out of last five played, which is somewhat disappointing, but they at least defeated LDLC and Illuminar which are decent results in my book.
FATE somehow managed to produce even worse form compared to B5, by winning only one game out of the last five played. They defeated only Hard Legion but lost to teams of questionable quality such as AVEZ and Illuminar, as well as twice against CR4ZY.
FATE and B5 met about one month ago in the Group B elimination match of CybetBet Summer Cup 2020, where FATE won 2-0. Despite what the final result would lead you to believe, the match was very close, since map one went into OT, whereas B5 managed double digits on the second map.
Looking at the odds, I have no issues seeing FATE priced as the favourites, but considering how close their recent bout with B5 was and the fact that Budapest Five have improved their roster since then we can expect an even closer match this time out. Furthermore, FATE are in a terrible form, so I would not be surprised to see B5 edge out a win. Bet on Budapest Five to get their revenge!
