Michael Lee is back with his esports betting predictions for two Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ESL Challenger League Season 42 Europe matches and one VALORANT Champions 2022 fixture. Today he looks at Bad news Eagles vs Team Falcons, Ungentium vs ECSTATIC and DRX vs Fnatic, who will meet on Tuesday, September 13.
Esports Betting Tips: Tuesday 13th September
Bad News Eagles vs Team Falcons
ESL Challenger League Season 42 Europe
Bad News Eagles won the first match of ESL Challenger League Season 42 Europe group stage when they beat Ungentium 2-0. They’ve since played just one game in Elisa Invitational 2022 Fall, where they won against Dynamo Eclot with 2-1.
By beating Dynamo Eclot, Bad News Eagles now hold a three-game winning streak, but I wouldn’t praise them too much for it. Over the three games they’ve only beaten three very weak teams, and we’ve seen them struggle against Dynamo Eclot on Monday, which isn’t a good look for them.
Team Falcons have also won their first match of ESL Challenger League Season 42 Europe but needed three maps to make it past ECSTATIC (2-1) after losing on Nuke with 13-16. The French squad have since played just two more games against 1win (0-2) and ADEPTS (2-0), which is neither terrible nor very impressive.
Team Falcons and Bad News Eagles are both talented rosters, but their recent results are as shaky as they can get. There is no reason to favour one team over the other, and unless one of the squads finds some stability ahead of this match, we should be in for a very scrappy affair that can easily reach the third map.
Over 2.5 maps
$1.83 (1 Unit)
Ungentium vs ECSTATIC
ESL Challenger League Season 42 Europe
Ungentium and ECSTATIC have both lost their group stage openers against Bad News Eagles (0-2) and Team Falcons (1-2). However, neither were expected to win their bouts, so I can’t complain about Ungentium and ECSTATIC’s lack of success.
Since that defeat, ECSTATIC have played four games against Fnatic Rising (8-16), Astralis Talent (16-8), B8 (19-17), and NASR (12-16) and even though they have won half of the games, beating Astralis Talent and B8 is not very impressive.
Ungentium, on the other side, have not played a single game since their loss to Bad News Eagles and are 2-3 since the turn of the month with wins against Arka (16-14) and M1 (16-10). However, those are tier-three teams.
There is no clear winner in this contest, and even though ECSTATIC looks better at first glance, I haven’t seen enough from them to consider them the favourites. This should be another open affair that can easily go the distance.
Over 2.5 maps
$1.83 (1 Unit)
Fnatic vs DRX
VALORANT Champions 2022
Fnatic and DRX will meet on Tuesday, September 13, in the VALORANT Champions lower bracket quarterfinals for a spot in the semi-finals and one last shot at the title. DRX and Fnatic qualified for the VALORANT Champions via Group D, but they haven’t met once.
DRX finished the group stage in first place with a 2-0 record and victories against FURIA (2-0) and 100 Thieves 2-0). Fnatic had to settle for a runner-up finish after dropping their first series against 100 Thieves (1-2), but found momentum and secured back-to-back wins against FURIA (2-1) and 100 Thieves (2-0) to reach the final eight.
But despite their success in the group stage, DRX and Fnatic both quickly fell out of the upper bracket. DRX did make it further, though, having beaten FunPlus Phoenix (2-0) in the first round, only to fall against LOUD (0-2) in the semi-finals.
On the other side, Fnatic lost their playoffs opener against XSET (0-2) but bounced back with a dominant showing against Team Liquid, who they defeated 13-6, 13-7 on Sunday.
Based on how many games the teams have won, DRX look better, but we have to remember that Fnatic were one of the main favourites to win the trophy before the tournament began. And the only reason they lost that tag is their shaky showings in the group stage.
Still, as we’ve seen many times before, Fnatic need some time to warm up, and once they find their form, they can be very tough to stop. Whether Fnatic have reached their optimal form remains to be seen, but their dominant victory against Team Liquid surely suggests that Fnatic are ready to attack the title from the lower bracket.
Fnatic to win
$2.25 (1 Unit)
