Our esports tipster Michael Lee is back with his betting previews and predictions for ESL Pro League Season 18. Today, he looks at the opening three games of Group D, including Cloud9 vs Eternal Fire, Complexity vs 9INE, and Team Liquid vs Virtus.pro, who will meet on Wednesday, September 20.
Check out our expert previews and betting tips below, and make sure to head over to Picklebet – Australia’s #1 esports betting site.
Esports Betting Tips: Wednesday, September 20th 2023
Cloud9 vs Eternal Fire
ESL Pro League Season 18
Cloud9 and Eternal Fire will open up ESL Pro League Season 18 Group D with their first meeting since BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B, when Cloud9 won 19-16. Both teams fielded different lineups at the time, so that result doesn’t mean much, yet Cloud9 are priced as favourites to defeat EF again.
Cloud9 rebuilt its roster a couple of months back, forming a very strong CIS lineup that has the potential to emerge as one of the best teams in the world. They’ve yet to reach that potential and have not shown much throughout August.
With the new roster, Cloud9 finished top six at IEM Cologne 2023 and the top-eight at Gamers8 2023, which aren’t the most spectacular results. But even though C9 haven’t won anything yet, it’s tough to doubt this team’s quality and what they can accomplish.
Eternal Fire haven’t changed much since early into the season, and their performances have remained mostly the same throughout the year. They are highly competitive team in lower-tier tournaments but have never won anything noteworthy in bigger events.
So even though Eternal Fire are a good team, they don’t have the talent to compete against top teams, which leaves me very concerned about their chances to defeat Cloud9 even though Cloud9 have yet to find their true form.
Cloud9 -1.5 Maps
$2.10 (1 Unit)
Complexity vs 9INE
ESL Pro League Season 18
Complexity and 9INE should produce a very interesting match between one of NA’s top CS:GO teams and a very solid European tier-two squad. Yet while their statues might seem like Complexity should be favoured, they’re not.
Priced at 2.62, Complexity are expected to struggle against 9INE, and that is not too surprising. Complexity might be the current top-rated North American CS:GO team, but that means very little, considering how weak the region is. 9INE, on the other side, are ranked no.17 in Europe, which is far from great, but still far more valuable than Complexity’s standings.
We don’t have to look far to confirm that 9INE are the better team. 9INE performed reasonably well at IEM Cologne 2023, and they have played a few good games against some of Europe’s top teams. Complexity have also attended IEM Cologne 2023 but looked far worse and haven’t played a single solid game against a good European squad recently.
I have no doubt that 9INE are stronger than Complexity, but looking at the offered betting odds, taking over 2.5 maps is a smarter choice. 9INE, although stronger, are not the most consistent team, and they arguably aren’t that much stronger to justify the offered betting odds.
Over 2.5 Maps
$1.90 (1 Unit)
Team Liquid vs Virtus.pro
ESL Pro League Season 18
Team Liquid are 3.00 underdogs to defeat Virtus.pro on Wednesday, which is a very generous offer. We can’t hide from the truth that Team Liquid haven’t looked great over the last two months, and their 1-5 record doesn’t look great either, but Virtus.pro haven’t looked much better.
Across their last eight games, Team Liquid have beaten FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, and BIG and lost against FaZe Clan, twice against Astralis, 9INE, and ENCE. Virtus.pro are 4-2 over the same stretch, but their only notable win came against FaZe Clan – the other three against CYBERSHOKE, Aurora, and 1win.
Virtus.pro might have a better win rate, but they didn’t have to play any good teams so it’s tough to say that they’re in a much better spot than Team Liquid. On one side, Team Liquid are evidently struggling but even in the position they’re now in, Team Liquid can win this game.
VP are the type of a team you can’t underestimate as underdogs, but I would have to see way more from them to consider them 1.36 favourites against Team Liquid.
Team Liquid to win
$3 (1 Unit)
