Michael Lee is back to kick off the week in esports with a massive article featuring not three but four best bets this Monday, the 12th of April! In this edition, he focuses in on the ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2021 and the ESEA Season 36: Premier Division - Australia for his best bets.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, April 12th
Entropy Gaming vs Sprout
ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2021
Entropy Gaming and Sprout will clash on Monday, April 12, for the first time since March, when Sprout bested their regional rivals 16-3 and 16-6 during the ESL Meisterschaft: Spring season.
Entropy Gaming have struggled to show much improvement since then, winning only six out of 18 games played. Sprout looked better during that stretch and put together a 22-11 record, however, a couple of those losses came against much weaker sides.
Looking back at Sprout's performances at this tournament, they had a fairly easy time beating Esport Rhein-Nektar (16-8, 16-10) last week but showed some cracks at the end of March, when they dropped one map against Sissi State Punks (5-16). Even though Sprout are far from a perfect team, they are clearly a class above everyone at ESL Meisterschaft - including Entropy Gaming.
This match is Sprout's to lose, since they're a much more experienced team that shouldn't be dropping double digits against semi-pro teams such as Entropy. Unless they choke as they did against Sissi State Punks, Sprout should close out the match relatively quickly. I expect Sprout to win with at least double digits to spare.
Unicorns of Love vs Esports Rhein-Nektar
ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2021
Unicorns of Love have already missed the opportunity to catch up with Sprout in Group A, having lost four out of 12 games played (8-4), however, they're still a clear favourite to finish inside the top-three. Esports Rhein-Nektar, on the other side, need to start showing some improvement as they're still one win behind Entropy Gaming in fourth and two wins behind Sissi State Punks in third.
These sides last met during the Spring season of ESL Meisterschaft, when Unicorns of Love won 16-10 and 16-6. They have since looked quite solid, suffering only nine losses in 23 outings. ERN, proved to be far less convincing, having won only five games out of the last 15 (5-10), and are also 1-4 in their last five.
Although ERN deserve some slack for losing against Sprout (8-16, 10-16), their defeats against Team DeftFox (0-2) and LDLC (4-16) last week aren't too convincing.
The esports bookmakers have UoL priced as 1.63 favourites, which is a bit high, considering ERN's poor form. Although a money line bet on the favourites comes off as a solid choice, I feel confident they can cover the 2.5 round handicap with ease.
Unicorns of Love -2.5 Rounds
$1.75
Sissi State Punks vs Touch The Crown
ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2021
Touch The Crown have been struggling to make much noise at the ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2021, having won only two out of 12 games played, with a -41 round differential. Although Sissi State Punks aren't one of the top teams at the tournament either, they've been performing much better and enter this match with a 6-6 record.
These sides last met in early March, when SSP bested Touch The Crown 16-14, 16-13, and 16-14. Even though all three bouts were very close, it's hard to trust Touch the Crown to improve upon that showing, considering they've won only five games out of last 17 (5-12), although they've beaten Unicorns of Love last week (16-12).
Another thing to note here is that SSP managed to defeat Sprout (16-5) just under two weeks ago. While that may seem like a fluke win, SSP are still the only team at the tournament to defeat Sprout.
PickleBet has Touch the Crown priced as the favourites, which doesn't seem right. Even though they have shown some improvement of late, they aren't stronger than SSP, who have been playing well this tournament.
Paradox Esports vs Vertex Esports Club
ESEA Season 36: Premier Division - Australia
Paradox Esports are priced as big favourites for this match, which does not surprise me considering Vertex Esports Club will be playing with a stand-in Liam "smooth_criminal22" Eddington. However, the odds offered on vertex are still way too high for a match like this.
Vertex ended the group stage with a 7-1 record and 207-158 map differential. The only team that beat them were ORDER, who are one of the strongest Oceanic CS:GO teams, so I wouldn't panic too much about that loss. Paradox, on the other side, managed a perfect 6-0 record with 191-126 record in their group, but they haven't faced any strong sides so their record is a bit misleading.
Paradox also dropped maps against Dire Wolves, Chiefs Esports Club and R!OT Gaming, which makes you wonder why are they priced as 1.31 favourites against Vertex. Especially considering Vertex already beat Paradox before.
Although Vertex lost against a couple of no-name teams like Exsto and Anima Squad not too long ago, they have proven before they can compete with any team from the region. Vertex have looked solid enough through ESEA regular season for me to believe they can win at least one map and force a close series.
