by ESL Pro League Season 18 continues on Wednesday, September 20, with the opening games of Group D. Check out our betting predictions for Team Liquid vs Virtus.pro, Cloud9 vs Eternal Fire, and Complexity vs 9INE, with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting odds courtesy of BetOnline.
TEAM LIQUID vs VIRTUS.PRO CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | TL +275 at BetOnline | VP -400 at BetOnline |
| When: | September 20, 2023 | 16:00 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/ESLCS) |
Over the three tournaments Team Liquid have attended since July, they’ve not placed higher than the top nine, and they’re 1-5 from their last five ahead of ESL Pro League Season 18. Over that stretch, Team Liquid have only beaten BIG (2-1) and lost against Astralis (twice), FaZe Clan, 9INE, and ENCE.
Virtus.pro are 4-2 over the same period; however, they’ve had the luxury of playing weaker teams, and still they slipped against Team Spirit (1-2) and dropped maps against Aurora (2-1) and 1win (2-1).
It’s fair to feel concerned about Team Liquid, but it’s not like Virtus.pro have shown much more. Virtus.pro will probably win, but if the series includes Ancient or Vertigo, Liquid should be good for at least one map.
Virtus.pro 2-1
CLOUD9 vs ETERNAL FIRE CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | C9 -357.14 at BetOnline | EF +250 at BetOnline |
| When: | September 20, 2023 | 19:30 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/ESLCS) |
Eternal Fire have fallen off since April, but they enjoyed some success last month when they finished Pinnacle Cup V, CCT Central Europe Series #7, and Dunav Party LAN inside the top eight. However, even that doesn’t count for much since Eternal Fire haven’t played against a single notable team.
This will mark a rematch between Cloud9 and Eternal Fire from Sunday’s RES Eastern European Masters Fall 2023 semifinal clash, where Cloud9 won 16-8, 8-16, 16-13. We can expect another C9 victory on Wednesday; however, considering Eternal Fire are much more efficient on four of seven maps in the rotation, it seems highly likely that we’ll see another three-map series.
Cloud9 are still a bit shaky on their feet, so an upset is not entirely out of the question, but we’ll tame our expectations and take the underdogs with a map advantage.
Eternal Fire +1.5 maps
COMPLEXITY vs 9INE CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Complexity +162 at BetOnline | 9INE -227.27 at BetOnline |
| When: | September 20, 2023 | 19:30 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/ESLCS) |
Complexity have not accomplished anything on the international stage this season and looked very disappointing at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 (10th-12th) and Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 (21st-24th) in July.
Since then, Complexity have won the Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023: North American Qualifier and Thunderpick World Championship 2023: North American Series #2. But that’s hardly something to write home about, given the quality of the opponents they faced.
9INE aren’t in a great spot either, but they won RES Western European Masters Fall 2023 last week and are 3-1 from their last four. The Poles also had their moments at IEM Cologne 2023, where they played close games against some of Europe’s elite teams.
9INE should win, but they’re not the most consistent team, and considering they don’t perform well on Anubis, Nuke, and Inferno, we like our chances with over 2.5 maps.
