by ESB’s free daily esports betting predictions for Thursday cover the continuation of FLASHPOINT Season 2, Nine to Five #7 and EPIC League Division 1, as well as the opening round of OGA Dota PIT Season 4: China.
FLASHPOINT Season 2
VIRTUS.PRO vs BIG CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| CS:GO Betting Odds: | BIG -129.87 at BetOnline | VP +108 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 3, 2020 at 15:00 CET |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/flashpoint) |
BIG enter this bout following a somewhat shaky reverse-sweep win against Team Envy. Virtus.pro, meanwhile, narrowly defeated MAD Lions in the quarter-finals with a 19-17 overtime win on Train.
Virtus.pro hold a 3-2 record in their last five, which some may rank on par with BIG’s 4-1 run considering the Germans have faced relatively weaker squads. However, that does not convince us that VP are equally as strong as the no.5 team in the world.
Even though VP stole one map off MAD Lions, FURIA, Spirit, OG, Gen.G and Cloud9, that hardly means anything since BIG are significantly stronger than all those sides. We expect BIG to take this one with ease, which makes the -1.5 handicap a very appealing option.
BIG -1.5 maps
Nine to Five #7
X6TENCE vs KOVA CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| CS:GO Betting Odds: | x6tence -400 at BetOnline | KOVA +263 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 3, 2020 at 09:00 CET |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/TEBtv) |
X6tence enter this match with a solid 7-3 record in their last 10 outings and 3-2 in their last five. That includes wins against Wizards Esports Club (2-0), Giants Gaming (16-14) and North (2-0), as well as losses against Movistar Riders (1-2) and ESPADA (1-2).
KOVA have gone 2-3 in their last five. Their only wins in that run came against semi-pro teams Esimed Esports (16-14) and Team Blink (19-17), while they could not get the better of 9INE (1-2), Nemiga (0-2) and Illuminar Gaming (0-2).
Not only are X6tence objectively stronger, but they are also in much better shape than KOVA, who only seem to do well against weak teams. We don’t expect any surprises here.
x6tence -1.5 maps
EPIC League Division 1
NATUS VINCERE vs MUDGOLEMS DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Dota 2 Betting Odds: | NaVi -138.89 at BetOnline | mudgolems +103 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 3, 2020 at 14:00 CET |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/team/epicenter) |
Natus Vincere enter the final week of EPIC League Division 1 on the heels of three consecutive defeats against Virtus.pro (1-2), Team Nigma (1-2) and OG (0-2). It’s a similar story for mudgolems, who have lost all of their last four outings against OG (0-2), Alliance (1-2), Virtus.pro (0-2) and Vikin.gg (1-2).
Even though there is a world where mudgolems steal one map off NaVi, they have yet to show anything that would convince us they can upset the ESL One Germany 2020 finalists.
Natus Vincere to win
TEAM NIGMA vs VIKIN.GG DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Dota 2 Betting Odds: | Nigma +100 at BetOnline | Vikin.gg -133.33 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 3, 2020 at 17:00 CET |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/team/epicenter) |
Vikin.gg sit atop of EPIC League standings with a 6-1 record and 12-6 map differential. Team Nigma, on the other side, enter this match with a 4-3 record and 9-8 map differential, which is not terrible but still far from what we expected to see from The International 2019 finalists.
Vikin.gg have yet to defeat Nigma this year (0-1-3). Even though this might be their best chance to change that, their tendency to drop maps makes it hard to consider the -1.5 handicap. Vikin.gg have lost at least one map in all but two of their games at EPIC League, including all of the last three, and we don’t expect that trend to end here.
Over 2.5 maps
OGA Dota PIT Season 4: China
INVICTUS GAMING vs ELEPHANT DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Dota 2 Betting Odds: | IG +322 at BetOnline | Elephant -500 at BetOnline |
| When: | December 3, 2020 at 14:00 CST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/ogadotapit) |
These teams last met during the China Dota2 Pro Cup two weeks ago when Elephant claimed a reverse-sweep win to improve their head-to-head record to 2-0. The only previous meeting happened at the end of October when Elephant won 2-1.
IG are clearly not as strong as they were in 2019, but that does not mean they don’t stand a chance against Elephant. At +322, esports bookmakers are implying that IG have only a 23.7% chance of winning this game. That makes no sense when they have forced Elephant to three maps twice and defeated ViCi Gaming (2-1) en route to a fourth-place finish at the CDA-FDC Professional Championship last week.
With that in mind, the odds on Invictus to win a map are way too good to pass up.
