Esports betting tips & odds – Thursday, October 8

ESB is back with another set of free esports betting odds, predictions and best bets for Thursday, focusing on the continuation of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters XV and the 2020 Overwatch League semi-finals.

Intel Extreme Masters XV New York Online


Team Liquid and Mythic will clash on the third day of Intel Extreme Masters XV New York Online NA in what is billed as a very one-sided match. However, there is more to this bout than meets the eye.

Liquid have a tendency to lose games against significantly weaker teams, and the online format won’t help their cause. What’s more, Mythic’s players know Liquid’s stars extremely well since they often scrim each other off stage.

As this is an online match between rosters who know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, there is a chance we could see Mythic steal a map. The odds on over 2.5 maps are surprisingly high, so it’s well worth a stab.


We talked about the underdogs putting up a fight in the Team Liquid vs Mythic matchup, but we don’t have the same faith in the New England Whalers. Even though Evil Geniuses’ form as tapered off a fraction in recent weeks, they’re still a far superior team to the Whalers and, unlike Liquid, have an excellent record against weaker opponents.

Evil Geniuses have won 17 out of their last 20 games, with their only losses coming against FURIA (twice) and 100 Thieves. That run includes an impressive 36-11 map differential against some of the best CS:GO teams in the region.

Not only are the Whalers in worse form than EG with a 13-4 record since September, but they’ve also faced much weaker opponents – mostly semi-amateur teams. With all due respect, we are giving the outsiders no chance of causing an upset. While the odds offered on EG are not high, the -1.5 map handicap is worth a bet.

League of Legends World Championship 2020


Machi Esports got the better of Team Liquid in their first meeting, but that was largely due to a poor showing from the latter rather than a strong performance from the former. Although Liquid struggled to find their footing in the first half of the group stage, the recent win against G2 Esports proved they are still a force to be reckoned with.

Liquid were very disorganised in their first match with Machi; however, after seeing how controlled and stable they were against G2, we have no doubt the NA representatives can avenge their loss this Thursday.

G2 Esports and Suning met on the second day of play and produced one of the most exciting fixtures at the 2020 LoL Worlds to date. While the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) representatives came out ahead in that bout, it was far from a convincing win.

We don’t want to discredit G2 for their incredible comeback, but the Chinese squad looked like the better team for most of the game and could have won the match if they did not make a few poor decisions late in the game. G2’s inconsistencies make this a complete coin-toss, so we have no issues siding with Suning to grab a revenge win.

2020 Overwatch League Playoffs

The Seoul Dynasty have met with the San Francisco Shock only once this season, in a showmatch where the Shock got the better of their cross-Pacific adversaries. However, that result does not show the true balance of power.

The Overwatch League betting odds heavily favour San Francisco, but we feel Seoul have the individual quality to compete with the North American champions. If the Dynasty can activate their supports and tanks – which have been their main source of strength – they may well come out ahead.

A close match is expected, so a 3-2 win for Seoul is not entirely out of the question. The only negative thing we have to say about the Dynasty is that they tend to use only one strategy, but as the famous Bruce Lee quote goes: “I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practised one kick 10,000 times.”