by ESB brings you Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting predictions for four bouts in the first round of Gamers8 on Wednesday, August 16. Here are our selections for Apeks vs GamerLegion, MiBR vs Team Vitality, Natus Vincere vs FURIA Esports, and Team Liquid vs ENCE.
APEKS vs GAMERLEGION CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Apeks -175.44 at BetOnline | GL +125 at BetOnline |
| When: | August 16, 2023 | 14:00 AST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/gamers8_en) |
Apeks and GamerLegion last met in May during the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Legends Stage, when GamerLegion won 2-0, but for this match, GamerLegion are expected to struggle. That doesn’t sound right since GamerLegion aren’t that much weaker than Apeks.
GamerLegion put themselves on the map with a silver medal from the Paris Major, and they didn’t look bad earlier this month at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023. Even though Sanzhar “neaLaN” Iskhakov and co. didn’t win a medal, GamerLegion still placed in the top eight, which is a commendable achievement.
Apeks haven’t won much since the summer break, and their performances at Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1 (9th-16th) and CCT Online Finals #2 (9th-12th) this month were quite a disaster. This is still a very strong team, as they showed in Paris (3rd-4th), but Apeks enter Gamers8 in terrible form, so perhaps we shouldn’t count on them too much.
This looks like a 50-50 match, so we have to side with GamerLegion at underdog odds.
GamerLegion to win
MIBR vs TEAM VITALITY CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | MiBR +750 at BetOnline | Vitality -2000 at BetOnline |
| When: | August 16, 2023 | 17:30 AST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/gamers8_en) |
MiBR are huge +750 underdogs for their match against Team Vitality, and as absurd as that number is, it’s a fair price. Team Vitality are one of the best CS:GO teams in the world, whereas MiBR are not even close to being considered an A-Tier team.
The Brazilian team has not won a single big event this year, and their recent performances at CCT North Europe Series #6 (5th-8th) and CCT Online Finals #2 (5th-6th) only prove that MiBR are hardly competitive in lower-tier tournaments, so it’s tough to feel overly optimistic about their chance to make it far at Gamers8.
Esports betting sites have set the total round line at 12.5, which is a big number, but the gap between Vitality and MiBR is large enough to believe that the Bees can cover it.
Team Vitality -12.5 rounds
NATUS VINCERE vs FURIA ESPORTS CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | NAVI -277.78 at BetOnline | FURIA +210 at BetOnline |
| When: | August 16, 2023 | 21:00 AST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/gamers8_en) |
Natus Vincere’s new international project has yet to yield much success, and it’s hard to believe that’ll change at Gamers8. Their first campaign with a rebuilt roster – BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 – ended in a fourth-sixth place finish, and in Cologne, Natus Vincere crashed out of the group stage, finishing the tournament in seventh-eighth place.
Considering the quality of the opponents NaVi faced, that wasn’t a disastrous outcome, but this iteration of Natus Vincere seems much weaker.
FURIA’s new lineup with Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes also failed to find any traction, and even that is an understatement. The Brazilians crashed out of two IEM Sydney 2023 European Open Qualifiers in ninth-16th and 17th-32nd place, suffering bad losses against Europe’s second-tier squads.
On paper, FURIA look like a solid team, and if they were in better shape, backing them to defeat Natus Vincere would make a lot of sense. But even in the disjointed state Natus Vincere are now, they should make light work of FURIA, who’ve been recently struggling against teams ranked well outside of the top-50.
Natus Vincere -1.5 maps
TEAM LIQUID vs ENCE CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Liquid +105 at BetOnline | ENCE -INF at BetOnline |
| When: | August 16, 2023 | 21:00 AST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/gamers8_en) |
By reaching the finals of Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023, ENCE earned recognition as one of the world’s strongest CS:GO teams, but that’s been a long time coming. ENCE have been playing excellent CS since even before the summer break, and their run in Cologne only proved that this is a very competitive squad that might produce another deep run in Riyadh.
Tier next opponents, Team Liquid, had quite a disastrous return from the summer break, failing to accomplish much at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 (7th-8th) and IEM Cologne 2023 (17th-20th). In their defence, Liquid replaced two players in June and lost Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, but that’s no excuse for their performances against BIG (2-1) and 9INE (1-2).
As the offered CS:GO betting odds suggest, this is ENCE’s game to lose, and it’s hard to argue with that. Team Liquid are not playing at a high enough level to compete against good teams, and until they start showing some improvement, Liquid are a good fade even when priced as favourites.
