by ESB’s free LoL esports betting predictions for Thursday focus on the second matchday of League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) 2021 Spring when we will see Nongshim RedForce clash with the rebranded Liiv SANDBOX, as well as DRX’s first meeting with Afreeca Freecs since the League of Legends KeSPA Cup 2020.
NONGSHIM REDFORCE vs LIIV SANDBOX LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Event: | LoL Champions Korea |
| LoL odds: | Nongshim Redforce -188.68 at BetOnline | SANDBOX +137 at BetOnline |
| When: | January 14, 2021 at 17:00 KST |
| Watch Live: | Lolesports, Twitch |
Nongshim RedForce (formerly Team Dynamics) had what you could call a solid rebrand and they did not need long to make quite a statement by reaching the grand finals of KeSPA Cup 2020. Much of their success came down to the performances of their new jungler Han “Peanut” Wang-ho, who has proven once more that he is an underrated player and still one of the best junglers in the league.
Unlike RedForce who enter the season with many new faces, Liiv SANDBOX (formerly SANDBOX Gaming) decided to run it back from 2020, which is not particularly bad considering they had a solid run towards the end of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) 2020 Summer. The only change on their starting roster is ex-T1 support Lee “Effort” Sang-ho and it seems like the only reason Liiv SANDBOX signed him is because Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyun retired.
Nongshim RedForce come off as a stronger team, but Liiv SANDBOX are not a squad you should write off entirely. We rank these two teams very close and feel like the betting odds are set solely due to RedForce’s impressive run at the KeSPA Cup, where they arguably overperformed. At these odds, betting on SANDBOX is not a bad choice, but it makes more sense to place our money on over 2.5 maps.
Over 2.5 maps
DRX vs AFREECA FREECS LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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|---|---|
| Event: | LoL Champions Korea |
| LoL odds: | DRX +104 at BetOnline | AF -138.89 at BetOnline |
| When: | January 14, 2021 at 20:00 KST |
| Watch Live: | Lolesports, Twitch |
DRX enter the 2021 season with Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon as the only remaining player from last season. Since DRX lost all of their star players, it’s fair to say they won’t shine as bright as they did in 2020 and unless the meta shifts back in favour of carry junglers, there is even a world where DRX fail to finish above ninth.
While we are not convinced with DRX’s new project, the opposite holds true for Afreeca Freecs, who have made a couple of big signings. Their most notable signing was support Son “Lehends” Si-woo who is arguably the biggest upgrade any team could have made.
These teams last met three weeks ago during the KeSPA Cup, when DRX claimed an upset win, however, it seems highly unlikely AF will take the league matches as lightly as their KeSPa Cup fixtures. We wouldn’t be surprised if Afreeca manage to sweep the depleted DRX, but we will settle for a safer bet.
