Pinnacle Cup IV Playoffs betting predictions – Wednesday, May 25

ESB’s free Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting picks for Wednesday, May 25, include Pinnacle Cup IV playoff bouts. Here are our selections for Team GamerLegion vs SKADE, Team Spirit vs Team Finest, and K23 vs Isurus, with top CS:GO esports betting odds courtesy of BetOnline.


Team GamerLegion and SKADE have met four times this year – most recently in the fourth open qualifiers for PGL Major Antwerp at the start of March, when GamerLegion won 2-1 with 16-14 on Inferno, 12-16 on Mirage, and 16-13 on Nuke. It marked their first and only victory against SKADE since November 2021, meaning the Swedes are still 1-3 down in the head-to-head.

GamerLegion enter this match as +162 underdogs despite going 3-0 in the Swiss Stage, but we have to note that they’ve only beaten Bad News Bears (2-0), SINNERS Esports (2-1), and Apeks. Meanwhile, SKADE have made it to the playoffs with a 3-2 record, with defeats against Isurus (1-2) and ECSTATIC (1-2) and wins against 4glory Esports (2-1), SINNERS (2-0), and AGO (2-0).

Since the end of the Pinnacle Cup Swiss Stage, SKADE have won six straight games, albeit against lesser teams, so we wouldn’t put too much weight on that. But we have to acknowledge that GamerLegion lost their last two outings against INDE IRAE (1-2) and Lilmix (14-16).

Based on what we’ve seen from these two teams, SKADE should come out ahead, but they’re not a good bet at -227.27. Instead, we’ll take over 2.5 maps and trust GamerLegion to show some resistance and win a map.


There is very little cross-regional data to look at, and there are no past meetings between K23 and Isurus for us to check. Still, the esports betting sites have K23 priced as -303.03 favourites, which sounds right, but the offered odds are way too low.

Admittedly, Isurus didn’t look too clean during the Swiss Stage with three-map victories against SKADE, MASONIC, and Wisla Krakow, but it’s not like K23 have shown much more. The CIS squad ended the first stage with a 3-1 record and have only beaten Dynamo Eclot (2-1), SINNERS Esports (2-1), and AGO (2-1) – three teams that didn’t even reach the playoffs.

Talent-wise, there is very little to separate K23 and Isurus, and even though we favour K23 to win, the value is with the Brazilian squad.


Team Spirit recently completed an incredible run at the Antwerp Major, where they reached the semi-finals and lost only two series across the entire tournament – against G2 Esports in the group stage, and to eventual champions FaZe Clan in the semis.

Moreover, Spirit had a realistic chance to upset FaZe, and they came just a few rounds of that incredible feat. The Russian squad fell short in the end, but their 23-25, 13-16 series against FaZe did leave a strong impression.

Team Finest have never come close to achieving as much success at the highest level of play, and with the current roster, they likely won’t ever do it. There isn’t much to compare in this match, knowing that we have a B-Tier team that has not won a single tournament since October 2021 going against one of the top-performing CS:GO esports squads in the world currently.

You could argue that Spirit are worn out and won’t care too much about this tournament, but we’re not ready to follow this narrative. Anything less than a 2-0 sweep for Spirit would be a disappointment.


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