VALORANT Champions 2024 group stage tips – Thursday, August 1

VALORANT Champions 2024 kicks off on Thursday, August 1, with the opening fixtures of Group B. Check out our free betting picks for Gen.G vs Sentinels and FunPlus Phoenix vs Team Heretics, with odds from the top esports bookmakers in United States.

It is no surprise that Gen.G are outright title favourites on VALORANT betting sites. They placed second at VCT 2024 Masters Madrid, won in Shanghai, and ended the season with VCT 2024 Pacific Stage 2 title.

That is admirable, but it’s fair to question whether Gen.G should be priced at -277.78 to win this bout. Also, they recently started banning Sunset, which used to be their best map, indicating a lack of confidence in their pool.

Sentinels have not won as much this season, but they’ve only struggled at the final hurdles and have done relatively well domestically. But while Sentinels’ results don’t look excellent, this is still a very experienced roster, and they dominated the opposition in their only international tournament this season. This is a winnable match for Sentinels.

FunPlus Phoenix are one of the lowest-rated teams travelling to South Korea, but they have done well in the past international tournaments. Notably, FPX barely missed the playoffs in Shanghai, with two close defeats against the eventual finalists — Team Heretics and Gen.G — and placed top eight at VCT 2024 Masters Madrid.

Team Heretics are one of the most consistent VALORANT Champions Tour teams of the season, with two silver medals from VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1 and Masters Shanghai and a third-place finish in Stage 2. Heretics slowed down a bit in the final stage, but that can be attributed to the fatigue of the long season.

FunPlus Phoenix are no pushovers, but Team Heretics should prove to be too much to handle for the Chinese squad.

Esports betting tips