ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 Playoffs Betting Predictions
ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 is entering its Playoffs Stage today and only 4 of the initial 8 teams are left in the competition. They will be fighting for a share of the remaining $860,000 prize pool and the chance to be crowned champions of one of the most prestigious CS:GO events of the year.
Betting predictions
Astralis vs. mousesports
Although it lost against Na’Vi in the Semifinals of the most recent premier CS:GO tournament, ESL One: Cologone 2018, Astralis is still the best team in the world. In the last 6 months, Astralis gathered an impressive collection of top results: 3rd – 4th place at Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship, 3rd – 4th place at ESL One: Cologne 2018, 2nd place at Intel Extreme Masters XIII Sydney, 1st place at Esports Championship Series Season 5 Finals, 1st place at ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals and 1st place at DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018.
Very few teams in CS:GO have managed to achieve so much in such a short period of time. The Danish organization is clearly at the top of its game right now, having won 29 out of its last 31 maps. In the Group Stage of this event, Astralis easily won against Cloud9 and Team Liquid, finishing 1st in group A.
All things considered, Astralis is expected to reach the Grand Final of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 and most likely win it, regardless of the opponent.
On the other side, mousesports went into this tournament facing a lot of question marks and uncertainty. The team’s recent roster change (STYKO was replaced by Snax) had already led to a huge failure at the previous CS:GO event (ESL One: Cologne 2018), where mousesports finished 9th – 12th. But, fortunately for mousesports’ fans, the team appears to be back to business, although weaknesses and flaws still exist in its system of play.
In the Group Stage of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, mousesports won against FaZe Clan (2 – 1) and Fnatic (2 – 1) and was defeated by Natus Vincere (1 – 2). All three matches were massive roller coasters and could have gone either way.
Needless to say, going into this match Astralis is the clear favorite, simply because it has a much more stable playstyle and roster. And while it’s definitely possible for mousesports to take a map before going down, it will almost certainly go down in the end. There is simply too much firepower on the side of Astralis for it to lose this match.
Betway puts the odds as you would expect, at 1.25 – 3.55 in favor of Astralis, and this assessment is absolutely correct.
Betting prediction: Astralis to win.
Natus Vincere vs. Team Liquid
Na’Vi is absolutely owning right now. The team won 3 different tournaments in the last 2 months (CS:GO Asia Championships 2018, ESL One: Cologne 2018 and StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 5) and looks to be set for another Grand Final against Astralis.
The reason why Na’Vi has experienced such a massive improvement in its tournament results in recent months is simple. Just kidding, s1mple was already performing out of his mind, carrying his teammates match after match. The real reason why Na’Vi went from good to great was that the entire team stepped up its game and started to play more as a unit. The heavy lifting is still being done by s1mple and electronic in most cases, but you can definitely feel a huge impact from the others as well. Even Zeus gets 20-30 kills per map every now and then. It’s insane!
In the Group Stage of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 Na’Vi won group B, defeating Fnatic (2 – 1) and mousesports (2 – 1) in the process and managing to avoid a confrontation with Astralis in the Semifinals.
On the other side, Team Liquid seems eager to win its second tournament this year and its first in this new roster formula. Make no mistake, this is a team with a lot of potential that has had some exceptional results in recent months. It finished 3rd at StarLadder & i-League StarSeries Season 4, 2nd at ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, 2nd at Esports Championship Series Season 5 Finals, 3rd – 4th at Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship and 3rd -4th at ESL One: Belo Horizonte 2018.
The acquisition of NAF and TACO has clearly proved to be a smart decision, as both of them have had massive contributions to the team’s success. However, what Team Liquid still lacks is consistency. Right now, they seem perfectly capable to both win and lose a match, even if the opponent is very strong or very week. This makes them a risky bet overall, but against formidable opponents like Na’Vi you can definitely bet against them and know almost for a fact that they will lose. In the last few weeks, Team Liquid showed big signs of weakness finishing 13th – 16th at ESL One: Cologne 2018.
In the Group Stage of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, Team Liquid lost to Astralis (0 – 2) but bested MIBR twice (2 – 0 both times).
Overall, this match heavily swings in Na’Vi’s favor and it’s really hard to see how Team Liquid could upset s1mple and his seemingly unstoppable squad. However, Betway still puts the odds at 1.50 -2.40 in favor of Na’Vi, giving Liquid a lot of respect and being willing to offer you a very high return for what seems to be a done deal before the match even begins.
Betting prediction: Natus Vincere to win.
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