FACEIT Major: London 2018 New Challengers Stage Day 5 Preview
After a week full of spectacularly long CS:GO matches, the New Challengers Stage of the FACEIT Major: London 2018 is ending today. But before comes to an end there are still a few more matches to be played and a few more CS:GO betting opportunities to be grabbed.
Current standings
These are the results after the first 4 days of the FACEIT Major: London 2018.
Qualified teams: Team Liquid, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis, compLexity Gaming, HellRaisers.
Eliminated teams: Gambit Esports, Rogue, Renegades, Space Soldiers, Virtus.pro.
Still in the run: BIG, North, TyLoo, Team Spirit, Vega Squadron, OpTic Gaming.
Day 5 betting predictions
Team Spirit vs. TyLoo
In its first 4 matches at FACEIT Major: London 2018, Team Spirit lost against Vega Squadron (14 – 16) and Astralis (3 – 16) and won versus North (16 – 13) and Rogue (16 – 4). On the other side, TyLoo managed to beat Gambit Esports (19 – 17) and Renegades (16 – 10) but lost against Ninjas in Pyjamas (12 – 16) and OpTic Gaming (26 – 28).
Overall, TyLoo’s performances have been much more convincing and consistent, which is why the team is regarded as the favorite in this dispute. Keep in mind that this match and all the others on day 5 will be played in a Bo3 format instead of the usual Bo1.
Betway puts the odds for this match at 2.30 – 1.55 in favor of TyLoo and its assessment of the situation seems to be correct. The greatest betting opportunity regarding this match has to do with the winning margins. In particular, a bet on TyLoo winning the first map with a 2-5 rounds margin would give you great returns (2.40) and is a fairly safe choice considering the fact that TyLoo is the stronger team but Spirit is good enough to win a lot of rounds and maybe even force overtime.
Betting prediction: TyLoo to win.
OpTic Gaming vs. BIG
OpTic Gaming began its run at FACEIT Major: London 2018 with a loss against Team Liquid (4 – 16) followed by two victories against Virtus.pro (16 – 13) and TyLoo (28 – 26) and then another loss against HellRaisers (23 – 25). On the other side, BIG started well with a victory against Renegades (16 – 6) but then lost against Vega Squadron (16 – 19) and compLexity Gaming (12 – 16). In its 4th match, BIG defeated Gambit (16 – 8) and is fighting for its tournament life in this Bo3 against a fairly strong opponent.
Betway puts the odds for this match at 2.05 – 1.70 in favor of BIG, regarding it as the better side in light of its past results at important CS:GO events. This will likely be a close match but considering BIG’s upward trend and its decisive victory in its last match against Gambit, the German team is indeed slightly favored to win this dispute.
Again, just like for the previous match, the special bets worth considering are those that deal with winning margins and the total number of rounds to be played on each map. In both cases, keep in mind that these two teams are quite close to each other in terms of strength and will likely go the distance on every map. So bets on over 26.5 rounds and victories with a 2-5 rounds margin are fairly safe and yield decent returns between 2.00 and 3.00.
Betting prediction: BIG to win.
Vega Squadron vs. North
Vega Squadron had an amazing start at FACEIT Major: London 2018, winning against Team Spirit (16 – 14) and BIG (19 – 16). But then the CIS team lost against Liquid (17 – 19) and compLexity Gaming (15 – 19) and is now forced to play a deciding Bo3 match against the DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 champions.
North went into this tournament as one of the top contenders, having just won a big event by defeating some of the biggest teams in CS:GO. However, its performances have been abysmal and the team is lucky to still have a chance to qualify for the next stage.
In theory, North is a much better team than Vega Squadron. But its results at this event showed a lot of weaknesses and major flaws in its play style. Subsequently, I view this dispute as a perfect opportunity to bet on the underdog.
Betway puts the odds for this match at 4.00 – 1.20 in favor of North, giving it a lot of undue credit in my opinion. Compared to Vega Squadron, the team has actually looked much weaker throughout the event.
Among the special bets offered by Betway for this match, a bet on Vega Squadron to win the first map with a 2-5 rounds margin is definitely worthwhile.
Betting prediction: Vega Squadron to win.
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