Michael Lee is back with his esports betting tips and predictions for this week’s action. Today, he looks at the first three matches of League of Legends World Championship 2023 Play-In stage, including LOUD vs GAM Esports, Movistar R7 vs PSG Talon, and DetonatioN FocusMe vs CTBC Flying Oyster.
Esports Betting Tips: October 10-11, 2023
Movistar R7 vs PSG Talon
LoL Worlds 2023 Play-In Stage
Movistar R7 are probably the weakest team at the LoL World Championship 2023. The LLA champions already made an international appearance at Mid-Season Invitational 2023, where they didn’t achieve much, and it’s unlikely that they’ll manage to turn it around here.
PSG Talon are also one of the teams that won’t be winning the tournament, and while this is a weak team, Talon are still considered better than Movistar R7. They are from a much better region (PCS), which alone is enough to believe that PSG Talon should win comfortably. But I have one problem with that.
It’s been a month since the teams last played competitively, and over that month, Riot has patched the game, which has affected the meta. We don’t know how the Worlds meta will develop, and we won’t know until the main stage.
This adds a layer of uncertainty, which benefits the underdogs more than the favourites and could lead to closer games. I don’t believe Movistar R7 can win or cause any serious problems for PSG Talon, but I still expect this to be a fairly low-scoring match.
Movistar R7 +8.5 kills
$1.83 (1 Unit)
LOUD vs GAM Esports
LoL Worlds 2023 Play-In Stage
LOUD vs GAM Esports is one of the most unpredictable games of the Play-in stage. Vietnam was historically considered a strong region because the teams usually played with a hyper-aggressive style, which caused problems even for the top teams.
Nowadays, the VCS isn’t as dangerous as it once was, but the teams are still very aggressive, which often acts like a double-edged sword. Brazil is very similar in that department and as we saw at MSI 2023, LOUD are very prone to giving away too much because they don’t have a clear gameplan.
There is no clear favourite for this match, and even though LOUD are priced as the favourites, I don’t see a good reason to back them at 1.72. I expect a back-and-forth between the two teams and all three maps.
Over 2.5 maps
$1.90 (1 Unit)
DetonatioN FocusMe vs CTBC Flying Oyster
LoL Worlds 2023 Play-In Stage
DetonatioN Focus Me have had a very rough ending to the season after the team lost its top laner due to some internal drama. Still, DetonatioN FocusMe won the LJL and made it to another international event.
Out of all Play-In teams, DetonatioN FocusMe are by the most experienced internationally, but this hasn’t helped them much over the years. At MSI 2023, the Japanese champions looked terrible, and they didn’t accomplish much at last year’s LoL Words Championship either.
Looking at international results, CTBC Flying Oyster are very similar to DetonatioN FocusMe. They exited LoL Worlds 2022 in 11th-14thplace and didn’t even reach MSI 2023. So the only thing going for them here is that CTBC Flying Oyster are from a stronger league (PCS). That doesn’t mean much.
First-round matches at LoL Worlds Play-In are usually very chaotic due to the shift in meta and the long break, and this year, this should be even more noticeable. So, while CTBC Flying Oyster look stronger, I prefer DetonatioN FocusMe with a 1.5 map handicap.
DetonatioN FocusMe +1.5 maps
$1.78 (2 Units)
