Our esports tipster Michael Lee is back with his weekly esports betting previews. Today, he takes a look at three Call of Duty League (CDL) matches in Boston Breach vs Las Vegas Legion, Los Angeles Thieves vs London Royal Ravens, and Florida Mutineers vs Atlanta FaZe, who will meet in the first round of CDL Major 4 Qualifier on Friday, March 31.
Find our Esports betting tips below, and make sure to check out Picklebet - Australia's leading esports betting site!
Esports Betting Tips: Friday, March 31st 2023
Boston Breach vs Las Vegas Legion
CDL Major 4 Qualifier
Boston Breach finished CDL Major 3 in fourth place, which is impressive for a team that has struggled to find any consistency this season. However, I wouldn't say that I was shocked by their strong performance.
Boston Breach are a group of excellent players. Even though I wouldn't consider them as strong as OpTic Texas, Atlanta FaZe, or even Toronto Ultra, they're one of the league's strongest five teams. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about Las Vegas Legion.
Las Vegas Legion – even before the rebrand – has been known as one of the weakest CDL teams, and this season seemed like it would be just another year of disappointment. But they proved many doubters wrong with a top-six finish at the recent Major, adding to their 5th-6th finish in the first Major of the year.
I don't want to overplay Las Vegas Legion's performance, and even though they might prove stronger than expected, saying that they're just as good as Boston Breach wouldn't be fair. Especially in online games, the Legion have been disappointing this season, finishing the three qualifiers in 12th, 10th, and ninth place.
So as much as it's easy to believe in the Legion's resurgence, expecting them to defeat Boston Breach is way too optimistic. I wouldn't be shocked if the Breach smash Las Vegas Legion 3-0, but I'm fine with taking 1.83 on Boston Breach to cover the 1.5 map handicap.
Boston Breach -1.5 Maps
$1.83 (1 Unit)
Los Angeles Thieves vs London Royal Ravens
CDL Major 4 Qualifier
Los Angeles Thieves might be one of the most frustrating team to support. Despite winning the Call of Duty League Championship 2022 and proving to the world that they're a top-tier team, their performances this season left a lot to be desired.
It's not fair to ignore the Thieves' runner-up finish in CDL Major 2, but besides that, they've not placed higher than fifth across the other two Majors and qualifiers. Especially in the previous stage, the Thieves haven't shown much, with a fifth-place finish in the qualifiers and a seventh-eighth place in CDL Major 3.
It's tough to say what went wrong here, but looking at their play, it seems like the Thieves don't have as strong of a synergy as most other teams, which explains why they can lose to anyone on any given day.
That could work in favour of London Royal Ravens, priced at 3.00 to win this fixture. The odds seem a bit high, but realistically, Royal Ravens haven't shown anything that would suggest they should be lesser of underdogs.
Looking back, the Royal Ravens' best result of the year came in CDL Major 1 Qualifier, where they finished fifth-sixth. Since then, they've placed 12th and 10th in the following two qualifying events and were 13th-16th, ninth-12th, and ninth-12th in the three Majors. If those results don't make it obvious, London Royal Ravens are the worst-performing team of the year, sporting a 5-13 record with just 50 CDL points.
As much as we can say that Los Angeles Thieves aren't good, that's all relative to the expectations people have of them. The way they're playing now, the Thieves will not compete for the CDL title, but even so, they shouldn't be losing against Lodon Royal Ravens.
Los Angeles Thieves -1.5 Maps
$1.83 (1 Unit)
Florida Mutineers vs Atlanta FaZe
CDL Major 4 Qualifier
I would put Florida Mutineers in the same basked as London Royal Ravens – they're not playing good Call of Duty, and they have nothing to show for this season. Over the first three events of the year, the Mutineers' best results came at Major 1 and 3, where they finished top eight which isn't good.
And it's also important to note that there's a clear divide in the Mutineers' performance online and on LAN, seeing how their best finish in the qualifiers was ninth (10th and 11th in the remaining two).
Atlanta FaZe are the most successful team in CDL history, and the fact that their third-place finish in CDL Major 3 was marked as a disappointment tells a lot. Like the Mutineers, FaZe tend to do better on LAN compared to online qualifying events, but even so, they're one of the best teams in the world that rarely disappoints when faced with weaker opponents.
FaZe, and the Mutineers last met in the first week of the CDL Major 3 Qualifier, when Atlanta FaZe won 3-0. It was their only meeting of 2023, but even with such a small sample size, I see no reason to doubt the FaZe and their chances to defeat Florida Mutineers.
Florida Mutineers' chances of winning are close to zero, and while there's a world where Atlanta FaZe choke on one map, I'll happily take FaZe to win 3-0 at 2.50.
Atlanta FaZe -2.5 Maps
$2.50 (1 Unit)
