Welcome to our esports betting tips for Thursday, the 17th of December.
Our esports expert is back once again with a preview and best bets for some of his favourite matchups of the night this Thursday, the 17th of December! Today he focuses in on the Huya DOTA2 Winter Invitational for a couple of his best of the night.
ESports Betting Tips: Thursday, December 17th
IG.Vitality vs Royal Never Give Up
Huya Dota2 Winter Invitational
IG.Vitality have yet to impress me this tournament and even though they have managed to take down Army Geniuses (2-0) on Tuesday, their performance against CDEC Gaming (0-2) a day prior was not too convincing. RNG, have also attended only two fixtures so far, but unlike iG.Vitality, Chong “FelixCiaoBa” Wei Lun and his crew were at least successful and won both against Army Geniuses and Sparking Arrow Gaming.
Prior to entering the Huya Dota2 Winter Invitational, RNG also attended the fourth season of PGA Dota PIT, where they lost against ViCi Gaming, Elephant and twice against EHOME. That is only an extension of their run of mediocre results, which dates back to November when RNG lost against the same set of teams at China Dota2 Pro Cup.
Despite RNG's disastrous record across the last couple of months, they're still a much stronger team than iG.Vitality. I would usually consider siding with iG.Vitality to win at least one map, but they seem to be struggling with their form, which is why RNG to win 2-0 is the way to go. Bet on RNG to win 2-0!
Roy. Never Give Up -1.5 Maps
$1.70
Sparking Arrow Gaming vs Team Aster
Huya Dota2 Winter Invitational
To say Sparking Arrow Gaming are struggling with their form would be an understatement at this point, seeing how they have already lost to RNG, Army Geniuses and iG.Vitality. Even before entering the Huya Dota2 Winter Invitational, SAG struggled to impress with narrow wins against Access and Forest, as well as three 1-1 stalemate against Phoenix Gaming, Team MagMa and FTD club C.
Team Aster have yet to play a single match this tournament and enter this match with a three-game losing streak. On paper that does not look too promising, but I would not criticise them too much since they had to face Elephant, EHOME and ViCi Gaming.
There is, however, one thing that concerns me with Aster. About a month ago, they went on a tear and crushed some of the strongest Chinese Dota 2 teams including PSG.LGD, ViCi, EHOME and Elephant, but have since cooled down significantly.
This leads me to believe Aster might not be as strong as they seemed to be in November and will need to show a bit more consistency before I can rank them as one of the top dogs in the region. Regardless, they're now set to face a team they have beat seven times in a row and should have no issues taking another clean 2-0, like they did in six out of their last seven meetings.
Team Aster -1.5 Maps
$1.84
T1 vs Team Dog
BTS Pro Series Season 4: Southeast Asia
The second upper bracket fixture at the BTS Pro Series Season 4: Southeast Asia will see T1 clash with Team Dog for the first time since Friday when they met in the group stage and parted ways with a 1-1 draw.
The match started with Team Dog taking the series lead thanks to a phenomenal performance from the former T1 player Muhammad "inYourdreaM" Rizky, who ended map one with 17/1/9 record and 26.9k gold net worth. Things, however, took a sudden turn for the worse in the second map, when T1 struck back and demolished Team Dog in exactly 35 minutes.
The driving force behind T1's comeback was Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong who locked in a perfect 19/0/21 record and further solidified himself as the top-performing player on the team. Since that match, T1 defeated Neon Esports (2-0) and forced two stalemates against Vice Esports and Execration. Team Dog, meanwhile, played stalemates with TNC Predator, Fnatic and Motivate.Trust Gaming.
Team Dog had to face tougher teams in their recent fixtures, but that does not convince me they should be priced at such low odds. Like Dog, T1 have also played stalemates against TNC and Fnatic and have even beaten Motivate.Trust Gaming last Tuesday, so it's fair to say they have been just as successful - if not more - when facing the strongest teams of the tournament.
I would not be surprised to see T1 take the win, but since neither team has looked consistent so far, I am going for overs. Bet on over 2.5 maps!
