Another big week of esports action kicking off tonight and our gaming expert Michael Lee is back on deck to take a look at some of the key matchups in the world of CS:GO on Monday night. Michael focuses in on the Spring Sweet Spring 1 event for all three of his best bets on Monday.
Esports Betting Tips: Monday, May 3rd
SKADE vs EPG Family
Spring Sweet Spring 1
SKADE and EPG Family (formerly Winstrike) will clash in the first round of Spring Sweet Spring 1 playoffs on Monday, May 3. These two sides already met on Tuesday when EPG Family won 2-0 with 16-12 and 16-7.
Considering how dominant EPG Family were last time out, it might make sense to see them priced as such big favourites to win here. I don't believe this bout will be as one-sided as many believe.
SKADE are a team I don't think of too highly, but I'm not too convinced with EPG Family either. These two are solid Tier-2 teams, but they're hardly anything more than that.
Regardless, this is a T2 tournament so you can't expect to see any top-tier teams. What we can expect, however, is an exciting and tight affair between these two on Monday. Both EPG Family and SKADE are in great form, with an eight- and six-game winning streak respectively.
EPG Family should be perhaps priced as favourites, but not at these odds. Value is with SKADE, but we’ll settle for over 2.5 maps.
EXTREMUM vs AGO
Spring Sweet Spring 1
EXTREMUM have a roster that should be winning games like this with ease, but as stated by the players, they lack the motivation to compete at these Tier-2 tournaments. That is also the main reason why EXTREMUM are losing to the likes of K23 (0-2), Tricked Esports (19-22), and EPG Family (0-2) and other second-tier squads.
EXTREMUM enter this match with a 6-4 record in their last 10 and a three-game winning streak. That includes three clean sweeps of Team Fiend, AGO, and SINNERS Esports, who they beat last week.
AGO were slightly less successful in the same stretch, winning only five bouts. That said, they are on a two-game winning streak, which is a positive.
Comparing these two teams individually, EXTREMUM are a far superior team, however, even with the quality they have, this squad rarely performs as well as they should. As mentioned, this squad lacks the motivation to play at this level of competition, which should give AGO a legitimate chance to cause some damage.
While I don't believe AGO can win the series, they should at least win one map and keep the match close. Take the over 2.5 maps option.
ForZe vs K23
Spring Sweet Spring 1
ForZe are not nearly as good as they once were, but they have been playing quite good recently. They're 5-5 in their last 10 outings, which might not seem too good at a first glance, but they were a bit unlucky in some of their bouts.
Just over a week ago, forZe attended the Funspark ULTI, where they beat Virtus.pro (2-0), Complexity (2-1), and came very close to defeating Extra Salt (1-2). They ended the tournament in third place after a narrow loss to BIG.
After that, forZe produced very mixed results, which hardly convinces me they’re as good as they were back at the Funspark ULTI. Regardless, they’re still a good team with a solid roster.
I would rank K23 at the same level as forZe. While they haven’t beaten any top-tier teams like forZe did at Funspark ULTI, K23 are very consistent when faced with squads equally as strong as them. They’re 16-4 since they crashed out of the Snow Sweet Snow #3: Regional Swiss Stage and are on a three-game winning streak.
That run includes a 2-1 win against forZe just a few days ago during the Spring Sweet Spring 1 group stage. ForZe took the series lead with 16-13 on Mirage but failed to seal the deal, losing the next two with 16-19 on Mirage and 14-16 on Inferno.
Games like that only further prove that K23 vs forZe bout is a complete coin-flip. With that logic, you have to take the better odds and side with K23.
