Another week of gaming action kicks off on Monday night and as always, our esports expert Michael Lee has some of his best bets for us to sink our teeth into. This week he focuses in on the EU Masters 2021 Summer for his three best bets of the night.
ESports Betting Tips: Monday, September 6th
BIG vs Zero Tenacity
EU Masters 2021 Summer
The final round of Group C at European Masters 2021 Summer kicks off on Monday, September 6, with a clash between BIG and Zero Tenacity. On Tuesday, August 31, these two teams last met when BIG won against the Serbian League of Legends team, needing 28:50 to close out the game.
The game ended in a 22-11 kill lead for BIG and a 9.4k gold lead, which suggests that BIG were clearly a much better team. Zero Tenacity have, however, shown some resilience in the opening 15 minutes and even looked evenly matched early into the game.
Still, BIG came out ahead, largely thanks to their mid-late game decision making and team fighting. Zero Tenacity have since played one game, against Fnatic Rising and lost. BIG, meanwhile, played against Illuminar Gaming, who they beat in just over 22 minutes.
BIG and Fnatic Rising are the strongest two Group C teams; hence BIG should be stronger than Zero Tenacity. Having said that, the Germans weren't as convincing the last time they met with Zero Tenacity and could have easily lost had Zero Tenacity done a better job with their draft.
I mostly didn't like Kassadin as the mid lane pick. While Kassadin is a great champion for scaling compositions, there's a reason why he isn't getting picked in pro play, especially not in the current meta, which doesn't allow him to hit his late-game spike.
BIG will likely win this match again, however, at 4.00, Zero Tenacity seem a bit underrated. If they can fix their drafts and forge a solid plan, they just might upset the German champions. Alternatively, a kill handicap bet on the underdogs might be worth a look.
Fnatic Rising vs Illuminar Gaming
EU Masters 2021 Summer
Fnatic Rising are billed as one of the top teams at the tournament, which is the correct assessment. It would also be fair to say that Fnatic are much stronger than Illuminar Gaming, even though the Polish squad won against Fnatic Rising on Tuesday.
Looking back at that match, Fnatic Rising looked like they were in full control of the game, and have found themselves in a fairly solid position at the 15-minute mark, with a Drake, Herland, and two towers. However, things turned for the worse shortly thereafter after Illuminar won a crucial team fight at the Baron pit, securing two kills, a Herald, and two towers.
Fnatic tried to respond by stacking drakes, but the scaling on Illuminar was too much to handle. The Serapnihe mid pick proved crucial for the Polish side, as it allowed them to dominate teamfights against a dive-heavy composition.
Fnatic didn't play well on the day, but I don't believe that result is a fair representation of which team is stronger. Illuminar won a few crucial skirmishes, which was what made the difference.
Fnatic Rising bounced back from that loss with a win against Zero Tenacity, while Illuminar completely fell apart against BIG. Outside of their heroic performance against Fnatic Rising last time out, Illuminar haven't produced anything that would suggest that they can win again on Monday.
Fnatic Rising should win with ease as long as they play their own game – gain early leads and snowball.
Fnatic Rising -6.5 Kills
$1.83
Zero Tenacity vs Illuminar Gaming
EU Masters 2021 Summer
I don't expect either of these two teams to compete for the EU Masters title; however, I have more faith in Zero Tenacity. PickleBet has Zero Tenacity priced as 2.00 underdogs, which may seem understandable, considering that they have lost to Illuminar Gaming in the opening round of the group stage.
However, the match was extremely close and could have easily ended either way. In fact, I would even argue that Zero Tenacity should have won, considering they were 3k gold up at 20 minutes but lost it all due to an unfortunate team fight a few minutes later.
Situations like that only further prove that most games at this level of play are usually coin-flip.
What's more, Zero Tenacity have been playing much better throughout the tournament compared to Illuminar Gaming, who are coming off a 22-minute defeat against BIG. The game was one of the biggest stomps of the tournament, and it surely hasn't done any favours to Illuminar Gaming's morale. At 2.00, I'll gladly take Zero Tenacity to avenge their loss.
