Our esports tipster Michael Lee is back with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive betting picks for three Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023 fixtures on Monday, April 17. Today, he takes a look at Team Vitality vs OG, FaZe Clan vs 9z Team, and FURIA Esports vs Fnatic, who will meet in the first round of Group B.
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Esports Betting Tips: Tuesday, April 17th 2023
Team Vitality vs OG
IEM Rio 2023
On Friday, Team Vitality finished their run through BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B with a 3-1 record and qualified for the Paris Major with a Legend Status. They defeated Astralis (16-14), Ninjas in Pyjamas (16-14), and BIG (2-1), while Vitality's only defeat came against 9INE (0-2) in the third round.
OG were less successful in their RMR campaign and finished BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A with a 3-2 record. They started the qualifiers with two defeats against FaZe Clan (10-16) and GamerLegion (9-16) but then bounced back with three straight wins against SAW (2-1), 1win (2-0), and Team Falcons (2-0) to qualify for the Major.
Team Vitality have looked better at the RMR, and they have achieved more than OG this season, but I don't like the idea of betting on them at 1.36 in a BO1 series. I would also argue that Vitality aren't as good as it may seem and considering that they lost 14 rounds against Astralis and 13 against Ninjas in Pyjamas confirms it.
OG are still reasonably priced as the underdogs, but 3.00 in a BO1 series is way too high. However, since OG can be a bit inconsistent, I'll take a safer approach and back the international squad with four maps advantage.
OG +4.5 rounds
$1.75 (1 Unit)
FaZe Clan vs 9z Team
IEM Rio 2023
FaZe Clan are one of the world's highest-rated CS:GO teams, but it would be hard to tell that based on their performance at RMR. They were the favourites to end the event with a perfect record but ended up 3-2 with defeats against NaVi (0-2), Bad News Eagles (0-2), and MOUZ (1-2).
FaZe didn't impress at the RMR, yet this is still the same team that won ESL Pro League Season 17 at the end of March, so is it fair to feel overly concerned about their chances to defeat 9z Team?
9z Team are in great form. They won CCT South America Series #5 in March and successfully made it through Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023: South American Qualifier with just one loss over the last ten fixtures.
But even though 9z Team look solid on paper, they only had to play lesser teams from their region, so expecting them to do nearly as well against FaZe sounds too optimistic. Obviously, FaZe looked very shaky last week and seem more than capable of losing this game. But we're still taking about a match between the IGS champions and the world's no.61 team with little to no experience competing at the highest level.
FaZe Clan -5.5 rounds
$1.83 (1 Unit)
FURIA Esports vs Fnatic
IEM Rio 2023
FURIA Esports last played against Fnatic in March, during ESL Pro League Season 17, when they won 2-0, so it's fair to assume that FURIA can do it again on Monday. There are also other things that would lead to that conclusion, namely Fnatic's underwhelming performances over the last three weeks.
Even though Fnatic finished the RMR with a perfect 3-0 record, they only had to play VIperio, 1win, and B8, and yet they dropped 20 rounds against VIperio (22-20) and a map against B8 (2-1). Not the most inspiring results, but the same can be said for FURIA, who are on a four-game winning during which the only notable victory came against Team Liquid (2-1).
This looks like a match that can end either way and as much as anyone can argue that FURIA should be favourites since they already defeated Fnatic last month, 1.66 is still a bit too pricey for a BO1 game. It's also important to note that the last meeting between Fnatic and FURIA was very close (16-13, 16-13).
At even odds or better, I prefer Fnatic, who might've not looked too clean at RMR; but they're still a capable team.
Fnatic to win
$2.10 (1 Unit)
