Our esports tipster Michael Lee is back with his League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2023 Summer coverage. Today he offers his betting tips for three matches on Wednesday, July 5, including NRG Esports vs Team Liquid, 100 Thieves vs FlyQuest, and Golden Guardians vs Cloud9, who will face off in the first round of the fourth week of LCS 2023 Summer.
Check out our expert previews and betting tips below, and make sure to head over to Picklebet – Australia’s #1 esports betting site.
Esports Betting Tips: Thursday, July 5th 2023
NRG Esports vs Team Liquid
LCS 2023 Summer
NRG Esports haven’t looked good over the last few weeks as they enter the fourth week of the split with a 3-6 record. Interestingly, two of their wins came against the last split’s finalists, Golden Guardians and Cloud9, which is impressive.
Two upset wins don’t mean much, but NRG Esports are playing much better than what their win rate suggests. They’re ranked sixth-fifth across important performance stats, so it’s fair to say that NRG Esports are underperforming.
Team Liquid are 5-4, which is a fair record for what they’ve shown, but we must also take into account Liquid’s slump in the second week when they lose against Dignitas and Evil Geniuses. Since then, Liquid have beaten Cloud9 but lost against FlyQuest and Golden Guardians.
It’s tough to make much sense from Liquid’s last six matches, but we know that Liquid defeated NRG Esports two weeks ago, so they deserve to be the favourites for this match. But 1.58 is way too low.
Liquid won their last match against NRG Esports convincingly, but they’ve struggled with consistency and don’t have side selection. NRG Esports look weaker but perform better when faced with stronger teams, so I have no issues taking their side at 2.60.
NRG Esports to win
$2.60 (1 Unit)
100 Thieves vs FlyQuest
LCS 2023 Summer
Following an abysmal start to the season (0-6), FlyQuest woke up and finished last week with a perfect 3-0 record and wins against Team Liquid, NRG Esports, and Immortals. They didn’t look too impressive in their wins, but the mental boost of winning three games after going 0-6 can’t be underestimated.
And let’s not forget how stacked FlyQuest are, so despite their slow start to the split; their ceiling hasn’t lowered one bit. This team can still win the LCS title; the only question is whether FlyQuest will keep posting better results or crumble again.
100 Thieves are 4-5 and have won two games last week, against Dignitas and TSM, but like in their previous two wins of the split, I wasn’t impressed. 100 Thieves are a mediocre team with high brand value, and that’s it.
Betting against FlyQuest might seem like a smart choice considering how bad they were over the first two weeks of the split. But they’ve improved, and I’ve yet to see anything from 100 Thieves to believe they’re capable of beating a team with better players.
FlyQuest -5.5 kills
$1.83 (1 Unit)
Golden Guardians vs Cloud9
LCS 2023 Summer
Cloud9 defeated Golden Guardians in the first match of LCS 2023 Summer, and they’re expected to do it again, which I don’t find surprising. Golden Guardians have looked decent so far this split, and while they’re in a good position, GG are not good as Cloud9.
Cloud9 have suffered two losses against NRG Esports and Team Liquid, but they took care of business against Evil Geniuses. It was an important win which could dictate how the regular season ends, but most importantly, it was a big win for Cloud9, who still had to prove that they could be as dominant against good teams as they were when faced with bottom teams.
Golden Guardians have had their moments and haven’t really looked bad against any of the teams they’ve faced. Golden Guardians lost against NRG Esports, which was purely due to some early-game shenanigans. But can Golden Guardians defeat Cloud9?
Cloud9 might be the best team in the LCS, but I don’t see how they can be priced as 1.44 favourites for this match. Golden Guardians are good and more than capable of winning, and the only real reason to doubt their chances is the poor head-to-head record, which really doesn’t mean much following the recent LoL updates.
Golden Guardians to win
$2.62 (1 Unit)
