There are some big matchups in the world of esports this Friday night and into Saturday morning and we have you covered with a full preview and betting tips for some of they key clashes below.
Esports Betting Tips: Friday, May 15th
Aggressive Mode vs Empire Hope
DOTA2 Cyber.bet Cup: Spring Series
Aggressive Mode are entering Cyber.bet Cup after a successful run through ESL One Birmingham 2020 - Online: Europe & CIS Qualifiers, where they defeated KSK, Nemiga, Winstrike and Team Unique to secure a spot at the main event. Empire Hope, on the other side, made little to no impact in their recent competitive endeavours and even that would be an understatement. They're holding onto a 1-4 record in their last five fixtures which looks bad on its own, but if we take note of the fact that they lost to no-name teams such as FlyToMoon 2.0, Miaww^^ and KVP, Empire Hope's situation becomes much worse as it already is. The only team they managed to defeat in their last five was TPB, while their best performance came at WePlay! Pushka League S1: Division 2, where they forced Team Unique to three maps (1-2).
Based on their recent showings, there is no reason to believe Empire Hope have a realistic chance to win here. The only thing working in their favour is the online format, but considering Aggressive Mode have not lost a single match since April 25, I find it hard to believe the online format will help the CIS roster here. Since Ivan "Kidaro" Bondarev left the team, Empire Hope have been only a shadow of themselves and quite frankly, I would be surprised if they can win a single map here. Trust Aggressive Mode to win with ease!
Aggressive Mode -1.5 Maps
$2.24
Virtus.pro vs FlyToMoon
DOTA2 Epic Prime League Season 1
Although not as strong as their academy team VP.Prodigy, Virtus.pro are still a team capable of great things, although they failed to show that in recent weeks. Most recently, VP finished fourth at Pushka League and began their OGA Dota PIT 2020 Online: Europe/CIS journey with two 0-2 losses against Team Secret and Ninjas in Pyjamas. While FlyToMoon are a significantly weaker side compared to teams VP played against at OGA, I am still a bit concerned with VP's morale and lack of any momentum. Taking about momentum, FlyToMoon are entering this match with a six-game winning streak. They have defeated Spirit (twice), B8, HellRaisers, Vikin.gg and most importantly Virtus.pro.
VP and FTM met at the start of the month during Epic Prime League Season 1, where FTM won 2-0. This alone makes me wonder why are FTM priced as underdogs here. Sure, their players are arguable of a lower quality compared to VP's roster, but considering FTM have already defeated VP less than two weeks ago and are clearly in better shape ahead of this bout, the odds make no sense. This match seems like it can go their way, so we have to side with the underdogs to bring it home.
Team Vitaliy vs G2
CS:GO ESL One: Road to Rio
Looking at the recent match between Heretics and G2, I can no longer consider G2 as a top team. The online format has definitely not been kind to the French squad (G2), who seemingly can only win against Tier-2 teams, but once they are faced with at least half-decent squads such as FaZe, mousesports, Astralis…, G2 themselves start to look like a second-tier team. So far at RtR they have only defeated Heretics, c0ntact, Movistar Riders, Copenhagen Flames and GODSENT, so in other words Tier-2 and Tier-3 teams. While Vitality have problems of their own, they were at least able to defeat Complexity, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Fnatic, while they ended up losing to Astralis, NiP and the resurging ENCE.
Based on G2’s performance in their most recent match against Heretics, the odds on Vitality to win here are way too generous. Sure, they have their own internal problems and are (still) without a proper IGL, but even with that, they should be capable of defeating G2 with ease.
Team Vitality to win
$1.76
