Great night of esports action coming up this Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning with the DreamHack Masters in both North America and Europe taking centre stage! We have a full preview with our best bets for the action below.
Esports Betting Tips: Tuesday, May 19th
Astralis vs Heroics
DreamHack Masters Spring 2020
The opening match of the DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 – Europe will serve us with an exciting match between the on-form Astralis and the lukewarm Heroic, who have recently bought HUNDEN from MAD Lions as a coach and acquired niko from OpTic Gaming to complete their new roster.
Astralis once again showed the world why they are the top dog in the scene with a dominant 3-0 victory against helpless G2 in the finals of the ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe. Although they held a default 1-0 map advantage because they advanced into the finals from the upper bracket, Astralis demolished G2 with 16-6 on Nuke and 16-2 on Vertigo, so there is no reason to believe that one map helped them in any way. As for their performances in the RtR, Astralis won nine out of ten played and lost only against Fnatic in the early stage of the tournament.
Heroic failed to qualify for the RtR after they suffered two losses against Heretics and Copenhagen Flames in the Europe Minor Closed Qualifier. Instead, they participated at the Elisa Invitational 2020, where they finished 3-4th, securing three wins against North, Nordavind and KOVA and one loss against Dignitas. As for their LOOT.BET Season 6 campaign, Heroic won against Secret and Nordavind.
While the big odds on Heroic are tempting to take, especially in on the online match, I can't see them winning this one due to their fairly weak map pool. However, if they manage to get Nuke or Dust2 through the map veto, Heroic will have a decent chance to force this series to go the distance.
Astralis to win 2-1
$3.35
G2 vs North
DreamHack Masters Spring 2020
Although G2 reached the finals of the ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe, they were not even close to being the second-best team of the tournament. G2 won a couple of matches, which they shouldn't have, particularly against Vitality and Heretics. G2 seemingly ran out of luck in the finals, where they won only eight rounds across two maps against Astralis and suffered one of the biggest stomps I have seen in a while.
North will be coming into the match with a stand-in Kristou instead of their star-player Kjaerbye, which is not ideal but is definitely an improvement, considering they were forced to play with their coach as a stand-in for the past couple of matches.
The last time these two teams met was just a little over a week ago at the ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe, where G2 started the series with a 16-14 win on Vertigo, but lost 12-16 on Dust2 and 16-19 on Nuke. While G2 are still favourites against North, they will be entering this match on the back of abysmal performance in the RtR finals, where they got trashed by the Danes, while North should be coming into the match problem-free (apart from their new player) and will likely look to take an upset win. Bet on North to win at least one map!
Team Liquid vs Chaos
DreamHack Masters Spring 2020
Team Liquid are entering this match following a disappointing fourth-place finish at the ESL One: Road to Rio - North America, where they barely won four matches out of eight. Liquid won against Bad News Bear, MIBR, YEAH and 100 Thieves, but lost to Cloud9, Envy and twice against FURIA (who have established themselves as the best Brazilian team). Based on those results it's clear Liquid are struggling to find motivation for these online matches and I expect their struggles to continue at the DreamHack Masters.
Chaos looked terrible in their journey through FLASHPOINT where they won only one match (against Gen.G) out of six. They did, however, lose their star player smooya at the time, so it's not a shock to see them struggle. Chaos bounced back at the ESEA MDL Season 34 North America, where they lost just one match against Swedish Canadians, but won all of their remaining matches against AA, Warriors International, Mythic, Big Frames and Polar Ace. Those results are in all fairness nothing special, but at least Chaos are winning.
Chaos' biggest advantage is their IGL, who is one of the best in his role and one of the rare people that can prepare Chaos for their next match. Liquid should still come away with a win here, but based on what they have shown as of late, they are destined to drop a map. Bet on Chaos to win at least one map!
OG vs Alliance
OGA DOTA2 PIT 2020 Online: Europe/CIS
Only one team will continue their perfect record at OGA Dota PIT after Alliance and OG clash in the arena. OG are entering this match with two wins under their belts which they earned against HellRaisers (2-0) and Vikin.gg (2-0), while Alliance edged past Vikin.gg (2-1) and defeated FlyToMoon (2-0). Neither side got properly tested so far this tournament, but it's obvious Alliance struggled a bit more than their European rivals.
Although OG looked mighty strong throughout the tournament, they looked a bit questionable throughout WePlay! Pushka League S1: Division 1, where they won only two out of six games. Since then, OG picked up a narrow win against Nigma (2-1), lost to NaVi (1-2) as well as two wins over Vikin.gg and HellRaisers. Alliance might not have looked too sharp at OGA PIT so far, but they are not as weak as the odds suggest. In their last three games, they defeated Liquid (2-0) and even played a close three-map series against Team Secret (1-2), which are both exceptional achievements, especially since they are using a stand-in player.
Last time OG and Alliance met was in April during WePlay! Pushka League S1: Division 1, where Alliance won 2-1. Before that OG and Alliance met in February at ESL One Los Angeles 2020 Europe Closed Qualifier, where OG won 2-0. Everything points towards another win for OG and while they're the most likely winners, Alliance looked fairly solid in recent weeks and should be capable of keeping OG on their toes. Expect a close series that should reach over 2.5 maps played.
