Big night of esports coming up this Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning with a variety of different events on the card! Today we take a look at some of the key matchups from the massive CS:GO ESL One Cologne event happening currenlty!
ESports Betting Tips: Tuesday, August 18th
FURIA vs Chaos
ESL One Cologne 2020 North America
FURIA and Chaos have last met only a couple of days ago in the semi-finals of the DreamHack Open Summer 2020 North America, where FURIA won 2-0 with 16-8 on Nuke and 16-11 on Inferno.
FURIA's Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato had a great performance that day, with 46 frags and 1.44 HLTV rating, while Chaos' best played turned out to be their IGL who managed 33 frags and 1.01 rating. His teammates, on the other hand, all finished the series with rankings below 1.00 line, including the young star Erick "Xeppaa" Bach, who was billed as the "next big thing" on Chaos.
While I like the team Joshua "steel" Nissan has built around him, Chaos are just not good enough to play against top teams and the fact that Chaos have managed to win way too many matches they should have realistically lost does not convince me Chaos are the real deal. Chaos also struggled way too much against the likes of Ze Pug Godz, which is another indication they are not nearly as good as they are portrayed to be.
While I see a lot of potential in Chaos, they still have a long road ahead before they can reach their ceiling and until they do, defeating teams like FURIA will be a nearly impossible task.
The Brazilians are also entering this match with high morale following their win against Liquid during the DreamHack Open Summer 2020 North America and since they managed to defeat Liquid, FURIA should have no issues taking down Chaos as well. Bet on FURIA to secure a dominant 2-0 victory here.
Fnatic vs Astralis
ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe
Astralis and fnatic have last met over four months ago during the ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe, where fnatic came away with a close 2-1 win. That win, however, came at the time when Astralis' players were severely fatigued and were in the midst of announcing roster changes which eventually led to the arrival of new young blood who were not worthy of wearing Astralis' jersey.
Despite their loss against fnatic, Astralis still managed to win the whole event, ending the competition with only one loss to the Swedes. Sure, they have stumbled a bit in the next events, but considering they had to field JUGI and Snappi, it's in all honesty not shocking they did not perform well.
Even though Astralis are definitely not the same team they were at the start of the year, they still field Nicolai "device" Reedtz, Emil "Magisk" Reif and the newest addition Lucas "Bubzkji" Andersen, who I rank very highly and am confident he has enough firepower to be a great addition to the Danish roster. Astralis' IGL Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander is still missing, but since coaches can talk with the players freely during the games, I don't see that as a huge blow to the team.
If device can show his old form here and if Bubzkji manages to play at the same pace as he did with MAD Lions, Astralis should be more than capable of edging out a win. It could still end up being a close match, but when push comes to shove, I have to side with Astralis.
Vitality vs Heretics
ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe
The last time Heretics clashed with Vitality, they lost 0-2 following two poor performances on 6-17 on Dust2 and 10-16 Nuke. Like we got used to, it was Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, who was once again the top player on VItality, with 42 frags and 1.48 HLTV rating. It's worth noting, however, that his teammate Richard "shox" Papillon did not look too shabby either with 39 frags and 1.39 rating.
On the side of Heretics, only Lucas "Lucky" Chastang came away from the series with a positive 1.10 rating, meanwhile, the other two star players Bryan "Maka" Canda and Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom failed to show up with 0.94 and 0.80 ratings respectively.
As the score would suggest, the game was very one-sided which would indicate this one will not be any different. But it just might be. We have to consider the fact that Vitality have been on a long break from the competition and they will likely need a couple of matches to warm up before we can see them playing at their full potential.
Vitality are undeniably the better team and consequently the most likely victors, but then again, they are known for underperforming against much weaker teams, especially against local opponents. I expect Vitality to win, but Heretics won't go down without a fight and are bound to do some damage to the rusty Vitality.
Aster.Aries vs Neon Esports
OMEGA League: Asia Divine Division
Aster.Aries have looked very strong throughout the first stage of the tournament, however, they still need to prove how much weight does their 5-0 record hold, considering they did not get properly tested yet. I was also not too excited to see Aster.Aries drop one map against all teams in their group besides LING ER, and DeMonster.
Neon Esports, on the other side managed a 4-1 record in their arguably much tougher group, where their only loss came against 496 Gaming (1-2). Besides that, Neon dropped only one map against Adroit Esports (2-1), but had no issues defeating Reality Rift (2-0), Cignal Ultra (2-0) and Excration (2-0). Additionally, Neon are on a five-game winning streak and have just recently won the ESL One Thailand 2020: Asia Open Qualifier - Southeast Asia, which is not a massive achievement, but an achievement nonetheless.
Aster.Aries, on the other hand, are 5-0 in their last five, but as mentioned, they did not face any tough teams and have on top of that dropped at least one map in four out of those five games.
Aster.Aries might look better on paper, but it's Neon Esports, who have convinced me more with their results. This could still turn out to be a very close game, but when push comes to shove, I will trust Neon to come out ahead. Bet on Neon Esports to win!
Neon Esports to win
$2.23
