by Four teams will take to the stage this Wednesday in the opening fixtures of Group B at EPICENTER 2019 in Moscow, Russia. Let’s look over the best bets and latest odds on offer at ESB’s top CS:GO betting sites.
ForZe vs Evil Geniuses
Wednesday, December 18 – 13:00 MSK
All esports bookmakers seem to agree that the opening clash of Group B will be a one-sided affair.
Evil Geniuses (-500) enter the EPICENTER tournament after an underwhelming run at the ESL Pro League S10 Finals. They started off strong with a 16-3 win over Fnatic and a convincing 2-0 result against 100 Thieves, but they came undone with losses to NaVi in the Group A finals (1-2) and mousesports (1-2) in the quarter-finals.
Before the ESL Pro League S10 Finals, EG finished third-fourth at the ECS S8 Finals after losing 1-2 to Astralis in the semi-finals.
SEE ALSO: EPICENTER 2019 GROUP A BETTING TIPS
ForZe (+320) head to EPICENTER 2019 off a title-winning run at DreamHack Open Winter, which concluded at the start of the month. Approximately two weeks later, forZe also won the ESEA S32 Premier Division European Finals against HAVU (3-0).
EG and forZe have not met before. Interestingly, the two teams have a fairly similar map pool, which should result in an exciting match. The question is whether forZe can do some damage against the third-best team in the world.
As we see it, EG are in terrible shape now. They might boast some exceptional individual talent, but their inconsistency has reached alarming levels. The tournament will be played in Russia, which will add some motivation for forZe to deliver and make their home crowd proud. A +1.5 map bet on the hosts is a great pick here.
Prediction: forZe +1.5 – +108 at BetOnline
AVANGAR vs mousesports
Wednesday, December 18 – 16:00 MSK
After winning both the CS:GO Asia Championships and ESL Pro League S10 Finals, mousesports (-250) will look to keep their fire going at EPICENTER 2019.
They endured a lean patch early in the year, but mouz have bounced back in style and now rank among the world’s top five CS:GO esports teams. They have won nine out of their last 10 fixtures, with their only defeat in that stretch coming against Team Liquid in round two of the ESL Pro League S10 Finals.
AVANGAR (+182) are a respected team in their region, yet they can hardly compare to mouz and their recent achievements. In September, AVANGAR won BLAST Pro Series: Moscow and finished second at the StarLadder Berlin Major. Those are their only two notable results in recent months and their best results of 2019.
AVANGAR failed to impress at the CS:GO Asia Championships, where Dzhami “Jame” Ali and his squad finished fifth-sixth alongside Evil Geniuses. They also claimed an underwhelming seventh-eighth finish at the ECS S8 Finals at the end of November.
Mousesports bested AVANGAR at the Berlin Major (19-17) and most recently at the Asia Championships (2-0). With mouz in superb form, another clean sweep is on the cards.
Prediction: mousesports -1.5 – +115 at BetOnline
