by The second round of ESL Pro League Season 10 Europe will kick off Wednesday, November 13, featuring eight teams in the hunt for a direct invite to the ESL Pro League S10 Finals. Here, we look over the team news, recent form and latest odds heading into the opening two fixtures of Group A.
G2 Esports vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
Wednesday, November 13 – 18:25 CET
G2 Esports (-138.89) enter this fixture as slight favourites to defeat Ninjas in Pyjamas (+107), and we can agree with odds provided by esports bookmakers.
G2 signed Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi? and Nemanja “huNter-” Kova? at the end of September as replacements for Richard “shox” Papillon and Lucas “Lucky” Chastang, who left for Vitality and Heretics respectively. G2 were a bit inconsistent prior to that move, but it seems like nexa and huNter- were the two missing pieces of a roster that now looks complete.
In the group stage, G2 finished second behind Natus Vincere and ahead of HellRaisers and Windigo Gaming, with their only defeat coming from a close fixture against NaVi (1-2).
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NiP have also made some recent roster changes, but unlike G2, the Swedes have not improved much. They had some iffy moments in the group stage, especially against Sprout (2-1), who completely crushed them on Nuke (16-4). That said, NiP did just enough to advance by finishing in a three-way tie with Heroic and Team Vitality.
Based on what the two sides have shown so far, it’s easy to side with G2 to win here. The fact that NiP lost to G2 at StarSeries i-League Season 8 at the end of October does not help their cause.
Another clean sweep by G2 looks unlikely because this is a crucial fixture and we can expect both teams to be on top of their game, but the Spanish outfit should have enough quality to defeat NiP for the second time this year.
Prediction: G2 Esports to win – -138.89 at BetOnline
North vs BIG
Wednesday, November 13 – 22:15 CET
North (+125) and BIG (-163.93) will clash for the fifth time this year in what promises to be a thrilling bout between two teams who never fail to produce a great match.
Out of their four prior meetings this year, North won three but lost the most recent one (0-2) at Esports Championship Series Season 8 Europe on October 21.
Neither team looked great in the ESL Pro League S10 group stage, yet they produced enough to make their way into the second round. North lost to Fnatic (0-2) and Astralis 0-2) but edged past Aristocracy (2-1) to finish third in Group C. BIG struggled against mousesports (1-2) and FaZe (1-2) but bounced back in game three against OpTic (2-0) to go through.
Since North lost to BIG in the ECS, they have won only two out of six fixtures, some of which were against much weaker teams. BIG, meanwhile, have won five out of their last seven fixtures, with the only two defeats coming against Astralis and Fnatic.
Historically, North are the stronger side in this matchup, but recent results suggest this trend won’t continue this Wednesday. That said, the Danes should chip at least one map off BIG.
Prediction: North +1.5 – -217.39 at BetOnline
