GamerLegion will attend ESL Challenger Atlanta with Andreas “aNdu” Maasing as a stand-in for Sebastian “volt” Malo?. While this isn’t necessarily a big blow quality-wise, the last-minute change definitely won’t benefit them.

Apeks have their full roster ready for Atlanta, where they will chase their first tournament title since Elisa Invitational Spring 2023. While Apeks haven’t won any tournaments in six months, they placed second at Elisa Masters Espoo 2023 at the start of December.

With GamerLegion winning only one of their last five matches, Counter-Strike betting sites have Apeks priced as -250 favourites. However, Apeks have produced some stinkers recently, with defeats against 3DMAX and FORZE, making it though to trust them at the offered price.

Monte having been making some noice in recent months. They ran top four in both ESL Pro League Season 18 and Thunderpick World Championship 2023, finished second at Roobet Cup 2023, and won ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023. The only concern heading to Atlanta is that Monte haven’t played a game in three weeks.

Since BESTIA came together in February, they have mainly competed in regional tournaments. They placed second at Copa BetBoom 2023 last month and then made the semifinals of the CBCS Invitational 2023. However, BESTIA have not beaten a team ranked in the top 10 this season, and they will have to play this event with two stand-ins — Roberto “reversive” Themtham and Nicolás “NikoM” Miozzi.

While the outsiders are bound to struggle, this is a best-of-one series and the round line is set at a 7.5, which is an absurd number. As weak as BESTIA might seem, they should be good for six rounds.

M80 have recently found momentum with four straight event victories, including ESEA Cash Cup North America Autumn 2023 #6 and ESL Challenger League Season 46 North America. While those weren’t big tournaments, M80 travel to Georgia World Congress Center in impressive form with just one defeat over their last 21 games.

Virtus.pro broke into the top 10 in the Counter-Strike world rankings following a stretch of impressive tournament runs. They placed second at Dunav Party LAN in August, added a gold medal from Roobet Cup 2023 at the start of November, and have since placed second at Thunderpick World Championship 2023 and BetBoom Dacha.

While Virtus.pro’s win percentage isn’t as high as M80’s, they have won nine of their last 13 series — mainly bouts against top-20 squads. VP rarely lose against weaker opponents, so backing them to cover the round line is a solid play.

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Monte are fresh off an impressive finals appearance at Roobet Cup 2023 and a top-four finish at Thunderpick World Championship 2023, which explains why the Ukrainians are priced as second-favourites to win ESL Challenger J?nk?ping 2023 at +225 with BetOnline.

TYLOO, meanwhile, sit on the opposite side of the outright betting markets, priced as the biggest outsiders at +7500 odds to hoist the trophy. That makes sense, considering TYLOO have not accomplished much in European tournaments this season.

However, Asian CS squads are notoriously challenging to get ready for. Despite lacking the talent of European teams, TYLOO and other Chinese squads regularly present problems for Western teams, and this time it should be no different.

Even though Monte should win, taking the outsiders with a 4.5-round advantage for a best-of-one match makes more sense.

3DMAX (formerly HEET) have, after six months, found a new home and enter ESL Challenger J?nk?ping 2023 with a point to prove. The French squad hasn’t looked amazing this season, but 3DMAX have found momentum since the transition to Counter-Strike 2.

Since October, Lucas “Lucky” Chastang and co. have made the finals of the Esportal Clash Open, won ESEA Cash Cup Europe – Autumn 2023 #2, and grabbed another silver medal from CCT East Europe Series #3. Unfortunately, their strong form might not mean much in this clash.

Virtus.pro are the outright favourites to win ESL Challenger J?nk?ping 2023, and rightly so. The Russian squad won Roobet Cup 2023 at the start of October and added a silver medal from Thunderpick World Championship 2023 with just one defeat against the current no.1 team in the world, FaZe Clan.

Virtus.pro are in excellent form and are making a case for themselves as one of the top-five teams in the world. So even though best-of-one games are a bit more unpredictable, VP should prove to be too much to handle for the French squad.

GamerLegion looked incredible early in the 2023 season and even made the finals of BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. Since then, however, they’ve not accomplished much.

In October, GamerLegion crashed out of Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023 in seventh-eighth place, for which they deserve some slack given they were eliminated by the eventual champions, FaZe Clan. But what’s more concerning is that GL have not played an official game since.

MiBR have found some success over the last two months with a silver medal from CCT Online Finals #3 and back-to-back wins at XL Games 2023 and the ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023 South American Qualifier. While not the most challenging events, MiBR have shown good form, although they too have not played an official CS2 match this month.

As a best-of-one match between two rusty teams, no result would surprise us, but we have to side with a team that has a higher ceiling. At -120.48 with top CS2 betting sites, GamerLegion are an excellent bet.

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Movistar Riders lost their first match of Group D against Betera (former Question Mark), marking one of their biggest defeats of the last two months. However, unexpected results should be common at ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe, as it is one of the first tournaments to be played on Counter-Strike 2.

1win won CCT East Europe Series #2 and CCT Online Finals #3 at the end of September, but then failed to make it through ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023: European Open Qualifier with a 7-13 defeat against The Chosen Few. That shock result had to do with the tournament being played on CS2, considering 1win have beaten much stronger teams over the last three weeks.

1win are rightly priced as favourites, but considering how volatile games are since the transition to CS2, a bet on Movistar Riders at plus money makes more sense.

SAW edged past Pompa Team (16-13, 19-5) in the first round of Group C, while Looking4Org defeated EYEBALLERS (2-1). Since that win, L4O have played two games at Esportal Clash Open, where they went 1-1 with a 2-0 sweep of Hawks and a 1-2 loss against Witchers.

Those results don’t make much sense, but teams have struggled with consistency across all regions since the transition to CS2. SAW have produced similarly confusing results recently, with a 1-2 loss against For The Win at Aveiro Techdays Cup 2023, proving that the teams’ past results from CS:GO tournaments don’t mean much.

Most games at this stage look 50-50, so we prefer Looking4Org at +110. They’re not very stable on CS2, but L40 have enough talent to defeat SAW.

Pompa Team have not looked good over the last month, struggling to make much noise even in some lesser events. They have picked up a few wins over their dry streak, but not once did the Polish squad play a good series when faced with a half-decent opponent.

Things haven’t improved since the transition to CS2, as Pompa Team have yet to win a game on the new game version. They have lost against AVT Gaming (5-13) and have since added a 6-13 defeat against Preasy and 0-2 against SAW.

Team Spirit have shown excellent form over the last two months and are 17-4 since Dunav Party LAN. That includes just one victory on Counter-Strike 2 (2-0 vs RUBIK), so we have to take those results with a grain of salt. Still, Team Spirit is in much better shape compared to the Pompa Team, which is reflected in the offered betting odds.

Team Spirit to sweep the struggling Pompa Team at -163.93 is a good offer.

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ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 will begin on April 28 and conclude on April 30, with the entire event taking place during DreamHack Melbourne at Rod Laver Arena.

The eight rosters will compete for a US$100,000 prize pool and a $50,000 winners’ cheque, as well as a spot in ESL Pro League Season 18 in August.

World no.13 Complexity and no.22 IHC were both invited due to their ESL rankings, while Grayhound (#27) and Bad News Eagles (#29) will also be among the drawcards.

Rare Atom (#26), ECSTATIC (#60), EG Black (#63), and Vertex (#76) qualified through the North American, European, Asian, and Oceania closed qualifiers.

These eight teams will be enjoying a Chicken Parma come April 28 – 30 for #ESLChallenger Melbourne

@grayhoundgaming
@EvilGeniuses
@Complexity
@_badnewseagles
@ihc_esports
@VertexESC
@rare_atom
@EcstaticCS

https://t.co/833J3FgywG pic.twitter.com/qSJkH69z98

— ESL Counter-Strike 2 (@ESLCS) April 3, 2023

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“Aussies, get ready to make some noise again next April 28–30. ESL Challenger Melbourne is returning live to @DreamHack Melbourne next year!” the organizer announced.

ESL has been known for organizing CS: GO tournaments in Australia, hence this revelation did not come as a surprise. The organizer noted the ESL Challenger, which is the 52nd iteration, will be held at Rod Laver Avenue in Melbourne and is scheduled to run from April 28 to April 30, 2022.

The CS: GO event organizer also announced that other perks that come with the $100,000 prize pool include a spot for the winners of the tournament in the 18th season of the ESL Pro League Conference.

This event will have eight European teams competing in the A-tier tournament. Current sponsors of the tournament include technology brand Intel, logistics company DHL, Monster Energy, and 1XBET.

The tournament is structured into a group stage and a playoff stage. The former will have two double-elimination format groups with four teams each. The opening and winners’ matches will be played in Bo1, while the elimination and decider matches will be in Bo3. The two top teams will proceed to the playoff stage, where all matches will be in Bo3.

ESL has promised a worthwhile experience at the tournament. This year saw paiN Gaming emerge as the winner of the tournament; hence, to witness the team that will toil through to first place, Fans are expected to purchase their ticket for the event on DreamHack’s official website starting from December 12.

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?OG are clear favourites (+100) to win ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne 2022, and barring any surprises, the international squad should at least reach the final. Wings Up Gaming, on the other side, are priced as high as +5000 on the outright esports betting markets, and those figures alone should be a good indication of how this bout should play out.

We don’t know much about Wings Up Esports, who have only been competing in regional tournaments and various qualifying events. Just a couple of days ago, Wings Up also attended the Chinese IEM Road to Rio RMR, where they finished in third place after losing two series against the eventual winners, Rare Atom (1-2, 0-2).

It was a solid showing from Wings Up Esports, who have proven to be one of China’s top CS:GO teams. But that hardly means much knowing that they’re about to clash with the current no.8 team in the world, who recently beat Complexity (2-0), FaZe Clan (2-1), and Astralis (2-0).

It might not be a 16-0 sweep, but OG shouldn’t lose more than a couple of rounds against a vastly inferior team.

Entropiq are not nearly as strong as they were at the start of the year when they peaked at no.9 in the global CS:GO standings, but they’re still one of the top 35 teams in the world. Evil Geniuses are a similar story, as a squad that has fallen from grace this year, but their fall was far greater.

Still, despite all the issues Evil Geniuses have had to deal with in 2022, the North American esports organisation is doing everything it can to bounce back, and the recent roster moves just might help. Since the start of August, Evil Geniuses have signed Sanjar “neaLaN” ?shakov, added a new coach in Daniel “Vorborg” Vorborg, and promoted Jadan “HexT” Postma to the main lineup.

Since the roster moves, Evil Geniuses have attended just one event (BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022) but haven’t achieved much, losing against FaZe Clan (8-16), BIG (6-16), and Ninjas in Pyjamas (1-2). Although we should give the new-look lineup a bit more time to see what they’re capable of, EG’s current situation looks very bleak.

Entropiq might not be an elite-tier team, but you don’t have to be that to defeat the shaky Evil Geniuses.

Imperial Esports are rightly priced as heavy favourites to defeat VERTEX ESC, but we’re not as high on the Brazilian squad as the market. With all due respect, Imperial have not achieved anything since their honeymoon phase at the start of the year and were particularly disappointing at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne in July, when they placed 17th-20th.

Imperial have since made a couple of roster changes by promoting Lincoln “fnx” Lau to the head coach position and signing Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes. But, unfortunately, we don’t see how those changes help Imperial Esports improve.

VERTEX ESC are arguably the weakest team at the tournament, but they have been active in August, unlike Imperial, who played their last match at the start of July. Lack of games, combined with the fact that Imperial are one of the most overhyped teams in the CS:GO scene, makes VERTEX ESC an excellent outsider pick for this bout.

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