by The Pinnacle Cup Championship kicks off this week in Lund, Sweden, as eight of the best Counter-Strike teams in the world battle it out over four days with the winner taking home $150,000 from the US$250,000 prize pool. These are our best bets for the first four games of the tournament on Wednesday, June 8.
HEROIC vs FNATIC CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Heroic -357.14 at BetOnline | Fnatic +250 at BetOnline |
| When: | June 8, 2022 | 10:30 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch |
Heroic and Fnatic will kick off Group A with a best-of-one between the no.6-ranked roster in the world and the currently unranked Fnatic. Heroic have a 2-1 record in best-of-one matches over the past month, while Fnatic have a 1-2 record in the same time span.
Fnatic enter this event with two new players that have been signed from Copenhagen Flames in Fredrick “roeJ” Jorgensen and Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi, with the fifth player on the Fnatic roster still yet to be announced. Fnatic have not competed in an event since their 9th-12th place finish in the ESL Pro League back in early April, and given their recent roster shake-up, we should see a completely different Fnatic here in Sweden.
Heroic enter the Pinnacle Cup as the top-ranked team at the event, but so far this year the Danes have been quite underwhelming for a consistent top-five team, as they have not made it to the semi-finals at any of the events they have participated in since the start of March. The most recent event that Heroic participated in was the PGL Major in Antwerp, where they were knocked out by Natus Vincere in the quarter-finals and finished in 5th-8th place.
Heroic will see the Pinnacle Cup Championship as a good opportunity to secure a tournament win, therefore we will taking them at -4.5 rounds.
Heroic -4.5 rounds
BIG vs MiBR CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | BIG -357.14 at BetOnline | MiBR +250 at BetOnline |
| When: | June 8, 2022 | 12:00 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch |
BIG and MiBR kick off their Pinnacle Cup Championship event with a best-of-one between the 15th and 24th ranked teams in the world, respectively. Both teams have 2-2 records in best-of-one matches over the past month.
BIG are coming off a great run at IEM Dallas 2022 where they finished in 3rd-4th place and surprised everyone after they won their first two games over Ninjas in Pyjamas and MiBR rather impressively. They took down FURIA in a competitive series and then fell to the eventual IEM Dallas champions Cloud9 1-2 in the semi-final. BIG will arrive to Sweden full of confidence and they could be a dark horse to take out the Pinnacle Cup Championship.
MiBR will begin the event on a three game win streak after they have won their last three matches in the ESL Challenger League Season 41 NA over BHOP, Axolotls and Mythic. The Brazilian roster are yet to make a big splash at an S-Tier event this year with early exits at both IEM Dallas 2022 and the PGL Major in Antwerp earlier this year.
BIG will be looking to recapture the form they were in early at IEM Dallas and kick off the Pinnacle Cup Championship the same way, therefore we will be taking the match favourites at the rounds line of -4.5.
BIG -4.5 rounds
ASTRALIS vs EVIL GENIUSES CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Astralis -454.55 at BetOnline | EG +300 at BetOnline |
| When: | June 8, 2022 | 13:30 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch |
The No.12-ranked team in the world, Astralis, take on the no.39-ranked team in the world, Evil Geniuses, in the first best-of-one match for Group B. Astralis have a 2-2 record in their best-of-one matches over the last month, while Evil Geniuses have not played any series in six weeks.
Astralis have not made the playoff stage of any event they have participated in since they made the quarter-finals of the ESL Pro League back in early April. The all-Danish roster has shown some glimpses of talent in that time, but things have not been clicking at all of late. Astralis have not beaten a team inside the top 20 in the world in the last month.
Evil Geniuses have taken a much needed break from competitive CS:GO after their very underwhelming first four months of this year following a roster shake-up in January. The new roster has not managed to qualify for a single S-Tier event since ESL Pro League back in March, where EG didn’t win a single series and finished in 21st-24th place.
The betting sites have the odds pretty spot on for this best-of-one. Even though Astralis have been lacking the form of a no.12-ranked team, they are still playing better Counter-Strike than Evil Geniuses have been. We will be taking the unders in the total rounds line of 26.5.
Under 26.5 total rounds
IMPERIAL vs FINEST CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | BIG -111.11 at BetOnline | MiBR -125 at BetOnline |
| When: | June 8, 2022 | 15:00 CEST |
| Watch Live: | Twitch |
Imperial and Finest end the round one matches for Group B. Imperial will begin the Pinnacle Cup Championship as the 14th-ranked team in the world, whilst Finest will be the 31st-ranked team in the world. Imperial have a 2-5 record in best-of-one matches over the last month, whereas Finest have only played one best-of-one match in the same time span for one loss.
Imperial have been on an incredible run throughout 2022. Ranked 81st in the world back in March, they have now climbed all the way up to 14th in just three months. They have achieved this feet by winning or finishing in the top two in multiple qualifiers and then performing at the main events shortly after, recording a 9th-11th place finish in the PGL Major in Antwerp as their best S-Tier event finish for the year.
Finest have also had their own rise up the world rankings, but in much shorter time, with their current six-game win streak catapulting them up 35 places from 66th on the May 22 to 31st as of today. Finest won Pinnacle Cup IV in late May, earning them a cool US$80,000 in winnings, and the Swedes currently sit on top of the standings in the Elisa Spring Invitational with a 2-0 record. This invitation to one of their first ever S-Tier events could not have come at a better time for Finest, with the benefit of the event also being in their home country.
This best-of-one series sets up as one of the better matches of the day with the bookmakers only having 10c splitting the two teams. It should be a cracking match to complete the first set of games for round one. We will be siding with the slender favourites to get the win here.
