The opening round of YaLLa Compass 2024 Group A will feature the Danish derby between Astralis and HEROIC. These two last met during PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 European RMR B, when Astralis won 13-7. It was their third consecutive head-to-head victory, which explains the odds.

Still, HEROIC have looked much improved over the last month. They reached the BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 semifinals and placed top six at Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2024 last week. Meanwhile, Astralis reached the semifinals at IEM Chengdu 2024, ESL Pro League Season 19, and the CCT Season 1 Global Finals.

Results-wise, HEROIC and Astralis look even, and the eye test suggests there is not much to set them apart. Since this is a best-of-one match, taking HEROIC at outsider odds is a very inviting choice.

Complexity made a huge splash at the start of May by reaching the semifinal of ESL Pro League Season 19, then crashed out of Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2024 in 13th-16th place. In both events, Complexity were eliminated by MOUZ — the top Counter-Strike team in the world.

Eternal Fire, like Complexity, enjoyed a bit of a resurgence last month by winning the CCT Season 1 Global Finals — their first title since June 2023. But that success comes with an asterisk, as the Turkish side didn’t have to face any great teams.

Complexity are priced as slight underdogs with esports betting sites, which doesn’t make much sense. They’ve shown promising performances over the last month and have beaten teams stronger than Eternal Fire.

Despite parting ways with their long-time head coach Fatih “gob b” Dayik, BIG haven’t lost any traction. In fact, they produced their best tournament run of the season last week, placing top eight at Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2024.

It could be that it was just a honeymoon phase under a new coach, but BIG have shown better performances under a new strategist. FURIA Esports, on the other side, continue to struggle.

The Brazilians have not won a tournament this season, and their most notable accomplishment of 2024 was finishing second at a B-Tier event — CCT Season 2 European Series #4. Something is not clicking in this team, and YaLLa Compass 2024 might be their last chance to show something before the inevitable roster revamp.

BIG are rightly priced as favourites, but even at -140.85 with BetOnline, they’re a bit underrated.

Following a long streak of disappointing results, Fnatic decided on a change and brought in Benjamin “blameF” Bremer from Astralis to help stabilise the roster. Since joining Fnatic, BlameF has played in two tournaments and posted promising numbers, with a 1.27 rating across 13 maps played.

Fnatic still have a long way to go, but they have found a lot more success with the Danish CS veteran. BetBoom Team are also on an upwards trajectory, recently reaching no.17 spot on the global CS ladder.

They have not won a tournament since April but secured top-eight placements at both the CCT Season 1 Global Finals and Season 2 European Series #3. Despite the promising results, BetBoom have not beaten any great teams over the last few weeks, which explains the offered esports betting odds.

This looks like a 50-50 match between two teams slowly getting back on their feet. Expect a close series.

Esports betting tips

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