Joo “Zest” Sung-wook’s never-ending farewell tour continues on Thursday when he enters the semi-finals of 2022 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1, following two close calls against Kim “Classic” Doh-woo (3-2) and Lee “Bunny” Jae-seon (3-2).

For the past few months, Zest’s matches hinged on what version of Zest shows up – going from reaching the finals of IEM Katowice 2021 to getting eliminated from Code-A. Although Zest has been stabilising in recent weeks, it’s fair to feel scared for him for this match.

Cho “Maru” Seong-ju, who has historically struggled against Protoss, has improved his TvP matchup numbers to an impressive 82.14% win rate across the last 28 outings (23-5). However, Maru wasn’t convincing on Monday and had to dig deep to defeat Kim “herO” Joon-ho (3-2).

So while Maru has looked much better this tournament and should win, we have to take a shot with Zest to keep it close and force another five-map series.

Park “Dark” Ryung-woo proved just how efficient he is in Zerg vs Terran matchups on Monday when he swept Byun “ByuN” Hyun-woo and improved his ZvT record to a 75% win rate (48-16). Now, he’s set to clash with a Protoss player in Park “Zoun” Han-sol, for the first time since December, when Dark won 3-1.

It marked Dark’s fourth consecutive win against the 24-year-old, and according to the latest StarCraft II betting odds, the current no.4 in the Korean ESL Pro Tour standings should add another win to his tally. Priced at $1.23, Dark’s implied probability of winning this match is at 81.3%, which seems a bit low, but it’s a fair figure.

Zoun has looked good across the first two tournament rounds, but he’s terrible against Terran (10-15). So even though Zoun has been consistently a clutch player in important games, he is a clear outsider to defeat Dark on Thursday.

The post 2022 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1 betting picks – Thursday, January 27 appeared first on Esport Bet.

But now the season is over and it’s coming down to the business end with just four players left fighting it out for the title of GSL Champion.

Who will it be? Could it be SoO, the champion South Korean, who has played in seven GSL finals without ever winning one, or will it be Stats, Dark or Maru?

EsportBet StarCraft II expert Zak Y gives his take and betting predictions on the semi finals.

soO vs Stats

March 21st, 2018 : 20:30 KST

Stats may be the perfect defensive Protoss, but soO loses only in the finals, not the semi-finals. All jokes aside, soO has consistently demonstrated himself to be one of the absolute top SC2 players over the years by making so many deep runs in very important tournaments, including last year’s Blizzcon. While Stats is an incredible player with a great depth of skill, soO is a 3:2 favourite to win this best of five. In terms of match history, soO is 29-22 against Stats, and while this should be an exciting and interesting match to watch, you can expect soO to be victorious.

Best bet: Back SoO at -175.44 at BetOnline

Dark vs Maru

March 24th, 2018 – 13:00 KST

Dark and Maru recently played in the grand finals of the WESG, one of the largest tournaments of the year. Despite Dark taking a 3-2 lead in that best of seven match, Maru managed to take the last two games with the same aggressive proxy two rax build. This is definitely going to be an incredible series and one that is too close to call because neither side really has the advantage here. This match will be a statistical dead heat. Historically Dark is 25-22 in matches against Maru, but both players have been playing absolutely phenomenal lately and this will be anyone’s game.

Best bet: Back Dark at -102.04 at BetOnline

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How to watch GSL Semi Finals – AfreecaTV live channel

You can watch all the GSL semi finals action on the AfreecaTV live channel or read our guide to watching Starcraft.

The post Global StarCraft II League – Semi finals betting preview & free tips appeared first on Esport Bet.