DreamHack Open December 2020

?Nemiga Gaming enter the opening round of DreamHack Open December 2020 with only one win from their last five outings and four consecutive losses against Gambit Esports (0-2), Illuminar (1-2), G2 Esports (0-2) and North (1-2). Saw have managed a slightly better 3-2 record which includes back-to-back losses against ENDPOINT (1-2) and Sprout (0-2).

Regardless of sAw’s two-game losing streak, the odds offered on Christopher “MUTiRiS” Fernandes and co. seem a bit high considering Nemiga can be inconsistent even when facing teams of similar quality to sAw. Additionally, sAw swept Nemiga in their most recent clash in November, so they definitely have a higher than 40.2% chance of success.

?The esports betting odds heavily favour Gambit Esports over Movistar Riders, and we don’t see a problem with that. Even though this is an online match where upsets are fairly common, the quality gap between these two sides makes it hard to expect any surprises.

Gambit enter this match with a 9-1 record from their last 10 outings. Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov and co. lost only to Astralis (0-2) in that run and took a few big scalps when they bested Team Spirit (3-1), Cloud9 (2-0) and Complexity (2-0). If those results are any indication of Gambit’s strength, this should be an easy 2-0 win for the Russian side.

?These Russian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive derbies often go down to the wire, and we don’t believe that will change on Thursday. Although ESPADA are in better shape, that does not mean much when forZe know all of their strengths and weaknesses.

ForZe are 2-1 up in the head-to-head with ESPADA, so there is some value in siding with the outsiders. However, due to their shaky form, we will settle for slightly lower odds and predict a three-map series.

Movistar Liga Pro Gaming Final Series

?Team Unknown and beastcoast will clash in the Movistar Liga Pro Gaming Final Series Group A winners’ match, which will mark their second meeting of the year. They previously tied 1-1 during Realms Collide: The Burning Darkness at the end of November.

Beastcoast have since played five games and won only two. While they dealt with 4Fun (2-1) and 4Zoomers (2-0), they were far less successful against EgoBoys (0-2), Omega Gaming (0-2) and Thunder Predator (1-2). During that time, Team Unknown played out nine games and produced a 4-2-3 record.

The Dota 2 betting odds suggest beastcoast should win this match with ease, but we don’t feel like [em_geo_odds val=1.4] is a fair price. Team Unknown offers far more value as the outsiders.

Overwatch Contenders 2020: The Gauntlet

?These teams last met way back in May 2020 during the third week of Korean Overwatch Contenders 2020 Season 1, where Gen.G edged out a 3-2 win. A lot of time has passed since, so it’s not wise to put too much weight on that result.

Although not as dominant as they used to be in the Overwatch APEX days, Runaway are now one of the strongest Korean Overwatch Contenders teams. Normally, we would predict Gen.G to win at least one map, but we don’t believe they will manage that feat after the departure of Jun-sun “Haeim” Hwang and former Runaway coach Jae-dong “nOrU” Kim last week.

Esports multi bet tips for Thursday, December 10

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TSM coach says American LoL teams must ‘level up’

A disastrous performance across the board for North American teams at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship has drawn both ridicule and criticism. With not a single NA team making the playoffs, the effectiveness of esports development strategies in the region has been called into question.

TeamSoloMid’s coach, Parth “Parth” Naidu, spoke up after his team’s crushing 0-6 run at the tournament. “I think one of the things that the NA region has constantly done is rely too much on their veterans and their leadership to carry them through their games,” he said in an exclusive interview with ONE Esports.

The coach added that “North America has to level up” when it comes to developing rookie talent. According to Parth, it’s the only way the region can remain competitive going forward.

Asia esports news

Onic Esports Win Ultimate Warrior Showdown

The likes of Tencent Games, Esports Fight Club and Verasity Tech combined forces to stage the inaugural edition of the Ultimate Warrior Showdown. This 12-day tournament saw more than 1,000 Asian PUBG teams compete for US $15,000 in prizes.

Many of the most renowned international esports teams participated in the competition. That includes the likes of T1, Orange Esports, Team Secret, and FaZe Clan.

In the end, Onic Esports walked away with the first UWS title. Second place ended in a tie between TRX and Secret TH, followed by GF ID in third. T1 made the top 10, finishing ninth, while Orange Esports were 13th, and FaZe finished 15th.

Africa esports news

AEC Organizers Listens To Players

After the Africa Esports Championship organization announced the game selection for the upcoming national league tournaments, many players were upset. The tournament was slated to include FIFA 20 and Street Fighter V, two choices that didn’t go over well with players.

Many fans spoke out, demanding that the newer FIFA 21 replace its older iteration in the roster. An equally loud contingent complained about Street Fighter V, a less popular title than fan-favorite Tekken 7. The AEC was listening, though.

As a result of the online feedback, the organizers have announced two modifications to the roster, conceding to both demands. This move speaks positively of the AEC and its willingness to work with its audience. It’s also expected to help increase esports betting interest online.

Europe esports news

Kjaerbye And NBK- Clash On Twitter During IEM New York Final

FaZe Clan recently dominated OG in the Grand Final of the Intel Extreme Masters New York 2020 Europe tournament. The news made the headlines across CS:GO betting sites and esports news trackers. What didn’t make the headlines at first, though, was the heated banter.

FaZe Clan’s Markus “Kjaerbye” Kj?rbye may be the clan’s newest member, but he proved he’s among the loudest. He and OG senior member Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt got into it on Twitter, both before and during the match.

Kjaerbye fired the first shot, tweeting to his 127,000 followers that OG would “choke” again in the Grand Final. NBK- shot back, posting a screencap of Kjaerbye’s three-month stats and calling out his performance.

During the match, Kjaerbye dominated the first map with 33 frags. He then took another potshot at NBK, tweeting for him to “join the server”. After FaZe’s victory, Kjaerbye doubled down, quoting the earlier stats and sarcastically quipping, “This aged well”.

South America esports news

SporTV Series Latin America Digital Conference Brings Together Key Players

As South American esports leagues continue to mature and seek commercial viability, key business interests are starting a dialogue. Market research firm Dataxis have organized a digital conference for stakeholders to discuss challenges and strategies in the region.

SporTV Series Latin America features more than 400 different executives, sports leagues, clubs, teams, rights owners, and broadcasters. The event will discuss current trends and future technological requirements of the nascent Latin American esports ecosystem.

Fan engagement will be another major topic in the conference, with marketing executives assessing different strategies for the region. The issues of piracy and broadcasting rights will also be focal points.

A dedicated panel will discuss broadcasting rights negotiation within the context of the pandemic. Monetization, attracting bookmaker and betting interest, and long-term sustainability are also key concerns for this South American esports conference.

Oceania esports news

Ground Zero Gaming Beat Mindfreak In Overwatch Contenders Australia Season 2 Finals

The second season of Blizzard’s Overwatch Contenders Australia has come to an end. The matches are over, and the results are in: Ground Zero Gaming are the champions.

They beat Mindfreak, who overcame the losers’ bracket to reach the final. Ground Zero dominated the decider, dispatching Mindfreak with a comfortable 4-0 score to claim the US $20,500 grand prize.

Mindfreak didn’t go home empty-handed, pocketing $15,875 as the runners-up. Third-placed Dire Wolves won $26,562 all up, thanks to their first-place finish in the regular season.

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The Gauntlet is a new Overwatch esports tier-two tournament, which signals the end of 2019 season of Overwatch Contenders, and is a culmination of both 2019 seasons. It features top teams from each region competing in two-double elimination brackets to determine which deserves to be crowned the Overwatch Contenders champions.

The Overwatch Contenders: The Gauntlet took off on October 9, 2019, starring 10 best teams from 2019 Overwatch Contenders, who met at Giga Arena in Seoul, South Korea, where they battled it out for the lion’s share of US $250,000 and the title of champions.

Eight qualified teams have been split into two groups, while the winners of Contenders Showdown from NA (ATL Academy) and South Korea (RunAway) earned a direct invite into the Gauntlet’s finals bracket. Joining them were:

Group A: Element Mystic, HSL Esports, Talon Esports, XL2 Academy
Group B: LinGan e-Sports Huya, Team Envy, Gen.G, Gladiators Legion

The tough competition, featuring some of the strongest Overwatch teams took off on Wednesday, October 9, with the group stage fixtures, which concluded a day later and revealed which six teams will join RunAway and ATL Academy in the Finals.

Element Mystic, Talon Esports, XL2 Academy came through Group A, whereas it was Gen.G, Team Envy and Gladiators Legion, who fought their way through Group B.

The Finals took off on Friday, October 11, when we got to see Element Mystic flexing their muscles, as they edged past ATL Academy (3-2) in round one to secure a spot in the winner’s finals.

There they met with RunAway, who, despite all expectations, had to admit defeat after six exciting rounds (2-4), meaning Element Mystic earned their ticket for the grand finals.

Following their painful defeat at the hands of Element Mystic, ATL Academy dropped down to the losers’ bracket, where they proved they are a class above all of their opponents.

A clean sweep against XL2 Academy (3-0), followed by another 3-0 win over Gen.G earned ATL Academy a spot in the losers’ finals, where they handed the Korean powerhouse RunAway a devastating loss (4-0) to secure a rematch against Element Mystic.

With a historic run, which made ATL Academy the first-ever western squad to win the series against RunAway without dropping a map, a lot of expectations were put on them to perform and claim the title. However, things did not go as planned for the North American outfit when they stepped on the big stage.

ATL Academy produced a very exciting match against Element Mystic, with their confident and flashy approach to the game, however, the young team failed to find the same success as they did against RunAway. In the end, they had to admit they are no match for Element Mystic, who proved to be a different beast.

Despite all expectations, ATL Academy suffered a painful defeat, claiming only map against Element Mystic, who looked nearly unstoppable with their performance which earned them a dominant 4-1 win, US $100,000 in prize money and the title of champions.

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In mid-September, news surfaced about six Australian CS:GO players facing charges for throwing matches with the intention of aiding illegal betting activities.

The allegations involved players competing in the Australian ESEA Mountain Dew League, with the accused denying any wrongdoing and claiming their questionable results were merely a by-product of poor gameplay skills.

According to Mark Johnson, a University of Sydney lecturer, the lack of understanding about esports among the wider community has contributed to the spread of corruption in the industry and will continue be a major factor in police’s difficulties in catching the criminals.

“The video game industry is worth more than films and music combined, but they are still not taken seriously,” Johnson said.

Victoria Police believe the allegedly fixed CS:GO matches may have resulted in up to AU $30,000 in wrongfully obtained wealth.

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That might just be the tip of the iceberg, as there could be much higher stakes involved in the yet-uncovered underworld of illegal esports betting.

The CS:GO scandal was Australian police’s first investigation into the esports match-fixing and other criminal activities associated with esports.

The said investigation also sparked a wide-ranging crackdown on Australian esports corruption, which earlier this week unveiled new links to organised crime.

On Tuesday, September 24, it was revealed the Victoria Police’s Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit received new reports of match-fixing, linking the criminal elements to the ownership of unnamed Overwatch esports team that competes in the Australian Contenders league.

Neil Paterson, assistant commissioner of Victoria Police, highlighted the lack of regulation and standards in esports compared to traditional sporting competitions.

“We are seeing people encroach on that area that have reputations that probably shouldn’t be involved in this part of esports,” he said.

While no further details regarding the ongoing investigations have been made public yet, it is believed more cases of illegal esports gambling activity will be unveiled in the near future.

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