VP made the announcement via their Twitter page and went on to attach a post link to an official statement on their website.

“Nikolai Petrossian becomes CEO of Virtus.pro,” the franchise tweeted.

“VP welcomes Nikolai Petrossian as a new CEO! In this post, he will replace Aram Karamanukyan, who remains an investor in the club.”

The statement revealed that Petrossian will be responsible for leading the organization’s strategic direction, as well as overseeing day-to-day operations. He brings with him a wealth of corporate experience, having previously served as the PR Director for Adidas CIS. He has also held a senior position at ESforce – a major esports holding company based in Russia.

Karamanukyan, who will remain as an investor in the organization, commented on the addition of Petrossian to the team.

“We made a decision to go forward with a more experienced CEO, the one that will be able to take charge of all the little things and nuances of the esports business establishment, communicate with managers from every discipline on a daily basis and be effective at operations management,” Karamanukyan said.

“Nikolai was an obvious choice.”

In the statement, Petrossian shared his excitement about Virtus.pro and his desire to help the organization continue to grow.

“I gladly accepted the offer to lead Virtus.pro. I have thoroughly studied how the club works during its time in ESforce, and I will be glad to use this knowledge now that both the club and I have left the holding,” Petrossian said.

“There is another reason: the potential of Virtus.pro for the development of esports in Armenia. I have lived in Armenia for 31 years, this is where my personal and professional journey began, so I am very happy to return to the roots. Our player with the flag of Armenia on his shoulders has already raised the championship cup over his head this year, and I think it was very symbolic.”

In September, Karamanukyan acknowledged his lack of experience in the esports industry, which may have motivated his decision to step down from the CEO position.

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?Virtus.pro’s 2-0 victory against Team Empire on Sunday marked their first match in over a month and their eighth win across the last 10 outings. Live to Win were just as successful in their opening fixture of the tournament when they bested NoTechies.

The odds at Dota 2 betting sites suggest VP are heavy favourites, which overestimates them a touch. Live to Win might not be the strongest team in the region, but they reached the grand finals of EPIC League Division 2 just a month ago. If that is any indication of LtW’s quality, they should steal at least one map and cover the spread.

ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe

AGO are already eliminated from the ESL Pro League after losing four of their five games so far, whereas G2 Esports are 2-3 and still in contention for a playoffs spot.

G2 struggled last week when they lost to Heroic (1-2), ENCE (0-2) and BIG (1-2), while AGO dropped the ball against Natus Vincere (0-2) and ENCE (1-2). If we look at the results alone, it may seem like there is not a lot to set G2 apart from AGO; however, the quality gap is still fairly large.

G2 tend to underperform against weaker sides, but since this is a must-win match for them, we will trust the French squad to secure a perfect 2-0.

As the esports betting odds would suggest, we are in for a close and exciting affair. Both sides have shown similar form, but we are leaning more towards the Danish roster.

Even though Heroic have had some iffy moments, including a 1-2 loss to AGO and three-map series against BIG (2-1) and GODSENT (2-1) last week, NaVi are in a far worse situation, and their narrow win against OG (2-1) on Sunday does not inspire much confidence.

Heroic are on the rise, while NaVi are losing momentum. We expect this trend to continue on Thursday.

Complexity Gaming are looking better and better with each passing day. While they dropped maps against Team Spirit (2-1) and Fnatic (2-1) last week, they are 4-0 and headed to the ESL Pro League playoffs.

While Team Vitality are not performing at the level many expected them to, they have their flashes of greatness from time to time. Those may be rare, but this team can be a deadly when everything falls into place.

We are not ready to believe Vitality can stop Complexity, but it’s highly likely they can force a three-map series.

ESL Pro League Season 12 North America

Even though Gen.G won 27 rounds against Evil Geniuses on Saturday, their overall showings at the ESL Pro League have been mediocre at best – as shown in their 0-2 loss to Chaos Esports Club last week.

100 Thieves started their ESL Pro League campaign with losses to EG (0-2) and Team Liquid (1-2) but proved they’re the real deal with a commanding win over Chaos (2-0) last Thursday, restricting their opponents to only eight points in total.

These teams last met in mid-August during ESL One Cologne, where 100T won 2-1. We expect more of the same this Thursday, but with a much more one-sided scoreline.

BTS Pro Series Season 3 Southeast Asia

496 Gaming started their BTS Pro Series journey with a stalemate against Neon Esports (1-1) and a commanding win over Fnatic (2-0), but they slipped on Monday when they lost to Motivate.Trust Gaming (0-2). TNC Predator have seen far more success, producing a 3-1-0 record with a draw against BOOM Esports (1-1) and wins against NEW Esports (2-0), Fnatic (2-0) and Neon Esports (2-0).

TNC Predator have met with 496 Gaming six times and won each series, with a combined 12-3 map differential. Even though these two sides have not yet clashed in 2020, we like TNC better due to their recent resurgence in form. A draw is still a possibility, but the odds on the favourites are hard to ignore.

Motivade.Trust Gaming have picked up a few solid results this tournament, including a stalemate against Execration (1-1) and a convincing win over 496 Gaming (2-0). Even though they lost to Among Us (0-2) on Tuesday, Motivade.Trust held on surprisingly well against a stack assembled from some of the best players in the region.

Neon Esports have managed only one win from their four outings in the BTS Pro Series. That came against NEW Esports (2-0), while they failed to see the same success against 496 Gaming (1-1), BOOM Esports (0-2) and TNC Predator (0-2).

Due to Neon’s lack of consistency, it’s very difficult to understand why Motivade.Trust are priced at such high odds. Even though Neon defeated Motivade in each of their last four meetings, the underdogs are in much better form and look set to claim a revenge win.

BTS Pro Series Season 3 Europe/CIS

Usually, we would side with Team Empire for this matchup since they swept Team Unique just under a month ago during the OMEGA League. However, after seeing Empire’s performance against B8 (1-1), it’s difficult to view them as the favourites – even though we do not rank their next opponents very highly.

Unique are not a team we expect much from. Their form looks solid on paper, but they have played only three games across the last two weeks and are still somewhat shaky in execution. Both teams look a bit off, which is why we expect to see a 1-1 draw.

5men lost both of their opening fixtures at BTS Pro Series against two tough opponents in mudgolem and Vikin.gg, but now Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard and co. can look for a few wins as they take on some weaker teams.

While we don’t expect 5men to go all the way at the BTS Pro Series due to their obvious lack of cohesion, they still field a very talented roster comprised of ex-Cloud9 and OG.Seed players.

5men have already defeated Alliance (2-1), Natus Vincere (2-0) and FlyToMoon (2-0) since forming only a month ago. While consistency is still a problem, they look solid enough to defeat Khan without any issues.

China Dota2 Pro Cup Season 1

PSG.LGD and Team Aster will clash in the opening match of China Dota2 Pro Cup Season 1, and it should be a much more one-sided fixture than the betting odds would lead us to believe.

PSG.LGD won four of their last five meetings between these two side. While Aster claimed a 2-0 win in their most recent bout at the start of July during DPL-CDA League S2, it’s hard to imagine we will see the same result here.

Both teams have been inactive for two months, so some ring rust is expected. Nevertheless, the odds offered on PSG.LGD are well worth taking.

MechanoGun reunites with Semyon “kinqie” Lisitsyn, Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko, Igor “Forester” Bezotecheskiy, Svyatoslav “svyat” Dovbakh and Dmitry “rAge” Bolotov, who he led to a handful of impressive achievements earlier in the year.

The 33-year-old Counter-Strike esports veteran held the coaching position at Hard Legion from October 2019 until June 2020, when he left the team due to a conflict with the team’s owner, Aleksei “HARDPLAY” Baranov.

Some of MechanoGun’s most notable results in that time include a gold medal from MEGOGO Open, bronze from ESL One: Road to Rio CIS and silver from Hellcase Cup #8, which are also some of the best placements Hard Legion have achieved in recent years. The team also reached 28th in the CS:GO world rankings, which marked the second-highest position in the organisation’s history.

Hard Legion Esports are planning on going on vacation from Tuesday, August 25, after which they will begin intensive training for the third Regional Major Rankings (RMR) tournament – Intel Extreme Masters XV New York: CIS – which is slated to kick off on Tuesday, October 6.

Hard Legion have decided to skip almost all tournaments leading to the IEM Masters and only plan on completing their obligations at LOOT.BET/CS Season 7, where they have already qualified for the playoffs.

MechanoGun also stated that he had only agreed to coach the team until January or February next year, at which points assistant coach Eric “Akimov” Akimov will take the reins. For now, however, Akimov and MechanoGun will work together to help Hard Legion make one last push in the RMR standings and claim Legends status for the upcoming ESL One: Rio 2020 Major.

As it stands now, Hard Legion are ranked fourth in the CIS RMR standings with 2,765 points. This sets them only 60 points behind Nemiga (2,825) in third, 665 behind Natus Vincere (3,430) in second and 710 behind the current leaders, Team Spirit (3,475).

NEMIGA GAMING VS WINSTRIKE TEAM CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

NEMIGA vs WINSTRIKE WEPLAY! CLUTCH ISLAND BETTING PREVIEW

The third stage of the US $50,000 WePlay! Clutch Island tournament will kick off this Tuesday when Nemiga Gaming and Winstrike Team clash in the opening match of Group A.

Anton “boX” Burko and his crew started their journey into WePlay! Clutch Island in Group A, where they seeded alongside ESPADA, HellRaisers and Moscow Five Academy. After reverse sweeping M5 Academy (2-1) in the opening match, Nemiga stumbled against ESPADA (0-2) but bounced back with a commanding 2-0 win over HellRaisers in the decider match.

Having finished the group stage in second place, Nemiga entered phase two, which featured a double-elimination best-of-three (Bo3) format. There, they faced Group B winners forZe in a thrilling bout which saw Nemiga seal the series with a 16-7 win on Nuke in the third map.

Nemiga’s solid form at Clutch Island reflects their improved performances since signing Anton “speed4k” Titov from Hard Legion Esports in January. The Russian pro has maintained a 1.09 average rating and helped his new team climb 22 spots in the CS:GO global rankings. At the last update, Nemiga were ranked 30th in the world and seventh in their region.

Some of the team’s most notable achievements since January include second place in the WINNERS League – Season 3: Europe Invite Division, fourth at OGA Counter PIT Season 5 and a fifth at ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS.

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Winstrike Team have also been on the rise since the CS:GO esports scene transitioned to online play. Although they have not made any roster changes since the turn of the year besides the acquisition of coach Dmitrii “hooch” Bogdanov in February, Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov and co. managed to break into top 30 teams in the world after starting 2020 at 57th in the rankings.

Their success in recent months, which includes a second-place finish at ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS in May, has awarded Winstrike with 1,500 Regional Major Rankings (RMR) points, which earned them a direct invite into the third phase of WePlay! Clutch Island.

At the end of May, Winstrike attended BLAST Premier CIS Cup but failed to show anything noteworthy. They joined ESPADA, Nemiga and Syman Gaming as one of the first teams to crash out of the competition after Hobbit and his crew lost to ESPADA (1-2) and Natus Vincere Junior (1-2).

However, Winstrike regained some momentum in the ESEA Season 34: Advanced Division – Europe: Regular Season, where they have won seven out of their last eight games.

Additionally, Winstrike are on a five-game winning streak after they took down hREDS (16-10), Budapest Five (19-15), Kaban Gaming (16-8), Nevermind (16-3) and sAw (16-14). Most of those teams, however, were amateur or lower-tier squads, so we should not put too much weight on those results.

NEMIGA vs WINSTRIKE WEPLAY! CLUTCH ISLAND BETTING PREDICTIONS

These teams last met at the start of May at ESL One: Road to Rio and LOOT.BET/CS Season 6. The fixtures were played only one day apart and Winstrike won both of them, 2-1 and 2-0 respectively.

Neither side have made any roster changes since their recent bouts, so the individual quality will remain mostly the same here. Winstrike enter this bout as massive favourites, which seems fair, but the odds at some esports bookmakers seem a bit lopsided.

Although Nemiga did not look as sharp as expected throughout the first phase of WePlay! Clutch Island, they still picked up wins against forZe and HellRaisers. Furthermore, they defeated Sprout (16-12), AGO (16-11) and CR4ZY (16-11) just over a week ago, so it’s hard to justify their high price.

It’s also worth noting that the ESL One: Road to Rio clash between Winstrike and Nemiga was very close. Nemiga even held an 11-4 lead by the end of the first half on the final map but lost the game with a terrible 2-12 record on T-side.

Considering how close their recent bout was and the fact these two rosters know each other well, we can expect to see another close affair, so betting on the underdogs at $2.29 is an obvious pick for us. Over 2.5 maps can also be considered.

TEAM NIGMA vs OG DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

NIGMA vs OG BEYOND EPIC: EUROPE/CIS BETTING PREVIEW

Team Nigma and OG will do battle this Tuesday on the second day of the BEYOND EPIC: Europe/CIS Dota 2 tournament, which features 12 teams and a US $200,000 prize pool.

With a back-to-back titles at The International under their belt, OG are the most successful Dota 2 esports organisation in the world. However, the current version of this European powerhouse has not been performing up to par with the expectations.

A lot of OG’s shaky performances come down to the fact they have struggled to field a complete roster since the turn of the year. Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen could not help his team at WeSave! Charity Play, ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online: Europe & CIS, WePlay! Pushka League, Gamers Without Borders and OGA Dota PIT 2020 Online: Europe/CIS, while Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng did not attend the ESL One LA and WeSave! events.

The only two events since the start of the year where we saw OG field a full roster were ESL One Birmingham 2020 – Online: Europe & CIS and BLAST Bounty Hunt. OG managed only 13th-14th place at ESL One Birmingham with a 1-6 record in the group stage but looked fairly solid at BLAST Bounty Hunt, where they reached the finals.

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Team Nigma’s 2020 results are all over the place and clearly show this team’s biggest problem: inconsistency. They deserve some slack, however, since many top-tier teams tend to struggle with stability in the online format.

Nigma’s biggest achievements of the year include titles from WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020, WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon and WeSave! Charity Play – EU & CIS. They also took a swing at ESL One Los Angeles 2020, WePlay! Pushka League, ESL One Birmingham 2020 and BLAST Bounty Hunt, although they failed to see much success in those events.

The most recent of those outings was BLAST Bounty Hunt, where Nigma defeated Team Liquid (2-1), lost to Team Secret (1-2), bounced back with wins against Ninjas in Pyjamas (2-0) and Liquid (2-1) but suffered a devastating 0-2 loss against OG in the lower bracket finals to finish third.

Team NIGMA vs OG BEYOND EPIC: EUROPE/CIS BETTING PREDICTIONS

OG enter this match with a 3-7 record from their last 10 fixtures, while Team Nigma went 5-5 in their last 10. That, however, does not take away from the fact that OG have yet to lose against Nigma.

These teams have met four times already in 2020 and each time it was OG who came out ahead. The aggregate map score shows an 8-1 lead for OG, who trounced Nigma only last Saturday, so it’s hard to agree with the bookmakers’ match odds on this occasion.

Even so, the over 2.5 bet is the way to go. OG have been struggling for consistency in recent weeks and we don’t trust them to deliver another sweep here.

EXTREMUM were last seen competing in the Dota 2 esports scene in April, when they finished as runners-up at the SIGUL Pro League with a Kazakhstani-Russian squad consisting of Vladislav “BLACKARXANGEL” Ivaschenko, Fedor “velheor” Rusikhin, Abdimalik “Malik” Sajlau, Sergey Alexandrovich “G” Bragin (also known as “God”) and Egor “.Ark” Zhabotinskii.

Shortly after, EXTREMUM quietly benched their entire roster without providing any further information about the move. While none of the players actively searched for a new club following the benching, the team’s former captain, BLACKARXANGEL, joined Khan on loan at the start of June.

EXTREMUM remained quiet about their plans for the future until Sunday, when they unveiled their new Dota2 roster. The team also revealed they had parted ways with one of the five inaugural members, .Ark.

The new EXTREMUM Dota2 team will feature two inaugural members in G and velheor, who will join forces with ex-Nemiga members Maxim “mellojul” Pnyov and Dimitry “Nefrit” Tarasich as well as Russian veteran Vasily “AfterLife” Shishkin.

This marks the first major roster rebuild for EXTREMUM since the team’s establishment in December 2019. They have achieved a handful of solid Tier 3 results in their short history, including a gold medal at the Kyivstar Autumn Cup, silver at SECTOR: MOSTBET DOTA 2 Season 1, a top-three finish at Epic Challenger League Season 1 and the aforementioned second placing at the SIGUL Pro League.

It remains to be seen how the freshened-up roster will perform, but there is no denying EXTREMUM have built a much more competitive team this time out with velheor, G and AfterLife as three veterans in the scene. It is not yet known who will take over as captain, but it’s highly likely that either AfterLife or G will take on the role.

AfterLife started his Dota2 career in September 2013 and has since played for over a dozen teams, including Team Spirit, Vega Squadron, Gambit Esports and Winstrike. G has over 10 years of experience playing Dota esports and has featured for some of the strongest teams in the scene, such as Moscow Five, Darer, LGD.Int, Virtus.pro, Team Empire, Vega Squadron and Team Spirit.

G also appeared at the first five iterations of The International. His best placements came in 2011 with Moscow Five and 2015 with Virtus.pro, finishing in fifth-sixth place on both occasions.

EXTREMUM have yet to unveil what will happen with Abdimalik “Malik” Sajlau, who is currently an inactive member of the team. It’s likely EXTREMUM will either cut him from the team or look to transfer him elsewhere.

Throughout the rebuilding process, EXTREMUM kept ahold of their head coach, Anatoly “boo1k” Ivanov, who will remain with the team as they open a new chapter.

SYMAN vs NEMIGA CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

SYMAN vs NEMIGA BLAST PREMIER CIS CUP BETTING PREVIEW

Syman and Nemiga will lock horns in the opening match of Group B at the BLAST Premier CIS Cup, which kicks off this Tuesday.

Syman Gaming will hope for a big improvement on their recent competitive endeavours. Their best results this year are top-four finishes at the LEGENDS.BET L33T CUP, Cyber.Bet Cup and #HomeSweetHome: Week 2. Sanzhar “neaLaN” Ishkakov and co. also took a swing at ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS, where they finished sixth after losing to Winstrike (0-2) and Nemiga (0-2) in the playoffs.

Shortly after the Rio Major qualifiers, Syman appeared at Hellcase Cup #8, where they suffered an early elimination following defeats to Team LDLC (1-2) and S-Gaming (0-2). NeaLaN and his crew looked marginally better at #HomeSweetHome: Week 5, where they finished the group stage with a 2-1 record, defeated Team Secret 2-1 in the quarter-finals, then suffered a humiliating 0-2 defeat against SMASH in the semis.

Nemiga Gaming have been very active this year. They have attended 11 CS:GO esports events and are currently competing in both the ESEA Season 34: Premier Division – Europe: Regular Season and WINNERS League – Season 4: Europe Invite Division. That stacked schedule has not translated into any great success, however, as a runner-up finish at WINNERS League – Season 3: Europe Invite Division and fourth place at OGA Counter PIT Season 5 remain the team’s best results so far.

In their last five fixtures, Nemiga defeated Syman (2-0), pro100 (16-6), HellRaisers (16-8) and Bpro (16-4), but they lost to ALTERNATE aTTaX (14-16) at ESEA S34. Nemiga have been averaging a 64.5% win rate over the last three months and will enter the upcoming fixture against Syman on a three-game winning streak.

Although Nemiga are nothing more than a B-Tier team, they are starting to find their place amongst the stronger CS:GO teams in the region. The latest global rankings, which were updated on May 18, had Nemiga at 32nd in the world and seventh in the CIS – both all-time highs for the organisation.

A lot of that improvement can be credited to Igor “lollipop21k” Solodkov and Rassim “Jyo” Valijev, who have been averaging 1.16 and 1.14 ratings respectively across last three months. It would be unfair to discredit the remainder of the team, however, as Aleksander “mds” Rubets (1.03), Anton “boX” Burko (1.05) and Anton “speed4k” Titov (1.10) are all keeping positive ratings.

The most recent roster change for Nemiga came in January, when they signed speed4k from Hard Legion Esports. That is the only change to the squad since the Belarusian organisation acquired boX in March 2019.

SYMAN vs NEMIGA BLAST PREMIER CIS CUP BETTING PREDICTIONS

These teams played each other last weekend, when Nemiga came away with a convincing 2-0 win. The match was one-sided on both Nuke (16-7) and Overpass (16-12), which does not inspire any optimism that Syman can turn it around here and walk away with the spoils.

It’s also worth noting that Nemiga defeated Syman not because of an individual stand-out performance, but instead with a joint effort. That fact is highlighted in the match stats, as all five members of the winning team ended the series with 1.18+ ratings.

Speed4k topped the ratings with 1.28 in that match and has maintained that standard with remarkable performances against pro100 (1.54), HellRaisers (1.25) and Bpro (1.01). Meanwhile, lollipop21k has averaged 1.57 in Nemiga’s last three matches.

When you compare that kind of form with Syman’s recent loss to SMASH, Nemiga should be priced at much shorter odds. A -1.5 handicap bet might seem risky at first, but it makes more sense when you consider that the favourites have a better win record (67%) than the underdogs (58%) on Inferno – Syman’s best map.

The 24-year-old Belarusian pro arrives at NaVi as a replacement for Semion “CemaTheSlayer” Krivulya, who recently left the team after a two-month stint. CemaTheSlayer joined as a stand-in player at the start of February, when he took over for ex-captain Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanov after his infamous move to NaVi’s regional rivals, Virtus.pro.

After helping NaVi win the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 CIS Closed Qualifier, CemaTheSlayer was offered a permanent spot in the team and has since led them through WeSave! Charity Play – EU & CIS, ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online: Europe & CIS, WePlay! Pushka League S1: Division 1 and Gamers Without Borders 2020. NaVi’s best result in that stretch was a runner-up at Gamers Without Borders, where they lost to Team Secret in the grand finals.

CemaTheSlayer’s brief stay with NaVi came to an end on Friday, when the organisation revealed that communication issues were the main reason for the reshuffle.

“First, we want to thank Semion [CemaTheSlayer] for his response to the call for help in a difficult situation and for doing it in the best way possible, qualifying with the team for LA Major,” said Aleksey “xaoc” Kucherov, COO of Natus Vincere.

“However, during this period we were unable to set up effective communication in the current roster, which is by far more difficult to do online with no bootcamps. Expectedly, the fans and the club itself wanted great results, so we went ahead and spoke to the team, which led to the decision to make changes in the roster.”

The newest arrival, so bad, launched his Dota2 career in August 2017, when he joined The Brestomans shortly after he celebrated his 21st birthday. Although the Belarusian support entered the competitive esports scene relatively late, he quickly proved his leadership ability and spent four months coaching The Brestomans.

After leaving The Brestomans, so bad played for FCDB Esports, Vega Squadron and Team Unique. His breakthrough came at Vega Squadron, who he helped to third place at The International 2019 CIS Qualifier.

“He [so bad] had proved himself as a good leader in Vega Squadron, participating in the preparations, the drafts, and in coordinating the game,” said Kucherov.

The arrival of so bad comes during NaVi’s experimental period, during which the Ukrainian esports organisation will try out new rosters and strategies. This comes in response to the postponement of The International 10 and the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) ecosystem as a whole.

So bad’s debut appearance with his new team is slated for Monday, May 25, when NaVi will meet with Team Nigma in their opening fixture of ESL One Birmingham 2020 – Online: Europe & CIS.

WINSTRIKE vs ESPADA CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

WINSTRIKE vs ESPADA BLAST PREMIER CIS CUP BETTING PREVIEW

The first matchday of the BLAST Premier CIS Cup will see Team Spirit’s academy roster, ESPADA, lock horns with Winstrike Team for the second time in their history.

Winstrike are eyeing another deep run following their grand final appearance at ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS, where they ended up losing 2-0 to Team Spirit. Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov and co. were also involved at LOOT.BET/CS Season 6, where they reached the quarter-finals, while they currently sit 32nd in the ESEA Season 34: Advanced Division – Europe: Regular Season standings with a 2-2 record.

Winstrike enter the race for the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown with an impressive 73.3% win rate across the last three months. They have not seen much success in recent weeks, however, winning only four games out of the last 10 played.

The last roster change for Winstrike came in October 2019, when they acquired Viktor “Lack1” Boldyrev, Aidyn “KrizzeN” Turlybekov and in-game leader Hobbit. A month later, the team parted ways with coach Ivan “Johnta” Shevtsov and replaced him with Dmitrii “hooch” Bogdanov.

SEE ALSO: HOW TO BET ON CS:GO ESPORTS

Like Winstrike, ESPADA recently finished their venture through ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS, although their journey was cut short a week prior since they failed to make it out of the group. Losses to Natus Vincere, Syman and Virtus.pro meant Dmitrii “S0tF1k” Forostianko and co. had to settle for a share of ninth-10th place with a 2-3 record.

ESPADA have since taken part in four other tournaments. MOSTBET Season 3 and WINNERS League are still running, while the Russian squad finished #HomeSweetHome: Week 4 in 13th-16th place without a single win. Spirit’s B-team also had a stint in the Red Bull Flick, where they grabbed a share of third-fourth place after losing 2-1 to venkonski in the semi-finals.

While ESPADA have won three of their last four competitive fixtures, all were in third-tier tournaments. In second-tier events and above, their record is 2-6 in their last eight outings.

ESPADA’s most recent roster changes happened just over a month ago, when they brought in Abdul “degster” Gasanov, Vladislav “FinigaN” Usov and coach Aleksei “OverDrive” Biriukov.

WINSTRIKE vs ESPADA BLAST PREMIER CIS CUP BETTING PREDICTIONS

These teams last met at LOOT.BET/CS Season 6 in April, when Winstrike won 2-1. But that match does not tell us a lot about how their second meeting will go, as ESPADA have two new players and a new coach.

Winstrike have seen more success of late but enter this match with a slightly worse record than their opponents. It’s also worth noting that ESPADA stole one map from Complexity at #HomeSweetHome, which shows they possess enough firepower to go toe-to-toe with any team.

We are not expecting ESPADA to win here, as they lack the quality to achieve that feat, but we also don’t expect them to lose without putting up a fight. Their trump card is degster, who is averaging a very solid 1.19 rating in the AWP role across the last three months. He also put up a shockingly good 1.49 rating against Complexity on Mirage.

A lot will come down to individual performances here. If ESPADA can focus and show their worth, they should win at least one map and thus force Winstrike to win it in three.