?Ex-Winstrike Team will clash with AVE (formerly Hard Legion Esports) in the quarter-finals of Dell Gaming League Russia Season 2. Alexey “NickelBack” Trofimov and co. enter this match as huge betting favourites, which isn’t too shocking.

Ex-Winstrike won the European Premier Division of ESEA Season 36 on Sunday, dropping only one game en route to the title. AVE, on the other side, haven’t achieved any notable success since way back in May 2020, when they claimed bronze at ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS.

These CIS derbies are often unpredictable and can easily go either way, but we don’t believe that will be the case here. Ex-Winstrike are clearly the superior team and shouldn’t have any issues against the shaky AVE.

?The esports bookmakers have Nemiga priced as $1.22 favourites over 100PingGods, which seems a bit low in our book. Although the Russians boast the more established team, their form isn’t good enough for us to back them at that price.

Nemiga enter this match with a 1-3 record in their last four, which includes losses to Nordavind, ex-Winstrike, and Wisla Krakow. It’s hard to compare those results to that of 100PG, who have faced mostly semi-pro teams, but at least the Kazakhstani side has looked somewhat consistent.

Nemiga should be viewed as the favourites, but this seems more like a 70/30 game rather than the 82/18 implied by the latest CS:GO betting odds. There is decent value on 100PG, but we will settle for a safer bet and take the underdogs with a map handicap.