?Evil Geniuses parted ways with their coach Wilton “zews” Prado last week, further confirming the speculations of EG’s possible exit from the competitive CS:GO scene. Although that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon, the situation doesn’t look too promising considering EG’s streak of questionable results over the year.

Although Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and his crew have put together solid wins against Team Spirit (16-9) and Heroic (2-1), those results get quickly overshadowed by their 1-2 loss to OG in the final round of Group B. This betting prediction is not so much about Gambit Esports, since we know what to expect from them; instead, the main focus is on EG and their struggles.

Usually, we explore opportunities to back the underdogs, but this is not a match where we feel confident doing so. EG are not only dealing with internal issues, but they also lack the individual talent to take on the in-form Russians.

?On paper, this should be a fairly straightforward win for Virtus.pro, and the latest CS:GO betting odds reflect that. However, we don’t believe that the Russians offer the best value for this match.

Vitality have had their fair share of slip-ups over the last few months, but they have been showing some improvement this tournament. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and co. demolished Complexity (16-8) last week and picked up a 2-0 victory against Gambit Esports, but could not match the surging G2 Esports (0-2) in the final round of Group A.

Virtus.pro earned their spot in the IEM Summer playoffs with two victories (2-1) against Team Spirit and Ninjas in Pyjamas, having struggled against Fnatic (16-10) and lost against OG (0-2) in games prior. Decent results, but hardly worth celebrating.

At even money or better, there is value on Vitality to beat Virtus.pro. While the Bees aren’t as good as they were in 2020, they have enough talent to take on and defeat any team in the world.

?Team Vitality haven’t won a single tournament in 2021 and haven’t managed a deep run in any of the last five attended. Their only notable tournament run of 2021 so far is a third-place finish at the BLAST Premier Global Final in January.

Vitality enter IEM Summer with a 46.7% win rate across the last three months and a 5-5 record from their last 10. That run includes only one victory against a top-10 rated team (BIG).

Complexity have lost six out of their last 10 fixtures (4-6), all of which ended in 0-2 sweeps. On a more positive note, they are 2-1 on the year in the head-to-head with Vitality.

Given how hit-or-miss these two sides are, it’s hard to call out a winner. We’re taking the plus money on Complexity.

?Astralis are not nearly as good as they once were, but having them priced at $1.66 against a team like FunPlus Phoenix is quite disrespectful. The Danes enter IEM Summer still ranked no.5 in the world, which is far above FPX in 17th.

Astralis are 2-3 in their last five, with three back-to-back losses against mousesports, Heroic, and BIG. FPX are 2-2 in their last four, with losses to Vitality (1-2) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (0-2) and victories against Complexity (2-0) and Sprout (2-1).

On paper, FPX look like a decent pick, but it’s easy to forget that they’re facing the core of players that won all of the last three CS:GO Major Championships. At this price, it is hard to ignore Astralis.

?Opening matches of any tournament – particularly online best-of-one games – are notoriously coin-flippy, so it’s interesting to see Evil Geniuses priced as high as $2.87. And it’s not like EG are a bad team, but you can’t deny that Team Spirit have been far more successful over the last few months.

One big issue we have with EG is their lack of games, seeing how they have only two fixtures on their record since April. EG also have not involved in a top-tier tournament since March when they crashed out of ESL Pro League S13.

Regardless of EG’s struggles, this is still a solid roster, and they’re playing a one-off bout where anything can happen. Until IEM Summer enters best-of-three fixtures, it only makes sense to side with the favourites if they are both individually much better and more consistent. Spirit are hardly any of that.

?While we don’t want to overreact to stretches of good form, you have to give Ninjas in Pyjamas some praise for their showings this month. The Swedes enter IEM Summer with a silver medal from Flashpoint Season 3 and a 5-2 record in their last seven that includes wins against Anonymo Esports, FunPlus Phoenix, BIG, Heroic, and G2.

OG have not been nearly as convincing with their recent performances, nor were they particularly active in May. They have only two games on their record in the last month, losing against Astralis and Vitality. What’s more, OG have played only seven matches since March 12.

NiP seem to be in great form and will enter IEM Summer warmed up and ready to go, while OG are the complete opposite. Take the Swedes at $1.70 odds or better.