The post Dark Passage vs Istanbul Wildcats semi-final tips – TCL Winter appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>?stanbul Wildcats will look to continue their Cinderella story this Tuesday when they meet Dark Passage in the Turkish Championship League (TCL) 2020 Winter Season semi-finals.
After they finished TCL 2019 Summer in seventh place with a 7-11 record, not a lot of people expected Wildcats to make much noise this split. While Soner “StarScreen” Kaya and his crew struggled a bit in the opening five weeks, they gained some serious traction in Week 6, when they began their impressive 6-1 run en route to the playoffs.
Wildcats ended their TCL 2020 Winter run with consecutive wins over Papara SuperMassive, Galakticos, Be?ikta? Esports and 1907 Fenerbah?e to enter the knockout rounds as the fourth seed with a 9-7 record and 56% win rate. They carried that momentum into the playoffs, disposing of Galakticos 3-0 to reach the TCL semi-finals for the first time since rebranding from HWA Gaming.
StarScreen and co. met with Dark Passage twice throughout the regular season. Their first meeting came on the opening day of the split, where DP came away with a closely fought win. Wildcats got their revenge in Week 5, when they completely outclassed their adversaries with superior Drake control and overall stronger macro play.
SEE ALSO: HOW TO BET ON LEAGUE OF LEGENDS ESPORTS
That was but one of many iffy displays Dark Passage showed throughout the season, yet they ended the split with an 11-5 record and a direct bye into the semi-finals. Dark Passage looked solid overall despite their losses against Wildcats, Papara SuperMassive (twice), Be?ikta? Esports and 1907 Fenerbah?e, although losing to Fenerbah?e is not really something to consider as a massive negative.
The standout performer for Dark Passage this season was their top laner Bar?? “Juuzou” Karatop, who ended the split with the league’s best KDA rating (4.55) and the fifth-best CSPM (8.00). The rest of team did nothing special, however, and there are big questions surrounding DP’s in-game communication since the arrival of Danish ADC Nicolaj “Achuu” Ellesgaard in March.
In three games played with Dark Passage, Achuu has recorded a 4.3 KDA with an average of six kills and 3.33 deaths. That is the third-highest average death count in the league, which indicates there are some communication issues with his support.
Additionally, Danish jungler Magnus “Maxi” Kristensen, who had played only five games with Dark Passage, saw his contract expire last week. Since the team have failed to update his status in the Global Contract Database, it seems like they will field Umut “Kituruken” Ceylan in the jungle for this match.
Dark Passage looked solid this season, but their final record does not show the whole picture. Most of their wins were extremely close, including their victory over ?stanbul Wildcats on the opening day of TCL 2020 Winter.
That is not to say Juuzou and co. don��t deserve to be where they are this season, but it’s hard to understand why they’re priced as such heavy favourites here. The biggest problem we have here is that they recently signed a new ADC and will most likely pick Kituruken, who was benched at the start of March.
There is simply no reason to have Dark Passage priced at $1.31 here. ?stanbul Wildcats are on a five-game winning streak and beat DP during the season, so this match will be much closer than the odds suggest.
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]]>The post Papara SuperMassive vs Team AURORA betting tips – TCL Winter 2020 appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>The Turkish Championship League (TCL) 2020 Winter Season playoffs are set to begin this Monday when Papara SuperMassive and Team AURORA meet in the quarter-finals.
Papara SuperMassive had quite a successful journey through the TCL Winter Season, finishing with an impressive 10-6 record and 63% win rate. The end of the split was less than satisfactory, however, as Berkay “Ueitnot” A??kuzun and company missed a direct bye to the semi-finals after losing all three of their fixtures in the final two weeks.
Before that form slump, SuperMassive replaced Mustafa Kemal “Dumbledoge” G?kselo?lu with ex-Royal Youth player Bahad?r “Japone” ?olak in the support role. While that seemed like a solid roster change at the time, the team’s results since Japone signed on suggest something has gone amiss.
SEE ALSO: HOW TO BET ON LEAGUE OF LEGENDS ESPORTS
Team AURORA secured a playoffs berth by the skin of their teeth, defeating Be?ikta? Esports in the sixth-place tiebreaker. Although the match looked close in the early stages, AURORA’s superior macro play, dragon control and stronger synergy allowed them to run away with the lead and close out the game in 34 minutes.
Brayan “Kruimel” van Oosten and co. produced a mixed bag of results in the last two weeks of the split. While they lost to Dark Passage and Galakticos, they picked up wins against Be?ikta? and 5 Ronin. That inconsistent form might be down to the recent acquisition of ex-Dark Passage carry Murat “Black” Ulukan Ayaz, who has needed some time to integrate.
Black will also be the main win condition for AURORA heading into the quarter-finals, as he is one of the best ADC players in the league. Statistically, he is an even more dangerous player than SuperMassive’s Berkay “Zeitnot” A??kuzun, so Papara cannot afford to let Black his own game or pick up his go-to champion, Aphelios.
Papara SuperMassive and AURORA claimed a win apiece in their two meetings in the 2020 TCL Winter Season, which suggests these two sides match up nicely. Although SuperMassive won their most recent clash in mid-March, the fixture was played when Black was still coming to terms with his new surroundings.
Papara SuperMassive are rightfully priced as the favourites, but it’s difficult to understand why Team AURORA are priced so high. While we don’t expect AURORA to move any mountains here, it’s equally difficult to believe SuperMassive will come away with a clean sweep here. Ueitnot and co. severely underperformed in the last two weeks of the split, which does not inspire much optimism.
AURORA’s bottom-lane advantage will play a crucial role in this match. While we don’t expect Black will singlehandedly win his team the series, he should help AURORA win at least one map.
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]]>The post Team AURORA vs Galakticos betting tips – TCL Winter 2020 appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>Only one of Team AURORA and Galakticos will still be in the hunt for the Turkish Championship League (TCL) 2020 Winter Split playoffs after their decisive clash on Tuesday.
Ever since AURORA entered the TCL in 2015, their biggest ambition has been to win the league title. After numerous attempts, however, the team’s best placement is a top-four finish, which they have achieved five times to date.
Even though AURORA made a very strong semi-finals run in TCL Summer 2019, they opted for another roster swap in the off-season. In came jungler Taha “Elramir” Yurdag��ven, mid laner Brayan “Kruimel” van Oosten, and the bottom-lane tandem of Y��cel “Rhioni” Morgil and Ersin “Algos” Sertba?, who were replaced by ADC Murat “Black” Ulukan Ayaz and support Ozan “Sparz” Samican ?zbay in March.
SEE ALSO: BEST LEAGUE OF LEGENDS BETTING SITES
With a new-look roster, AURORA have produced a somewhat underwhelming run with only occasional flashes of greatness. Their win over 5 Ronin earlier in the week sees AURORA enter their final fixture with a 7-8 record, which puts them in a tie for fifth place with Galakticos.
On a more positive note, AURORA gained a lot of quality with the arrival of Black. The Dark Passage ADC has proven to be one of the best marksmen in the league with a 4.67 KDA, 70.8% KPAR and 9.11 CSPM. Sparz is another player that deserves a mention, as he has built a strong synergy with Black in a short space of time.
Galakticos have enjoyed more or less the same level of success as AURORA in their journey throughout TCL 2020 Winter, as both teams hold a 7-8 record. But Galakticos have something AURORA don��t – a head-to-head victory from Week 5, which means they will enjoy a psychological advantage here.
Galakticos did not make any roster changes in the off-season despite finishing ninth in both splits last year. While the decision to keep the squad intact might have helped the team’s synergy, it has done little to improve their overall quality.
Neither side have impressed in the regular season. Perhaps AURORA have shown slightly more, but their loss to Galakticos earlier in the split suggests esports bookmakers are right to have the two sides at level pegging in the match betting.
This contest will most likely be decided in the bottom lane, where AURORA look to be the strongest. Their decision to bring in Black from Dark Passage was a solid move, as he is without a doubt an upgrade from Rhioni, and the new support Sparz also looks like an excellent addition.
It remains to be seen how the Dark-Sparz combination will match up with the Galakticos bottom-lane tandem of Adam “Emtest” Emtestam and Jakub “Tarky” Va��k��t, but Elramir’s tendency to rotate bots quite frequently suggests AURORA will get on top in the bottom part of the map. Dragon control is crucial in the current meta, leading us to believe AURORA will claim the spoils and sneak into the playoffs.
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]]>The post Riot Games to launch VALORANT closed beta in five regions appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>Shortly after the first details about the FPS project surfaced, VALORANT was billed as one of the most anticipated game releases of 2020 despite the fact not a lot was known about it.
Leaks started to surface earlier this year, followed by an official trailer that unveiled the gameplay and mechanics of VALORANT. The 5v5 character-based tactical shooter features both the class abilities seen in Overwatch and the strategy, gameplay and economy system of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
By combining the best of both worlds under the supervision of Riot Games, VALORANT is tipped to be a huge success. Many avid gamers have already announced that they will be transitioning to the new title in the hope of launching professional esports careers.
Initial rumours suggested VALORANT would not be released until Q4 of 2020 or even in 2021, while beta was said to go online sometime later this year. It seems the COVID-19 outbreak has forced Riot Games to put their foot on the gas and rush the development of the “next big thing in the FPS genre” while much of the world’s population is homebound.
The closed beta for VALORANT is set to launch on April 7, but only for players in Europe, Canada, United States, Russia and Turkey. There are, however, plans to roll out the beta for more regions, although Riot claim they are currently working on some logistical issues caused by the coronavirus crisis.
��Our plan was to bring the VALORANT Closed Beta to as many players around the world as quickly as possible, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those plans,�� VALORANT Executive Producer Anna Donlon said.
��For now, we have to focus on the regions where we feel most ready, with more regions following in the months to come.��
Riot Games have not disclosed how long the beta period will last, stating that they “want to keep closed beta as short as we can while getting additional regions online” and that they will reevaluate their decision based on feedback from players.
Any progress made during beta will not carry over to launch, but Riot are offering players who buy VALORANT points during the testing phase a +20% bonus once the game launches.
Details about VALORANT beta:
– Launch date and time: Tuesday, April 7 at 2pm CET/6am PST
– How to get access*:
1. Register for a Riot account
2. Link Riot account to a Twitch account
3. Watch specific VALORANT closed beta streams highlighted on Twitch
(* there will be a limited number of invites sent out)
– Eligible regions for the beta: USA, Europe, Canada, Russia, Turkey.
– Progress in beta does not transfer over to the launch
– VALORANT points bought during beta will carry over to launch with an added 20% bonus.
– Beta will release only for PC users
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]]>The post Royal Youth disband League of Legends roster ahead of TCL 2020 appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>The 2019 TCL Summer Season champions said the decision was made due to “uncertainties”. While they gave no further explanation, RY revealed they will still maintain their academy roster.
Royal Youth announcement was posted on their Twitter account in Turkish and roughly translated reads: “Although we had a successful season, unfortunately, we have decided to release our staff for the 2020 Winter season due to uncertainties. We, however, aim to continue our success by developing our academy team. We ask all our followers for support and understanding.”
The announcement surfaced barely three weeks prior to the TCL Winter Season kick-off, leaving many League of Legends fans baffled considering Royal Youth were regarded as one of the strongest teams in the Turkish LoL league.
Royal Youth were established in November 2018 and made their first appearance in the professional LoL scene in the TCL 2019 Winter Season, where they took the league by storm and finished third in the regular season behind SuperMassive eSports and 1907 Fenerbahce. RY fell short in the playoffs, where they crashed out in the quarter-finals, yet still secured an impressive third-fourth place finish overall.
In April, the team parted ways with their support Mustafa Kemal “Dumbledoge” G?kselo?lu and replaced him with former Galatasaray member Bar?? “Tolerant” ?epnio?lu, who helped them win both the TCL 2019 Summer regular season and playoffs. That saw Royal Youth qualify for the 2019 LoL World Championship play-in stage, where they finished in 17th-20th place after falling to Clutch Gaming in the knockout phase.
Although Royal Youth enjoyed immense success in their maiden season, the team ran into issues in November when their general manager, Mert “Mert” Tanr?verdi, left for the LoL European Championship and joined FC Schalke 04 as their new assistant manager.
The same month, Royal Youth parted ways with their jungler Can “Closer”?elik, who joined Golden Guardians in LCS; ADC Na “Pilot” Woo-hyung, who joined up with Challengers Korea team Rockhead; and support Bar?? “Tolerant” ?epnio?lu, who is currently a free agent. Only a couple of weeks later, Royal Youth also lost ?rfan “Armut” Berk T��kek, who joined SuperMassive eSports.
While Royal Youth attempted to rebuild their roster from scratch by signing support Bahad?r “Japone” ?olak and top laner As?m “fabFabulous” Cihat Karakaya, they have seemingly given up on the project and instead opted to leave the scene entirely.
Royal Youth became the second team to not participate in the 2020 TCL Winter Season after Galatasaray were suspended due to their failure to complete payments owed to their former players and coaching staff, meaning the first season of TCL 2020 could feature only eight LoL teams instead of 10.
This announcement comes as another blow for the Turkish esports scene, which has been struggling to maintain its franchise model despite being one of the most respected and best developed B-Tier regions.
A few of the most notable LoL players who played in the TCL are Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther, Gabri?l “Bwipo” Rau, Sergen “Broken Blade” ?elik, Marek “Humanoid” Br��zda, as well as two-time world champion Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan, who played for SuperMassive before announcing his retirement from the scene in November 2019.
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]]>The post StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 odds and betting tips appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>Starseries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 will kick off on Monday, October 21 with the group stage, which will run for four days and conclude on Thursday, October 24. Playoffs will take centre stage from Friday, October 25 and conclude on Sunday, October 27 with the grand finals. Both the group stage and playoffs will use a double-elimination format, with all fixtures played in best-of-three (Bo3) series.
The 16 teams have been divided into two groups of eight based on their HLTV Rating. And while that means there are a handful of mismatches in round one, the double-elimination format gives every team a fair chance to prove themselves and aim for the stars.
With the basics covered and the tournament just around the corner, it’s time for us to look over the teams, favourites, underdogs and ultimately give our predictions on who do we believe is the team which will lift the trophy in Turkey.
Looking at the lineup that will be present at Belek, there are three teams who stand out from the rest. Unfortunately, they stand out because they are heavy underdogs. Those teams are 5Power Invictus Gaming and Imperial, who all share a $200.00 quote. While they proved their worth in their respective qualifiers, they will have a hard time stacking up against the remaining teams in a Bo3 contest.
With those three teams out of the picture, we have G2 Esports ($35.00), North ($26.00), Heroic ($22.00), Renegades ($22.00), MiBR ($16.00), AVANGAR ($16.00), FURIA ($16.00), mousesports ($14.00) and Ninjas in Pyjamas ($12.00) as the long shots for the title. Renegades, Heroic, FURIA, North and NiP have failed to impress with their recent performances and will struggle to match up with the top four teams here. While all are more than capable of putting a solid fight against most of the elite CS:GO teams out there, going all the way requires more than just that.
Mousesports, however, should not be ignored. It took them a while to get their wheels spinning, but it looks like they have finally found their rhythm. While they might lack the individual quality the top teams possess, mouz work well as a unit and could go far in Turkey.
G2 recently signed Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi? and Nemanja “huNter-” Kova? from CR4ZY, who are both very talented players. That being said, it looks like they need more time to adapt to their new roster, so don��t expect too much from G2 in Belek.
MiBR have had a rollercoaster of a season, with just as many impressive results as disappointing ones. As a whole, the team looks to be in a bad spot as of now. We expect them to perform well against some weaker teams, but once faced with the favourites, MiBR will fall flat.
That leaves us with Fnatic ($7.50), Team Vitality ($6.50), Natus Vincere ($4.60) and the tournament favourites, Evil Geniuses ($3.40).
It is easy to see why EG are heavily backed to win it all. The ex-NRG roster is on a rapid rise and looks a class above the rest of the field. Comparing the second and third favourite to triumph at Belek, we must side with NaVi over Vitality. While both teams look very solid with their recent results, it’s NaVi who are in our eyes the stronger side, and the main reason for it is Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kov��cs and his improvement in last couple of months. Vitalityrely too much on Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, who is an exceptional player but cannot do it all on his own.
Last but not least, we have to touch on Fnatic, who have been on the rise since they re-signed Robin “flusha” R?nnquist and Maikil “Golden” Kunda. Their surprising win at DreamHack Malmo put them back on the map and they will look to build on that momentum in Turkey.
Evil Geniuses – $3.40 at GG Bet
Fnatic – $7.50 at GG Bet
Mousesports – $14.00 at GG Bet
The post StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 odds and betting tips appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>The post Starseries I-League Season 8 lineup and group draw revealed appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>The tournament follows on from Starseries I-League Season 7, which took place in Shanghai, China, from late March to early April.
Looking back at the Chinese event, it was Natus Vincere who claimed their second Starseries title with a fantastic performance against Fnatic in the grand finals (3-0).
With two titles and two runner-up finishes to their name, NaVi will enter season 8 as the most successful team in Starseries I-League history and will look to claim their third title to cement themselves as the alpha dogs.
Starseries I-League Season 8 will mark the 10th event in the history of the series and it will, just like season 7 feature 16 teams, who will battle it out for the lion’s share of $500,000 and the title of the champions.
Out of 16 participating teams, 12 received direct invites to the tournament, whereas the remaining four had to fight through their respective regional qualifiers.
SEE ALSO: COUNTER-STRIKE ESPORTS BETTING
The teams who got invited to the event by the organizers are AVANGAR, Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, FURIA, G2, MIBR, mousesports, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, North, Renegades and Team Vitality.
On the other side, Belek will welcome Heroic, 5PowerGaming, Invictus and Imperial e-Esports as four teams who fought their way into the tournament via qualifiers.
Heroic qualified for Starseries I-League via European qualifiers, 5Power Gaming and Invictus Gaming came through Asian qualifiers, whereas Imperial e-Sports won the CBCS Season one tournament to qualify for the event.
On Thursday, October 17, the organisers announced the final details about the tournament, when they revealed the seeding of the 16 teams into two groups of eight, which was based on their HLTV ratings.
Group A: Fnatic, Imperial e-Sports, Renegades, MIBR, Team Vitality, mousesports, North.
Group B: Evil Geniuses, 5Power Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FURIA, AVANGAR, Heroic, Natus Vincere, G2 Esports.
The group stage will use a double-elimination format, with all fixtures played in best-of-three (Bo3) series. Top four teams from each group will advance into the playoffs, with the group stage winners receiving a direct invite into the upper bracket, whereas the group stage runners-up advance into the playoffs�� lower bracket.
The playoffs, which will kick off on Friday, October 25, will continue using the same double-elimination format, with all fixtures, including the grand finals, played in best-of-three (Bo3) series.
On top of the seeding and format, StarLadder also revealed the schedule of the day one and day two fixtures in Group A and Group B.
Group A
Monday, October 21
mousesports vs North – 10:00 TRT
Vitality vs Invictus Gaming – 10:00 TRT
Renegades vs MIBR – 13:30 TRT
Fnatic vs Imperial – 13:30 TRT
Upper bracket first semifinals – 17:00 TRT
Upper bracket second semifinals – 20:30 TRT
Group B
Tuesday, October 22
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs FURIA – 10:00 TRT
Evil Geniuses v 5Power – 10:00 TRT
Natus Vincere vs G2 – 13:30 TRT
AVANGAR vs Heroic – 13:30 TRT
Upper bracket first semifinals – 17:00 TRT
Upper bracket second semifinals – 20:30 TRT
Evil Geniuses will enter the tournament as heavy favourites, but they will have a lot to prove against the likes of Fnatic, Vitality and NaVi, who are all serious contenders to take home the largest slice of the $500,000 prize pool and the title of champions.
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]]>The post Riot announces LoL 2017 international eSports events and regions appeared first on Esport Bet.
]]>League of Legends is set for a bumper start to 2017, with Riot announcing plans for the upcoming League Of Legends Mid-Season Invitational, as well as the highly anticipated LoL World Championship.
The Mid-Season Invitational will head to Brazil, kicking things off from April 28 and running until May 21. The structure will be different compared to past seasons, however.
The 2016 Mid-Season Invitational feature six teams and an International Wild Card, with champions from Korea, China, North America and Europe battling it out.
In 2017, Riot will get rid of the Wild Card system, and will instead turn to smaller leagues to fill the spot.
That means a roster of thirteen teams will battle at the Mid-Season Invitational.
There will also be a brand new tournament structure, with a six-team group stage complimented by a new play-in stage, which will determine each team’s seed.
Teams from last year’s three best-performing regions have already been granted a place in the group stages. Other regions will need to find for a place.
Here are the regions that will — alongside the five major leagues already intended to attend — be represented:
China will be host of the World Championship for the first time ever.
Kicking off from September 23 and running until November 4, it’s getting a slight restructuring with 24 teams competing, up from 16 in past years.
There will be a knock-out play-in stage, which will determine group staging. Each representative from the regions will battle against third-seeeded teams from each region. Four teams from this group will then proceed to the group stage.
The 2017 League of Legends World Championship in China will run from September 23 until November 4.
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