Intel Extreme Masters Sydney is high-level CS:GO event scheduled to take place in Sydney, Australia, between May 1 and May 6. The tournament brings together 16 teams from all over the world including many of the very best and has a prize pool of $250.000.<\/p>\n
HOW TO: BET ON CS:GO<\/a><\/strong> For the Group Stage, the teams will be divided into 2 groups of 8.<\/p>\n Group A:<\/strong> Group B:<\/strong> Each of these groups will be played in a double-elimination bracket format (GSL). The 1st placed team in both groups advances to the semi finals. The 2nd and 3rd placed teams advance to the first round of the Playoffs.<\/p>\n The Playoffs will be played in a single-elimination bracket format and every match will be a Bo3 series with the exception of the Grand Final (Bo5). The prize pool of Intel Extreme Masters Sydney will be divided among participating teams in the following way:<\/p>\n \u2022 1st place: $100,000 Here are some betting considerations for this event:<\/p>\n Going into Intel Extreme Masters Sydney, there are 4 teams which will almost certainly advance to the Playoffs and get a top placement. These teams are Astralis, Fnatic, mousesports and FaZe Clan. Until they start encountering each other, these sides are likely to demolish all opposition. Astralis is by far the strongest of them and will likely make it all the way to the Grand Final. Few teams can stand up to it in its current form.<\/p>\n Intel Extreme Masters Sydney has many participants that haven\u2019t done anything notable at the international level and in premium tournaments. These teams will likely get destroyed by the top contenders. Among them, I would mention Legacy Esports, Grayhound Gaming, B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape, and Chiefs eSports Club.<\/p>\n SK Gaming dominated CS:GO for two years and then collapsed for a number of reasons. Ultimately, TACO left the team and joined Team Liquid, being replaced by Stewie2K from Cloud9. At the moment, SK Gaming is a mere shadow of its 2017 self and has to rebuild its entire strategy in order to integrate Stewie2K in its lineup. Many people have criticized the new SK roster, pointing out that although it has a lot of talented individuals, there\u2019s little synergy between them and as a whole, the team feels like a Soccer squad with 5 strikers, no defenders and no goalkeeper.<\/p>\n At Intel Extreme Masters Sydney, SK Gaming will likely qualify for the Playoffs, but I don\u2019t see them beating any of the other 5 teams that will probably be there as well. Even after its defeat against Natus Vincere in the quarter finals of DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018<\/a>, mousesports remains one of the strongest teams in the world and should have no problems against a local nobody like B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape. With a roster that has almost 1 year of experience playing together and multiple important trophies, mousesports is a top contender at any event.<\/p>\n B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape is a complete unknown at this point and has struggled this year even against the other underdogs participating in this tournament. An adversary like mousesports will likely have a field day against it.<\/p>\n Bovada puts the odds for this match at -800 \/ +500 or around 1.13 \u2013 6.00 in favor of mousesports, and this is practically free money to be made.<\/p>\n Betting prediction:<\/strong> mousesports to win, paying $1.88 at GG Bet<\/a><\/p>\n Astralis is the strongest team in the world at the moment and its playstyle is unique and extremely difficult to counter. The roster simply reinvented its way of playing CS after the departure of Kjaerbye and the acquisition of Magisk from OpTic Gaming. Betting prediction:<\/strong> Astralis to win, paying $1.31 at GG Bet<\/a><\/p>\n After losing olofmeister and bringing in Xizt from NiP, FaZe Clan lost a lot of its strength and is now forced to rebuild its entire playstyle. The team still gets good placements though, mainly thanks to the incredible individual talent of 3 of its members: rain, NiKo and GuardiaN are often hard carrying the team with the exceptional performances, compensating for what the team lacks in synergy. Karrigan is also an exceptional in-game leader, and that also helps when the going gets tough. At its latest tournament, DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, FaZe Clan finished 5th \u2013 8th after losing to Astralis in the Quarterfinals.
\nWATCH: LIVE STREAM CS:GO<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\nTeams and event format<\/h2>\n
\n\u2022 SK Gaming
\n\u2022 Legacy Esports
\n\u2022 Renegades
\n\u2022 Cloud9
\n\u2022 FaZe Clan
\n\u2022 ORDER
\n\u2022 Grayhound Gaming
\n\u2022 TyLoo<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Fnatic
\n\u2022 NRG Esports
\n\u2022 Astralis
\n\u2022 G2 Esports
\n\u2022 MVP PK
\n\u2022 mousesports
\n\u2022 B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape
\n\u2022 Chiefs eSports Club<\/p>\n
\nPrize pool<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 2nd place: $42,000
\n\u2022 3rd – 4th place: $20,000
\n\u2022 5th \u2013 6th place: $10,000
\n\u2022 7th \u2013 8th place: $6,000
\n\u2022 9th \u2013 12th place: $5,000
\n\u2022 13th \u2013 16th place: $4,000<\/p>\nBetting tips<\/h2>\n
The best teams<\/h3>\n
Weaklings<\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t put your hopes on SK Gaming<\/h3>\n
\nBet on SK Gaming only in its matches against weak sides and expect a lot of volatile results from it.<\/p>\nBetting predictions<\/h2>\n
mousesports vs. B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape<\/h3>\n
Astralis vs. NRG Esports<\/h3>\n
\nAstralis won the latest high-level CS:GO tournament, DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, defeating teams like FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, Fnatic and Natus Vincere along the way. Practically, almost all of the top CS:GO teams have been demolished by Astralis in recent weeks.
\nNRG Esports is a fairly strong team from North America and its roster is highly experienced. This squad has moderate experience in international tournaments and is certainly familiar with the skill level of the world\u2019s best CS:GO teams. However, its chances against Astralis are absolutely abysmal.
\nBovada puts the odds for this match at -325 \/ +260 or around 1.31 \u2013 3.60 in favor of Astralis, giving NRG Esports a lot of respect and giving you a huge return for whatever you put in the middle. Astralis has at least a 90% chance of winning this match, so a 25% profit given this low risk is absolutely phenomenal.<\/p>\nFaZe Clan vs. ORDER<\/h3>\n
\nOn the other side, ORDER is an Australian team that hasn\u2019t really done anything spectacular at the international level. Furthermore, there\u2019s nothing about their roster, recent form or playstyle that suggests they stand a chance against FaZe Clan in this match.
\nBovada puts the odds at -1400 \/ +800 or around 1.07 \u2013 9.00 in favor of the Europeans and it\u2019s actually surprising how good these odds are considering the likelihood of a FaZe Clan victory in this encounter.<\/p>\n