?Team Heretic have managed just two wins over the first two weeks of the LEC 2023 Spring regular season, but that isn’t necessarily as bad as it sounds since they’re one of three other teams entering the final week with a 2-4 record. On the other hand, Astralis have won three games, and even though they lost their opening two fixtures last week, they rounded up their run with a huge victory against Team Vitality.

On paper, Astralis look only slightly better than Team Heretics, which might explain why esports betting sites have Astralis priced at $1.61 and Heretics at $2.20, but those numbers make no sense. Team Heretics might’ve won two games, but they’re arguably the worst team in the league.

Heretics have yet to show anything that would make us believe they can be competitive, and their complete lack of synergy makes it extremely hard to bet on them against any opponent. Astralis are by no means one of the leading LEC title contenders, but the head-to-head odds look way too generous.

?KOI lost against Astralis, MAD Lions, and Fnatic, but they also beat G2 Esports. Results like that don’t help with figuring out whether KOI are actually good, and as we enter the final week of the LEC 2023 Spring regular season, there’s still no clear answer.

Excel Esports have yet to find their footing, but things might change this week following a minor roster change, with mid laner Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié stepping down to make room for Felix “Abbedagge” Braun.

Abbedagge played his last professional LoL match at the end of 2022 with 100 Thieves, so it’s hard to judge how much of an impact he will have. But how things have been going for Excel and how weak their mid lane was, it can only go up.

Despite what the latest LoL esports betting odds suggest, this match has upset potential – not so much because Excel might do well, but because KOI are very inconsistent. At $2.67 with GG Bet, we’re ready to take a shot with Excel.

At the end of LEC 2023 Spring Week 2, Team Vitality lost against G2 Esports and Astralis, proving that the league is competitive and that Team Vitality aren’t untouchable. This is concerning from a betting perspective since it’s hard to justify betting on Vitality without fearing another upset.

Perhaps Team BDS winning here wouldn’t be that big of a shock since BDS are a very competitive team, and their 4-2 record confirms it. Team BDS’s only losses came against SK Gaming on the opening day of the regular season and G2 Esports in an extremely close match which could’ve easily gone the other way.

Team BDS, much like Astralis, are dangerous and will defeat anyone if given a chance. However, although still individually much weaker than Team Vitality, the Bees have yet to show their true power and are arguably not as synergised as BDS.

If Team Vitality play their game, Team BDS will struggle to win, but we haven’t seen enough from Vitality last week to back them at the offered odds. We’re taking Team BDS with a +6.5 kill advantage.

Fnatic are priced as $3.00 underdogs with the top League of Legends betting sites, which might make sense if we consider their showings throughout the season. But Fnatic won two games last week – against Team Heretics and KOI – and looked very good doing it.

We wouldn’t want to overreact to a couple of strong showings, but it’s easy to underestimate how much of a morale boost a two-game winning streak can have. Moreover, Fnatic had a solid draft in their recent wins, and if they can keep drafting like that, they might add a few more victories to their record.

MAD Lions still look like the better team, but they’ve not shown much this split (2-4). Also, we’re talking about a best-of-one game, making the offered LoL esports betting odds on Fnatic even tastier.

There’s no telling where Fnatic will go from this point or whether their 2-1 week was a fluke. Regardless, Fnatic should never be priced this high against MAD Lions. Value is with Martin “Rekkles” Larsson and his crew.

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Excel Esports kept their promise for LEC 2023 Winter of not finishing fifth, ending the split in last place with just one victory to their name (1-8). The disastrous showing led to the signing of new coach Jonas “Hidon” Vraa and support Dino “LIMIT” Tot.

Fnatic didn’t do any better in the first split of the season, finishing in ninth place and missing the playoffs for the first time in history. In a bid to find more traction, Fnatic replaced support Rúben “Rhuckz” Barbosa and top laner Martin “Wunder” Nordahl Hansen, who stepped down from the lineup to make room for academy players óscar “Oscarinin” Mu?oz Jiménez and Henk “Advienne” Reijenga.

The changes in both teams look promising, but it’s hard not to feel excited about Fnatic’s plan with their new top laner. With Oscarinin, we expect Fnatic to change up their gameplan and play through the mid and top lanes, which sounds like the right move knowing that Martin “Rekkles” Larsson is a self-sufficient ADC who prefers to play weak side.

With the changes, it’s tough to say how these teams will do this split, but Fnatic look to have a higher ceiling. If things fall into place, Fnatic should compete for a top-four finish, whereas Excel Esports – even with a more stable bottom lane – likely won’t be all that good this split.

These two teams had fantastic runs through LEC 2023 Winter. SK Gaming reached a bit further after upsetting Team Vitality in the final round of Winter Groups. Still, Team BDS proved they could be competitive, producing a handful of solid showings even against the LEC’s top teams.

Team BDS beat SK Gaming last time out, but it happened in the first week of the season, so that result doesn’t hold much value. Likewise, SK finishing the split higher doesn’t mean much in the greater picture since both teams looked good throughout the regular season.

Most esports betting sites have SK Gaming and Team BDS priced at equal odds, which sounds about right. However, BDS were a bit unlucky not to finish the season higher, and considering the improvement they’ve shown, we expect them to enter LEC 2023 Spring even stronger.

Team Vitality’s second attempt at forming a superteam and winning the LEC crown failed, so the Bees decided to double down on the idea and signed former Fnatic ADC Elias “Upset” Lipp. With that, Vitality formed one of the most stacked European LoL rosters we’ve seen in years, but elite talent doesn’t necessarily mean good results.

This is undeniably a very strong team and a legitimate title contender. Still, there’s also a question of clashing personalities, so it’s tough to determine their ceiling until we see Team Vitality in action.

MAD Lions didn’t make any roster moves ahead of LEC 2023 Spring, which is fine considering they reached the LEC 2023 Winter finals. Overall, the Lions had an amazing split, and the only thing stopping them from winning another title was G2 Esports being way too strong.

MAD Lions were stronger than Vitality last split, and not necessarily because the Bees had a weaker bottom side. So even with Upset joining the roster, we don’t expect the balance of power to change.

Astralis have replaced mid laner Oliver “Dajor” Ryppa with Adam “LIDER” Ilyasov, which looks a good move. LIDER won’t turn Astralis into LEC title contenders, but he is better than Dajor, so we can expect the Danish side to be just as good, if not better, than last split.

KOI kept their LoL roster intact, which isn’t too shocking following a third-place finish in LEC Winter. It might also be because it’s hard to find any good replacements in the middle of the season.

It’s important to note that KOI finished the regular season in seventh place with a 4-5 record and only made it so far in the playoffs because they beat SK Gaming and the disorganised Team Vitality in the group stage. So looking at their combined record, KOI went 6-6.

Astralis and KOI met on the final day of the LEC 2023 Winter regular season, when KOI won comfortably, but only because Emil “Larssen” Larsson had a free lane. So, if we remove KOI’s mid-lane advantage from the equation, then it’s hard to justify the odds on offer with most LoL betting sites.

On paper, Astralis are weaker than KOI, but not as weak as the odds suggest, so we’ll gladly take Astralis to cause an upset.

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?G2 Esports added ADC Steven “Hans sama” Liv and support Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle this offseason, forming one of the best bottom lanes in the West, but we don’t know how well the former teammates will gel with the rest of the squad. Likewise, there are questions about jungler Martin “Yike” Sundelin and how well he’ll do in his debut year in the LEC.

Excel Esports made several roster changes following the team’s most successful season in the LEC, keeping only ADC Patrik “Patrik” Jír?. The Czech ADC will team up with G2’s former support Rapha?l “Targamas” Crabbé and a veteran top side of Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu, Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir, and mid laner Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié.

Excel Esports might struggle internationally due to the limited upside of Xerxe, but they could very likely play for the bottom side, which should be the team’s plan. Vetheo is an excellent mid laner, while Patrik and Targamas can easily compete with any bottom lane in the LEC.

If we don’t put any weight on the brand value and player recognition, G2 Esports and Excel look evenly matched across all positions, so we’ll gladly take Excel at $2.50 with GG Bet.

SK Gaming put together a very underwhelming roster that will struggle to compete for a playoff spot, let alone the LEC trophy. Top laner Joel “Irrelevant” Scharoll is the only noteworthy player of SK Gaming, yet even he has much more to prove before we can consider him one of the best in his position.

MAD Lions re-signed ADC Matyá? “Carzzy” Orság from Vitality, who’ll team up with veteran support Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov and top laner Kim “Chasy” Dong-hyeon, forming a solid core. But while MAD field a competitive roster, this squad also comes with a lot of volatility, especially in the bottom lane.

We will consider fading MAD when faced with weaker teams, but the skill gap in this match is too large for us to take SK Gaming. Still, this should be a bloody game.

?The Bees had a disastrous 2022 campaign, struggling to live up to the name of Europe’s superteam; however, most of that was due to poor synergy. For 2023, Team Vitality replaced four members and kept only Luka “Perkz” Perkovi?, which just might be the right call.

It’s hard to say how Zhou “Bo” Yangbo and Kyeong “Photon” Gyu-tae will do in the LEC, but they’re very talented players who are slept on by the community. Fnatic also have some solid pieces, and the re-signing of Martin “Rekkles” Larsson makes them an exciting team to watch. But Rekkles’ return after an iffy season in the LFL raises plenty of questions.

Both teams have a high ceiling, but Fnatic might need a bit more time to ramp up, and it doesn’t help that the Black & Orange were very inconsistent last season. At $1.90, Vitality are a solid choice.

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?Team BDS stunned Excel on Saturday, which sounds good, but it doesn’t change the fact that Team BDS are 2-11 and on the brink of matching LEC’s worst regular-season record. Although you have to have some respect for the players, BDS are extremely bad and in need of a complete overhaul if they wish to bounce back in 2023.

On the other side, Rogue are one of the LEC title contenders, although they don’t look as dangerous as they had in spring or last season. They have had some good showings, but of late, Rogue have left a lot to be desired with their performances.

Regardless of Rogue’s unconvincing showings over the last few weeks, they’re a superior team in this affair and should win with ease. Still, we wouldn’t back Rogue at $1.16, and the kill handicap (9.5) is a bit too high for our liking. Instead, we like under 25.5 kills.

Team BDS average just under nine kills per game, slightly below Rogue at 11.9. And even if Rogue go above their season average, it’s highly unlikely for BDS to reach double digits.

?MAD Lions are already locked in for the playoffs, which might explain their 0-2 run last week when they lost against Rogue and Misfits. Although still one of the league’s top teams, MAD Lions only look good because all other top squads are struggling, so we would take their position in the standings with a grain of salt.

Astralis enter the Super Week with a 7-8 record, which sits them in a four-way tie for second with G2 Esports, Misfits Gaming, Rogue, and Team Vitality. It might seem shocking to see Astralis in such a favourable position to make playoffs, but they’ve deserved to be where they are.

Astralis won’t win the LEC title, but they’re very competent and have taken a few big scalps over the last few weeks, including Vitality and Rogue. More times than not, Astralis lose against MAD Lions, but at the latest LoL betting odds, the value is with the outsiders.

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?SK Gaming and Astralis will lock horns on Friday for the first time since June 24, when Astralis came out ahead. But besides leading in the head-to-head, there isn’t much that would suggest Astralis are the better team.

Astralis hold a better record (5-6) than SK Gaming (4-7), but it’s by a single victory. Moreover, the two LoL esports teams have shown similar form over the last two weeks – with SK beating Excel Esports, G2 Esports and Team BDS, and Astralis winning against BDS and Excel.

This is one of the games that can go both ways, and we don’t have a clear preference for betting on either of the two squads. However, we like under 23.5 kills at $1.83. Astralis are a bit of a mixed bag regarding how many kills they average per game, whereas SK have been consistently involved in low-scoring games, hitting under total kills in over half of their bouts.

?Team BDS are undeniably the weakest team in the league, and their 1-10 record would confirm that. Interestingly their only victory of the split came against G2 Esports, which might suggest that Team BDS have a chance of upsetting the defending champions, but we would disagree.

Team BDS’ victory against G2 during Week 2 was a complete fluke, and we can confidently say that because BDS have not produced anything noteworthy since then. This squad needs a complete roster overhaul, and even though they’ve replaced support Dino “LIMIT” Tot with Robert “Erdote” Nowak, that won’t help Team BDS’s main problem.

Not only do Team BDS lack talent, but they’ve looked completely toothless in most of their games regardless of the level of competition they’ve faced. But from a betting perspective, it’s also important to note that they have hit unders in all but two games (2-9) this split.

You could take G2 Esports to win by at least 10 kills, but there is a world where this turns into a low-scoring game, so we’ll settle for under 24.5 kills.

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WYDLE claim coveted European Gamers Without Borders spot

After a four-day riveting regional final, WYLDE has emerged as the victors. For their efforts, they will be representing the EU in the global finals.
WYLDE made their way to the regional finals through the open qualifiers. Victus was the second finalist from the 15 other teams that participated in that event.
Four teams fought for the top spot in the regional finals. Although two were there through the qualifiers, Rouge and Heroic were invited by the organizers.
It was a perfect run for WYLDE, as they blitzed through their opponents. They defeated Heroic and Victus in the semi-finals and final, respectively, to reach the grand final.

In the best-of-5 grand final series, they beat Rogue 3-1. Rogue had previously exacted revenge against Victus, who were responsible for sending them to the lower bracket, in the lower bracket final to secure a grand final ticket. Although they came close to forcing a fifth game, they lost Skyscraper 8-7.
WYLDE won $250,000 from the $500,000 prize pool. Recall that the regional finals are strictly for charity. Hence, their winnings have been donated to UNICEF.

Spacestation Gaming grab North America slot

Spacestation Gaming were the favorites with esports betting sites to win the top spot in North America and they delivered. Spacestation, alongside Parabellum Esports, were the two invited teams while Leftovers and Gaimin Gladiators Academy came into the regional finals through the open qualifier.

In the semi-finals, Spacestation lost the first map against Parabellum. Throughout the competition, that was the only loss they suffered. Despite dropping that map, Spacestation turned things around and won the series. In the upper bracket final, they dominated Leftovers and ended the series with a sweep.

After an impressive lower bracket run, Parabellum was in the grand final to face Spacestation once again. This time, they failed to win a single Rainbow 6 map in the best-of-5 series.

At the time of publishing, the charities each team played for were unknown. Nonetheless, Spacestation walked away with the lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool, winning $250,000 for their yet-to-be-revealed charity.

MIBR R6 team through from South America

MIBR and FaZe Clan were the two invited teams in South America, and they showed their dominance. Both teams won their semi-final matchups and faced off for the first time in the upper bracket final.

MIBR registered their second sweep in the LATAM regional finals over FaZe, thereby sending them to the lower bracket final. After a comfortable 2-0 victory over Escolinha do bubu, FaZe was ready to exact revenge on MIBR in the grand final.

Although they played all five maps before a winner was decided, the winner of each map leading up to the decider had comfortable wins. In the end, a 7-2 victory in Kafe Dostoyevsky secured MIBR’s participation in the global finals.

Just as in the case of NA, the charities are yet to be revealed. However, MIBR also won $250,000 for finishing first place.

When is the Gamers without Borders finals?

Eight teams are scheduled to play in the LAN event that will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from August 4 to August 8. The remaining five teams that will be participating are yet to be revealed.

Four teams will be invited, and the final participant will come from the Saudi eLeague. GWB has a history of inviting big names to their event. With that in mind, the global finals promise to be a cracker.

Teams will be competing for a piece of the $2 million prize pool. In this event, the winners will keep their winnings.

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Both sides enter this match with new faces on their roster. Team Singularity acquired Danni “smF” Dyg and Sebastian “larsen” Larsen as replacements for Tobias “TOBIZ” Theo and Casper “Celrate” Andersen last month, while FATE decided to replace Kaloyan “shaiK” Borisov and Milen “milky” Iliev with Kostadin “rafftu” Turbinov and Kalin “KalubeR” Еrenditzov.

Although good signings on both ends, we have to consider that FATE made their changes just this Tuesday, meaning some period of instability and poor synergy must be expected. The Bulgarian duo are definitely an upgrade to shaiK and milky, but that might not become obvious until a few weeks pass.

FATE are still good enough to win one map, but due to the questionable synergy, we have to side with Singularity.

Wis?a Kraków have been all over the place across the last month. After making some noise at IEM Katowice, where they lost to Virtus.pro (10-16) and Complexity (1-2), the Poles went on to defeat sAw (2-1), FATE (2-0) and HellRaisers (2-0), only to drop the ball against EXTREMUM (1-2) and Illuminar Gaming (10-16, 15-15).

That said, a majority of those losses came against stronger teams. This could be a problem since forZe are by no means a weak squad, although they enter this match in ordinary shape after narrow wins against FofTheWin (16-12) and ex-SPARK ESPORTS (16-11) as well as an 8-16 loss to Movistar Riders.

This match seems like a complete coin-toss, so punters have to favour the underdogs. If you believe forZe are stronger than their recent results might suggest, overs might be a better pick, but we just don’t see it.

?Even though Schalke 04 are struggling, there is no reason to have them priced as high as $2.42 for this match. Last week they put up a solid fight against Rogue and might have looked much better against Misfits Gaming had they drafted better.

S04 are on a six-game losing streak and struggling on the financial front, but that doesn’t take away from the players’ individual quality. MAD Lions might have looked better of late, but their 3-1 run is a bit misleading since their wins came against teams that use an inferior playstyle to theirs (Excel), are disorganised and out of sync (Vitality), or are just highly volatile (Fnatic).

Schalke 04 to win is a very appealing bet at the offered odds. Whatever the outcome, we are expecting anything but a tight, low-scoring affair.

?If there is one thing we have learned about Misfits Gaming this split, it is that they can win any match just as easily as they can lose to any opponent. That more or less summarizes where we are going with this prediction.

And it is not only Misfits’ volatility that points towards a potential upset upset, but also Astralis’ improvement since the arrival of Carl Felix “MagiFelix” Bostr?m. The Danes are still a bit reckless and often make silly mistakes, but they like to fight, which is one way to compensate for their lack of individual talent.

There are two bets for this match that we like: Astralis to win, and Astralis to secure at least 11 kills. Considering the underdogs average 17 kills in their wins, we recommend you either take only the latter bet or both since it is highly unlikely they will win with less than double digits.

?Team Vitality will need a miracle to secure a spot in the playoffs after a 2-11 start to the season. The latest odds at esports betting sites suggest they won’t have an easy time against SK Gaming, who enter this match on a five-game winning streak.

Despite Vitality’s improvement, they still seem a bit out of sync, which won’t do them any favours against the in-form SK. Although there is a world where the Bees cause an upset, the odds are not good enough for us to take their side. Instead, it is SK to secure first blood that stands out.

SK have picked up first blood in 62.5% of their wins and 53.8% of their games this season, whereas Vitality have yet to secure first blood this split. At these odds, siding with Janik “Jenax” Bartels and co. to get their name on the board first is a no-brainer.

?Schalke 04 enter the fourth week of LEC Spring 2021 on a four-game winning streak that includes two very convincing wins against G2 Esports and Rogue. While we can praise S04 for what they have shown of late, there is nothing positive to say about their next opponents.

Astralis were billed as the weakest team before the season began, and the first three weeks have not changed that assessment. To make matters worse, Astralis’ star mid laner Erlend “nukeduck” V?tevik Holm has stepped down from the team. His replacement is Carl Felix “MagiFelix” Bostr?m, who is a talented player, so perhaps he might prove to be an upgrade.

There is a world where Astralis perform better with MagiFelix on the team, but even that likely won’t be enough to derail the in-form S04. Take Schalke 04 with a -6.5 kill handicap.

?We were already quite big on Team Vitality, and we have an even bigger reason to look at these guys with excitement now that they have signed the former SK Gaming ADC Ju? “Crownshot” Maru?i? to their roster. By acquiring Crownshot, Vitality have gained both a carry player and a strong leader, which is exactly what they need to fix their mid- and late-game struggles.

Excel enter this match with a fairly solid 4-3 record and a three-game winning streak. Their run, however, is slightly misleading considering their latest three wins came against Astralis, Misfits and SK Gaming, which are not exactly strong teams.

Even though we are a bit concerned with how quickly Crownshot can gel in with his new team, his arrival makes Vitality significantly stronger. This should be a close match, but we expect Vitality to take the win.

?We rarely bet on Misfits Gaming, largely because they’re the type of team that can lose any game, but on the flip side, they can also defeat anyone on their day. That makes them difficult to play against, so it’s hard not to like them as a punch-up underdog.

The Bunnies are set to face the reigning LEC champions, G2 Esports, which seems like a match that can end only one way. That said, G2 haven’t looked too good this split, and we would go even so far to say they will not win the regular season unless they improve.

Misfits’ chaotic, aggressive and unpredictable playstyle could catch G2 off guard, so there is definitely a world where they can cause an upset. At these long odds, placing a few bucks on the outsiders is more than worth the risk.

Excel Esports enter the second week of LEC Spring 2021 with a somewhat unconvincing 1-2 record, but they deserve some slack since they’ve had to face Rogue and G2 Esports. Their next opponents, Astralis, hold the same record, which includes a very questionable win against Team Vitality and defeats against SK Gaming and MAD Lions.

Excel are far from perfect but have impressed us with their composed playstyle and very exciting drafts. If they can continue playing this way, Excel should do more than fine against mid- and lower-table teams such as Astralis.

We would not recommend going over the -4.5 kill handicap for this match, as the current meta is slower (24 average kills per game in the LEC) and Excel are not exactly a bloodthirsty team.

The latest LoL betting odds suggest this should be a very one-sided affair. While we can agree Rogue are the most likely victors, we don’t believe they will have an easy time covering the kill handicap.

Last week Rogue won with at least eight kills to spare twice – against SK Gaming (14-5) and against Fnatic (24-10) – although it’s important to consider that SK are weaker than Team Vitality, whereas Fnatic forced Rogue to play at a higher tempo.

Vitality to keep this match within seven kills is a good bet. Outside of their loss against Astralis on Sunday, Vitality played well and might be much stronger than the betting odds suggest.

Misfits Gaming are one of the most unpredictable teams in the league. While they can have their moments of greatness, it’s unclear how high this squad can fly. One thing to take away from their bouts is that Misfits are not afraid to fight, seeing how they have been involved in two of the highest-scoring games of the season, including a 35-kill match against Fnatic and a 37-kill match against MAD Lions.

SK Gaming are not looking good, but they’re still performing better than expected. They started the season with a fairly comfortable win against Astralis and even looked somewhat decent in their loss against G2 Esports.

Since Misfits are a very volatile squad, a bet on SK is not a bad option, although we would like to see slightly higher odds. Instead, we predict this game will end with at least 23 kills, which should be easily achievable since neither team seems the type to play safe picks such as Lulu/Ivern.