ESL Pro League Season 13

ESL Pro League Betting Tips

The initial ESL Pro League betting odds have been made available on many of the best esports betting sites, and as one can imagine these Counter-Strike odds provide numerous ESL Pro League betting opportunities. Let’s have a look at some of the most prominent matches that one should keep an eye one.

Renegades Vs. OG

The average odds here are 3.20 – 1.36. And they do not reflect reality at all. OG has just benched one of their players and is suffering from an overall lack of coordination. At the recent IEM XV World Championship, the team finished 13^th – 16^th out of 24 participants. Meanwhile, Renegades finished just a few positions lower but their early exit was caused in part by the fact that they had the misfortune to encounter two of the tournament’s best teams: mousesports and Virtus.pro. At these odds, a bet on Renegades makes perfect sense, because OG’s advantage is not significant enough to justify the massive ESL Pro League odds difference.

OG Vs. Heroic

The betting odds for this one are averaging 2.30 – 1.63. For reasons that are similar to the ones discussed previously, these odds are extremely high. Heroic finished 9^th – 12^th at IEM XV World Championship and is a much better team than OG at the moment. So it’s unlikely that they will lose a Bo3 against them.

G2 Esports Vs. Ninjas In Pyjamas

The averaging odds for this match are 1.66 – 2.23. This is another ESL Pro League betting opportunity, simply because NiP doesn’t even have a complete roster at this point while G2 is a top 8 team with excellent results in the last few months. The odds difference should be much bigger given the circumstances. And keep in mind, this match will not be a Bo1, but a Bo3, so any clutches can be easily counter-acted.

Ninjas In Pyjamas Vs. FaZe Clan

Another great opportunity on this list of ESL Pro League betting tips is offered by FaZe Clan’s match against NiP. And that’s because NiP is in disarray while FaZe has just completed its roster and the names are more than impressive. As we’ll detail below, karrigan is back and twistzz has been brought in from Liquid. This means that FaZe Clan is extremely likely to win this Bo3. The bookmakers put the odds at 2.27 – 1.64 in their favour, but the skill difference is much greater than that.

mousEsports VS. FaZe Clan

Finally, one last opportunity is offered by mousesports versus FaZe Clan. Again, the reason is intuitive: karrigan just left mousesports, leaving them in a really bad state. He was their IGL, so you can imagine what the situation is right now in that lineup. And yes, karrigan knows exactly how his former teammates play. He also used to compete for FaZe Clan, so his reintegration is likely to happen really fast. The bookmakers put the odds here at 2.03 – 1.80 in favour of FaZe, but again the real odds should be much higher on mousesports’ side.

ESL Pro League Competitive Format

The competitive format of ESL Pro League Season 13 is made up of 3 stages.

Group Stage

The 24 teams will be divided into 4 groups of 6. In each group, the matches are Bo3 and the format is round-robin. In other words, everyone plays against everyone else. Or a total of 5 matches per team. The winner of each group advances to the Play-In Stage. The 2^nd and 3^rd place teams advance to the Round of 12 of the Playoffs. The remaining 3 teams are eliminated. So in total, we’ll have just 12 teams left after this stage of ESL Pro League Season 13.

Play-in

The Play-In is an opportunity for the best teams to start in a more advanced stage of the Playoffs. The winners advance to the Semifinals while the losers advance to the Quarterfinals. In both scenarios, the advantage these teams have over the rest is huge: either 2 or 3 skipped matches.

Playoffs

The Playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 13 will take place in a single-elimination format. The matches are Bo3, apart from the Grand Final (Bo5).

ESL Pro League Season 13 Teams

The participants come from all around the world apart from China. Half of them a permanent partner teams, 10 were invited based on their ESL World Ranking and 2 had to qualify via the ESEA S35 event, held in Europe and North America.

ESL Pro League Season 13 Favorites

Here’s a breakdown of all the teams that you should keep an eye out for at the ESL Pro League Season 13.

Astralis Is Still The Number 1 Team In The World

Astralis is still ranked 1^st globally, even though they finished 5^th – 6^th at the recent IEM event. At this tournament, both Team Spirit and Virtus.pro managed to defeat them in Bo3 matches. But it’s not yet clear that these CIS competitors are stronger than them. Many consider this Astralis roster to be the greatest CS:GO roster in the history of the game, so I think it’s safe to say that their odds of winning the title at ESL Pro League Season 13 are quite high.

Gambit Is The Winner Of IEM XV

Gambit looked impeccable in their last tournament. In fact, they looked so good that nobody can understand what’s going on. The team won a huge event that had 24 of the strongest rosters in the world in attendance. In the process, they defeated the likes of mousesports, Heroic, G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, and Virtus.pro. Most of these teams are spectacular. So even though we hadn’t seen much from Gambit prior to IEM XV, it’s quite obvious that they’re a tough team to beat.

Virtus.pro Is The Finalist Of IEM XV

Virtus.pro finished IEM XV in 2^nd place. This performance reminded everyone of StarLadder Berlin Major, where the core of VP’s current roster amazed the world by finishing 2^nd. VP then bought that roster and the rest is history. In recent months, Virtus.pro had several impressive results: 1^st place at Flashpoint Season 2, 1^st place at DreamHack Open December 2020, 1^st place at cs_summit 7, and of course, 2^nd place at IEM XV World Championship. Based on these results, it’s clear that VP is one of the favorites at ESL Pro League Season 13.

Natus Vincere Is Likely To Get Carried By S1mple Again

With two of the strongest players in the history of the game in their roster (s1mple and electronic), Natus Vincere is a top contender regardless of what the tournament is. Overall, the team is sitting at number 2 in the global rankings and is the winner of the recent BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020, a title that brought them $600,000.

Vitality Can Rely On Zywoo To Get The Job Done

Vitality finished 9^th -12^th at IEM XV but the team is much stronger than that. Globally, it is currently ranked 5^th had has the best CS:GO player in the world on its roster. ZywOo won this title for two years in a row (in 2019 and 2020) and is capable of performing miracles on just about any map. Because of that, Vitality should be regarded as a favourite at ESL Pro League Season 13.

Liquid Is On The Rise Thanks To Fallen

Liquid is ranked 6^th and has been looking impressive ever since FalleN joined its roster. At IEM XV, the team finished 3^rd – 4^th, which is very good given the prestige of the tournament and its competitive level. Liquid also finished 4^th at BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020, so their most recent result was just a confirmation of their great form.

Furia Is Likely To Maintain Its Consistency

FURIA is by far the strongest team in South America. They’re also one of the most stable teams when it comes to roster changes. Four of the 5 players have been competing together for 3 years, which is a very long time in esports. The results are not as good as they would probably want them to be, but this is still a team that’s always in the top 6 or at least top 8 at every tournament. Overall, they are ranked 9^th.

G2 Could Climb High If Kennys And Niko Bring Their A-game

Currently ranked 10^th globally, G2 is the second-best French team in the circuit. Since December 2020, G2 has played in 4 important tournaments, finishing anywhere between 5^th and 9^th. It’s not yet clear how high they can climb, but with players like kennyS and NiKo the prospects for the future are looking great right now.

Spirit Is A Huge Question Mark With A Lot Of Potential

Spirit should probably be placed higher on this list of favorites but it’s hard to tell at this point whether their 3^rd place at IEM XV was a genuine result that reflects their current abilities or just a fluke. Team Spirit defeated Cloud9, BIG, G2 Esports, Heroic, and Astralis in that tournament, before being defeated by Gambit. It’s hard to believe that all those results were an accident, but it’s also hard to believe that they can repeat such a performance with a relatively modest roster. In any case, because of what they achieved recently, Spirit are now sitting at number 8 in the global rankings.

Complexity Has Moderate Chances To Get A Good Result

Complexity is one of the strongest teams in North America. At the recent IEM XV they only finished 17^th – 20^th but overall, the team is ranked 11^th and has very strong players on its roster. So I do believe there’s a great chance that we’ll see them qualify for the Playoffs and maybe even produce a top 6 result.

FaZe Clan Is Back To Having A World-class Roster

FaZe Clan looks amazing right now. Even though they only finished 9^th – 12^th at IEM XV and are ranked 18^th globally, their recent roster moves change everything. The team has brought back their legendary captain, karrigan, and has bought twistzz from Liquid. And on top of that, they also have rain, broky, and coldzera. The entire roster looks formidable and ready to win some big matches.

Heroic Might Prove To Be Stronger Than Expected

Heroic is ranked 14^th globally and its most recent result is a 9^th – 12^th place at IEM XV. The team does look strong, however, and came close to beating Gambit recently in a highly disputed match (1 – 2).

ESL Pro League 2021 Predictions

Given that very little time has passed since IEM XV World Championship, there’s a high chance that the top teams of that tournament plus the ones with the strongest rosters will be among the best at ESL Pro League Season 13 as well. So the predictions look like this:

Gambit

Based on what we’ve seen them do at IEM XV, I expect Gambit to win again. The team looked unstoppable and their playstyle is hard to read. Perhaps the best competitors in the world will manage to discover the secrets behind the magic by analyzing the replays, but the time is short and there are many other opponents they’ll have to prepare for. So going into ESL Pro League Season 13, I would put Gambit at number one.

Astralis

Astralis has to be feared and respected for 3 reasons: consistency, roster strength, and past results. This competitor won multiple Majors in a row and is ranked as the number 1 team in the world for a reason. If they play their usual game, few teams can beat them.

Liquid

Liquid is in an excellent position thanks to their recent roster moves and I do believe that they’ll do very well at ESL Pro League Season 13. Thanks to the one week of practice that they had the opportunity to do after IEM XV, the team’s playstyle is likely to get even smoother.

Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere is a big favourite because it’s enough for them to play around s1mple or electronic and almost nobody can compete. If one of these two players do well, the remaining ones naturally complete them and the whole thing works well.

FaZe Clan

Even though they don’t look like a top 5 team, FaZe Clan is definitely a top 5 team in my opinion. This roster has both the individual talent and the leadership it requires to do exceptionally well even against the strongest competitors. Karrigan can lead, while coldzera, twistzz, and rain are guaranteed to land their shots. They are among the best in the world at what they do. So it’s just a matter of coordination and solid tactics. And karrigan is an expert at helping his teams in regards to both.

Past Editions Of ESL Pro League

As the name suggests, ESL Pro League Season 13 is the 13^th edition of ESL Pro League. The first one took place in 2015 and was won by Fnatic. The 12^th one took place online and was divided per regions. The exciting thing about the 13^th is that it reunites the strongest teams in the world in just one event and gives us the opportunity to find out who’s the best competitor in CS:GO.