?This is a match that many expect to end with a clean victory from Gambit Esports, but we have our reasons to doubt that. Even though Gambit are stronger and much more successful than Team Fiend, the underdogs have a legitimate chance to cause some damage.

Looking at the map records, the bout will likely play out on either Inferno or Mirage, where both sides perform well. The second thing that works in Fiend’s favour is that Gambit usually do well against top teams because they are very good at analysing their opponents’ demos – of which Team Fiend have very few.

Last, but not least, this is an online best-of-one (Bo1) match, which are notorious for upset wins. While we don’t think Fiend will win, the +6.5 rounds handicap at $1.92 is just too good to pass on.

?Team Spirit and G2 Esports last met just over a week ago at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2021, where G2 won 2-1. Before that, these sides clashed at IEM Katowice back in February, when Spirit won 2-1 having lost their previous meeting 0-2 in December.

Spirit are arguably the more consistent team, but on a good day G2 can be stronger. The question is whether it’s worth risking our money on G2 and hoping they show up on Thursday.

Since this is a Bo1 bout, the answer is yes. The general rule of thumb in Bo1 series is to take the better odds if the underdogs have a chance to win, and with the quality of players G2 possess, they can definitely come away with a win.

Natus Vincere tend to underperform in tournament openers, so backing mousesports would appear to make sense. That said, we don’t believe mouz are good enough to upset the Ukrainian side.

Mouz might have the occasional flash of greatness, but they aren’t playing well. That is mainly because they lack a proper in-game leader, which they lost with the departure of Finn “karrigan” Andersen to FaZe Clan in February.

NaVi are not a perfect team either. Their inability to execute strategies points to IGL problems, so in that aspect, these sides are similar. Regardless, NaVi still boast better players, which should tip the scale in their favour. Mouz shouldn’t win more than 12 rounds.

?FaZe Clan’s roster is arguably good enough to compete for a Major Championship title, but from the looks of it, they have yet to find the needed synergy to take the step up in class. FaZe have won only 37.5% of their matches since January and have shown only marginal progress since signing karrigan.

Virtus.pro are 4-6 in their last five and have lost all of their last three fixtures, going down to Complexity (1-2), forZe (0-2), and HAVU (1-2). We have talked about this team overperforming at IEM Katowice, and those results suggest we might be right.

On paper, Virtus.pro seem like the stronger team, but that doesn’t explain the short odds. The value is with FaZe Clan.