The eight new Legends have been crowned, but only one team can win IEM XIII Katowice on Sunday. The quarterfinals of the event will kick off this Thursday with Natus Vincere taking on Faze Clan and Team Liquid facing Ence. They will continue on Friday with MIBR playing Renegades and Ninjas in Pyjamas looking to upset tournament favorite Astralis. Everyone playing at this point has guaranteed themselves at least $35,000, but all eight teams are out to start 2019 with a bang with a $500,000 first prize.
CS:GO IEM XIII Katowice Quarterfinals Betting Odds
Natus Vincere -180
Faze Clan +145
Natus Vincere looked pretty strong last week in the New Legends Stage, only losing to Team Liquid on their way to locking up a spot in the Quarterfinals. They have arguably the best player in the game in s1mple, who was named HLTV’s top professional CS:GO player last year, and a fantastic rifler in Electronic. If they had a third great player, that would make them one of the tournament favorites.
For as much talent has Faze has on its roster, the results haven’t been there. They suffered surprising defeats at the hands of both Renegades and Avangar last week, and that meant they needed to beat Complexity and Cloud9 to get to this point. Any team with Guardian, Niko, and Rain should be better than this, but Olofmeister’s play has fallen off, and they have had trouble finding consistency with their fifth since Karrigan was benched.
Even though I’m a bit wary of Faze putting it all together, I like Natus Vincere quite a bit at this price.
Team Liquid -355
ENCE +275
I’m a little surprised this line is so low. Liquid have been the second-best team in the world for over a year, and they had no trouble getting to this stage last week. Even though they were drawn against two other very good teams that ended up making the Quarterfinals in Ninjas in Pyjamas and Na’Vi, they didn’t drop a map in advancing. Liquid often finished runner-up to Astralis at premier events last year, and they are hoping to break that streak this time.
As for ENCE, they are the darlings of the tournament to this point. They had to progress through the New Challengers and New Legends stages in order to get here, but they managed to overcome two separate losses to Renegades and a loss to HellRaisers by beating BIG, G2, and Avangar in successive matches to quality. The clock has struck midnight for this team though, and I see them being overmatched. Liquid are my favorite bet of the Quarterfinals.
MIBR -175
Renegades +145
This is the most intriguing match of the Quarterfinals. MIBR are looking to have the same success that Luminosity Gaming did when this roster was first put together in 2015 and 2016. For a time, Luminosity Gaming were the best team in the world, and they have brought that team together in hopes of having similar results. The early returns are promising, but they have yet to break through and win a Premier tournament.
Renegades are out to play spoiler. The Australian team has had some success in Asia over the last two years, but they have yet to accomplish much when traveling to Europe. A win here would give them some validation, but I don’t think it’s in the cards.
Astralis -625
Ninjas in Pyjamas +450
Until Astralis lose, everyone else is playing for second. This has been the most dominant CS:GO team we have seen in the history of the sport, and they are heavy favorites to win another Premier event. They have won six Premier events in the last nine months, and they were the first team to win the Intel Grand Slam too. Astralis fell to Faze in the semifinals of this event last year, so they will be looking to avenge a rare defeat. It will be hard to bet against them given their form.
At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. Esports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs.
From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the Esports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!
