The Esports Championship Series North American division comes to a close tonight as Team SoloMid take on Counter Logic Gaming.
The winner of tonight’s match will secure their spot at the ECS Season 1 Finals, so everything is on the line.
TSM (8/13 Pinnacle) vs CLG (5/4 Pinnacle)
Two massive multi-gaming organisations take center stage tonight in the FACEIT ECS Season 1. TSM and CLG are world renowned for having some of the best teams in multiple disciplines, however not so much in CS:GO. CLG have flirted with the idea of being the best North American team but so far they haven’t been able to shine. They got to the quarter finals of the MLG Major a few months ago but fell to Liquid, by far their best international placing. This also secures legend status for the next Valve major at ESL One Cologne.
Their task tonight is made all the more difficult with having to use their coach, Faruk “Pita” Pita, as a stand-in. Pita is a former 1.6 player who will at least understand the task at hand but may not have the ability to perform to the level of his teammates having only played one game with them.
TSM on the other hand recently bought in SEMPHIS of Adderall (and former Cloud9) fame. The team had a very shaky start with their new roster after the turn of the year, losing the Danish powerhouse and replacing them with essentially unknowns. After months of bitter disappointment, TSM have picked up recently getting well-earned victories against the likes of OpTiC (who put up a decent showing at the CEVO Finals in London) and Team SELFLESS. Their showing at the MLG minor event wasn’t too bad either, getting to the Semi-Final only to lose to eventual winner Tempo Storm.
In the grand scheme of things those two wins aren’t anything to write home about. This is distinctly average form in the international landscape, but within their own region, it is decent.
The last 6 matches these guys have played against one another have resulted in 3 wins and 3 losses for each team. Both of these teams are consistently inconsistent with one week TSM beating CLG with ease 16-8 on cache, and then the next week losing 16-1. Currently Russel “Twitstzz” Van Dulken is the star player with a K/D ratio of 1.16 in the last 3 months. The rest of the team aren’t far behind him in terms of rating.
Switching over to CLG, Tarik “Tarik” Celik has a 1.15 K/D ratio with his team further behind. Pita has played 3 maps with CLG so far and ironically that was against TSM and the infamous 16-1 on Cache. The next two maps were much closer with TSM winning Cobblestone 16-14 and then losing out 22-18 on Train.
If previous form is anything to go by, both teams are likely to drop a map, so the sensible option is to back CLG to win a map.
Recommended Bet:
CLG +1.5 map with Pinnacle at 4/7 (1.568)
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