It’s time for the final of the fifth season of ESL Pro League where G2 are favoured to win their first major event. CSGO Betting’s ESL Pro League betting tips look at whether the French super-team will be able to nullify North and return home with the $225,000 first place prize. After a few quiet weeks for CounterStrike, we will see whether G2’s practice has paid off at 19:00 BST.
Neither team has been flawless so far. North’s Nuke saw them taken to overtime on Mousesports, before a loss to Liquid on Cobblestone was rectified against the same side in their semi final. The most impressive performance came from G2 with their 2-0 victory over SK at the same stage on Cache and Overpass demonstrating their capabilities. Most importantly for their chances here, they displayed a good level of tactics which has previously been absent from their game. This suggests that some of their group stage performances, such as dropping 14 rounds against EnVyUs and losing to Immortals and Cloud9 can be forgiven.
G2 (3/5, 1.60 Unikrn) vs North (7/5, 2.39 GGBet)
Five maps will be played and it is goes without saying that G2 will ban Mirage and North will ban Train. It is difficult to guess the order the remaining maps will be played, so CSGO Betting have evaluated each in turn.
North still do not like playing Cache whilst G2 seem to have learned the map. It is a map that should suit G2’s aim-heavy, dynamic playstyle and whilst they have not quite mastered it yet, they did show a good all round performance when beating SK 16-12. North have only played it offline against FaZe, who are not particularly strong on it, so G2 are given the edge to come out on top in a close game.
Inferno will be an interesting encounter. G2 have repeatedly come into events and been happy to play the map, indicating that they have done well in practice on it, but it has rarely translated into good performances. Here, they lost 16-4 to Cloud9 and there are no performances on the map that they can really be given much credit for. On the other hand, North beat Astralis on it in April and their form has been reasonable since. They did lose to Na’Vi but also beat OpTic at IEM Sydney, despite hugely under-performing down under. North have solid chances of picking up this one.
Whilst North have a few victories over Nuke, including over G2 online, their overall form has been nothing special. Enthusiasm from a decimation of Team Liquid and an overtime victory over Mousesports is tempered by their loss to Australian nobodies Chiefs at IEM Sydney. Against a team considered perhaps the best in the world on the map, this is insufficient. It will be a surprise if North are able to win Nuke.
Cobblestone has been a good map for G2 with their groupstage victory over SK the icing on the cake. Whilst North used to be considered the best team in the world on the map, their recent performances have been poor and there’s nothing to suggest that will change.
G2 picked Overpass against SK and demonstrated some solid tactics on the map. We’re inclined to ignore their groupstage games against both Immortals and Fnatic, and that form should see them come out on top here. North haven’t shown enough on the map to suggest that they can challenge G2.
North only appear to have serious claims on Inferno, and given G2’s general better level of performances and higher skill ceiling, they are likely to come out on top in comfortable fashion. A 3-0 or 3-1 victory to G2 looks most likely.
ESL Pro League Season 5 Final Betting Tips:
G2 3-0 vs North with Marathonbet Esports at 41/10 (5.10)
G2 -1.5 maps vs North with Betway Esports at 27/20 (2.35)
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