Notes for today’s 12pm ET EU Masters Slate.
This is a 6 game slate featuring top teams from their respective regional leagues. These games are Bo1 to start. One thing to note are that LEC academy teams (Fnatic Rising, Schalke Evolution) are usually teams to watch out for. They have similar coaching infrastructure and funding to their LEC teams and are usually near the top of the standings/ eventual winners. These teams were all near the top of their regional leagues but some regional leagues are better and worse than others so that context does matter.
GO (-175) vs BTXL (+125)
GamersOrigin are the winners of the French league which makes them one of the better teams we have in the EU Masters. That league is generally competitive and have had some good performers. They are not an elite team but are in the upper half for sure. They are led by their ADC XDSMILEY and their jungler Bluerzor. These two along with XDSMILEY’s support Hustlinbeast are the main players for this team and most of the action will revolve around these three. I am expecting GamersOrigin to have a good tournament but this match is a competitive one.
BTXL are the academy team for LEC team Excel. This roster is very interesting as they come from the UKLC where they finished the season 2nd after losing a very close finals to Fnatic Rising. This team went undefeated in the regular season for their league and they have some notable players. kaSing is a former LEC support that has played very well in the past at a high level. Along with Deadly, this bottom lane is the main focus of BTXL and a lane to watch out for that can do some serious damage in this tournament.
This game will be very competitive. Both these teams are very good and both come from pretty competitive leagues. I give the slight edge to GO because they are not a one threat team like I think BTXL is. GO have multiple threats in the form of their jungler bluerzor and their mid laner toucouille. BTXL are rather one dimensional and their other laners are not spectacular.
Players to watch: (GO): XDSMILEY, bluerzor, Hustlinbeast
Players to watch (BTXL): Deadly, kaSing, Taxer
GL (-280) vs YDN (+195)
Team GamerLegion is a team that we got to see in the play-in stages and they are the 3rd seed from the very competitive Prime League. This includes teams like FC Schalke Evolution and Mousesports. GamerLegion played very well in the play-in stages, finishing with a 5-1 record in the group stages before sweeping Intrepid Fox Gaming in the knockout stage. This team is another one that has a lot of talent. Hjarnan used to be G2’s ADC, and him and Nite are the main carries for this squad. Their jungler Rabble is also very solid and their support Visdom is a good player as well. Overall this team is a quality team and should be competitive in this group.
YDN Gamers are from the Italian league where they defeated Play-in team Raccoon to qualify for the EU Masters main event. Typically teams from Italy are not that good so I would not expect too much from them besides a team playing spoiler. They are a pretty aggressive team so if they are able to catch teams off guard they can push that lead into a win. Their main carry threats did do very well in the Italian league and if they can translate that aggressive gameplay against GL they have a potential path to victory.
Players to watch (GL): Hjarnan, Nite, Rabble
Players to watch (YDN): Gabbo, Phantomles
S04E (-1000) vs SNG (+525)
S04E had a very disappointing game against MRS yesterday but given that MRS are quite a good team it was not completely unexpected. S04E should still be considered one of the favourites for their group and the entire tournament. This should be a bounce back game for them as they have too much talent to continue losing. Gilius was the jungler yesterday and I expect that to be the case moving forward, but keep in mind there is no confirmation. S04E is very expensive on DK but I expect them to pick up their first win here rather easily.
SNG were one of the teams I expected to be near the bottom of EU Masters and it seems that is going to be how it is. They got absolutely demolished by K1ck yesterday and K1ck is not even that great of a team. The teams from the Benelux region just aren’t good enough to compete with most other regional leagues and S04E is much better than SNG. I find it unlikely that SNG will get anything going and I am full fading this team for now until they show me anything promising at all.
Players to watch (S04E): Sertuss, Neon, Sleeping
Players to watch (SNG): reje, skude
K1ck (+225) vs MRS (-325)
K1ck came out and absolutely blasted SNG. They racked up over 30 kills and were the absolute nuts for the slate yesterday. I expect a lot of people will chase that performance in this matchup but I do not think it is wise. SNG are one of the worst teams in the entire tournament and MRS is much better than them. Puki Style and Shlatan were amazing and they play well with this aggressive style, but against better teams I am not sure that holds up just yet. I will need some more games of them performing against quality opponents to better judge this team.
MRS showed a fantastic performance against one of the tournament favourites in Schalke Evolution. I expected it to be a close match with a chance for an upset and MRS delivered. They come from one of the top leagues in Europe and almost won the playoffs as well. They are not a team to underestimate and they look to be among the better teams attending the EU Masters this split. They are led by their mid laner Xico, Jungler Elyoya and ADC JaVaaa.
MRS has a better team on paper and I think they are the better team in general. However, K1ck love to play aggressively and this can throw a wrench in MRS’ plans if successful. I like MRS to win but K1ck can make a fine GPP target.
Players to watch (K1ck): Shlatan, Puki Style, Raxxo
Players to watch (MRS): Xico, Elyoya, JaVaaa
FNC.R (-500) vs WIZ (+310)
This is another one of those games where I do not have too much to say. I think FNC.R will win this game rather easily and do so in convincing fashion. FNC Rising dismantled eSuba yesterday in a bloodbath of a game with 27 kills. Their star players are xMatty, Dan, and MagiFelix. Although MagiFelix did not have the best game yesterday he is still one of their best mechanically skilled players. This team looks like another top team in the tournament and they will be looking to keep their top 4 streak at EU masters going with a win against the Energypot Wizards.
The Energypot Wizards did not have a terrible game against Mouz yesterday. They had a decent grasp on the objectives and hung around the game mainly due to Lukezy having a nice performance on the Cassiopeia. Their bot lane was a huge liability for them in the last game and their jungler was weak as well. These two positions happen to be strong points for Fnatic so I do not think WIZ will be able to stand up to their superior talent. This team is from the weaker Balkan region and one of the teams I expect to sit near the bottom of the standings. I just do not think this team matches up well against elite teams like FNC.R.
Players to watch (FNC.R): xMatty, Dan, MagiFelix
Players to watch (WIZ): Vzz, Lukezy, Whiteinn
ESB (+450) vs MOUZ (-850)
ESB got blown out of the water against Fnatic and I expect similar results in this game, although most likely less bloody than their last match. eSuba is a Czech team and those teams are usually decent but not great. The main stars on this team are Jejky and Dany but I think they are outmatched in this game. Another game where I think there is not too much chance for the massive underdog to win. Of course anything can happen since it is Bo1 but I just wouldn’t bet on it, there are better underdog targets on this slate.
Mouz are another one of the elite teams in this tournament. They finished second in the very respectable Prime League and showed a very methodical win against a WIZ last game. They have 3 very talented former LEC players in LIDER, Jeskla and Promisq. These three lead the charge and they had a very solid game from all 3 in their last game. I think Mouz is definitely the massive favourite here and they play a solid, well rounded game. This will work very well against weaker teams and I do not think eSuba can break them down.
Players to watch (ESB): Jejky, Dany, Random
Players to watch (MOUZ): LIDER, Jeskla, Promisq
This is another slate where I like a lot of the favourites. There are some dogs I find quite interesting so here are my favourite underdog plays on this slate:
1. BTXL
2. K1ck
3. YDN
Always potential for the other teams to win but with these match-ups it is rather unlikely as evidenced by the Vegas odds.