G2.iG placed top six at Clavision: Snow Ruyi at the start of August, but they have since not looked as good, with a last-place finish at FISSURE Universe: Episode 3. Nevertheless, this is a team of strong individuals who have yet to show their peak performance.

Talon Esports replaced their entire roster after a 9th-12th finish at The International 2023, and they have not looked as good since. Especially in international events, such as ESL One Birmingham 2024, Talon have shown they do not have what it takes to push for high placements.

Neither of these teams have the tools to compete for the trophy. Still, G2.iG potentially have a higher ceiling, as they’ve yet to be properly tested, which is a good enough reason to take their side at plus money.

This is a very important match for both Xtreme Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators, as it will likely decide which of the two squads will place first in Group A. Yet, according to the top Dota 2 betting sites, a draw is the most likely outcome.

In past years, there have been a good number of stalemates in the group stage, especially in fixtures between two elite teams. However, it is difficult to doubt Gaimin Gladiators on form, not to mention that the new, fast-paced meta favours their style.

Xtreme Gaming won Clavision: Snow Ruyi a month ago, so form is not a problem; however, even at this number, Gaimin Gladiators look like a better pick.

Aurora Gaming performed relatively well at Riyadh Masters 2024 and would have likely made it further than 9th-12th had they not faced Xtreme Gaming in the first round of the playoffs. However, they are still without a tournament title this season and are not one of the contenders to win The International 2024.

Defending champions Team Spirit are joint tournament favourites with Gaimin Gladiators, so it is no surprise that esports bookies have them at short odds to win this match. On the other hand, Aurora have the players to do well; the only question is whether all the pieces will fall into place for Nuengnara “23” Teeramahanon and co.

Spirit are the better team, but they have struggled somewhat in the new meta. While they’ve had enough time to improve, there is a chance the reigning champs could start slower than expected.

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The MongolZ made a massive statement last week when they won YaLLa Compass 2024. A week prior, they also claimed the MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2024 title, and in May, they reached the round of 12 at ESL Pro League Season 19.

Party Astronauts have not accomplished anything nearly as impressive, nor have they won a single tournament this season — despite competing only in lesser regional events. Their most notable achievement was placing second at the recent Thunderpick World Championship 2024: North American Series #2.

The MongolZ have severely overperformed over the last two months. Even though this won’t last for long, they’re in great form and should not struggle against North America’s fifth-ranked team.

Team Falcons have found some success this year, but they lack consistency. They reached the semifinals at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024 in February and added another top-four finish at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 in May. In the remaining five tournaments, the Falcons have not placed higher than the top nine.

A major factor could be their lack of games, as the Falcons have played just 12 fixtures since mid-April. Over that stretch, however, they have put up some decent showings, with close games against G2 Esports, BetBoom Team, and Virtus.pro.

Aurora Gaming have been far more active, with 17 games this month. However, they have just three wins from their last nine outings, even though they’ve have been playing mostly second-tier teams.

Team Falcons are not in good form, but they’re a much more stacked team than Aurora Gaming. So even though this is a best-of-one game, it’s tough to make a strong case against the Falcons at the offered betting odds.

After a miraculous run at ESL Pro League Season 19, where they reached the semifinals, Complexity Gaming have not been able to show the same level of performance. They exited Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2024 in 13th-16th place and recently ended YaLLa Compass 2024 in the group stage.

The sudden drop in form might shock some, but it’s more that Complexity overperformed in Malta and are now showing their true colours — as a team that doesn’t belong among the elite few.

Alliance are the lowest-rated team in ESL Challenger J?nk?ping 2024, sitting at no.97 on the global Counter-Strike standings. They’ve not won a single tournament this season and are 2-5 from their last seven, despite only playing weaker teams.

Complexity have proved they don’t belong in the upper echelons of the Counter-Strike scene. But they’re still significantly more potent than Alliance, which should show on Friday.

ENCE are priced as substantial underdogs for their ESL Challenger J?nk?ping 2024 opener against MiBR, which doesn’t make much sense — not because ENCE are that strong, but because MiBR are not that much better.

ENCE recently crashed out of RES European Masters Fall 2023 in 9th-12th, and they weren’t much more successful at YaLLa Compass 2024, with just one win from five games played. But MiBR have not won a tournament since ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne 2024 in April and were just as uninspiring as ENCE in their outings, losing to 9z Team and Bounty Hunters Esports.

It’s hard to find a good reason to believe in ENCE, but it’s even harder to justify backing MiBR at the offered betting odds. At +140 with the best esports betting sites, there is value in backing ENCE to spring an upset.

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Aurora Gaming won against Sangal Esports (2-0) in the opening round of Group B and is expected to do well against SINNERS Esports, even though the Czech squad looked just as good in the first round when they swept Sprout. Still, Aurora already won against SINNERS (2-1) during CCT Online Finals #2, which might explain the offered CS2 betting odds.

Aurora Gaming is in solid form ahead of this match, with six wins from their last eight outings. SINNERS Esports have managed five wins over the same stretch, albeit against weaker opponents, so there is reason to believe that Aurora Gaming are the most likely victors.

Even though Aurora has shown more over the last couple of weeks, having them priced as -200 favourites for this match is a bit too short, especially considering how volatile games on CS2 can get. At the offered betting odds, over 2.5 maps at -120.48 is a far more appealing bet.

9INE were one of the most exciting teams just three months ago when they left a huge mark at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 with close games against ENCE and Cloud9. However, since then, the Poles haven’t shown much.

Besides winning the RES Western European Masters: Fall 2023 in September. 9INE have struggled to produce any notable results and are 1-6 across their last seven outings. That includes a narrow 2-1 victory against IKLA in the first round of ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe.

ORKS have not produced much recently and don’t look like a serious threat to 9INE. They’re 0-1 ahead of this match because they had to forfeit their match against 1Win due to not being able to field a complete lineup. The issue has been resolved, it seems; however, poor form combined with roster instability doesn’t make them a very exciting bet.

Even though regional derbies like this usually result in closer games, 9INE is objectively better and should win without any issues.

Team Spirit picked up an easy win in the opening round of Group C against RUBIK, whom they beat 13-3 on Nuke and 13-4 on Mirage. But as impressive as that win is, RUBIK are not a good team, so it doesn’t mean much.

Their next opponents, Pompa Team, started their ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe campaign with a 0-2 loss against SAW; however, they held on well. Despite facing a much stronger opponent, Pompa Team forced SAW to overtime on Ancient (13-16) and Vertigo (15-19) and came very close to winning both maps.

On paper, Team Spirit are much better, but Pompa Team is stronger than their recent record would suggest. They still deserve to be underdogs in this match, but not at +550. We like the underdogs with a map advantage.

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Among the individuals are Miron “Effect” Novikov from Alliance, Kiryl “9impulse” Kostsiu and Lev “taskmast33r” Grigoriev of Aurora Gaming.

To fill in for Effect, Mikkel “Mande” Hestbek will step up, while Aurora Gaming will fill the spots of 9impulse and taskmaster with Jose “Uxako” Llosa from Entropiq and Keenan “Tax” Mackey from Myztro Gaming.

Welcome to ALGS: Championship 2023

Due to visa issues, we had to invite substitutes to participate in the Champs. Thanks to @Taxington and @UxakoTTV for help.

Important note: if @9impu1se & @taskmast33r can get a visa before/during ALGS, they will arrive and play. pic.twitter.com/YEIqGTvOlm

— Aurora Apex (@AuroraApex_GG) September 5, 2023

These visa related challenges mark another instance within a series of issues that have plagued the ALGS this year.

Back in May, several players were unable to attend the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs in Stockholm, Sweden, due to similar visa complications.

The frustrations stemming from these visa problems have affected both players and fans alike.

The general manager for the Alliance Apex Legends team Pontus “Chef P.” Bengtsson, released an update on the team and what things will look like at the ALGS Championship via his twitter account.

Short #ALGS update

Mande will start the group stage as our sub

Effect will come if we get VISA news before Friday

A prize cut split is already in agreement between Effect/Mande

The squad is confident no matter who plays, time to bring it home! #LongLiveAlliance pic.twitter.com/Ni08LLZChI

— Alliance | Pontus (@chefPontus) September 4, 2023

Despite these setbacks both Alliance and Aurora Gaming are still eligible to participate at the event.

However they will face a disadvantage because they will have to rely on substitutes who may not be as acquainted with the game or their teammates.

Unfortunately, Fire Beavers will not get to participate at the Championship at all, as none of their players received visas in time, leaving them with no choice but to forfeit their spot at the event.

The ALGS Championship marks the pinnacle of the year ALGS circuit.

This tournament will showcase 40 top notch Apex Legends teams from across the globe vying for a portion of the $2 million prize pool.

The ALGS Championship is scheduled to take place from September 6-10.

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The current visa rules allow consulates to deprioritize non-essential travel visas. They also have the right to extend the visa decision from 15 to 45 days and ask for extra documents. This placed Russian citizens who wanted short-stay visas to a European location in trouble.? ?

Aurora, K23, and 1WIN were previously in peril because the ESL’s rule book for the event only allowed one substitute per team, and the substitute’s name was to be turned in before September 8, the roster lock date. All three franchises had three or more Russian players on their roster.? ?

K23’s lineup consists of five Russian players, while 1WIN and Aurora have four and three Russian team members, respectively. The three squads previously had issues, along with Benched Heroes, while they tried to acquire visas for their players.?

?Due to the difficulties, Benched Heroes ended up giving up their spot in the tournament, and Illuminar Gaming – as the next best team at the fourth open qualifier – took their place. BH’s Russian player, Eugene “?Aunkere?” Karyat, as well as Bu?ra “?Calyx?” Ark?n of Turkey, were unable to get their approved visas in time for the tournament.? ?

Due to the success of K23, 1WIN, and Aurora in bringing their lineup across, the teams will not have to forgo their chance to participate in the European RMR.? ?

Teams like Cloud9, Outsiders, Natus Vincere, G2, and Team Spirit – who have Russian players among their lineup – had ample time to go through the visa approval process and secure their passes to the Europe RMR. The above non-affected franchises previously attended ESL Pro League Season 16, which was held between August and September, and had to travel to Malta.? ?

The Russian esports team forZe arrived in Malta last week. Abdul “?degster?” Gasanov, a Russian player representing G2 Esports, also landed in time for the IEM Rio Major RMR events, which kicked off on October 4.

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?The lineup includes young players like Aleksandr “?KaiR0N-?” Anashkin and Evgeny “?delus1onn?” Plottsov, both of whom played for VP.Prodigy and Team Spirit Academy, respectively. KaiR0N was Team Spirit Academy’s star player during his stint on the team. ?

?Veteran player Amin “?sugaR?” Azimov was also announced as part of the team’s roster. The player was a part of the European RMR during the last Antwerp Major.? ?

Aurora also listed former Entropiq player Viktor “?Lack1?” Boldyrev as part of their roster. The player is famous for his success during his time with the Czech team. In his yearlong stint with Entropiq, the team rose to ninth in the world rankings, and during the PGL Major Stockholm they finished in 9–11th place.?

?Artem “?RAiLWAY?” Gradovich will continue in his role as Aurora’s in-game leader, while veteran Sergey “?starix?” Ischuk will carry on as the squad’s head coach. Evgeny “?bullet?” Batkin will be the team’s assistant coach for the upcoming event. Delus1onn is the team’s dedicated sniper, with KaiR0N, Lack1, and sugaR occasionally taking on rifling duties.? ?

Starix is a well-known name in the esports community as a result of his stint in Natus Vincere during Counter-Strike 1.6 as well as CS:GO. He was also NaVi’s coach from 2015 to 2017.? ?However, in 2020, the Aurora coach was suspended along with 36 other CS:GO coaches by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC). The coaches were accused of taking advantage of the CS:GO spectator coaching bug.? ?

The 34-year-old was not allowed to participate in competitive esports for 10 months, and, as a result, he was unable to partake in two CS:GO Majors. The PGL Antwerp Major in May signaled the end of starix’s ban, and the player was allowed to participate in the Valve-sponsored events.
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Aurora brought the roster together at the start of August in time for the Rio Major’s first set of qualifiers. In the first open qualifiers, the team nabbed a spot in the European RMR set to take place in October.? ?The Turkish team pulled off an upset during their round-of-16 match against Astralis.

Aurora went on to play against teams like Monte and then the BLUEJAYS in the quarter-finals.? ?The team defeated BLUEJAYS in a reverse sweep, which earned them their spot in the European RMR. The European RMR will see Aurora compete alongside 15 other CS:GO squads in order to qualify for the November IEM Rio Major.

?At the moment, Aurora are competing in an online CS:GO event in Europe, the CCT Central Europe Series 1. Their next match will be against 1WIN in the round of 16 on Friday, September 2. Aurora are pegged as outsiders on BetOnline at odds of +104, with 1WIN as -135.14 favorites.

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