TEAM BDS vs SK GAMING LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

After losing their first fixture of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) 2024 Season Finals against Fnatic, Team BDS will have a chance to make amends against SK Gaming on Saturday, August 17. But according to the esports odds from the top LoL betting sites, this is SK’s game to lose.

Team BDS were expected to do well in the opening LEC 2024 Season Finals series against Fnatic, yet they were a complete no-show on the day. BDS were out-drafted on map one, outplayed on the second, and crushed on the third. It was one of the worst showings from BDS this split, so things can only go up from here.

SK Gaming looked competitive during the regular season but collapsed in the LEC 2024 Summer Playoffs with losses against Fnatic and Karmine Corp. Unlike BDS, however, Yasin “Nisqy” Din?er and his crew have had a lot more time to fix their mistakes.

The two sides last met in LEC 2024 Summer Week 2, when SK Gaming won. That doesn’t mean much, though, as the teams are similar in style — both are slow and methodical, with solid decision-making — and there is not much to separate them quality-wise.

However, BDS have shown higher highs this season and should not be priced as underdogs for this series. The market has overreacted to their crushing loss to a high-flying Fnatic outfit, so take the solid price for the outsiders.

Esports betting tips

Fnatic looked unstoppable until the final match of LEC 2024 Summer Week 3 when they lost to G2 Esports. That defeat doesn’t prove anything new, however, nor is it in any way an indication that Fnatic have lost their momentum.

Team Heretics are 2-5, with their wins coming against GIANTX and Karmine Corp. But while losing five games is concerning enough, their performance against Rogue last week might be a good enough reason to see Heretics as one of the worst teams in the league.

Team Heretics are in a very tough spot and they’ve not given us many reasons to feel excited about them or their chances to defeat Fnatic. Expect a very one-sided series.

As the offered LoL betting odds suggest, this could be a close series. And since it is a match between two of the weakest LEC squads, that’s a fair assessment.

Rogue defeated Team Heretics on Sunday, whereas GIANTX picked up their second consecutive win against the shaky Vitality on Saturday. That success mostly came down to GIANTX drafting much better, but that doesn’t discredit their achievements.

Esports bookmakers have the wrong team priced as favourites. Whereas Rogue have shown little this split, GIANTX draft well and have performed to decent level even when faced with more formidable opponents.

G2 Esports have looked a little shaky this split but still managed to take down Fnatic last Sunday, proving again that they’re an elite team. That said, giving them an 84.7% implied probability of beating Vitality in a best-of-one is pushing it a bit.

It’s hard to find good arguments to trust Team Vitality outside of the belief that this roster has a very high ceiling. But the quality of the players alone is a good enough reason to question their $4.54 odds for this game.

Vitality have choked a couple too many times and had questionable drafts last week, which shows in their 2-5 record. But in terms of performance metrics, they are still in a good spot and have not fallen from grace as much as the market might suggest.

SK Gaming enter LEC 2024 Summer Week 4 after beating MAD Lions KOI and Team Heretics in their last two outings. Still, they’re not good enough to be priced as $1.40 favourites with LoL betting sites — even though they’ve beaten Team BDS and G2 Esports, who both made a slew of errors in those matches.

Karmine Corp are 3-4, although they’ve only beaten MAD Lions KOI, Rogue, and Vitality, who helped KC with a massive throw. This is far below the expectations for a roster of this quality.

Even though it feels wrong to trust Karmine Corp to do what they’re supposed to, SK Gaming are overrated at this price. The value is with the underdogs.

Esports betting tips

Rogue are 1-4 after two weeks of action. They have not produced a single good game and their only victory came against MAD Lions KOI, who seem to be in an even worse spot than them.

Team BDS kicked off the split with three victories against Team Vitality, Team Heretics, and G2 Esports, then fell against the surging SK Gaming and beat Karmine Corp. The loss against SK pushed BDS down the power rankings but hasn’t eliminated them from contention for a top-four finish.

Team BDS should crush Rogue, but the kill line is set a bit too high — not necessarily because BDS can’t cover 10 kills, but because this will likely be a very quick match.

Team Heretics have done relatively well in this LoL EMEA Championship split, beating GIANTX in the first week and taking down Karmine Corp last Sunday. This doesn’t prove much, however, as neither of those opponents are much good.

SK Gaming, meanwhile, have looked incredible so far. They’ve picked up four wins and lost just once — against Fnatic on Sunday. Yet even that game was much closer than what the final score would suggest.

SK Gaming are arguably the second-best-performing team in the LEC. While their ceiling is somewhat limited, their fast-paced style should counter everything Heretics want to accomplish in their games.

Team Vitality didn’t start this split well. But after three tough losses, Vitality found momentum and won both games in LEC 2024 Summer Week 2 against MAD Lions KOI and Team Heretics.

GIANTX are 1-4, with their only victory coming against the struggling MAD Lions KOI. There’s a world where GIANTX improve, but their ceiling is very limited and they looked terrible in their four defeats.

While Team Vitality are volatile, they have the potential to be one of the league’s top three teams. As long as they can stay on track and show the same level of performance as they did last week, Vitality should come out ahead with a few kills to spare.

MAD Lions KOI looked great in LEC 2024 Winter, but despite fielding the same players, they haven’t looked the same over the first two weeks of this split. Their once-strong teamwork has deteriorated significantly and they’re struggling to get ADC David “Supa” Martínez García into the game.

Fnatic, on the other hand, are already guaranteed a top-eight finish in LEC 2024 Summer. They have been improving since last split and now look like a serious threat for the European trophy, although they first have to prove they’re better than G2 Esports.

Even though Fnatic will occasionally be overly confident and shoot themselves in the foot, their form so far has been phenomenal. This should end in a dominant victory for the Black & Orange.

Esports betting tips

Team BDS started the LoL EMEA Championship 2024 Summer campaign with a perfect record. They beat Team Vitality and Team Heretics and closed out the first week of the summer split with a massive victory against G2 Esports.

Team BDS’ victory against G2 looks excellent on paper, but they had some very questionable moments in that game. So, while they deserve some praise, the final result was primarily thanks to G2 not playing as well as expected.

SK Gaming also had a solid start to the summer season, beating Rogue, G2 Esports, and GIANTX. But while their results look similar to Team BDS’, SK Gaming showed better coordination and far more stability.

This is a clash between two European LoL teams that are serious candidates to finish the season in third place. But in the first week of play, SK Gaming showed more overall, making them an obvious pick at outsider odds.

Fnatic did what was expected of them in the first week of LEC 2024 Summer, with comfortable wins against Karmine Corp, GIANTX, and Team Vitality. In some of the fixtures, Fnatic looked a bit rough early but blew things wide open in the mid-late game.

Rogue didn’t look great last week, but they still managed to pick up one win against the unconvincing Team Vitality. Yet they don’t deserve much praise for that, as Rogue would’ve lost had Vitality not thrown away multiple winning positions.

Rogue are the same team we saw in the LEC 2024 Spring; they’ve shown no notable improvement so far. Now they’re set to face a team that is more than capable of punishing mistakes, which should lead to a very one-sided game.

MAD Lions KOI had an atrocious showing in the first week of the split. They lost to G2 Esports, which isn’t too worrying, but it’s hard to ignore their loss to Karmine Corp.

MAD were over 3k gold up at 20 minutes and extended that lead to over 10k gold at 30 minutes, yet they threw it away by forcing unnecessary fights. The main theme of the week was poor macro and questionable team compositions.

Team Vitality don’t deserve much praise for their LEC 2024 Summer Week 1 displays either. After showing a high degree of consistency last split, Vitality seemingly returned to their old ways, doing random things on the Summoner’s Rift without any plans.

Both Vitality and MAD Lions KOI have a lot to prove this week, and as the offered betting odd suggest, there’s no telling which side is worse. But both teams like to fight and make errors, which should result in a scrappy and bloody affair.

Despite picking up just one win last week, Team Heretics are priced as favourites to defeat Karmine Corp with the best LoL betting sites. This doesn’t have as much to do with Heretics’ quality as it has with Karmine Corp’s lacklustre showings.

Karmine Corp entered LEC 2024 Summer with much to prove after their abysmal run through LEC 2024 Spring, yet they’ve proved just one thing: their macro understanding is one of the worst in the league. At least Karmine Corp have capable players, which helped them overcome Rogue and MAD Lions KOI — but even in those games, KC’s success was largely due to their opponents playing worse.

Team Heretics are not as good as Fnatic, G2 Esports, or even Team BDS and SK Gaming. But they’re much stabler than Karmine Corp, who are incredibly sloppy and not a team we’d trust our money with.

Esports betting tips

GIANTX enter the final split of the League of Legends season with a new top laner, Antonio “Th3Antonio” Espinosa Bejarano and jungler Lee “Juhan” Ju-han, who are exciting additions. But the main thing that will dictate how well GIANTX will do this split is whether they’ll find a way to improve their early game.

In the spring split, GIANTX were very effective in closing out games where they got ahead early – but that happened very rarely. Perhaps their new additions will fix that, giving us a reason to be cautiously optimistic about this squad.

Team Heretics didn’t make any roster changes this offseason but instead freshened up the coaching staff – which was a smart move considering, talent-wise, Heretics are in a good spot. Drafting and overall approach to games needs some work.

GIANTX and Team Heretics were flawed teams in the LEC 2024 Spring, but they’ve made changes that might help with their issues. There’s a big “what if” on both ends, making GIANTX an excellent underdog bet at the offered price.

Last month, SK Gaming announced the signing of a new bottom lane duo, Cho “Rahel” Min-seong and support Lee “Luon” Hyun-ho, who could prove to be massive additions. SK were extremely inconsistent last split and completely fell apart following a strong start. so assuming Rahel and Luon can introduce some stability, SK Gaming could fly very high.

Rogue decided to run it back for LEC 2024 Summer, which is a bizarre decision for a team that was clearly the worst in the league since the winter split. Oddly, Rogue have the talent to do well, but we could’ve made the same excuse in January, yet nothing has changed.

Rogue have to find traction, and while they may bounce back, Emil “Larssen” Larsson and his crew have to first show something.

No changes for Team Vitality ahead of LEC 2024 Summer – and that’s completely fine. Team Vitality were a strong mid-table team in the LEC 2024 Spring, showing a surprisingly high level of consistency. It was uncharacteristic for this roster, but if Vitality can keep playing like that, they might be in the race for a top-three finish.

Team BDS are another interesting team. In spring, Team BDS proved they could do well without relying too much on top laner Adam “Adam” Maanane, and yet he still played a significant role in many of BDS’ victories. Like Vitality, Team BDS just need to continue what they started, and we could be looking at another potential threat for Fnatic and G2.

At the offered moneyline odds, no side of this matchup is interesting, but the esports betting sites have overexaggerated with the total kills line.

Unsurprisingly, G2 Esports kept their entire lineup intact – as they should. G2 Esports are unquestionably the best European LoL esports team and, as proven at the Mid-Season Invitational 2024, one of the world’s strongest teams.

The only two reasons to doubt G2 Esports are questionable motivation to perform and fatigue. This might not seem too relevant, but it can play a big factor, especially with G2 Esports, who are known to mess around when nothing is on the line.

MAD Lions KOI looked great last split when they built on the early success from the LEC 2024 Winter and proved themselves as a resilient and well-coached team. While they’re still not at the same level as G2 Esports, the kill handicap line for this match is a bit too high, knowing that G2 Esports might not be ready or willing to perform at 100%.

Esports betting tips

G2 Esports were the best team of the LEC 2023 season, and things are unlikely to change in 2024. Fielding some of the best players in the league in their respective roles, G2 Esports looks poised to claim another LEC trophy.

With all the map and gameplay changes, their quality might not translate to results. At least not very early.

Team BDS signed a new ADC in Yoon “Ice” Sang-hoon for the 2024 season, which seemed like a strange move considering BDS already had Ju? “Crownie” Maru?i?. Still, even with a new ADC, Team BDS looks good and might be one of the most underrated teams in the league.

Team BDS has a lot of potential and enough talent to do well. Beating G2 won’t be easy, but Team BDS is good enough to keep the game close.

Rogue has kept Emil “Larssen” Larsson and Markos “Comp” Stamkopoulos for this season, which was a good call, but besides the duo, Rogue doesn’t have as much star power. Even though Rogue has decent pieces, there’s minimal upside.

SK Gaming swapped out their mid-jungle and signed Yasin “Nisqy” Din?er, who is a huge upgrade for SK. So, like Rogue, SK have some strong pieces, yet they lack a couple of star players to reach?the top. But this issue is far more significant with SK.

Rogue are a good team that won’t surprise anyone, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be competitive. On the other side, SK Gaming has a lot to prove since we don’t know how good Isma?l “Isma” Boualem is.

This can be a close game, but Rogue looks stronger heading into the LEC 2024 Winter season.

Fnatic enters the 2024 season with just one new player, support Yoon “Jun” Se-jun, who replaced Adrian “Trymbi” Trybus. This change should benefit Fnatic, who are ranked as the second-best LEC team.

Fnatic might even overtake G2 Esports. We must consider that this core has been together for just one split and showed significant improvement in the latter stages of the 2023 season. If this trend continues and Jun is as good as promised, Fnatic can make it far.

The league’s newcomers, Karmine Corp, formed a terrifying lineup and a strong coaching staff. Still, while KC signed excellent players in the offseason, it’s hard to say how they’ll do on the Rift, and there’s enough volatility that’ll come with the new season.

Fnatic are a proven team that’s done well last season. So, while Karmine Corp might be very strong, they first have to show something.

GIANTX (former Excel Esports) signed a new mid laner, Adam “Jackies” Je?ábek, and former NRG support Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun in December, forming a solid roster. Purely quality-wise, GIANTX should do more than fine in the LEC 2024 Winter; however, there’s a big question mark above Jackies.

Team Vitality added three new players in December, including jungler Kacper “Daglas” Dagiel, mid laner Vincent “Vetheo” Berrié, and ADC Matyá? “Carzzy” Orság. Even with these changes, Team Vitality looks just as strong as they were in 2023, granted their issue last year wasn’t quality as much as it was a lack of synergy.

Esports betting sites have Vitality priced as favourites; even though Vitality has stronger players, so this match looks like a coin toss.

MAD Lions hit the reset button this offseason and formed a completely new lineup, keeping only their jungler Javier “Elyoya” Prades Batalla and surrounding him with young and unproven talent. With these changes, MAD Lions look more like a long-term project than a team capable of competing for the title.

But if the younger players can develop quickly, MAD Lions could be dangerous in the spring or summer.

Team Heretics united the former G2 Esports trio Martin “Wunder” Nordahl Hansen, Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski, and Luka “Perkz” Perkovi?, creating a Last Dance-type roster that could do better than expected. Even though Wunder, Perkz, and Jankos are past their prime, they’re all still capable of playing at the top level.

Team Heretics are priced as favourites, which is fair, but at $1.57, they are a great bet.

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TEAM BDS vs SK GAMING LoL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

Team BDS and SK Gaming will clash this Saturday in the first match of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) 2023 Season Finals lower bracket. It’ll mark their first meeting since Week 2 of the LEC 2023 Summer regular season, when SK won, but the offered esports betting odds suggest BDS will get their revenge.

Team BDS have fallen hard since the LEC 2023 Spring, mainly due to the meta shift heading into the summer, but with the recent patch, it seems like the meta is slowly turning in their favour. Being able to play double ADC and scaling seems to fit Team BDS’ style, and they looked good using this strategy.

On Sunday, BDS lost against G2 Esports, but they still put up a good fight and played better than the final score would suggest. The only reason BDS lost was G2 Esports’ ability to punish Team BDS early, denying their composition the chance to come alive. SK Gaming likely won’t be as efficient at it.

Opting for a Kalista ADC could help SK Gaming put more pressure on Team BDS early and deny them getting to the mid-late game even or ahead. But when we compare the two teams and their win conditions, it’s all about what SK Gaming can do to stop Team BDS from playing their game.

Besides the general approach to the game, top lane will be a problem if Adam “Adam” Maanane gets ahead, and even if he doesn’t, SK will have to pay attention to his roaming, which can put immense pressure on the map. There’s also the bottom lane, where Team BDS have a slight edge.

This match will come down to SK Gaming and their ability to open up the game, but based on their recent performances, this sounds much easier said than done. Team BDS have a much clearer win condition and should win unless SK Gaming take over the early game, which they’re not very good at.

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The League of Legends EMEA Championship Group Stage concluded on Sunday, with only four squads securing a spot in the playoffs. The other three squads that qualified for the LEC 2023 Winter Split are KOI, G2 Esports, and MAD Lions.

SK Gaming’s 2-0 win against Team Vitality pushed the German team a step closer to becoming the first Winter champion. Prior to the match, the squad proved that Vitality were no match for them when they gave the team their first loss of the season. The Sunday match started with Vitality in the lead, but SK Gaming quickly got ahead after a Baron fight.

After reaching soul point, Vitality seemed to have the game in the bag, having expanded their gold lead by more than 5,000 and destroying SK Gaming’s towers outside the team’s base.

The German lineup were able to turn the game around in their favor due to the team’s amazing positioning amid crucial team fights. SK Gaming earned another Baron buff and headed down to their opponent’s base to destroy their Nexus.

The team entered the second game in the lead and built on it with an aggressive playstyle, ultimately benefiting them. Without losing a single player, SK Gaming conquered the first blood, took down several Vitality members, and acquired the game’s first herald and drake at the start of the match.

SK continued to build up on their advantages in the match, so much so that 20 minutes in, Vitality was backed into a corner. The German squad obtained the Baron buff and ended the game by closing in on the enemy team’s base.

The victory secured SK Gaming a spot in the competition’s top four for the first time since 2015, when the league was known as EU LCS (Europe League of Legends Championship Series). SK Gaming was placed first in the Spring Season after winning with a 15-3 scoreline.

SK Gaming notably won six games out of the nine in the regular season to reach the group stage. The team will face off against MAD Lions in the playoffs’ first round, slated for February 24.

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After having a disappointing run last season, the team is hell-bent on putting up a good fight with a strong team capable of winning the LEC.

Which is why the League of Legends team have decided to build a roster around German mid laner Daniel “Sertuss” Gamani, who happens to be the only player from the old roster.

The new roster now includes German top laner Joel “Irrelevant” Miro Scharoll, Netherlands jungler Mark “Markoon” van Woensel, French bot laner Thomas “Exakick” Foucou, Denmark support player Mads “Doss” Schwartz, and Spanish coach David “OWN3R” Rodriguez de la Torre.

Our 2023 #LEC Roster:

@Irrelevanttop
@MarkoonLoL
@SertussLoL
@Exakicklol
@Doss_lol

*Pending Riot approval pic.twitter.com/7mrjct5pCp

— SK Gaming (@SKGaming) December 15, 2022

Sertuss who is the oldest player on the team, joined SK Gaming in December 2021. The German mid laner started playing pro-League of Legends in season 3.

He led SK Gaming to eighth place at the 2022 LEC Summer. Sertuss has represented other esports outfits such as eMonkeyz, Misfits Premier, and Schalke Evolution, and is known for his two Assassins, LeBlanc and Zed.

Irrelevant will serve as the team’s top laner. The 21-year-old German started his pro career in 2020, and ever since then has played for teams such as Flayn eSports, Misfits Gaming, WAVE Esports and Gameward.

Markoon, who is the team jungler, started his League of Legends career in 2018 while representing the now-disbanded European team KlikTech.

The Netherlands player has represented a handful of underdog teams such as Excel, UCAM Esports Club, G2 Arctic, Yeam Forge, Ventura Esports and others.

The player also displayed excellent gameplay while representing his former team Excel as he led them to sixth place at the 2020 LEC Summer playoffs, where they lost in a close match against Fnatic, exiting with a 2-3 score. SK Gaming, on the other hand, was unable to make the summer and spring playoffs.

Doss will be a support player for the team. The 23-year-old Danish national will be a returning player to the organization as he represented them early in 2018, just months after he launched his pro career. Doss has played for teams such as Misfits Gaming, Cyberground, Izi Dream and most recently LDLC OL.

Exakick is the new bot laner for the team. The player recently represented LDLC OL, and at the 2022 EM Summer Main Event, Exakick and LDLC garnered a third-fourth place.

The French player has also played for other teams such as Dawns Esports, where he debuted his career in 2018, Lunary, Wathox, Fragbox Gaming and French team Omerix.

Their coach OWN3R has also made a resounding coaching profile, with previous teams he had trained. Although a handful has been in the academy roster such as Arctic Academy, Mad Lions Madrid and x6tence Academy.

The new roster will make their LEC debut at the 2023 Winter Split, which is scheduled to commence on January 21. With the newly revamped roster, SK Gaming is hopeful that they will have a better run in the forthcoming year.

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?The reports come as FlyQuest look to improve on a series of underwhelming campaigns in the LoL Championship Series (LCS). Most recently, the team placed eighth in the 2022 LCS Summer after suffering two quick defeats in the playoffs at the hands of Team Liquid and TSM.? ?

Prior to his journey into the management of esports franchises, PapaSmithy was a color commentator in the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK). After over three years there, he proceeded to join Riot Games as a caster and spent about seven months with the game developer and tournament organizer.? ?

PapaSmithy, who was with 100 Thieves for three years as the team’s general manager, was officially made a free agent in October. His contract with the team ran out as the 2022 season came to a close.?

?The Australian was not open to a renewal, stating that “the shared vision of the kind of league program we wanted to build together in 2019 no longer fits the goals and aspirations of 100T for 2023”. After PapaSmithy’s exit from the franchise, 100T also released their head coach, Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu, as they seem to be undergoing a top-down rebuild.? ?

Over the past two years, 100 Thieves put together four consecutive top-four finishes in the LCS. They include two second-place finishes in both splits of the 2022 season, as well as the 2021 LCS Championship title.?

100 Thieves made it to the LoL World Championship in both 2021 and 2022, but they exited in the group stage in both years. PapaSmithy is also responsible for the addition of top players like Can “Closer” ?elik, Victor “FBI” Huang and Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun, who have been key to 100T’s successes.

While announcing his departure from the 100T, PapaSmithy made a call to franchises that “prioritize building strong processes to underpin a culture of developing success”.

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