
Still, the “national” sides provide an interesting look at lineups from an alternate universe and the event also gives a rare opportunity to many Asian sides to test their mettle against some of the best teams of the world.
What Is The World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) Tournament?
For certain orgs, this doesn’t require any sort of adjustment, but a few teams had to acquire stand-ins for this particular event – for instance, Ukraine’s “Team1” features two players from Runtime.gg, one from Windigo’s academy side and two players from orgs so unknown they don’t even have a Liquipedia page.
Similarly, Team Russia consists of two other members of the Runtime.gg side coupled with Gambit’s Dosia plus Boobml4 and WorldEdit from Winstrike Team. This has a definite effect on team cohesion and coordination – creating an additional edge for established sides – but creates interesting dynamics from a viewer perspective.
Prize Payout Problems At The Tournament
It has to be mentioned that there were multiple issues regarding payout as certain DOTA 2 teams are still waiting for their winnings for over two years running now. This doesn’t necessarily indicate anything shady in terms of what’s going on inside the server, but it’s yet another reason to treat this as a more volatile than usual betting proposition. Despite all this, the humongous prize pool itself should serve as decent motivation: winning WESG 2018 nets you a cool $500 000 – same as the Katowice major.
WESG Tournament Odd Naming Convention
The event’s odd naming convention also warrants a mention: these finals are for 2018’s competition, despite the fact that it clearly isn’t 2018 anymore. This has been the same with the previous iterations of the tournament as well – WESG 2017’s finals took place in 2018 and WESG 2016 concluded in 2017. This can make it a bit confusing to track down the right event from the previous years in case you’re looking for stats and rule changes.
WESG CSGO 2018-2019 Key Players And Teams
WESG CSGO Tournament Odds
The beauty of the presence of some of these lower-rated sides in the tournament is that you can quickly gather additional information about their form. Check whether they live up to expectations in current online events! (For the big sides, just look back at the Katowice major.)
For instance, AGO were facing ALTERNATE aTTaX in ESEA MDL’s European division and were widely expected to win (-217 per Betonline.ag) – the fact that they’ve dropped the ball on that one could be a red flag going forward. Chiefs were also heavily favored in their own games in the Australian division and they seem to be doing a good job holding onto the top spot.
Still, you might want to wait until the playoffs to commit to a bet due to the tournament’s idiosyncrasies. Watch the group stage, get a feel for the strength of the competition and figure out which of the usual big names are underperforming early on.
Current WESG 2018-2019 Finals CSGO Betting Odds | ||||
Sportsbook | Player 1 | Odds | Player 2 | Odds |
Bet Now At BetOnline | Fnatic | -357 | AGO | +256 |
Bet Now At BetOnline | G2 | -135 | Windigo | +105 |
Player Storylines To Follow And WESG CSGO Important Changes
Expect The Unexpected
Whether you think WESG’s seeding is simply bad or purposefully created to guarantee Asian teams in the playoffs, there’s no denying that the groups have always been famously imbalanced at these tournaments. In the end, quality tends to shine through nonetheless – seven out of the eight teams that made the semis at the previous two iterations of this event were well-known European sides.
It’s clear that the variance is going to be higher here than at your regular CSGO tournament. Again, FalleN’s SK Gaming failed to make it out of the first group stage last year. The first time around, GODSENT withdrew a single day before the tournament was set to begin – truly, anything can happen.
Can Fnatic Bounce Back?
Who You Gonna Call?
Five teams have withdrawn at the time of writing before the tournament would even begin, including upset major finalists ENCE. Last year, five sides missed out due to visa issues, including s1mple’s Team Ukraine. Oddly enough, Group C is now down to two teams, meaning MiBR and AGO are already guaranteed to make the playoffs and apparently won’t even have to play the match between each other.
A New Format
As it’s perhaps understandable with a fairly new competition, WESG keeps tweaking with the tournament structure every year. Last year’s double group stage and the 2016 edition’s staggered playoffs are now replaced with a straightforward four-team round-robin group format. Just like last year, the group stage matches are best-of-two where each map won nets you one point.
eSports Betting At MyBookie Sportsbook
For a more in-depth betting guide in all things eSport betting, be sure to check out our dedicated hub where our experts have poured the best betting tips from the industry, so you can increase your winning chances!