CSGO StarSeries i-League Season 7 Finals Betting, Odds & Tips

Now that we’ve seen some of the top CS:GO sides going up against each other in São Paulo, the StarSeries & iLeague Season 7 finals will provide us with an interesting opportunity to catch up with the pretenders of the scene. It’s not like there isn’t an overlap between the two groups: both FaZe Clan and MiBR were present in Portugal and failed to make a good impression. Let’s see what happens with them this time around.

This tournament could give them a chance to immediately bounce back but it’s a testament to the rise and consistency of teams like ENCE and Renegades that they’re actually treated as tempting underdogs from a bettors’ perspective. They are good options to start in your betting journey.

What Is The StarSeries & i-League Season 7 In CS:GO?

The StarSeries events have been a mainstay of CS:GO and other esport titles for a long time now, but the recent ups and downs of their Counter-Strike offerings warrant a deeper discussion for a better understanding of the current offering. Historically, they’ve had the best of the best at these finals but the sixth finals were a massive downgrade in terms of invites.

StarSeries & i-League Competition Format

Consequently, the format otherwise revered for its incredibly skill-testing nature was also simplified. While Season 7 won’t feature the two highest-rated CS:GO teams in the world, the rest of the top ten will be making an appearance. More importantly, the event will revert to its previous structure with best-of-three across the entirety of the Swiss-based group stage as well as the playoffs. The Grand Final will be a best-of-five barnburner.

As with most Swiss-based events, the choice of seeding system can dramatically alter the fairness of the bracket, and it’s unfortunate that StarSeries Season 7 will feature random seeding in the first round and will also randomly pair teams with the same record going forward.

Impact Of The Format’s Changes On Betting

This means that betting on playoff qualifiers or outright winners is much less of a sure-fire thing as it may seem at first: if two strong teams go 0-1 in the first round because of getting paired up with another title contender, they could very well end up meeting each other in the next round and one of them will subsequently have an 0-2 score simply because of facing the toughest potential opposition.

Anomalies like these cost mousesports dearly at the London major back in 2018 and it also increases the possibility of minnows making an unexpected and perhaps undeserved playoff run. The best-of-three series will somewhat lower the possibility of such outcomes, but it might be wiser to treat the group stage of this touOnament mostly as an information-gathering exercise before making informed decisions for the playoffs. Of course, there are still a few important form- and tactics-related nuggets that you can consider and perhaps find value in the early rounds as well!

Match Odds During StarSeries & i-League Season 7 In CS:GO

StarSeries & i-League Season 7 – Best Teams To Follow

Are Ence The Real Deal?

The Finnish minnows have catapulted to third place in the HLTV world rankings off the back of two extremely impressive performances, shocking the CS:GO scene by making it to the final of the Katowice major and a close third-place finish at BLAST Pro São Paulo. They are making a good case for themselves with their multiple wins over top five teams in the world, and allu & co. may very well be considered the favorites for this event based on their recent showings. In fact, ENCE are the holders of this title, having taken down a diminished field last October.

Chinese Centric Tournament

The tournament is going to take place in Shanghai, and it’s no surprise that multiple contenders are bogged down with visa issues. FaZe Clan’s GuardiaN will miss out on the first day of the event, forcing coach YNk to temporarily replace him. Some other teams will have to deal with short preparation periods or other uncertainties: NRG only just confirmed that CeRq will actually have his visa sorted out in time. This could have a non-negligible impact on the opening games, so be careful when betting on the favorites.

The Challengers With A Point To Prove

While the absence of Astralis and Team Liquid is painful from a prestige standpoint, it gives a great opportunity for the rest of the top sides to snatch a trophy and establish themselves as worthy contenders as the tournament circuit heats up. Alongside ENCE, Renegades will also want to show that their historic playoff finish and excellent performance at the Katowice major was not just a one-off (they’re very heavily favored against Team Spirit).

Then again, the Finns also needed a bit of time and a few narrow escapes to truly get going in the event, so the -227 odds offered for the lack of a decider map (meaning one of the teams will win 2:0) seems worthwhile no matter which ENCE shows up for the game.

Avenging Angels

On the other side of the equation, the underperforming big guns of Fnatic, FaZe Clan, and MiBR could really use a lift here. Of course, the Swedes horrified us all with an abysmal showing in Katowice, going 0-3 as the favorites of the New Challengers Stage. They’ve also underperformed at WESG – an event they’ve managed to win last year – in a performance which included a 16-0 defeat to Polish minnows AGO on Inferno, a commonly played map.

So far, Xizt has not shown any tangible reason why he should be allowed to continue as Fnatic’s in-game leader, and another underwhelming tournament could very well mark the event of the current iteration of the side. Considering his tendencies to make really unfavorable pick-ban choices, +143 for a 2:0 NiP win in their opening match seems like a decent punt.

Mibr Are A Different Beast

Going past the trophy-laden history of this specific five-man line-up, it has to be said that the rebranded organization has not yet managed to find any meaningful success. This reformed roster seemed like a promising one at Katowice, steadily growing in stature as the event progressed, but they’ve also let down their fans at WESG. To be fair, that event has more to offer in terms of paycheck than prestige, and the sample size is fairly low, but it’s not really possible to tell which version of this team will show up in China.

Then There’s Faze Clan

A team seemingly in freefall since karrigan lost the confidence of his teammates. His ouster led to their star player taking on the in-game leading responsibilities, with mixed results so far: NiKo is clearly calling around himself and does make great use of the space created on a personal level, displaying incredible skill and frags, but that’s nowhere near enough against the tactically well-prepared opposition.

Their fifth-place finish at São Paulo doesn’t inspire confidence, and their opening match against paiN is nowhere near as much of a done deal as the odds may suggest, especially when you consider the aforementioned stand-in situation. The +231 offered for a 2:1 victory seems like a reasonable enough offering to consider.

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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!

About the Author

Alonzo Solano

Sports Analyst and Content Writer

Alonzo is a Sports Betting Analyst and casino games enthusiast who has covered Football extensively at SBS, but don’t be surprised if you read him on other sports. He's the host of the NFL Latino TV podcast.

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