Writes about way too many things. Has way too many opinions. Wants to tell all the interesting stories in the world.

May 3, 2019

The Aussie adventure is down to the final four teams. Now it’s time for the group winners to finally entering and face their battle-hardened challengers that survived the quarter-finals. Historically, the rest day hasn’t always benefitted these sides, but today’s matchups might just turn out to be the exception to this rule…

Team Liquid vs MIBR (05:00 UTC) The recent player swap deal between these to teams makes this a fascinating matchup, and the first one where their new rosters get a chance to duke it out in a serious environment. For what it’s worth, Liquid won both of their meetings in the BLAST Pro circuit with a 16-2 mauling on Dust 2 and a 16-10 on Overpass, which would suggest an easy victory. However, one has to wonder about any lingering rustiness playing a part: apart from their Pro League group, the North Americans only played at BLAST Pro events since the major. Their one best-of-three series was that massive defeat to FaZe in Miami. Then again, it’s not yet the grand final, so Liquid should be good, right? While MiBR remain frustratingly inconsistent, the Brazilians were pretty damn impressive so far at the event, coldzera especially. While it would be a big stretch to suggest that they’re the more likely ones to win this series, the 3.60 odds offered for a MIBR win might just be too tantalizing to ignore considering the circumstances. A $25 bet on FalleN’s men would therefore net you a whopping $90 – and if it’s your first bet with us, we’ll refund your stake if things go wrong! NRG v Fnatic (08:50 UTC)