IEM Katowice 2019 is all ready to start. All of the opening matches have been drawn, and we here at Esportsbettingtipster.com are ready to provide you with the best information about IEM Katowice 2019 betting.
FURIA vs NiP
As most of you already know, IEM Katowice’s 2019 The New Challenger Stage is played in a swiss format, where most of the matches are played in a best-of-1 format. Best-of-1 games are the best when it comes to underdogs and you can ready why down below.
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Form
Over three months have passed since NiP played their last official match. On the other hand, FURIA has been very active as of late as they played on both WePlay! Lock and Load and Americas Minor.
Swedes had an awful series of results in the last couple of months. The last event NiP attended was BLAST Pro Series Lisbon. They did not have a good showing there as they were not able to win a single map there. However, they did not play officially for a while now, and they are definitely coming to this event well-prepared.
FURIA has been on a terror lately. Even though they lost their last best-of-3 series against HellRaisers, they are still going strong. Furthermore, Brazilians were able to win 3 out of their last 5 matches. On top of that, one of their defeats went to overtime, where they could have easily won the game. The only real defeat they suffered was against HellRaisers, and to be honest, they barely ever played against this type of competition.
Map Pool
Since this is a best-of-1 match, it is going to be hard to predict a map where these two teams will compete. Furthermore, who knows what NiP prepared for. For all I know, we could see NiP playing on their least favored map in the past, since they had over two months to prepare for it.
Let’s start with something we definitely know. FURIA does not play Dust 2, and that is going to be their first ban. On the other hand, NiP is not a fan of Dust 2 either. However, Swedes do not like Cache either, and this will probably be their second ban.
When it comes to good maps, these two teams are very similar. FURIA is comfortable on Cache, Mirage, Train, and Nuke. NiP, on the other hand, enjoys playing Mirage and Inferno.
Neither of these two teams is so good on Overpass, and I would not be surprised if we are to see these two teams compete on Overpass.
Summary
Given the fact that these two teams never played against each other, and that FURIA is an x-factor for NiP, we could be in for a surprise. Furthermore, FURIA is in an excellent form at the moment. They have been stomping most of their opponents. To make it clear, they did not play against the best teams out there, but they did not play against complete unknowns either.
NiP’s latest results are awful, and that might pressure them a bit. They did not win a single match in their last 5 played. However, NiP is insanely experienced and this could be an important thing for the Swedes. This is the first time FURIA is going to be playing on a big stage, and it will be interesting to see how will that affect them.
To conclude, NiP does not have an edge when it comes to map pool. Even though NiP could throw a curveball. All the maps that NiP enjoys playing, FURIA enjoys playing as well. FURIA is coming to IEM Katowice 2019 all fired up and ready to go, while NiP is a bit rusty, and in my opinion that is going to cost them.
Swedes never played against FURIA, and that could be a turning point in this betting prediction. If Brazilians are able to up the pace in the early stage, we could see NiP lose this one. Odds are too good to turn down and I am willing to take them.
Betting prediction: FURIA to win
Odds: 2.75
Bookmaker: Betway
Date: February 13th, 16:30 CEST
