Top eSports Betting Picks of the Week – January 23rd

With the 2018 season still in its infancy stages, now is a perfect time for some expert Week 2 eSports betting picks on just what to expect over the course of the coming weeks in the wildly popular and quickly growing genre. As is always the case for me, I’m going to get started with a League of Legends betting pick, before moving on to a pair of picks for the first season of Overwatch. Now, let’s get down to business.

Top eSports Betting Picks of the Week – January 23rd

Dear Diary, So the 2018 Season started this week… pic.twitter.com/Tnk6VcLHcp

— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) 20 de enero de 2018

League of Legends

• Match: Team Liquid vs. Clutch Gaming
• When: Sunday, Jan. 28 at 9:00 PM

Team Liquid is 2-0 after two games while Clutch Gaming is off to a respectable 1-1 start. Team Liquid’s new roster finished off its first week of play with a hard-fought win over a feisty OpTic Gaming squad that wouldn’t go away to begin Week 1, Day 2 of the North American League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split in Los Angeles. While Liquid’s early objective control was fantastic as they nailed down the first dragon and first turret, the majority of early kills went mostly to OpTic. Both teams were a bit sloppy as can be the case early in any season, but Liquid managed to hold on for the win. Clutch Gaming crushed Golden Guardians on Day 1 of the Spring Split, but then they got put on lockdown by Echo Fox in their second game. Clutch kept Golden from pretty much doing anything as playmaking Taeyoo “LirA” Nam and mid-laner Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten completely dominated on Saturday. However, one day later, Clutch gaming got a taste of its own medicine when Echo Fox pounded them senseless with two quick kills and mounted a sizable gold lead out the gate. eSports Betting Pick: For this Week 2 pairing, I like Team Liquid to remain unbeaten with their new roster looking a lot better thanks to the addition of Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng first and foremost and the coaching staff from Immortals – and Mike Young to a lesser degree. Team Liquid remains unbeaten if only because Clutch Gaming has been wildly inconsistent through two games.

Overwatch

• Match: Philadelphia Fusion (2-2) vs. New York Excelsior (4-0)
• When: Thursday, Jan. 25 at 7:00 PM

Philadelphia lost to the Los Angeles Gladiators 3-2 to close out Day 2 of Week 2 of the Overwatch League while New York laid an emphatic 3-0 smackdown on the Los Angeles Valiant to remain unbeaten. New York’s flexibility showed on the first map of Junkertown while Philadelphia lost a heartbreaker against the Gladiators. eSports Betting Pick: New York is the easy pick here as they’ve shown virtually no flaws through four games while displaying a smart style of play that looks difficult to beat.

• Match: Los Angeles Gladiators (2-2) vs. Houston Outlaws (2-2)
• When: Saturday, Jan. 27 at 6:00 PM

Houston got its first win of the season in their third game by sweeping Shanghai and then beat Dallas to open Day 2 of Week 2. The Outlaws embarrassed in-state rival Dallas 4-0 on Thursday at the Blizzard eSports Arena in Burbank, California, to start Day 2 of Week 2 in the Overwatch League by mostly keeping Dallas’ best player, Kyeon “EFFECT” Hwang out of the fight and getting a fantastic performance from Jake “JAKE” Lyon, who was later named the player of the game. Los Angeles suffered its first loss of the season against similarly unbeaten New York 4-0 as they got dominated by Excelsior supporter Bang “JJoNak” Seong-Hyun who repeatedly killed Zanyatta. eSports Betting Pick: I’m going with Houston to get the win here, just because they’re playing well right now after struggling out of the gate. The Outlaws swept Shanghai 4-0 before going on to beat Dallas in their fourth game of the young season.