Our friends from Europe and the middle East have been waiting for the LEC Winter 2024 split for quite a while. At last, the tournament will be held in Germany between Jan 13 and 29 So, let’s give them a heads-up on the most competitive encounter in the calendar. And that’s the confrontation of team GiantX vs team BDS, scheduled to begin at 18:00 GMT.
The organizers of the event are Riot Games, and it is quite indicative of the rising popularity of the genre that the entire venue for it, is the Riot Games Arena in Berlin. Who would have ever believed that there would be a whole place dedicated to e-sports. However, this is the reality of it. In fact, it will also be the venue where the finals of the split will be held in February.
Team GiantX
This is a new team that has formed from the merger of EXCEL and GIANT. All players forming the roster have signed professional contracts that end in November 2024. The team is based in Spain and the United Kingdom. Let’s take a look at who they are:
- Andrei Pascu from Romania is the Top Laner under the handle «Odoamne»
- Lee Min-gyu from South Korea is the Jungler under the handle «Peach»
- Adam Jeřábek from the Czech Republic is the Mid Laner under the handle «Jackies»
- The second Czech is Patrik Jírů, plays as Bot Laner under the handle «Patrik»
- The second South Korean is Lee Dong-geun, he is Support under the handle «IgNar»
The English Billy Readman is the substitute Bot Laner under the curious handle «CrazyFool». He also serves as the Senior Data Analyst of the team. Since it’s the first tournament that they appear, there are no stats on performance to talk about.
Team BDS
They are located in France and they have begun back in 2020 from LFL. They won the LEC Spring Split 2023, while they came up 2nd in the 2023 season Finals. They won a total of 40,000 Euros in prizes (50,063 USD). The current roster is:
- Adam «Adam» Maanane from France as Top Laner
- Théo «Sheo» Borile from France as Jungler
- Ilias «nuc» Bizriken from France as Mid Laner
- Yoon «Ice» Sang-hoon from South Korea as Bot Laner
- Labros Papoutsakis «Labrov» from Greece as Support
The substitute Jungler is French Juilen «ShouldBthat» Pintat.
The details will settle it
The 50-50 chance that the two sides have of winning it, is amply displayed with the @1.900 for GiantX offer, while BDS get @1.840. Probably, the slight advantage comes from the fact that the French have been together longer as a team. However, the members of GiantX do have the necessary experience to overcome the fact that they are still learning how to work with each other.
It will be the first tournament of the year and it all depends on the form that the players will be in after the winter holidays. The 2023 Finals were held last September so it has been quite a while that these people have not been in a serious competition like this. While it’s pretty certain that they have all been training daily, it’s always a different kind of stress and pressure that comes up when things get serious. Perhaps, this is exactly where team BDS has the advantage. They know each other and they know what to expect from each other in matters of handling that stress and pressure.
Update
Things have changed a bit, since the last time we talked about the LEC split. The @1.900 for GiantX went to @1.905, while the @1.840 for BDS remained. It’s one of the very few times that we see odds rising for both sides. Usually, when one side gets higher odds, it means that the bookies consider that they have less chances of winning it. Consequently, they reduce the prices for the other side.
Tomorrow, both teams have another confrontation.BDS takes on the almighty G2-esports (they have won the most titles), while GiantX go against Team Vitality (perhaps the second most successful group in League of Legends). Interestingly, what we see in the odds for these 2 matches will shape our final suggestion for the encounter in question. When the team that should be considered as the favorites is actually given odds as underdogs (Vitality gets @1.813 while GiantX @2.078 – it should be way less for #2 best and way more for the newly formed side), then it looks like the experience that comes with the members of the Anglospanish side, is valued quite greatly! In fact, the difference for that match should be the same as the one that exists for G2 vs the French. @1.279 vs @3.890.
In our book, these prices actually say that GiantX have more of a chance of winning than BDS! Also, it means that there may be an error in the calculations and the wager that we will suggest does have a greater value. So, we will go for a win for the GiantX despite all considerations that they are the underdogs. Ostensibly a bit risky, but we feel kind of strongly on this one. Thus, if you haven’t done so already, rush to open a BetSpider account and get some decent return of an investment on this one.