LLA stands for Liga Latinoamérica and it is time for the Opening Playoffs. First, let’s begin by making the clarification that Movistar R7 is the new name of the previously known as Rainbow7 team. They will take on Estral Esports on Mar 19 at 22:00 GMT in Mexico City in an offline Bo3 tournament. And it is going to be tight, make no mistake about it. Both sides have already claimed their first wins against Isurus and Leviathan Esports respectively. Interestingly, they both won by a massive 3-0 sweep. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that the odds for Estral are at @1.806 while their opponents are offered at @1.891.
Who is who
Both contestants come from Mexico. Estral is sponsored by AORUS, COUGAR, Ocelot, Totalplay and XPG, while their roster includes:
- The Chilean Cristóbal Arróspide «Zothve» as top laner
- The Argentine Brandon Joel Villegas «Josedeodo» as Jungler
- The Chilean Cristian Sebastián Quispe Yampara «cody» as mid laner
- The Argentinean Brian Alejo Distefano «SNAKER» as bot laner
- The Argentinean Gabriel Aparicio «ACKERMAN» as support
- The Mexican Héctor Manuel Delgado Jaramillo «Bola» as Sub/Bot
They have been playing professionally since 2019 and so far, they have collected $ 65,000 in prizes. However, they have never won an LLA tournament. They finished 2nd in all 5 of the previous seasons.
Movistar R7 is the team that won the grand prize in all three of the previous tournaments they participated. The total amount in rewards comes to $ 89,750 and their portfolio includes participations and prizes at the World and the MSI tournaments of 2023. The active roster is:
- Top Laner: Park Woo-tae «Summit» from Korea
- Jungler: Sebastián Alonso Niño Zavaleta «Oddie» from Peru
- Mid Laner: Kim Tae-hoon «Lava» from Korea
- Bot Laner: Lorenzo Tévez «Ceo» from Argentina
- Support: Pedro Luis Peralta «Lyonz» from Argentina
- Sub/Jun: David Esteban Vasco Mejia «Daiky» from Colombia.
Will we have the tournament winners after this one?
There are six teams that make it to the opening playoffs round every year. Apart from the two we are talking about, we have Isurus, Leviathan, All Knights and Six Karma. For all intents and purposes, the match in question is one of the two semifinals. The teams that lost the Round 1 matches from the Winner’s bracket will play in R1 lower and higher seed matches to determine the other semi-final. Considering that they have already lost, and that it is unlikely to recover and win a possible second encounter, then the winner of the confrontation between Estral and R7 will probably also be the winner at the end.
Based on all of the above, it’s all a matter of which side has the greatest motive. Movistar want to keep being at the top, Estral want to dethrone them and take over. So, the question is whether the former are going in complacency, or does the desire still burns strong? We will attempt to provide a response to it, when the time comes to make our final recommendation. It actually may be more interesting not to venture a guess on the winner. At this time, probably the surest suggestion is that the final score will be 2-1 for either side.
You may have noticed that lately, we have been studying more and more on the culture of esports. So you can expect a lot more predictions in the future.
Update
Nothing worth mentioning has changed since we began the discussion on the confrontation between the best two teams of the LLA play offs, as far as the conditions and the rosters. However, we do have a change in the odds. It now seems that the bookmakers believe that there is a clear advantage in favor of Estral. Hence, they now get @1.717, while Movistar R7 receive @1.955. Even at those prices, it’s clear that the match will be a closely fought battle.
Offers for other markets are actually illogical. An Asian Handicap at -1.5 maps for Estral (offered at @2.613) is rather unachievable, considering the fine margins between the two. Similarly, it makes no sense to select an Over 4.5 at @2.231. Since we still believe that Movistar members have a greater motive, and considering that continuous wins always breed a sense of complacency and underestimation of the opponent, we will suggest the win for R7.
At this level, it’s always up to the smallest detail. Not to mention, the day that each of the 10 contestants will be in. Just a small drop to the usual performance will make all the difference. Now that you have our recommendation, if you haven’t done so already, you need to open a BetSpider account right now. It’s your only option to make something out of this one.