by ESB’s free StarCraft II betting predictions for Friday, November 17, focus on a pair of ESL SC2 Masters 2023 Winter Europe upper-bracket semifinal bouts. Here are our selections for Clément “Clem” Desplanches vs Joona “Serral” Sotala and Riccardo “Reynor” Romiti vs Tobias “ShoWTimE” Sieber.
CLEM vs SERRAL SCII BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Clem +200 at BetOnline | Serral -277.78 at BetOnline |
| When: | November 17, 2023 | 17:00 CET |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/esl_sc2) |
Clément “Clem” Desplanches and Joona “Serral” Sotala will cross swords on Friday in the ESL SC2 Masters 2023 Winter Europe upper-bracket semifinal, marking their seventh meeting of the year. Of the past six clashes, Serral has won all but two, including the more recent pair of games in September.
Considering his strong head-to-head record, it makes sense to see Serral priced as favourite with most esports betting sites. Serral is by far the highest-rated player on the European ESL Pro Tour 2023/24 standings, with 3080 points, 1713 points clear of Clem in second place.
The Finnish StarCraft II esports pro has already won ESL SC2 Masters 2023 Summer Europe and the main event, as well as AfreecaTV Champions Cup 2. So not only is Serral the best-performing European SCII player, but he is the most in-form player in the world.
Even though Clem has done relatively well across the last three meetings with Serral, the favourite to win with at least two maps to spare is an easy choice.
Serral -1.5 maps
REYNOR vs SHOWTIME SCII BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
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| Best Odds: | Reynor -625 at BetOnline | ShoWTimE +364 at BetOnline |
| When: | November 17, 2023 | 18:00 CET |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/esl_sc2) |
Riccardo “Reynor” Romiti finished the group stage with a perfect 3-0 record, and he hasn’t slowed down since, with wins against Kevin “Harstem” Koning and Nikita “SKillous” Gurevich. However, Reynor has dropped two maps against the Dutch player and one map against SKillous, which isn’t the best look.
Tobias “ShoWTimE” Sieber hasn’t looked much better so far, either. He dropped a series 0-2 against SKIllous during the group stage and showed some struggles against Max “MaxPax” C on Sunday. Still, while ShoWTimE hasn’t looked great, he has hardly shown less than Reynor.
The Italian Stallion has a 7-2 head-to-head record against the German in 2023, but the two have gone back and forth over their last three meetings and are 1-1 across the last two. It’s also important to note that ShoWTimE has a 66.7% win rate against Zerg players, so it’s not like he’s in a very disadvantageous position.
At the offered betting odds, backing ShoWTimE is a solid longshot bet. Alternatively, ShoWTimE at +162 with a +1.5 handicap is a good choice.
