Kim “Stats” Dae-yeob and Shin “SHIN” Hee-beom last met in December 2023 during AfreecaTV Pro Series #22, where SHIN won 4-0. It marked his third head-to-head victory of the year and his eighth overall (8-13).

Stats has dominated SHIN since they first met in 2015, but he could not match his compatriot last year as the balance of power flipped. For this match, we also have to consider Stats’ poor record against Zerg players.

Protos vs Zerg is Stats’ worst matchup at a 58.60% win rate across 1,413 games. That number has dropped to just 12.5% over the last 16 games, which is highly concerning. In contrast, ZvP is SHIN’s best matchup, with a 60.24% all-time win rate and 76% over the last 50 fixtures.

Considering Stats’ performance metrics and recent head-to-head record against SHIN, it’s tough to justify a wager on him.

After placing 17th-20th and 21st-24th in his last two trips to Poland, Clément “Clem” Desplanches enters IEM Katowice 2024 as the second favourite to win the tournament, priced at +280 on the outright betting markets. That’s hardly surprising, considering Clem is the current ESL SC2 Masters champion and the second-ranked player on the European ESL Pro Tour 2023/24.

Li “Oliveira” Peinan hasn’t accomplished nearly as much as the French StarCraft II pro over the last few months, but he has left a good impression in bigger tournaments. More importantly, Olivera is 1-1 in the head-to-head against Clem on the year, with a 3-1 victory from WardiTV 2023.

Olivera’s victory against Clem two weeks ago isn’t something to ignore, but it doesn’t prove he is a better player. Clem is in excellent form and holds a 67.37% win rate against Terran players over the last 95 games, whereas Oliveira’s win rate in mirrored matchups sits at just 48.89%.

Oliveira is a solid player, but at the offered StarCraft II betting odds, Clem is a more appealing choice.

Lee “Bunny” Jae-seon and Kim “Stats” Dae-yeob have not met once since March 2021, when Bunny won his third consecutive head-to-head match and improved his all-time record to 7-9. It’s been nearly three years since, so those numbers mean nothing.

SCII betting sites have Stats priced as an underdog for this match, likely because he hasn’t played an official game since mid-December. On the other hand, Bunny has been active over the last month but hasn’t accomplished much, recently placing 15th-16th at Master’s Coliseum 7.

This match is much closer to 50/50 than it may seem. Stats has a decent record against Terran players, whereas Bunny has a 57.58% win rate against Protoss over the last 33 outings. At plus money, Stats is a much better choice.

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Koh “GuMiho” Byung-jae and Gabriel Raffaele “HeRoMaRinE” Segat have yet to meet in 2024 but have clashed four times last year. The latter won the first meeting at ESL Open Cup #167 Americas and lost the remaining three series 1-2, worsening the German’s all-time head-to-head record to 3-6.

GuMiho and HeRoMaRinE have not met once since May 2023, so the head-to-head figures might not hold as much weight. Still, GuMiho is in good form ahead of this clash and is fresh off a semifinal run at ESL Open Cup #212 Korea. HeRoMaRinE’s only notable accomplishment this year was finishing top four at ESL Open Cup #209 Europe.

Even at -166.67 with the top StarCraft II betting sites, GuMiho looks a bit undervalued. As such, GuMiho to cover the map handicap is worth a look.

Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn has met with Yoon “trigger” Hong 14 times since their first clash in March 2021 and enters this match with a 10-1-3 head-to-head record. That includes two wins from 2023 at ESL Open Cup #172 Americas and HomeStory Cup XXIV at the start of December.

Form-wise, neither player has shown much ahead of Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024. Scarlett placed 19th-22nd at WardiTV 2023 at the start of January, whereas trigger’s most recent appearance at a Premier-tier event (Master’s Coliseum 7) ended with a 15th-16th finish.

Priced at +151 with esports betting sites, trigger is expected to struggle on Thursday. He hasn’t beaten Scarlett once since November 2022 and comes up against a player with a 61.8% all-time win rate in Zerg vs Protoss matchups.

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