GIANTX will seek their fourth victory of the 2024 season on Wednesday with the help of their newest arrival, Ramses “Famsii” Koivukangas. But while some roster changes were due following a rough start to the stage, adding a new, unproven player at VCT level might not be enough to stop the hottest European squad.

Team Heretics have not slowed down since they reached the finals of VCT 2024 Masters Shanghai, beating Natus Vincere and FUT Esports in the first two weeks of Stage 2. With that, Heretics finished the most challenging part of their schedule with a perfect record.

Even last stage, GIANTX proved to be a resilient team, and the honeymoon phase with Famsii could lead to better performances. But it’s hard to believe that GIANTX are ready to face the strongest VALORANT esports team outside Asia.

FUT Esports are already through to the next stage, but they can still secure a top-two finish and a direct bye to the upper-bracket semifinals. And considering their schedule consists of only Gentle Mates and GIANTX, that should be easily achievable.

The Turks have done well this VALORANT Champions Tour season. They placed third in the last stage and top six in China, confirming their status as one of the top three teams in the region.

Gentle Mates have had their moments this season, but those have been few and far between. With a 3-4 combined record, they might be able to squeeze their way into the top six but are not expected to accomplish more.

As the offered odds on esports betting sites suggest, this game should be very lopsided.

Esports betting tips

Team Vitality and Team Liquid ended Stage 1 of the VALORANT Champions Tour with identical 3-3 records, albeit with vastly different map differentials of -21 and -1, respectively. This secured Liquid a spot in the playoffs, where they crashed out in the first round after losing to Fnatic.

Those placements aside, they’ve looked about equally as strong. Team Vitality were a bit up and down through the stage but collected a couple of big scalps, beating Team Heretics and FUT Esports. Team Liquid have not beaten a single VCT EMEA title contender but were more consistent against weaker opponents.

Team Vitality tend to be less consistent, which will harm their chances of qualifying for VALORANT Champions 2024. However, they’re a capable roster who can compete with any European VALORANT esports team.

GIANTX and Gentle Mates were two of the worst-performing teams of VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1 Group Omega. They finished the group stage in fifth and fourth place, respectively, and were never in contention to win the trophy.

GIANTX managed just one victory last stage, but three of their losses extended to the third map — against Team Liquid, Fnatic, and Team Vitality. On the other side, Gentle Mates won two games but performed terribly in the six lost maps, failing to pass six rounds in any of them.

Even though Gentle Mates won a couple in VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1, they looked so bad in their losses that it’s even fair to assume the two wins were a fluke. GIANTX are not a strong team, but they’re rightly priced as favourites with the best esports betting sites for this fixture.

Esports betting tips

Gentle Mates suffered their first defeat of VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1 on Friday when they lost against Karmine Corp 6-13 on both maps. It wasn’t a good showing from the newly promoted side, but it’s also unfair to expect Gentle Mates to do well against the no.1 VALORANT esports team in Europe.

After losing against Team Heretics in the first week of VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1, Fnatic added another underwhelming performance against GIANTX last Friday. Even though Fnatic won the series, they lost Breeze with just five rounds, suggesting they struggle with their map pool.

Fnatic should win games like this, but they’ve not looked great lately, so it’s fair to expect Gentle Mates to exploit their pool and take one map.

Karmine Corp stumbled at the start of Week 2 when they lost to FUT Esports. But the French side bounced back with a convincing 2-0 sweep of Gentle Mates last Friday.

Natus Vincere have also had a bit of an up-and-down road on the 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour. They defeated Team Vitality and needed a reverse sweep to make it past the unconvincing Team Liquid last week. Still, NaVi are improving, and considering they’re 4-1 on the season, it’s fair to say they’re in a good spot.

Karmine Corp are priced as favourites with VALORANT betting sites, which makes sense as they won the VCT 2024 EMEA Kickoff. However, they’ve not looked much better than Natus Vincere over the last two weeks. At plus money, Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov and co. are an obvious choice.

Esports betting tips

After a humiliating display at VCT 2024 EMEA Kickoff, Fnatic suffered another embarrassing loss in the first week of VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1 against Team Heretics. The series ended in two maps; however, while Fnatic looked terrible on Icebox, they played well on Lotus.

Even though Fnatic are not nearly as dominant as last season, a 1-2 start to the year is no reason for panic – especially since their only two defeats came against the current top two teams in the region.
GIANTX are in a similar spot as they’ve yet to find much success this season, with one loss against FUT Esports and two defeats against Karmine Corp. During VCT 2024 EMEA Kickoff, GIANTX played reasonably well and took maps from FUT and KC, but last week they got stomped with a combined round record of 13-26.

Fnatic don’t seem as dangerous as in 2023, but this is the same roster that terrorised the entire VALORANT esports scene last season. So, while they’ll need to find more traction, Fnatic are significantly stronger than GIANTX, and it should show on Friday.

The newly promoted side, Gentle Mates, enter the second week of VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1 following a 2-0 sweep of BBL Esports. It marked their first season victory after losing both clashes with Team Vitality in February.

By beating BBL Esports, Gentle Mates got their name on the board, but that victory is not worth celebrating too much. BBL Esports are not a very strong team, and still, they took 11 rounds on Sunset, which tells us more about Gentle Mates than it does about BBL.

Karmine Corp enter this match after getting reverse-swept by FUT Esports, who proved just how vulnerable Karmine Corp are. Still, they’ve only looked weak against other top teams, including Sentinels, Paper Rex, Team Heretics, and FUT Esports.

The loss against FUT Esports proves that Karmine Corp can fall. But regardless of their doubtful status as EMEA’s top dogs, Karmine Corp are very consistent in crushing weaker teams.

Esports betting tips

FUT Esports finished the VCT 2024 EMEA Kickoff with just one victory against GIANTX and two losses against the eventual finalists, Team Heretics and Karmine Corp. That isn’t too bad, especially considering FUT Esports played very competitive series against Heretics and KC.

Team Liquid were far less successful in the season-opening tournament. They beat KOI in the first game but lost the rematch and also went down to Natus Vincere. In the first round of the VCT 2024 EMEA League, Liquid got their revenge against KOI but didn’t look great.

Team Liquid have faced only three different teams this season, so we can’t make any conclusions; however, they’ve not shown enough to earn the tag as favourites for this series. FUT Esports are the obvious choice at plus money.

BBL Esports had a terrible start to the 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour and posted the worst record of the EMEA Kickoff, finishing with two losses and a -20 round differential. It’s unfair to criticise BBL Esports too much since they have only two games under their belt, but it’s also tough to find many positives.

Gentle Mates had a very similar experience in the VCT 2024 EMEA Kickoff, where they lost both of their series against Team Vitality. However, GM still performed well; they kept the first game close and were reverse-swept in the rematch after losing in overtime on the second map.

This is a match between two weak VALORANT esports teams, so anything can happen. But at $1.81 with the top esports betting sites, siding with Gentle Mates is a far more appealing option.

Esports betting tips

Natus Vincere replaced Mehmet “cNed” ?pek with Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks in October, bringing the former FunPlus Phoenix roster back together in a bid to find more stability in the 2024 season. Even though replacing just one player might not seem enough for NaVi to bounce back from what was a very mediocre year, ardiis could be the missing piece that will bring this project together.

BBL Esports didn’t win much last season. They placed seventh in the VCT 2023 EMEA League and didn’t reach the world championship. The Turkish squad did win Superdome 2023 Egypt, so they’re in good form, but this doesn’t change the fact that BBL don’t have the talent of other top VCT EMEA teams.

Natus Vincere might be a hit-or-miss team, but they shouldn’t struggle to beat BBL Esports, who are one of the weakest teams in the VCT 2024 EMEA.

Team Liquid have picked up the former Apeks trio Enzo “Enzo” Mestari, Georgio “Keiko” Sanassy, and James “Mistic” Orfila, who will link up with Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen and Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin to form a competitive lineup.

Apeks’ core played well in 2023 but fell apart at the final hurdle and lost the VCT 2023 Ascension EMEA to Gentle Mates. But that was more a case of Gentle Mates finding traction, so failing to make it though Ascension doesn’t take away from how good Apeks were throughout the season.

KOI had a disappointing run through the VCT 2023 season, showing no progress from February up to the VCT 2023 EMEA Last Chance Qualifier in July. In a bid to find more success, KOI rebuilt the lineup at the start of February by signing Grzegorz “GRUBINHO” Ryczko and offering Kamil “kamo” Fr?ckowiak and Tobias “ShadoW” Flodstr?m to permanent contracts.

KOI’s roster seems like it was put together last-minute and doesn’t look strong. The situation behind the scenes, with numerous arrivals and departures of players since November, also can’t be great, so it’s easy to doubt this team.

Team Vitality have created a strong lineup for the VCT 2024 season with the signing of Emil “runneR” Trajkovski, Kimmie “Kicks” Laasner, Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel, and Nikita “trexx” Cherednichenko. Unfortunately, trexx will not be able to play in VCT 2024 EMEA Kickoff, with Tomas “Destrian” Linikas taking his place.

Gentle Mates ascended to the VCT EMEA by defeating Apeks in the VCT 2023 Ascension EMEA and have kept all five players and both coaches on the roster. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering how dominant Gentle Mates were in the second division of the European VALORANT esports ecosystem. Still, it’s also tough to say how they will stack up with EMEA’s elite squads.

Gentle Mates looked incredible at the end of the 2023 season, so the talent is there. Considering they’re up against a new roster, there is reason to believe that Beyaz?t “beyAz” K?rpe and co. can win against a weakened Team Vitality.

Esports betting tips