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A legendary esports event, the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice is a CS:GO tournament held in Poland. In this guide, we'll go over all the participating teams, details about the schedule, as well as everything you need to know about IEM CS:GO betting!
The Dota Pro Circuit is in full flow. The next big tournament in this seasonal circuit is the PGL Arlington Major. Texas is the location, Esports Stadium Arlington is the venue of choice, and seventeen brilliant Dota 2 teams will be eyeing their chances here.
The LEC (League of Legends European Championship) is entering a new decade starting with the inaugural Winter split. From team rosters to an all-new tournament format, the league will be seeing much more competition.
The WePlay Academy CSGO League is the perfect chance for rookies and upcoming player talent to show off against each other and prove to their Esports organizations that they have what it takes.
This year’s iteration of WePlay Esports sees some positive changes to the Esports tournament which we’ll cover a bit more down the line. For now, let’s start with how to start your WePlay Academy League betting career.
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You shouldn’t have too many issues with WePlay Academy League betting, apart from finding the best bookie to do so. In any case, all the betting operators we listed support both CSGO betting and betting on Academy events.
Okay, we can't wait anymore. Please, welcome WePlay Academy League Season 3! 🗓️ Online part: January 3 – January 16 🔥 10 teams (oh yeah, we have newcomers) 💰100k prize pool ✍️ All details: https://t.co/NcuPxpsDGg pic.twitter.com/uTeAvqPwhR — WePlay Academy League (@WePlay_Esports) December 28, 2021
Okay, we can't wait anymore. Please, welcome WePlay Academy League Season 3! 🗓️ Online part: January 3 – January 16 🔥 10 teams (oh yeah, we have newcomers) 💰100k prize pool ✍️ All details: https://t.co/NcuPxpsDGg pic.twitter.com/uTeAvqPwhR
— WePlay Academy League (@WePlay_Esports) December 28, 2021
There are a couple of well-known Esports teams who have Academy teams so in most cases, they would be the favorites. But is that what’s happening here? More on this later; back to the betting process!
The basics have been covered and now it’s time to take a look at the nitty-gritty surrounding WePlay betting.
Betting markets are essentially the types of bets you can place for a given sport (or Esports in this case). There are a couple of unique ones that we’ll quickly glance over and explain so you’re well-acquainted with what you can do.
Don’t be disillusioned by the betting odds placed on some WePlay Esports teams. Although some teams are the favorites and betting on them won’t bring you a lot of winnings, anything can happen!
The reason for this is that most of these players are still not at the highest level; powerful teams can easily fail against an underdog team if they lose coherence and start making mistakes. This is why the Academy betting world is so inviting – your underdog bets have pretty high chances of bringing you some wins.
Still, you should be careful when placing your WePlay Academy League bets as things can get unpredictable – fast!
There are a couple of metrics you need to keep in mind when researching CSGO Esports and betting. These are predominantly in-game stats about the players, as well as a couple about the teams.
Let’s start with the team stats – you ought to look at a team’s map winning percentage, pistol round wins, and overall team performance. As far as the players are concerned, the most important statistics about them are kills, assists, K/D ratio, deaths, and headshot percentage.
This information is not directly relevant to betting; in most cases, you won’t encounter betting markets that work around these. They’re purely for research purposes and giving you a clear picture of what to expect from the teams and their players.
The WePlay Academy League, in its current form, is a relatively new CSGO Esports tournament that has existed for less than 6 months at the point of writing this article. However, we’re already in Season 3 of the tournament, with seasons happening every 2-3 months or so.
It also marks the perfect opportunity for young talent to compete in a professional setting against other, similarly eager and talented players. The event also allows professional Esports organizations to oversee how their junior players perform and possibly take them into the main roster if the need arises.
Here are the groups for #WAL3! Which one is the group of death? pic.twitter.com/vDKta8Ivyi — WePlay Academy League (@WePlay_Esports) December 28, 2021
Here are the groups for #WAL3!
Which one is the group of death? pic.twitter.com/vDKta8Ivyi
It’s worth noting that the WePlay Academy League Season 3 is already underway. The group stage has just about finished by now so we’re looking at the play-in stage. All teams still have a chance at making the LAN Finals.
As said before, the WePlay Academy League is a rather new CSGO tournament so there isn’t a lot of history behind it.
The first season of WePlay Academy League saw 8 teams competing in a simple double-elimination bracket. The second season was virtually the same.
Season 3 is the first WePlay Academy League season that has more than 8 teams involved; 10 to be exact. We might see even more teams in future iterations but for now, here’s the event history:
For people who aren’t familiar with Academy tournaments, the format may be a bit confusing. Initially, all teams go through the group phase which doesn’t necessarily eliminate them from tournament contention.
Here’s what it’s all about:
Group Stage:
Play-In Stage:
Finals:
There is a total of $100,000 up for grabs for the entire tournament. However, this prize money is split into two pieces – $12,000 for the Online Stage and $88,000 for the LAN Stage.
The LAN Stage money is split as follows:
The WePlay Academy League Season 3 features 10 competing teams.
Astralis Talent was formed in 2020 but they first competed in 2021. Since then, the team hasn’t managed any worthwhile results. Their highest finishes are 3rd/4th positions in a few C-Tier tournaments but other than that, a complete opposite of what their main team has achieved.
The roster consists of vigg0, MistR, Altekz, Fessor, and brzer.
The BIG Academy is one of the better Academy teams who’ve won a few C-Tier tournaments throughout their 5-year existence. They’re arguably the only ones who can challenge Mouz NXT in the WePlay Academy League.
Their roster is made up of Aqua, prosus, Krimbo, s1n, and hyped.
Fnatic Rising was created in 2016 with the intention of guiding young players towards the top. Unfortunately, the team hasn’t been good at all. They have competed in a vast number of tournaments in recent times but were at their best in 2016 and 2017.
The Fnatic Rising roster sees Kevve, Peppzor, regali, kst, and Banjo play for the team.
This team still has a long way to go if they want to be considered Academy challengers. None of the recent results are satisfactory and their current performance in the WePlay Academy League is atrocious (1-7 win rate).
Zmb, decenty, HPS, kauez, and Bruninho play for FURIA Academy.
Mouz NXT has been dominating the WePlay Academy League since it was first conceived. Other teams have come close but none have managed to take the torch from them. Mouz NXT is also a fairly new team having been formed in July 2021. The definite favorites to win Season 3 of the Academy League.
Their current roster consists of siuhy, szejn, JDC, xertioN, and mhL.
NaVi Jr. might not be one of the stronger Academy teams but they’re perfectly capable of causing an upset. As an example, they finished 2nd in the previous season of the Academy League. As such, they can be considered the second team that can challenge Mouz NXT.
The NaVi Jr. players are headtr1ck, latt1kk, nipl, fen2k, and UNBR0KEN.
Young Ninjas is the Ninjas in Pyjamas Academy team that began participating in CSGO tournaments in January 2021. Since then, they’ve played in 25+ tournaments with relatively limited success.
Their roster consists of ztr, phzy, Sapec, LNZ, and Ro1f.
VP.Prodigy is Virtus.pro’s Academy team. Unfortunately, they haven’t done much since they were formed. The team seldom finishes in the top positions and judging by their current performances, do not stand a chance of reaching the WePlay LAN Stage.
R3salt, cheerful, RuFire, lom1k, and delus1onn play for the team.
The Team Spirit Academy team has been around for quite a while in CSGO. However, they only competed in CSGO Esports in 2017 and 2021 (going into 2022 now). During that time, there were a couple of blistering performances but the team lacks consistency.
The Spirit Academy players are zont1x, ArtFr0st, KaiR0N-, S0tF1k, and notineki.
The last entry in our team list is the Eternal Fire Academy – a Turkish CSGO team. Not a lot is known about them but they’ve been slowly improving their global rating in the past few months and are now the #156 best CSGO team (highest rank ever).
Their roster is made up of duggyversus, colorzz, Kenshin, Wicadia, and fola.
WePlay Esports is usually hosted on the official WePlay Twitch channel. On top of that, you can visit WePlay’s own streaming website and watch the matches from there.
Just over an hour until we see our 2 new teams go head to head for the first time! @Team__Spirit Academy 🆚 @eternalfiregg Academy@mousesports NXT 🆚 @VPProdigy 📺https://t.co/arlhr3Izn5 | #WAL3 pic.twitter.com/8dj2DEBHZ0 — WePlay Academy League (@WePlay_Esports) January 12, 2022
Just over an hour until we see our 2 new teams go head to head for the first time! @Team__Spirit Academy 🆚 @eternalfiregg Academy@mousesports NXT 🆚 @VPProdigy
📺https://t.co/arlhr3Izn5 | #WAL3 pic.twitter.com/8dj2DEBHZ0
— WePlay Academy League (@WePlay_Esports) January 12, 2022
The WePlay Academy League Online Stage has started on 03.01.2022 and will end on 16.01.2022.
There will be a few weeks of rest between the Online Stage and the LAN Stage and then the LAN Stage will begin on 11.02.2022 and end on 13.02.2022.
The WePlay Academy League is arguably the biggest CSGO tournament for young talent. It provides the pathway to greatness, popularity, and even greater skill. If these players want to take part in the most prestigious CSGO tournaments, alongside CSGO legends, then they have to prove themselves to the Esports orgs.
However, the WePlay Academy League is also a way to have fun and banter with the opposing players. After all, it’s not as serious as the top CSGO tournaments out there.
Please watch and like this post so my boss thinks I made a witty caption… Like, what am I even supposed to write about this? Sincerely, WePlay Social Media Guy#WAL3 pic.twitter.com/Y0joXfLAgW — WePlay Academy League (@WePlay_Esports) January 10, 2022
Please watch and like this post so my boss thinks I made a witty caption…
Like, what am I even supposed to write about this?
Sincerely, WePlay Social Media Guy#WAL3 pic.twitter.com/Y0joXfLAgW
— WePlay Academy League (@WePlay_Esports) January 10, 2022
Nonetheless, you can expect some pretty impressive performances across the board, especially by Mouz NXT who have been on top of their game since the Academy League was formed. As such, WePlay betting has exploded in recent months as it provides both entertainment and the chance to win some cash through smart bets!
The WePlay Academy League is a B-Tier CSGO tournament oriented towards providing a viable battleground for academy teams. WePlay Esports is the organizer and many junior teams of respectable Esports organizations such as Astralis, Fnatic, and Virtus.pro are competing against each other for both glory and a chance to prove themselves to the big dogs.
Mouz NXT have an impeccable track record in the WePlay Academy League and they’re the definite favorites to win. They’re already top of their group and are looking for their 3rd straight WePlay Academy title. BIG Academy are arguably the only ones who can challenge them.
Your best chances of winning are with match-winner bets as these have a base 50/50 chance of winning, especially if you bet on the favorites. Outrights are also a good choice considering Mouz NXT are on a stunner of a run to the finals. Feel free to check out some of the best betting sites listed here: bet365, Betway, GGBet, Bet-at-home, and TonyBet.
All of the bookies mentioned in this article offer pretty great odds on WePlay Academy League betting with some small differences between them.
First off, you’d need to play the game to understand the mechanics of it. Then, take some time to research both the professional CSGO scene and the academy scene.