What to expect from M80 v. BetBoom rematch

Well well well, if it isn't BetBoom again. It's an opening match rematch for M80, whose first occurrence saw them drop the opening match of ESL Pro League Season 19. Since then, it's been only up and up for M80, defeating Sharks and then winning a thrilling BO3 against G2 to make this lower final.

BetBoom, courtesy of their opening win, were not relegated to the lower bracket immediately, but were still sent down below by Vitality in an open-and-shut series. BetBoom also played earlier today, swiftly knocking Falcons into the Last Chance Bracket. With this match granting a spot in the playoffs, let's see who takes it.

M80: Back and better than before

Call it LAN jitters, call it jet lag, but M80 were not at their full force on the first day of EPL. Today, a couple days later, M80 look much more like the team we expected to show up, and even better than that, potentially. A morale-boosting victory over G2 has to fill M80 with confidence, but of course, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We do know that NA loves a rematch, but BetBoom was quite the formidable opponent day one.

• slaxz- and s1n hold a 1.26 and 1.23 rating respectively this event

• malbsMd has been an absolute firecracker in NA and showed it as well vs G2 with incredible clutches

• A rematch tests the coaching backroom and IGL capabilities of each team, is s1n up for the task?

Magnojez is ready for the big time

BetBoom came out of the gates swinging, that much is for sure. While an uninspired loss to Vitality can be brushed off, a victory over the faltering Falcons must put some pep in the step of the Russian squad. Kirill "Magnojez" Rodnov has been putting in the work during this event. Can he do it once more against M80?

• nafany has much more experience on paper compared to s1n, surely that must pay off in the rematch

• Magnojez top fragged against M80 in the opener, he must do it again

• nafany cannot be a liability

• zorte has to show up against slaxz- who has been destroying thus far

Previous Matchups

As mentioned, this is a rematch of both teams' opening match at ESL Pro League Season 19. BetBoom came away the victors after taking M80's pick of Anubis 13-5, losing their pick of Ancient 13-1, and stealing away the decider Mirage 13-11.

Likely Vetoes

Looking at the vetoes, we get a very peculiar situation. This is because in the opening match, both teams won their opponent's map pick, and quite dominantly at that. Continue M80's dominance on Ancient against G2, and we may very well see a complete flip in the veto.

• M80 ban Nuke (Permaban)

• BetBoom ban Inferno (Permaban)

• M80 pick Ancient (Beat BetBoom 13-1 and G2 13-2 on it)

• BetBoom pick Overpass (50% Winrate, M80 rarely play)

• Decider Mirage (M80 may ban away Anubis this time and BetBoom likely don't want to test M80's Vertigo)