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EU and NA LCS Spring Playoffs are here
The qualifying process is continuing in both South Korea and China’s qualification groups but for League of Legends teams involved in the North American and European sections, it is crunch time for the six teams that made it through into the Spring Playoffs.
The action in Europe and North America starts on the 2nd April and the winners of these events will be decided well before the other qualifiers around the world play their own playoffs and decide on which teams will battle it out to be declared the winner and take home the $50,000 first prize and 90 Championship Points.
North America Spring Playoffs
The action starts with the quarterfinals where the four lowest ranked of the six teams compete, with the two top seeds already placed in the Semi Final stage. In the Quarterfinals, Cloud 9 take on Team SoloMid, while Team Liquid face NRG eSports in what look likely to be two close battles.
Whichever two out of the four teams win their quarterfinals, the highest seed will take on second seeds Counter Logic Gaming with the lower seed taking on top seeds Immortals in the semi finals. The winners of these games will then go on to contest the final.
Bet365 eSports have Cloud 9 as the 2/7 favourites to emerge from their quarterfinal tie with Team SoloMid (5/2), while Team Liquid are also odds on at 8/15 to beat NRG eSports (11/8).
European Spring Playoffs
The set up and prize money available for the European playoffs is exactly the same as the American playoffs. Six qualifiers will play through a quarterfinal and semi final stage before the final decides which team will finish top of the European section.
The quarter final match ups see Team Vitality taking on Fnatic, while Origen will face the Unicorns of Love in the second quarter final. The highest seed that qualifies from these games will take on H2k-Gaming (2nd seed) in the semi finals while the lower seed will take on the top seed G2 Esports in the other semi final.
Currently, Bet365’s eSports betting odds see the European clashes as potentially being closer than those in North America with Team Vitality the 4/9 favourites to win their clash with Fnatic (13/8), while Origen are 1/2 to win their match up with the 6/4 underdogs Unicorns of Love.
It is also worth remembering that there are also plenty of other LoL League Championship Series league stage games still being played notably in China, South Korea, Brazil and Macao/Hong Kong/Singapore. As always, there will be plenty of eSports betting available on all these crucial matches as teams vie for a place in the playoffs and to try and avoid falling into the Summer promotion matches.
DOTA2 Dream League at midway point
The highly competitive DOTA2 tournament Dream League Season Five has reached its midway point in the Round Robin section and currently it is Vega Squadron that are leading the way, although the somewhat confusing scheduling of this tournament does mean things are not quite as settled as they seem.
Since the 21st March, seven of the eight teams in the competition have competed in matches over two legs, with each leg win offering the team a chance to win a point. Most matches have finished 1-1 over that period, with a few key games finishing 2-0 to one team, which has given the table a somewhat unusual look.
With three 2-0 victories behind them, Vega Squadron lead the table considerably with a 7-3 record from Virtus.pro on 4-2 and then Team Spirit and Team Empire on 4-4 records. No Diggity has a 3-3 record with Ad Finem on 2-4 and London Conspiracy on 2-6.
However the eighth DOTA2 team, Natus Vincere have not been able to participate in any of the opening weeks games, so they still have a 0-0 record, but will play all of their seven two-leg matches in the second week (action starting on the 5th April).
It is the fact that some teams have played considerably more games than others that gives the league table such an unusual look at the moment and means that there is still plenty to play for once the action resumes after a short break between the 31st March and 5th April.
Bet365 Sports are offering a number of bets on each of the matches in the Dream League as well as the chance to bet on the winner of each of the maps. Check out the site for the latest betting from the 5th April next week for more information.
CS:GO MLG Major Championship rumbles on in Columbus
The top four teams from each of the four groups at the MLG Major in Columbus, Ohio have been decided with each of the teams progressing from their group with an unassailable 2-0 record after 
two matches.
Luminosity Gaming progressed from Group A, Team Liquid from Group B, Group C winners were Astralis while Natus Vincere took the top dog honours in Group D.
These results mean that over the next few days, the second and third place teams in each group will face a winner-takes-all clash with the winner progressing into the playoffs and the loser going home.
Group A’s clash sees Ninja’s in Pyjamas take on mousesports. Group B will see red hot favourites Fnatic take on underdogs FaZe Clan while in Group C Counter Logic Gaming take on Gambit Gaming. Finally, in Group D, the place in the playoffs will be awarded to the winner of the Virtus.pro v G2 Esports clash.
Once these final group games are completed the teams will take their place in the quarter finals, which start on the 1st April, with the semi finals played on the 2nd April and the final taking place a day later on the 3rd April.
Bet365 has all the latest betting on the CS:GO Major League Championship with betting on all the remaining matches. For the Group deciders, Bet365 have Fnatic as 1/10 to beat Faze (6/1), while mousesports are 8/11 to beat Ninjas in Pyjamas (evens).
However the remaining two games are 50/50 clashes in the eyes of the eSports bookmakers with all teams 5/6 shots.
