Afreeca StarLeague Season 9 Odds & Betting Preview: Flash -165 Favorites

• The top 8 of Afreeca StarLeague Season 9 gets underway March 29 with the Final on April 26
• Flash is heavily favored and is the reigning Afreeca StarLeague Champion
• Read below for odds, analysis and our prediction to take this tournament

With the group stages out of the way, all that’s left in Afreeca StarLeague Season 9 is the round of 8. Over the next month, the playoffs will be held with the eventual winner being crowned on April 26. Of the eight remaining players, Flash is the huge favorite to win it all as he sits atop the table at -165.

Afreeca StarLeague Season 9 Betting Odds

Not a Flash in the Pan

It’s not every day that you see a player as heavily favored as Flash is going into the top 8 of Afreeca StarLeague Season 9. He’s a living legend in StarCraft and although he retired several years ago, he keeps coming back for more.

When you consider that he’s known as the ‘God of StarCraft’ his odds really aren’t that surprising. Flash is the reigning StarLeague champion as he won Season 8 back in September of 2019. That tournament was a long time ago but his performance was as dominant as it gets.

He 2-0’d his group in the round of 16 before wiping the floor with all of his opponents in the playoffs. His only game loss came in the quarterfinals to Light, but he was perfect the rest of the way including a 4-0 win in the finals over Snow.

So far in StarLeague Season 9, not much seems to have changed for Flash. In the round of 16, he beat up on two fellow Terran players. That included Light, who is the second favorite to walk out of Season 9 as the victor.

A convincing win over his toughest competition is a good way to solidify your position as the favorite. Even though there really isn’t much value on Flash, he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down at these StarLeague events.

Keeping Things Dark

I’ve already mentioned Light and his tough history against Flash. He’s now lost to Flash in back-to-back seasons of StarLeague. Outside of StarLeague, Light has seen his share of success. He won Korea StarCraft League Season 4 with notable wins over Soma and Rain.

Although he’s got a recent tournament win under his belt, his performance at CasterMuse StarLeague Season 2 raises some red flags. At that event he was eliminated in the quarterfinals by zerg player ZerO.

Even though Light has the second highest odds of winning, he’s still a heavy underdog to Flash, and has other opponents still alive at StarLeague Season 9 to worry about.

Value Picks

If you’re looking for a long shot bet instead of placing the safe money on Flash, there are a couple names to look out for. Of course, they could also easily crash and burn out of the quarterfinals.

ZerO is a guy who has some very appealing consistency over his past three tournament. At CasterMuse Narak StarLeague and Korea StarCraft league Season 4, ZerO ended up with consecutive third place finishes.

Following that, he finished first at CasterMuse StarLeague Season 2. It’s rarely a one-sided affair when ZerO is involved. On his way to winning CasterMuse, there were a couple of close calls including a 3-2 win over PianO in the semis. He’s not as flashy as Flash, but he is no stranger to grinding his way to a win.

ZerO is one of four zerg players remaining in Season 9, and of the four, he’s most likely to somehow overthrow Flash.

One other potential surprise is Stork. Through two stages of groups, Stork is 4-0 and has only dropped a single game. He’s one of two protoss players remaining in the tournament and even more importantly he finds himself on the other side of the bracket from Flash. If he can get past Light in the quarterfinals he has a decent shot of making it to the end.

Although, I’d like to go out on a limb and pick a dark horse, Flash seems to be on another level at the moment. Take the heavy favorite here.

Pick: Flash (-165)