Blast Pro Series Los Angeles 2019 Odds & Picks: Liquid Heavily Favored

• Blast Pro Series Los Angeles takes place July 13-14
• Is Liquid a sure thing in Cali?
• The best bets to reach the finals are below

Blast Pro Series Los Angeles is set to take place July 13-14 at the HD Buttercup Building, and will see six teams battle it out in the unique two day long, best-of-one round robin format where the winner will walk away with $125,000. To no one’s surprise, Liquid are listed as the favorites after coming off a series of wins in premier tournaments, and claiming the title as the best team in the world of Counterstrike.

Though if there’s any tournament that I could see Liquid falling short on, it would be a Blast Pro Series event due to its weird format. Since they will only play best-of-ones until the finals, any team could really find themselves coming out on top in the round robin stage and getting a chance at playing for the title.

So, at such short odds are Liquid the right pick to come out on top in Los Angeles, or is there a team that offers better value?

Blast Pro Series Los Angeles Odds

*All odds taken 07/03/19

Another for Liquid’s Trophy Case?

So far in 2019, Liquid have been on an absolute tear and are doing a good job at making up for all the trophies they just barely missed out on in 2018. Winning tournament after tournament, they made history when they achieved the world’s no. 1 spot, something that hasn’t ever been done by a North American team before in CSGO. They have played in two Blast Pro Series events this year in Sao Paulo and Miami, and placed second at each.

Liquid have played in two Blast Pro Series events this year in Sao Paulo and Miami, and placed second at each.

That was before they started their run of consecutive tournament wins though, so I would wager that they won’t be tasting silver this time around at Blast Pro Series Los Angeles. They are just looking so strong right now, and since quite a few of the teams that will be in attendance in LA are fresh off of making roster changes, I think that Liquid will once again find another gold on the year.

Pick: Liquid (+105)

Who Will Be Joining Liquid in the Finals?

Since I think Liquid is going to win, that locks down one of the spots in the finals, but the other spot will be highly contested. As I said earlier, quite a few teams will be coming pretty fresh off of a roster change so it will be interesting to see which gel quickly and find themselves playing for a title. Three teams I would consider looking at to reach the finals would be NRG, FaZe and Cloud9.

NRG have recently upgraded in their IGL role picking up Stanislaw from compLexity, which brings in a big improvement in the fragging department. They were the no. 2 team in NA for so long, and with this upgrade we may see them eventually be able to challenge Liquid for that top spot. They probably have the best chance of reaching the finals to play against the world’s no. 1 team at Blast Pro Series Los Angeles.

Welcome @peterjarguz to the #NRGCSGO squad!

Stanislaw will debut tomorrow in the Americas Minor NA Closed Qualifier as we begin our journey to the Berlin Major in August.

More info: https://t.co/wpHz7HgS0E pic.twitter.com/2S4esLIkiq

— NRG (@NRGgg) June 11, 2019

FaZe will have had a few events with their new IGL by the time of Blast Pro Series Los Angeles, and at times they’ve looked great. “At times” being the keywords there. Their struggling stars seemed to be reinvigorated under the leadership of Neo when he was first brought in, with only their superstar NiKo, lagging behind.

If Rain and Olof are able to maintain the level of play that they managed to reach in the first few events post roster change, they are a threat to reach the finals of any given tournament.

Cloud9’s new roster will be playing for the first time ever on LAN at Blast Pro Series Los Angeles.

The last team I would consider taking a look at would be Cloud9, but they are a massive question mark. An all new roster built around C9 mainstay, Autimatic, they will be playing for the first time ever on LAN at Blast Pro Series Los Angeles. They are a huge risk of a bet, but they do offer the biggest return if they are able to make it to the finals.

They could very well make a run to the finals since the odd format of the tournament, and I mean stranger things have happened in Counterstrike, so if you’re looking for max value look no further.

Picks: Liquid (-450), NRG (+110)