Natus Vincere benched the player on June 30 after seven months of uninspiring results. He will replace Alexey “alex666” Yarmoshchuk on B8 following his departure from the Ukrainian lineup on July 5.

B8 wrote in a welcome post, “We’re thrilled to announce Andrii’ npl’ Kukharskyi’s entry into our CS:GO team from @natusvincere, coming onboard for a long-term period with a priority buyout right.”

“This is a big boost for our team, filling a gap we felt in our recent two RMRs. Anyway, building a strong team and perfecting our gameplay can take some time, but we’re committed to working hard to achieve this as fast as we can.”

npl joined NAVI in December 2022 as a sixth player for the team. He eventually replaced Viktor “?sdy?” Orudzhev on the starting lineup in January 2023.

While with NAVI, npl had issues adapting to tier-one competition and reached a 0.92 average rating across 63 maps. He recorded his only positive rating during the BLAST.tv Paris Major RMR. During the event, he posted a 1.34 rating, his highest while with NAVI.

NAVI also reached the semifinals of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023, Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023, and the Electronic Sports League Pro League Season 17 during npl’s stint.

With a new player among their ranks, B8 aim to elevate their current rank in the CS:GO scene. The team previously qualified for the IEM Rio and the BLAST.tv Paris Major RMRs, where they earned impressive wins in the opening matches. B8, however, failed to go much further in the events and, in the process, lost out on Major appearances.

B8 currently consists of npl, Artem “?r1nkle?” Moroz, Mykhailo “?OWNER?” Lymar, Arseniy “?cptkurtka023?”Derevinskiy, and Denis “?amster?” Liashenko. They are set to debut the new team in the Thunderpick World Championship 2023 qualifier. The online event will kick on July 27 to August 13.

More horse racing news

The post Ukrainian team B8 signs Counter-Strike player Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi appeared first on Esport Bet.

After losing to OG in their first-round match at the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament, Vitality went on to win five straight matches to reach the final, defeating BIG (2-0) and Cloud9 (2-1) in their quarter-final and semi-final series, respectively.

When the first map went all the way to round 29 of 30, with Vitality taking their map pick 16-13, it looked like we were in for a great final series.

Heroic needed to win their map pick Inferno to keep the series alive, but after a 5-10 first half, the match was all but over.

No-one on the Vitality roster finished with a negative kill/death difference for the second map, with Emil “Magisk” Reif ranking lowest with an even record.

Vitality went on to win Inferno 16-12 and clinch their first tournament victory since August of last year, when they won ESL Pro League Season 16.

WE ARE YOUR #IEM RIO CHAMPIONS

Paris, we are coming #VforVictory pic.twitter.com/mJLIvatHn6

— Team Vitality (@TeamVitality) April 23, 2023

To cap off a successful event for Vitality, their star sniper Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his outstanding performance at IEM Rio.

After amassing an event-high 1.31 rating across 15 maps played, the French superstar won his 14th career MVP award.

ZywOo carried Team Vitality to the playoffs, finishing with ratings of 1.61 and 1.45 in their lower-bracket round one series win over FURIA and lower-bracket final win over OG, respectively.

Fro Heroic, the story of the perennial bridesmaids continues after reaching another grand final only to lose again.

The Danes have finished second in three of their last six S-Tier tournament appearances, including IEM Rio Major 2022, IEM Katowice 2023, and IEM Rio 2023.

More esports news

The post Team Vitality defeat Heroic in IEM Rio 2023 grand final appeared first on Esport Bet.

After beginning their IEM Rio campaign with a 17-19 loss to OG in the first round, Team Vitality have recovered by winning their last three matches over MIBR, FaZe Clan, and flipping the script on OG to qualify for the playoffs via the lower-bracket final. Vitality have beaten BIG in both of their best-of-three series, and they are the clear favourites in this one. With some very good performances at recent events, the world no.6 will be hoping that IEM Rio 2023 can be their first win since August of last year.

BIG have performed admirably at IEM Rio 2023, beginning with an upset victory over MOUZ (16-6), followed by a tough victory over one of the pre-tournament favourites in Heroic to book their place in the upper-bracket final. After forcing Natus Vincere into overtime on the first map, the world no.19 was no match for the world no.4 on the second, falling 0-2. BIG enter the playoffs as the lowest-ranked team, but they have the potential to spoil the party, and they may start with Team Vitality in this series.

The series has gone to three maps both times these two teams have played a best-of-three, so that is how we will play for his matchup.

FURIA will be looking to avenge their IEM Rio Major 2022 semifinal loss from late last year, in which the Brazilians were defeated by Heroic in a three-map series. The world no.11 performed admirably in their first two matches at IEM Rio 2023, defeating Fnatic 19-15 in overtime in round one before dominating FaZe Clan in the upper-bracket semifinals. With their playoff tickets already punched, FURIA faced Cloud9 in the upper-bracket final, which the latter would win 2-1. With a large crowd expected in the Jeunesse Arena to cheer on the hometown team, the ‘sixth man’ effect cannot be underestimated.

Heroic entered IEM Rio 2023 as one of the pre-tournament favourites, but they fell at the first hurdle, losing to BIG in the first round. After defeating TheMongolz in a three-map series, Heroic advanced to the lower-bracket final against Ninjas in Pyjamas, which they won convincingly 2-0. The world no.3 has clearly not been at their best, and with a crucial quarterfinal series against FURIA coming up, they will need to find a way to block out the crowd and repeat their semifinal victory from the IEM Rio Major 2022.

With vengeance on their mind and a packed house of crazy Brazilian CS:GO fans, we will be on FURIA to get the job done.

More esports betting tips

The post IEM Rio 2023 CS:GO betting picks & odds – April 21, 2023 appeared first on Esport Bet.

A field of 16 CS:GO teams will congregate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where IEM Spring will kick off on Monday with US$250,000 in prizemoney on the line.

Most esports betting sites have FaZe Clan has the +300 favourite to take out IEM Rio 2023, with the likes of Heroic (+350) and Cloud9 (+375) heavily supported by bettors.

Some of the key leagues and tournaments taking place in the esports world this week include:

• CS:GO IEM Rio 2023

  IEM Rio (also known as IEM Spring) will kick off on April 17 and run for a week, with the winner of the event taking home US$100,000 of the US$250,000 prize pool and securing a spot at IEM Cologne 2023. Check out our extensive IEM Spring 2023 betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

• Dota 2 DreamHack DreamLeague Season 19

  The second week of the 19th season of the DreamHack DreamLeague will begin on Monday, with the final games of Group Stage 2 ending midweek. The playoffs kick off on Saturday, with the grand final set to be played on Sunday. Check out our comprehensive DreamHack DreamLeague betting guide to get the latest odds and tournament information.

• Call Of Duty League Major 4

  The fourth Call Of Duty League Major of the year will begin later this week, with the group stage set to begin on Thursday, April 20. The US$500,000 event is the second-last CDL Major of the season. For more information, see our in-depth Call of Duty League betting guide.

• League of Legends LEC Spring Playoffs

  The LEC Spring is reaching the pointy end of the season. The upper-bracket final is set to be played on Monday, where Team BDS will take on Team Vitality for a first spot in the grand final. The lower-bracket semifinal is due to be played on Saturday, with G2 Esports taking on MAD Lions. The winner of the LEC Spring 2023 grand final will book their place at the LoL Mid-Season Invitational in London, England, which kicks off on May 2.

Recommended!

Fast Payouts

50% matched deposit up to USD $5,000

Visit BetOnline

Live Betting Odds

Claim a 50% deposit bonus up to the value of USD $250

Visit Bovada

More esports news

The post What��s on in esports for week beginning April 17, 2023 appeared first on Esport Bet.

The first series at IEM Rio will feature world no.22 Ninjas in Pyjamas and world no.28 Imperial, both of whom had underwhelming performances at their respective regional BLAST.tv Paris Major RMRs. Over the last two weeks, NiP have won four of their last nine series, with two of those losses coming in best-of-one series. While Imperial have won four of their last six series, including first place at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Americas, they recently failed to qualify for the Paris Major. With both teams similarly placed in the ESL world rankings, we anticipate a close contest.

The second series will pit world no.27 TheMongolz against world no.4 Natus Vincere, who are expected to win with relative ease as overwhelming favourites with CS:GO betting sites. Over the last month, the all-Mongolian roster has dominated the Asian region, qualifying for the Paris Major last weekend. While NaVi qualified for the Paris Major after a strong performance at ESL Pro League Season 17, they were knocked out in the semifinals by FaZe Clan to finish third-fourth. TheMongolz lack the firepower to compete with a powerhouse like NaVi, and we expect the world no.4 to win easily.

The third series of the day will pit world no.19 BIG against world no.10 MOUZ. These two teams met at the IEM Rio Major late last year, with BIG winning 16-7. BIG finished second in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Europe, losing 1-2 to Cloud9 in the grand final. MOUZ’s international roster finished fifth-eighth at ESL Pro League 17 in late March, qualifying for the Paris Major Challengers Stage last week. BIG have a strong recent record in best-of-one series, whereas MOUZ do not, so we’ll take the underdog at the round handicap.

Heroic and 9INE will compete in the first round of IEM Rio after being the first two teams to qualify for the Paris Major out of the Europe RMR B earlier this week. The Danish squad will be heavy favourites. Heroic, the world no.3, will be the second-ranked roster in Rio, with only FaZe Clan ranked higher. 9INE enter this event as the world no.35, but they are in excellent form, having defeated G2 Esports, BIG, and Team Vitality at the Paris Major RMR. This could be one of the better series of the first round.

Team Vitality and OG enter their first-round matches with recent meetings going either way, with Vitality winning 2-0 at ESL Pro League 17 and OG winning 2-0 at the 2022 BLAST Premier World Final. As no.6 in the world, it’s easy to see why Team Vitality are heavy favourites in this match. They dominated their last two matches, winning 16-5 and 16-9. We’re going with Vitality to win this series with a round handicap of -4.5.

MIBR will open their home tournament in Rio with a big match against world no.5 Cloud9, with the Russian-based organisation coming into IEM Rio on the back of some strong performances in their last four events. Cloud9 won the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Europe and the BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic, as well as the ESL Pro League 17 and the IEM Dallas Europe Closed Qualifier. Many Brazilian fans will be hoping that MIBR or FURIA can go far in this event, but we don’t expect MIBR to win the first round.

World no.11 FURIA will open their IEM Rio campaign against world no.12 Fnatic, with this best-of-one series expected to be one of the closest on day one. In the first round of the ESL Pro League playoffs, FURIA defeated Fnatic 2-0 (16-13, 16-13) in their only meeting of the tournament. Both teams have qualified for the BLAST.tv Paris Major in the last week and will enter this match full of confidence.

The final match of the day will pit the highest-ranked team, FaZe Clan, against the lowest-ranked team, 9z, with the world no.2 starting as the day’s shortest favourite with Counter-Strike betting sites. We have no doubt that FaZe will win this series – the only question is by how many rounds.

More esports betting tips

The post IEM Rio 2023 CS:GO betting picks & odds – April 17, 2023 appeared first on Esport Bet.