ShadowLeague Season 1 kicks off on Saturday (January 16) with eight fixtures, featuring 16 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams who will vie for the lion’s share of USD$30,000 prize pool. Today we take a look at two games featuring Sinners Esports, VP.Prodigy, Case Esports and Vexed.

Sinners Esports last met with VP.Prodigy just over a month ago when they won 2-1. They have since played seven games and won all but one against Infinite Gaming (10-16) on Wednesday. VP.Prodigy, on the other hand, played out eight games in that stretch and lost six, which includes all of their last three.

Even though VP.Prodigy stole one map off Sinners last time out, we are not convinced they can achieve the same feat on Saturday, especially after the departure of Aleksandr “mefixs” Ilukhin. Sinners to win 2-0 at $1.67 (with the top esports betting sites) is a good bet.

Since the complete roster rebuild in May, Vexed have yet to achieve any notable results. They enter this match with a 2-3 record from their last five outings, which is not bad, but considering they have not played a single official match in almost a month, they’re likely a bit ring rusty.

Like Vexed, Case have not been active since December, when they pocketed a silver medal at the Esport Tour Pro Winter 2020, which is a fairly impressive result for a team of their calibre.

Due to their success in December, it’s fair to say Case should win this match more times than not, but considering there will be some ring rust on both sides, we expect a more open game. In such situations, momentum plays a massive role, which usually sees a team that wins the first map close out the series with 2-0.