Competitive StarCraft II is back in 2023 with the second split of the 2023 Global StarCraft II League Season playing out in July. Kicking off on July 4th, this premier tier event will run for the best part of three weeks in Seoul, Korea and has valuable ranking points up for grabs, as well as some handy prize money.
Heading into the 2023 Global StarCraft II League Season 2: Code S, the big news is that Serral, the winner of the last two ESL SC2 Masters events, will not be participating. This blows the field wide open and puts Maru in the driver’s seat to claim their second premier title this season. Can the home favourite capitalise over the coming weeks or will another player step up and give them a run for their money?
We break down all the best bets to make on StarCraft II this week with the latest odds from bookmaker bet365.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 3rd, 8:00 P.M. (GMT)
Looking at the outright betting odds from bookmaker bet365 ahead of the 2023 Global StarCraft II League Season 2: Code S today, it’s clear that Maru is the strong favourite. With winner odds of 2.30, Maru holds a healthy lead over second favourite Dark, who pays 4.50 to win in this event. Following these two, GuMiho trails on 7.00 before Bunny and Cure round out the top five betting favourites at bet365 with odds of 10.00 and 11.00 respectively.
The odds to make the final are proportionately similar with Maru paying a low 1.16, and the odds increasing through to Cure and herO on 5.50 as fifth equal favourites to make the final match.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 3rd, 8:00 P.M. (GMT)
With the absence of not only Serral in this tournamet, but also Dragon Phoenix Gaming and Oliveira, Maru is the only player in the 2023 Global StarCraft II League Season 2: Code S that has won a major event this season. Maru comes into the tournament off the back of winning the first 2023 Global StarCraft II League split in May as well as finishing runner-up at the 2023 IEM Katowice and making the semi-finals at the World Team League 2022 Winter. However, recent form has been patchy for Maru with a poor showing at the latest ESL SC2 Masters 2023 Summer where he placed 9th-12th overall.
Despite Maru’s recent hiccup, we recommend an outright bet on the South Korean player to win the 2023 Global StarCraft II League Season 2: Code S. In terms of who he’ll meet in the finals, there’s a good chance this could be an opportunity for Maru to get revenge over GuMiho, the player that eliminated him from the ESL SC2 Masters 2023 Summer and went on to finish runner-up at the event. GuMiho is paying 3.50 to make the final and with the amount of activity he’s been having in 2023, he is a good bet to make a deep run here in Seoul.
