Global StarCraft II League Season 3 Odds & Betting Preview

The Global StarCraft II League Season 3 gets underway on August 29th. Photo from @TLnet (Twitter)

• The Global StarCraft II League Season 3 begins on August 29th
• Rogue enters as the slight favorite after winning GSL Season 2 earlier this month
• $25,000 USD will be awarded to the winner of GSL Season 3. We preview the top contenders below

Just a couple weeks after the conclusion of Season 2, the Global StarCraft II League returns for their third season. On August 29th, the round of 24 will begin until eventually the field is whittled down to just one.

GSL Season 3 Betting Odds

Odds taken Aug. 26

The Defending Champion

It’s no surprise to see Rogue listed as the favorite for GSL Season 3. He’s had a massive 2020 and already has a couple tournament wins to his name this year. Early in the year, Rogue finished first at IEM Katowice. That tournament run included wins over Dark, Maru and Zest who are all competing in GSL Season 3.

Just over a month ago, Rogue also took home the $25,000 USD grand prize at GSL Season 2. During the group stages, Rogue didn’t dominate but that all changed once he made it to the playoff bracket. He 3-0’d Dream, 4-0’d DongRaeGu, and then dropped only a single game in the grand finals to Stats.

If that resume isn’t impressive enough, it’s also worth mentioning that he won GSL Season 3 last year, and it’s definitely not out of the question for him to go back-to-back.

Rogue’s 2020 hasn’t been perfect, however. In between his tournament wins, he’s had a couple of shortcomings at GSL Super Tournament 1 at the Douyo Cup. Rogue definitely deserves the title of ‘favorite’ but it’s still far from a guarantee.

Maru’s Rocky 2020

Right behind Rogue in the odds is Maru. His 2020 season started off looking bright but he’s since petered off heading into GSL Season 3. At IEM Katowice, Maru finished 3rd/4th after a close 3-2 loss to Rogue. The following event at Super Tournament 1, Maru took down the field including Dark, Solar and Innovation. Maru has historically had struggles against Zerg, but at Super Tournament 1, he defeated two very talented Zerg players to finish first.

Since his first-place showing back in March, Maru has been unable to get back to the top. The most concerning result came at GSL Season 2 where he finished 13-16th. It’s rare not to see Maru make it out of the group stage. However, in the second round of groups Maru went 0-2 thanks to losses to Solar and Trap.

There’s no denying that Maru has what it takes to win GSL Season 3. +500 might be a bit rich considering some of the struggles he’s exhibited at recent tournaments.

The Dark Horses

Outside of Maru and Rogue, there’s a couple of interesting names to keep an eye on. Through GSL Season 1 and Season 2, Terran player TY has shown the ability to take down the best of the best. TY was dominant in the Season 1 playoffs as he picked up wins over Dark, PartinG and a 4-0 over Cure. Clearly he’s pretty comfortable with the Terran mirror match.

In Season 2, TY locked up 3rd/4th after he dropped his semifinal match-up against Stats. Outside of the GSL, TY hasn’t had many noteworthy results but he’s definitely worth keeping an eye on in Season 3.

One more dark horse to watch out for is Trap. In his last six events, Trap hasn’t finished any lower than 5th. He has yet to get a first place finish this season but he’s come close on multiple occasions and is very consistent in his placings. He’s also coming off of a great performance at DreamHack Masters Summer where he came in second, only losing to Finnish player Serral.

There are a lot of strong players taking part in GSL Season 3 and it’s rare to see somebody dominate tournament after tournament. Rather than go with Rogue as the favorite, I’ll take TY at +650 instead. However, I will take Rogue to make it to the finals.

Pick: To Win – TY (+650), To Make Finals – Rogue (+125) & TY (+275)

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