Smite is a third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) type of video game created and developed by Hi-Rez Studios. It can be played on several different platforms including PC, Play Station 4 and Xbox One. The Microsoft Windows version was released on March 25 and the other versions were released in subsequent months. The unique thing which differentiates Smite from other multiplayer online battle arenas is the fact that it is played in third person and not from a top down perspective, like other games of its kind.
Each Smite match starts with two teams of five players each, which fight it out against each other. They start on separate ends of the map in their main bases, which are called Fountains. The key part of each team's base is the Phoenix, and it is each team's purpose to destroy the other team's Phoenix.
At the start of each game players choose a God with which they are going to start. There are 90 Gods to choose from and they are organized in 9 God pantheons: Celtic, Hindu, Japanese, Egyptian, Mayan, Greek, Norse, Chinese, and Roman. The Gods in those pantheons are from one of these classes: Hunter, Mage, Guardian, Assassin, and Warrior. Each God possesses a basic attack, a passive characteristic and four different abilities which affect its performance in the game. It is important to know that players from the same team have to choose different Gods.
In addition, heroes are always in the company of minions which are spawned at Phoenixes at regular time intervals of 30 seconds. They attack opposing heroes, towers, Phoenixes and Titans, which are the main objectives in most of Smite's game modes.
Finally, in-game items are also an important part of the game. These in-game items are bought using gold and each player is given 1500 units of gold at the start of the game. The main purpose of items is to gain special abilities or bonuses for each player.
Smite betting is quite similar to other multiplayer online battle arenas betting because punters can choose from several different betting markets which include the match winner market, the handicap market, the futures market, and various specials markets.
The easiest market to grasp is the match winners market. Even though this market is quite simple and easy to understand and bet on, it still is the most popular one among punters. Let's look at an example from the 2017 Smite World Championship match between NRG Esports and Team Allegiance in order for us to explain this market.
NRG Esports is a huge name in the Smite gaming world, and they went on to win the 2017 Smite World Championship. However, before they did that, they had to face Team Allegiance in the quarterfinals of the tournament. Expectedly, NRG Esports were given much lower odds, which were somewhere around 1.40 to win the match, whereas Team Allegiance had odds of around 2.70. This meant that placing your money on NRG Esports to win the match was the less riskier, but also the less rewarding bet, as betting the same amount of money on Team Allegiance to win would have brought you almost double the money than an NRG Esports victory would have. However, as we had already mentioned, NRG Esports went on to win the tournament, and therefore the match, and won 2:0 on the day. This victory only strengthened the notion that, usually, the favourite, and not the underdog, is the winning bet.
Similar to the match winner market, but with a slight difference, is the handicap market. In this market one of the teams is given a starting advantage which is usually expressed as +1.5, +2.5 and the other team is disadvantaged by usually having to start with -1.5 or -2.5. So, if we use the same example as above, Team Allegiance, is given +1.5 points in the handicap market. This makes them a huge favourite all of a sudden, as now, NRG Esports will have to win with a two point difference. This is also reflected in the odds which are given to each team, and NRG Esports' odds have now increased to 3.00, whereas Team Allegiance's odds are now 1.33. However, this doesn't guarantee that the team which is given the advantage will come out victorious of the match, and in fact, as NRG Esports won with a two point margin, they managed to overturn the starting deficit and come out as winners of this market as well.
The outright winners or futures market is intended for all those punters who like to predict the winner of a given tournament before its start. In addition to predicting which team will win a certain eSports event, punters can also bet on which team will reach the quarter finals, semi-finals or final, and which world region the winner of the tournament will be from.
The final type of market available to a punter is the specials one. In it, betting enthusiasts can choose one of many different wagering specials such as Map 1 or Map 2 Winner, Correct Match Score, Correct Map Score, Over / Under Total Maps, Odd / Even Number of Kills, First to (certain number) of Kills, First Blood, Team to Win at Least 1 Map and so on.
Betting on Smite can be quite lucrative if you know what you are doing. Betting in its essence is a game of luck, however, there are several things which you can do to improve your chances of having a winning bet. These things include strategies such as analyzing each of the opponents, their form, their style of play or the Gods they use.
Analyzing previous encounters between teams and their current form can be very useful when you are trying to figure out whether a team will come out of the match-up as a winner. For example, if a team goes into a match on the back of five successive victories, this team is automatically a good proposition for your wager, because the confidence that those 5 players have is bound to be sky high and they are a much better proposition than, say, a team which has been on a losing run.
In addition to this, experienced punters always look at the style of play that each individual player has or the God that they use. This can be very important if two equally matched teams face against each other, and it is only the small details, such as the unique abilities of a given God, which will determine the winner.
Smite World Championship is the biggest Smite tournament in the world right now. It is held every year and is the official world championship for the MOBA game Smite. It is hosted by Hi-Rez Studios and it includes teams from North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. The prize pool for the tournament increases every subsequent year, and in 2017 it reached $1 million. NRG Esports, which as we already mentioned, were the winners of the 2017 edition of the championship won $600 thousand, whereas the other teams spread the rest of the prize pot according to the position they finished in.
The tournament is regularly followed by millions of people worldwide as it is streamed on the Hireztv twitch account, but also on various YouTube channels. Fans love the tournament because it offers them a different perspective of a MOBA game (literally, as it is a third person MOBA) and it is hugely entertaining and very fast paced.
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