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Astralis (World rank: #4) vs. HEET (World rank: #32) – 6:30 A.M. ET

Moneyline Odds: Astralis (-415) | HEET (+315)

Map Handicap: Astralis -1.5 (-115) | HEET +1.5 (-105)

This is a best-of-three on LAN for ESL Pro League Season 16 - Group C

Astralis - Rating at event: blameF 1.24 | Farlig 1.23 | gla1ve 1.16 | k0nfig 1.16 | Xyp9x 1.03

Astralis - Rating past three months: blameF 1.25 | k0nfig 1.05 | Farlig 1.01 | gla1ve 1.00 | Xyp9x 1.00

HEET - Rating at event: afro 0.99 | bodyy 0.86 | Ex3rcice 0.86 | JACKZ 0.83 | Djoko 0.79

HEET - Rating past three months: afro 1.17 | bodyy 1.07 | Ex3rcice 1.02 | Djoko 0.96 | JACKZ 0.93

H2H Data:

These rosters faced in August at IEM Road to Rio 2022 Europe Open Qualifier 4 and Astralis won 16-9 in a best-of-one on Nuke. BlameF led the server with 31 kills and a 2.00 Rating.

Prediction: Astralis wins 2-1.

Astralis are currently the second highest-rated team at ESL Pro League Season 16 with a 1.17 Rating across five maps played, and they also rank second at the event in terms of Team K/D Ratio (1.17). On Thursday against MOUZ, Astralis benefitted from a pop off performance from Farlig on Inferno, and a dominant 31 kill outing from k0nfig on Nuke. If Astralis can continue to get help from their stars other than blameF, then the Danes could certainly make a run at this event, but we know how inconsistent this team can be at times. BlameF & Farlig are also both currently amongst the top five highest-rated players at the event. These rosters faced off just a few weeks ago and Astralis won pretty easily. Sure, HEET posted nine rounds, but the French team won both the pistol and conversion rounds to open each half, so the scoreline is a bit deceptive in that sense. HEET are also the second lowest-rated team at the event (0.87 Team Rating) across four maps played, and they currently have the second lowest Team K/D Ratio (0.79). On paper this should be an easy win for Astralis, but Dust2 is still a strong map for HEET, and Astralis have only managed a 1-3 W/L record on that map in the past three months, so I could see HEET taking a map in this spot. I think this series will be closer than the odds seem to indicate, but ultimately, Astralis should be favored and should be able to get the win in this best-of-three.

  • blameF leads Astralis at this event with 0.14 opening kills per round and 23.5% opening duel attempts across five maps played.

Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority): 

blameF ($10,000) | Farlig ($8,200) | k0nfig ($9,200) | gla1ve ($7,600) | afro ($7,200) | Xyp9x ($5,600) | JACKZ ($4,000) 

 

Heroic (World rank: #15) vs. Complexity (World rank: #29) – 10:00 A.M. ET

Moneyline Odds: Heroic (-365) | Complexity (+280)

Map Handicap: Heroic -1.5 (+105) | Complexity -1.5 (-125)

This is a best-of-three on LAN for ESL Pro League Season 16 - Group C

Heroic - Rating at event: TeSeS 1.19 | cadiaN 1.18 | stavn 1.04 | jabbi 0.97 | sjuush 0.91

Heroic - Rating past three months: stavn 1.12 | TeSeS 1.09 | cadiaN 1.03 | sjuush 1.02 | jabbi 0.97

Complexity - Rating at event: Grim 1.18 | FaNg 1.15 | hallzerk 1.09 | floppy 1.01 | JT 0.80

Complexity - Rating past three months: Grim 1.15 | hallzerk 1.09 | FaNg 1.05 | floppy 1.00 | JT 0.87

H2H Data:

These rosters have never faced each other. The teams played in March at ESL Pro League Season 15, but that was prior to Heroic adding jabbi and prior to Complexity adding hallzerk. Heroic won that series 2-0 (16-9 Ancient / 16-14 Overpass) and cadiaN led the way with 56 kills and a 1.48 Rating across two maps played.

Prediction: Heroic wins 2-0.

Heroic opened up this event by picking Dust2 against MOUZ and then went on to get swept in that match-up, so I was a bit uncomfortable backing them on Thursday against ENCE. However, Heroic got right back on track with a sweep against ENCE, and the series was so one-sided that every member of ENCE finished with a K/D ratio below one. Stavn also finished as the lowest-rated member of Heroic in that series, which is an encouraging sign to see the team succeed without him playing well. Stavn is still one of the best riflers in the world, and we know he will get back to good form sooner rather than later. Complexity are the only 2-0 team in Group C and they have been red hot at this event, but they are still huge underdogs against Heroic, which speaks volumes about their chances here. Complexity almost got swept by Astralis in their opener, and they also beat HEET, who have been the weakest team in the group, so CoL’s perfect 2-0 record may be somewhat inflated. Complexity’s best maps are Overpass, Inferno, and Nuke, which have all been solid maps for Heroic historically, so I just don’t see much of an opening here for the North Americans. I think Heroic should sweep and they are my priority stack on Draftkings. 

  • TeSeS leads Heroic at this event with 0.11 opening kills per round, while TeSeS & jabbi are tied with 22.7% opening duel attempts across four maps played.

Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority): 

cadiaN ($7,400) | stavn ($10,400) | TeSeS ($9,600) | jabbi ($6,000) | sjuush ($8,400) | hallzerk ($5,800) 

 

ENCE (World rank: #16) vs. MOUZ (World rank: #10) – 1:30 P.M. ET

Moneyline Odds: ENCE (-120) | MOUZ (Even)

Map Handicap: ENCE -1.5 (+230) | MOUZ -1.5 (-290)

This is a best-of-three on LAN for ESL Pro League Season 16 - Group C

ENCE - Rating at event: dycha 1.17 | SunPayus 1.11 | valde 1.10 | Maden 1.08 | Snappi 0.98

ENCE - Rating past three months: SunPayus 1.21 | valde 1.10 | dycha 1.01 | Maden 0.97 | Snappi 0.85

MOUZ - Rating at event: frozen 1.13 | JDC 1.09 | xertioN 0.98 | torzsi 0.94 | dexter 0.74

MOUZ - Rating past three months: frozen 1.15 | xertioN 1.12 | torzsi 1.12 | JDC 1.00 | dexter 0.98

H2H Data:

These rosters have never faced each other. The teams last met in June at Roobet Cup 2022, prior to ENCE adding SunPayus & valde and prior to MOUZ adding xertioN. ENCE won that series 2-1 (13-16 Mirage / 16-8 Nuke / 16-4 Overpass). Hades led the server with 58 kills and a 1.31 Rating across three maps played.

Prediction: ENCE wins 2-1.

We’ve only seen this new ENCE roster play four maps, but I like what I have seen so far. The new additions, SunPayus & valde, have been solid at this event with a 1.11 and 1.10 Rating, respectively. Additionally, dycha & Maden have once again found good form at this event with a 1.17 and 1.08 Rating, respectively, which is much improved from recent months. Meanwhile, MOUZ benefitted on Wednesday from Heroic experimenting with their map pool, and they could just as easily be 0-2 in Group C if they weren’t gifted a Dust2 map pick from the Danes. I think ENCE still has a lot more firepower than MOUZ even after their roster changes. We don’t fully know where the map pool stands for these new lineups, but Mirage has definitely been a strong map for MOUZ in recent months and they took down Heroic on that map with xertioN to open the group stage. Other than that, I have faith in Snappi to lead his team to victory on the rest of the map pool. Perhaps MOUZ keep this series close as ENCE could be a little sloppy with two new members, but in the end I expect ENCE to come out on top. There are plenty of question marks on both sides of the server though with both rosters being new, so tread lightly either way.

  • valde leads ENCE at this event with 0.14 opening kills per round and 27.9% opening duel attempts across four maps played.

Favorite Draftkings Plays (In order of priority): 

SunPayus ($7,800) | dycha ($6,600) | valde ($8,600) | Maden ($5,400) | torzsi ($6,800) | frozen ($8,800) 

 

*Top Stacks: Heroic, Astralis, ENCE

*Favorite Captains: blameF, stavn, SunPayus, Farlig, TeSeS, k0nfig, valde, sjuush, frozen

*Favorite Value: cadiaN, dycha, gla1ve, jabbi, Maden, afro, Xyp9x, torzsi, JACKZ, hallzerk